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Show r ' ? ... j.......! hi-. I..-. I. ...-. Forest Service Planning Chaining Project on LaSal Mountain Area Officials of the Manti-LaSal National Forest have announced announ-ced tentative plans for chaining chain-ing 1600 acres of pinyon-juniper pinyon-juniper forest on the western slopes of the LaSal Mountains Moun-tains in order to "improve watershed conditions and to provide additional forage for wildlife and livestock." The land involved is National Nation-al Forest land within the Moab Ranger District and is withing San Juan County. The proposed pro-posed chaining will be done in irregularly shaped patches on relatively flat areas in the vicinity of Dorry Canyon, Amasa Back and Slaughter Flat. This area lies about midway between Mt. Tuku-hnikivatz Tuku-hnikivatz and the summit of Blue Hill, where U.S. 163 tops out of the southeast end of Spanish Valley. Some of the area to be chained chain-ed will be visible toward the southeast when viewed from the La Sal Mountain Loop Road, a scenic tour route pcrpular with both tourists and local residents, but most of the chained patches will be visible only from jeep trails in the vicinity. The chaining project will be a cooperative project between the Forest Service and the Utah State Division of Wildlife Wild-life Services. After chaining the existing stands of pinyon and juniper trees, and operation opera-tion that will kill all mature trees and many but not all of the younger trees, the chained areas will be seeded to produce a mixture of forage for-age grasses and shrubs. Further Fur-ther some of the native shrubs which will survice the chaining and thrive in the absence ab-sence of the pinyon-Juniper trees will be more palatable to deer than to cattle. Forest Service officials claim that once the seeded plants become be-come established, the resultant result-ant open meadows will provide pro-vide excellent deer and cattle forage, slow soil erosion and hold more moisture, thus adding ad-ding to the area's reserve of underground water. Forest Service specialists indicate that it will be two or three years after the chaining before the seeded plants have become well established. In the meantime, erosion could accelerate to some extent at first, depending upon seasonal season-al winds and rainfall. Further, Fur-ther, the irregularly shaped . chained areas, and considerable consider-able land around them, must ( be fenced off to protect the seeded land from cattle grazing. gra-zing. The present grazing lease holder, Mr. George White of Moab, has agreed to this partial withholding of grazing in order to later benefit ben-efit from improved grazing conditions. Prior to the chaining operation, opera-tion, the Forest Service is preparing a detailed study of the proposed project. A first draft report of this study has been released to key individuals indivi-duals and organizations within with-in southeastern Utah for comment; com-ment; including Moab's environmental en-vironmental group, ISSUE (Interested in Saving Southern Utah's Environment). Forest Service officials have also taken an officer of the ISSUE organization on a field trip to study the areas to be chained. The draft report on the proposed pro-posed project contains an a-nalysis a-nalysis of the areas to be . chained from, the viewpoints of local geology, climate, soils, water, air, minerals, vegetation, wildlife, scenic and aesthetic values, archeology arche-ology and environmental impact. im-pact. Although the report somewhat resembles the type of "Environmental Impact Statement" required by the National Environmental Policy Pol-icy Act before federal agencies agen-cies can take or permit any actions affecting the environment, envir-onment, the report does riot comply to the NEPA require-) ments. Rather, it is in CQm- pliance to standard Forest Service policy requiring such studies. The draft report released by the Forest Service indicates indi-cates two major adverse effects ef-fects that will be produced by the chaining operation, one temporary, one permanent. The report notes that ". . . . considerable debris will be left on the ground and maybe objectionable under close observation," ob-servation," but adds that "The adverse effects of the debris should be minimized within two or three years as it is broken down by snow and weather." The permanent effect will be upon the several dozen arche.-ological arche.-ological sites located within the area to be chained. Although Al-though the archeological study stu-dy is still not complete, a surprising number of sites have already been identified by the Forest Service arche-ologist. arche-ologist. Those discovered so far are chipping grounds, hunting camp sites and sites used for food preparation. No dwelling sites have been located in the areas studied to date. Despite the numerous archeological arch-eological sites, the Forest Service archeologist has concluded, con-cluded, even before his study is complete, that ". . . .there is no archeological reason not to chain the area." The report also notes that "A special study is planned to determine if any damage and displacement displace-ment of artifacts occurs dur- , ing a chaining project. , With respect to mineraj. claims "oh the land to he chained, the Forest Service draft report notes that "Most of the LaSal Mountains has been covered with mining claims. Many are for speculative specu-lative purposes and have never ne-ver been properly monument-ed. monument-ed. Some of the monuments are still standing and may be destroyed during the chaining." In an interview, Forest Service officials indi-, cated that while the holders PI many of the still-standing claims in the vicinity have filed statements claiming to have done the legally requirea assessment work, in actual fact no such assessment woik has been done. The chaining operation will be performat by the Fores. Service, partly using Foresi Service equipment and personnel, per-sonnel, partly by subcontracting. subcon-tracting. The cost of tne chaining, some $15,000 will be shared by the Forest ter- J - and state Division of ."'Wlife Services. Economic justification for this expendi-lur expendi-lur of public funds is based afM recovering the invest-within invest-within thirty, years by """eased grazing allotments. Jest Service omciais ho- complete the chaining ' ,0)t before winter weather the areas inaccess-"jie- Winter weather would o accelerate decomposi-T'n decomposi-T'n of the resulting debris. ,r'e Project cannot be started, 'ever, until after comple-v.jn comple-v.jn ' the study and appro- the final report. Al-Jy Al-Jy no Putlic hearings are "Muled in the matter, For- trm ViCe off'Cialswillwel-'rae off'Cialswillwel-'rae and CQnsirler wrltten Wions about the chaining tu?n from interested ci-Siich ci-Siich an1 organizations. opinions should be sub-g sub-g the 27th of Oct- |