Show I c ci i t bL i r r ti i I DUTCH JOHN is the Flaming Gorge Ranger District headquarters The headquarters head headquarters quarters building provides offices for the various management functions of the Flaming Gorge Recreation area Flaming Gorge forge area management programs By R. R Alan Gandy Flaming Gorge is quite a popular name around the Vernal area There are motels restaurants lodges a dam containing a 90 mile long reservoir on the Green River and a acre national recreation area named after it But what is the Flaming Gorge If you go to the Antelope Flat Campground and look west you will see a l large rge red redrock redrock redrock rock formation that was first named Flaming Gorge in 1869 by a government explorer Major John Wesley Powell Flaming Gorge is also the name of District One of the Ashley National Forest a acre tract of land that varies from sagebrush and Pinyon Pine in the low lands to large stands of Lodgepole and Ponderosa Pine at higher elevations John C. C Combs a 23 year veteran of Forest Service employment has been the head ranger on the Flaming Gorge District for the past two years This writer talked with Mr Combs last week about the program and plans for this part of the Ashley National Forest BEING EING PART ol oT a national forest timber management is a major project The forest is managed on a yield sustained-yield basis Each year the number of trees harvested is equal to the number of new trees planted or initiated by natural regeneration The Flaming Gorge District harvests approximately one- one third of all the on the Ashley National Forest with additional demands for firewood mining props posts and poles and Christmas trees Control of the Mountain Pine Beatle Beatie is another aspect of this management program Cutting out infested areas thinning overstocked areas and reforesting over cut-over areas has helped bring this problem under control Besides trees the forest provides habitat for many forms of wildlife There is a major concern over the invasion invasion in in- of big game winter range areas by Pinyon Pine and Juniper trees Mr Combs stated We have a project under way to clear openings in these stands to favor growth of L t s M nt J 4 A 9 S N t FLAMING GORGE DISTRICT RANGER John C. C Combs is pointing out the Buckboard boat launch ramp on a map of his district A new sewage system is going in at this popular northern launching site on Flaming Gorge Reservoir vegetation suited to wildlife forage and to increase biological diversity in these areas This project Is being expanded this year with many general improvements in wildlife habitat WILDLIFE improvements include installing guzzlers water collection devices for wildlife where water is needed stream bank stabilization and removal of debris in Sheep Creek to provide better spawning grounds for Brown Trout clearing barriers to fish migration in Carter Catter Creek and replanting burned areas with plant species suitable for wildlife Plans are also being considered to nesting habitat for raptors Eagles Osprey Hawks Falcons The Forest Service works closely with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources biologists on all wildlife improvement projects Livestock grazing is another big program on the district Each year approximately 2000 cattle and sheep graze the range lands around Flaming Gorge New fence and water development projects are under underway underway underway way to improve livestock distribution and to protect the range from over A large portion of District One is composed of the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area Because of this recreation facilities are one of the the- major programs The Flaming Gorge District has 20 developed campgrounds with capacity for around campers These campgrounds are nearly filled on most weekends during the summer The development of these cost in capital investments Many VIany C of them are several years years old and andin andin andin in need of improvements SOME OF the projects now under way are new sewer systems at Buck Board Cedar Springs and Bootleg campgrounds campgrounds campgrounds cam cam- and new water systems at Antelope and Lucerne campgrounds There is isa isa isa a constant upgrading of toilet facilities picnic tables buildings signs fire pits and roads In the campgrounds o Planning design and en environmental en Impact studies on these projects are all vet very extensive Preventing adverse Impacts on the scenic resources and maintaining water and soil quality are a major concern of or orland land program programs mers Constant monitoring of ot water quality In the major streams Is one method used to assure that land management programs are not adversely affecting the environment Another major program on the Flaming Gorge District comes through the National Manpower Act Each summer two cam camps of forty eight enrollees are on the district for fora a total of twelve weeks This is the larg largest t and longest camp in the state TENTATIVE PLANS are being made for a possible Young Adult Conservation Corps camp on the district possibly by the fall tall of ot 1978 If approved this program will require many new facilities in Dutch John for housing and year-long year work opportunities for 50 to resident enrollees Fall and early winter is the time for assessment of the past years year's program and yearly reports are made The early months of the new year is when planning for timber harvests recreation facility up-keep up and development and budgets are prepared for the coming two years In order to adequately manage a district of this size offices are located in Green River Wyoming Manila and Dutch John Public contact is concentrated at the Green River and Manila offices with the center of operations at Dutch John The district also operates two visitor information centers one oneat oneat oneat at the Flaming Gorge Dam and andone andone andone one at Red Canyon Th These e programs are handled by the Visitor Information Service which is very active during the summer Forest Fores t Service personnel make up about 60 percent of the population of Dutch John with 25 career employees and around 75 seasonal employees This gives the Forest Service a major responsibility to maintenance of the community |