Show Ashley National Forest activities s report for 1975 IThe I. I The Ashy Ashley National Forest had another eventful year in 1975 Alphabetical programs and dollars dominated ed the scene during the year UPA IPA CUP LUP and INFLATION IN IN- Translated into the mother tongue these concerns were the Resources Planning Act the off road off road vehicle plan the Central Utah Project land use planning and the well well- known and widespread dollar shortage Inflation and the limited dollars dillars allocated for recreation operation and maintenance wrought a special brand of havoc at Flaming Gorge In efforts to cut costs and stay within existing funds six camp and picnic grounds were closed and reservoir patrols search and rescue public safety equipment use docks on the reservoir and other services were curtailed THE TilE CRUNCH CHUNCH will affect next summers summer's operation as well Present plans call for no seasonal employees to be hired until after July 1 Two members of Congress visited the Forest during the year and got a hand first-hand look at atthe atthe atthe the management situation on the Ashley In July Congressman Joseph M M. M McDade McDade McDade Mc- Mc Dade of Pennsylvania visited the Forest accompanied by his family In October mid-October Senator Jake Garn of Utah studied timber access road needs on the Forest Because the Ashley offers outstanding outdoor recreation opportunities the following statistics may be of particular interest to the visiting public It Itis Itis Itis' Itis is is' estimated that 53 billion dollars are spent annually in inthis inthis inthis this country in the pursuit of outdoor recreation This excludes excludes excludes ex ex- the amount spent on spectator sports Sixteen percent of all the machinery produced in this country is related to recreation TilE THE LAND use planning effort continued unabated Two plans are now in the mill A general management plan and the accompanying environmental environmental en en- statement for the Flaming G Gorge rge are scheduled for filing sometime nex spring An interdisciplinary nar team fean consisting M df Andrew Ahdrew w Godfrey Alan Baird Neil Deets Roy Morgan Allen Shippee Leon Chamberlain and Bill Sims has now completed the second season of the inventory of the basic resources in the acre South Slope planning unit The draft versions of the plan and environmental statement are due to go to press in June 1976 Also forthcoming in 1976 are the Long Park Reservoir environmental environmental environmental en en- statement and a anew anew anew new timber management plan for the Ashley ACTIVITIES ON the he Central Utah Project so far as the Forest is concerned centered in preliminary planning an anti anu environmental analysis for the Upalco and Uintah Units and getting ready for the first actual construction projects in the North Fork Duchesne and Rock Creek The upcoming construction includes 42 miles of road construction on the North Fork pf the Duchesne River drilling of of the mile eight-mile Stillwater Tunnel which will carry water from Rock Creek Canyon to the was circulated in October Sometime around the first of oC the year the Forest will begin preparation of the final version of oC the plan and map This plan platt is scheduled to go into IntI effect December 31 1976 The Chief of oC the Forest Service Is now reviewing public comments and input on the Resources Planning Act After Aller Allera a close study of the available management options the Chief will make his recommendations for final program direction Eventually the program package is transmitted through the President to the Congress for its review and appropriation action The first such action will take place early in 1976 This year marked the completion com of a year six-year program to reseed Sowers Canyon on the Ashleys Ashley's South Unit Under the accelerated range program the Duchesne Ranger Hanger District was able to wind up the acre 1550 range rehabilitation project The brush was plowed up and the land was burned over plowed disked and drilled with alfalfa yellow sweet clover small burnett wing four-wing sail brush and several grass species UINTAH BASIN Concrete Products Inc of Roosevelt accomplished the seeding under a contract with the Forest Service Construction is well underway underway underway un un- derway on a bachelors bachelor's quarters quarters quarters building and related utilities at the Firehole recreation complex on on the eastside eastside east eastside side of Flaming Gorge Reservoir The contract was awarded to Kessler Company of Sandy The Forest representative is Merlin Walker and Dan Labrum is handling the project inspection Wok began in September to replace the Sheep Creek Bridge seven miles southwest of Manila The bridge was damaged by floodwaters and has been closed to traffic since April 15 In July the Bureau of Reclamation tested the Flaming Gorge Dam spillway for the first time since construction construction construction con con- was completed in 1963 During the tests the flow gauged a basin from the river bed which diverted the riVer flow suf sufficiently rt to to j wash out the access access ro me lM fhe r tn hg rampon ramp rampon on the river A temporary launching ramp was dev developed loped near the spillway to enable river running to continue during the summer The Bureau of Reclamation awarded a contract in October to repair the road and remove debris from the river channel The contractor completed the work in 15 days and river river runners can now launch directly from the ramp WATER QUALITY studies conducted by Forest personnel concentrated on the south slope The quality of the south slope water with the exception of the Duchesne District South Unit has been consistently good with the occurrence of mineral salts running from 50 20 parts per million Chemical analysis was handled under a blanket purchase purchase purchase pur pur- chase agreement with Ute Laboratories at Fort Duchesne The counts are being made at the supervisors supervisor's office in Vernal A shiny new map brochure for forthe forthe forthe the Flaming Gorge rolled I I I f. f t a ar ari av r ri v ti Ili t x J Jl Jr Jt t r t r l t 4 x F f a f y ry YOUTHS planting trees In the Spirit Lake area Flaming Gorge Ranger District In early summer 1975 off the presses ses in July The publication was a joint effort by bythe bythe bythe the Forest Service and the Bureau of Reclamation Some Forest program accomplishments ac ac- reported to the H Regional gional Forester for the fiscal year ending June 30 1975 are 1080 acres of direct wildlife habitat Improvement 2726 acres of s rangeland p y ge 18 million board rd f t be acres of fibber r l stand e examination on acres basic maintenance maintenance maintenance main main- of miles of roads a and miles of trail miles of timber purchaser road construction found 51 land corners 35 recreation use visitor- visitor days weeks man-weeks of work accomplished by Youth Con Conservation Conservation Corps enrollees years man-years of work provided under manpower training programs TilE THE 1975 fire season on the Ashley was rather late due to tolate tolate tolate late spring moisture The entire season ended about three weeks behind normal as fall storms were late in coming We attribute attribute attribute at at- tribute the lower than average acreage burned from all fires to having a contract helicopter station on the Ashley this year There were 48 fires during the year 25 of them man Burned area totaled 2958 acres In the summer of 1975 the Forest Service operated Youth Conservation Corps camps employing young men and women One of those camps was at Dutch John where 48 young people from fromn n northern Utah worked a total of hours in a wide range of J. J Forest orest activities including slash piling tree thinning reforestation range fence construction and maintenance fish and wildlife habitat improvement improvement im Im- im- im provement and recreation facility maintenance and cleanup Camp director was Dave Noel In Coordination with whit t Ui Uintah Jai Basin Basin Association ot of of Governments the Vernal Ranger District employed one female and four male youths on the Summer Youth Employment Employment Employment Em Em- Program Susie Chadburn Bert Christensen Keith West Dwight Taylor and Scott Shirley assisted with timber stand improvement sagebrush spraying water developments fence construction construction construction con con- recreation maintenance maintenance maintenance main main- and fire ire prevention They were a great help in getting the summer work done TWELVE PAYETTE National Forest under the direction of Neil Davis replaced several sections sections' sections sec sec- of log fence at the Iron Springs Picnic Area and Red Springs Campground on the Vernal Ranger District The work was accomplished while the the jumpers were stationed at Vernal on standby this fall Replacement of these fences with the district recreation crew would have taken t ken approximately a month and land funds were unavailable unavailable- For the fiscal year ending June 30 1975 a total of was collected and deposited to the National Forests fund in the States Treasury as receipts from the sale of Forest products and resources This represents an increase of percent over fiscal year 1974 The classification of collections is as follows sale of timber limber and timber products grazing land uses other than recreation power and minerals recreation fees undesignated areas J V 1 r t 7 FOREST VIEW near Leidy Peak r minerals admission and user fees designated areas UNDER TilE THE provisions of the Act of May 23 1908 25 percent of these receipts are returned to the counties with National Forest lands in direct proportion to the number of National Forest acres within the respective counties Th The F F. F Y 1975 payments were as follows Daggett County Duchesne County Summit County Uintah County Utah County Wasatch County Sweetwater County t r I j THE BH CABIN In McK r Draw V X f t VV th t h I |