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Show Sign on U.S. Highway 89 south ( of Circlevllle says it all with antlers of deer who obviously gave his all to get the point across to passing motorists along the highway. Dixie Forest Flood Damage listed Light I The Dixie1 National Forest appears to have been the luckiest among 11 National Forests named in a list of Intermountaln Region forests damaged by recent floods. Figures released as of June 10 showed that the Dixie had sustained only $23,000 in damages compared with $3.6 million the Mantl-LaSal in the Sanpete area. Damage in the Uinta National Forest hit almost $11 million and the Fishlake almost $3 million. Regional Forester Stan Tixier stressed that the figures released were only a preliminary tally and that estimates are being updated on a weekly basis. Damages on the Dixie National Forest involved primary recreation where on other forests, they also included firefighting access roads, bridges, trails, watershed, range, wildlife and miscellaneous uses of the forest lands. The major loss is in roads and culverts. Early reports show $9.57 million in road and culvert damage in the Forests of Utah, Nevada, western Wyoming, and southern Idaho. This figure does not include bridges, and a late report frmo the Boise National Forest in southern Idaho estimates damage to just one of the bridges (near Pine, Idaho) at $150,000. Destruction of fish and fish habitat accounts for most of the $3.9 million listed under wildlife losses. Portions of major trout streams have been scoured clean by torrents that carried not only mud and sand but trees and large boulders. Many streamside trees have been girdled and killed by the battering debris In flood waters. Campgrounds and other recreational facilities have also been seriously damaged. An early estimate of the Region's losses in this category is $2.5 million. Regional Forester Tixier notes that the widespread damage will force general reduction in National Forest recreational opportunities this summer, especially in central and northern Utah. In some cases, roads leading to Forest campgrounds and picnic areas simply won't be opened this season. The loss of roads and bridges is also expected to hamper firefighting efforts later this summer. Firefighters who would ordinarily drive on patrols and to actual fires will often be confronted with roads washed out and not. yet repaired. There'll be more travel afoot, by horseback, or with planes and helicopters. At one point, the Sanpete Ranger Dsitrict of the Manti-LaSal National Forest had only two roads that could be traveled. The Maple Canyon road on the Forest was cut 30 times by flood water within a stretch 14 miles long. A portion of the Humboldt Natioonal Forest In central Nevada reports the near total loss of secondary roads. Some emergency highway funds may be available for road repairs, thorugh the Federal Highway Administration. Five hundred dams on National Forest lands in the Intermountaln Region will also require Increased inspection and maintenance, such as spillway clearing, until flood danger is past. Prompt action on a clogged spillway may have saved a breach of Huntington Reservoir dam in Utah last week. Water was 18 inches from the top of the dam when workers broke the spillway Jam. Four major and many minor landslides are still active. They are expected to present problems through much of the summer. These slides pose threats to city water supplies, summer and year-around homes, recreation areas, and miles of trout streams. Total damages on the combined 11 national forests on Tlxier's list came to $22.5 million. |