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Show ',,','',' ; "X ' ,,,.. , , -""" Local citizens Norm McKee, Jay Proctor and Wallace Ott take a look at a map of the area encompassed in the Sanford Burn Fire shown to them by Fire Management Two FS Sanford Fire Area Tours Gain Mixed Reviews From Participants BRYCE Dixie National Forest's Acting Supervisor Steve Robertson, Acting Powell District Ranger Priscillt Summers, Partnership Specialis! -Maggie Dowd, and Fire Management Officer Brett Fay hosted two field trips this past week to offer a first hand, up-close up-close preview of progress made in restoration of the acreage involved in the recent Sanford Prescribed Burn Fire. Field Trip Excursions Eight people traveled by suburban sub-urban on Saturday, Nov. 2 and an additional seven the following follow-ing Thursday, Nov. 7 with forest personnel for a four-hour look-see look-see on the forest. The groups convened at the ;it the Bryce Canyon Shuttle staging area on Highway 63 at 11 a.m., returning by 3 p.m. The Forest Service provided names of those taking part in the tours and encouraged the Garfield County News to contact them for comments. Participants in the tours were unanimous in their perception of Forest Service personnel's sensitivity sen-sitivity to their feelings about the fire's devastation and agreed . that personnel were dedicated to doing their absolute very best to restore the lands placed in their trust. View Sites Along Cottonwood The two tour groups followed essentially the same plan, traveling travel-ing up Cottonwood Canyon stopping at several sites to discuss dis-cuss various aspects of the forest for-est recovery plan. The first stop was at the former for-mer Forest Service Administrative Administra-tive site where they stopped for lunch and extensive dialogue. Here the Forest Service presented present-ed the history of the fire and they discussed the issues such as smoke with respect to health and economics, the need to burn and Forest Service management of the prescribed fire program. They stopped at two additional addi-tional sites farther up Cottonwood. The second stop was at the south Fork of Cottonwood Creek a severely burned area. It was also used to demonstrate that the Forest Officer Brett Fay. Others on the four-hour Forest Service broke off to view the revegetation process in the forest around them and question other members of the team. Service does not perform prescribed pre-scribed burns in areas that have resource conditions with steep slopes and streams nearby. The third stop on Cottonwood road was across from the trail where they stopped for discussion of recreation recre-ation values. They also stopped at the site of an earlier fire for a comparative compara-tive analysis of what years of recovery can do. Maggie Dowd noted that some of the concerns from the public were about the smoke, burning in a drought year, using prescribed fire along with vegetative vege-tative treatments, the NEPA process and how long it takes to plan for projects. Dowd also reemphasized the commitment of the Forest Service to better communicate about projects, burns, issues and that they would provide more outlets for people to communicate with the Forest Service in return. Observations of Norman McKee Among those taking part in the tour was former DWR Biologist Norman McKee of Panguitch. McKee explained that he was quite familiar with the fire event and, because of his training and education, looks through different eyes at the outcome out-come of a fire, than does the normal lay person. Field trip participants received a handout the day of the tour which showed sequences of the burn event and the extent of land affected by the fire. McKee said that new Acting Forest Supervisor Steve Robertson was correct in his perspective, by stating that fire is a natural part of the forest ecosystem, and that the Forest Service has managed for years with non-burning so that people have become accustomed to clear skies. Now as Forest Service managers work to stim-' ulate forests back to a healthy condition, "smoke" is one of the by-products that communities will have to deal with. McKee said he felt the areas burned, East and West Hunt, were returning and that "with a little help" would be back to normal. Looking through the eyes of a trained biologist, (See SANFORD on page 2A) Sanford Fire Excursion From Front Page McKee sees new growth, vegetation vege-tation and regeneration, all healthy signs to him. He believes people should not overly respond to emotional or economic arguments in handling han-dling the forests but let those who are professionally trained do that job. As McKee sees it, there is really no choice: if forests are not cleaned up, the alternatives can be disastrous fires. McKee believes the best thing that has come out of this entire incident, is the willingness willing-ness now of the Forest Service to have closer working relationships relation-ships with the public so that perhaps in the future, the timing of burn events could be worked out to everyone's advantage. Observations Of Steele Henrie Steele Henrie of Panguitch said "This was truly a fire that got away from them USFS, but I have to praise them for their efforts to restore the land. I felt like I enjoyed the tour and their attitude to try to restore things." Henrie said that on the tour "there were burnt areas, there were good areas, and there were absolutely scorched areas. Most of the areas we looked at weren't turned black, but I was disappointed that all the vegetation vegeta-tion on the hillsides was just gone." Henrie said he was pleased with the work forest officials had performed in cleaning up ponds and watering areas. He said they had even "'bentonited' some ponds so they would be better collection points of water for wildlife." He said he was somewhat "disappointed that every time they talked about restoring' things, it was for the wildlife with not much reference refer-ence to helping livestock." He said, "It seems like the livestock always comes last." But Henrie said he had been assured in the recent meeting at Ruby's Inn, that grazing would continue and livestock would benefit. "I am convinced," said Henrie, "that the Forest Service is doing all that they can." Interview With Jay Proctor Jay Proctor of Panguitch who also participated in the Forest Service field trip said that he quite enjoyed the tour and mostly most-ly listened. He admitted he really real-ly liked the old way the Forest Service used to manage "but we will never see that again." He said, "The fire definitely devastated the hillsides burning some clear to the top." But he (See SANFORD on page 4A) Sanford Excursion From Page 3 A acknowledged he was quite impressed with the green grasses grass-es and young Aspen that were already two to three feet tall. Proctor was most worried about water and he said the (See SANFORD on page 3A) Forest Service indicated that there would be more water, not less but Proctor said he "couldn't "could-n't see how that could be." He said he felt good about the efforts the Forest Service is making to re-seed and restore. Proctor was disappointed they didn't see rnore of the fire-affected fire-affected area. "They didn't even go to the top of Cottonwood," he said, "and never went at all into Sanford. He said that "the true test will be to see what it looks like in a couple of years." Observations Of LaVoy Tolbert LaVoy Tolbert of Loa committed com-mitted a day of his time and travel to participate in the tour. Tolbert had been fairly outspoken outspo-ken in an Antimony meeting concerning prescribed burning earlier at the time of the fire. He was adamant at that time that the Forest Service needed to cease and desist from prescribed burns because "the communities around here had 'had it' with the economic, health and quality of life issues associated with prescribed pre-scribed burns." Tolbert remained incensed and said he called Maggie Dowd to express his frustration prior to the planned field trips. He had received the Forest Service mail-out concerning the field trip and noted that the tour planned to address merely the impacts to wildlife, grazing and recreation. Tolbert said he was "ticked off' because he felt the USFS had not truly listened to the outcries out-cries of the people. He claimed they were failing to adequately address smoke concerns, health issues or the quality of life and economic impacts. Tolbert said he got his points across throughout the day at various var-ious sites along their designated route. He said he was frustrated because he felt officials were avoiding discussing issues such as grazing. He wondered, but said he did not ask those officials, offi-cials, if these areas on Cottonwood were "overgrazed" prior to the fire. If their response had been "no," which he said he would have highly anticipated, he wonders now if they plan to increase the AUM's to permittees. Tolbert said that while recreation recre-ation aspects were discussed, he wonders how recreation can prosper in a black area versus the original lush green. He said he doesn't "personally "personal-ly believe in putting out lightning-caused fires but neither does he agree with 'man' purposely pur-posely starting fires. He questions ques-tions that he "must pay $8 a month for trash service because I cannot legally burn, but the Forest Service and others are given free license to openly pollute." pol-lute." He cited the tolls taken by those prescribed burns gone awry such as timber loss, esthetics, esthet-ics, etc. Tolbert said he was impressed with Acting District Ranger Priscilla Summers and her sensitivity and sincerity, and he appreciated a note of thanks he received from Acting Forest Supervisor Steve Robertson for taking part in the tour. While he admitted he was" not a happy camper, even after the tour," he said he felt all the personnel involved were very nice and controlled their responses and replies in the face of often difficult opposition. Tolbert was one of those who said that not enough acreage was taken in by the tours. He said that in the days following the tours, he drove all the way on the Cottonwood to Antimony. He said it resulted in a "much better feel then for the size and extent of the fire." Tolbert said he knows "the kind of good fire can do". He said he had spent the summer in Yellowstone with a friend observing much of the outcome of the 1988 fire that devastated so much of the national park. "Sure," he said, "the forests are all coming back but the Lodgepole Pine is so thick." Tolbert said that a recent news report on KMXU of Manti reported on the many people fined this year for their careless acts in starting fires. "All these regular citizens are being fined," he said, "but I still can't explain why the Forest 'Service is exempt." He aid that his overall impression of the tours was that "they were the Forest Service effort to try to quell the talk out there it is still pretty clear the Forest Service doesn't intend to quit burning, in spite of the numerous protests by local citizens citi-zens and businesses impacted." Tolbert said he was frustrated that "all they want to talk about are the positive aspects of the fire. We set up the Forest Service to protect and manage, so what good are they to us any more." He said he is convinced that they are good people who just have ideas that don't jive with his own. Tolbert said he also believes that they have blatant "disrespect for the people in these communities and said he did let them know, I'm not finished fin-ished with them yet." |