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Show Activities And Accomplishments Of The Ashley National forest In 1954 By Wm. D. Hurst, Forest Supervisor The one and a quarter million acres comprising the Ashley National Forest were productive acres during 1954. Many people derived their livelihood from them, many more enoyed their scenic, recreational and sporting qualities, quali-ties, and thousands, both locally and many miles away, benefited from the water produced on the giant watershed, which is the Uinta Mountains. The United States Forest Service Ser-vice in the Department of Agriculture Agri-culture operates and manages its land on a multiple use basis. In other words, a certain section of land can be, and usually is, devoted de-voted to two or more uses simultaneously. simul-taneously. It is not uncommon to find on National Forest land a timber operation on a livestock grazing allotment and, blending in with both activities, is the wildlife wild-life population of the forest. Other areas may contain mining operations, opera-tions, summer home areas, picnic and campgrounds, fishing waters, and irrigation developements, all within a short distance of one another, yet in a large measure complimentary. Through proper planning and management, each acre can be made to produce its fullest over a long period of time for the benefit of man. Timber operators harvested 1 U2 million board feet of sawtimber, poles and mine props from the I forest during the year ending June 30, 1954. Much of the sawtimber was used in local communities adjacent to the Ashley National Forest. The mining props and remaining re-maining lumber were marketed in Salt Lake City, Carbon County, and in Rock Springs, Wyoming. Sawmills such as the Ernest Caldwell Cald-well and Thomas mills in and near Vernal, the Defa and Wagstaff mills at Hanna, the Biorn mill at Manila, the Warburton mill north of Lapoint, along with the many others furnish steady and wholesome whole-some work for many families and produce a product that is in great demand by a growing Nation. By adhering to proper cutting practices, prac-tices, these timber operators are contributing substantially to the country's utrue timber supply. By removing the mature timber from the forest, the new growth has an opportunity to grow faster and into better quality lumber. Three hundred livestock permittees permit-tees grazed 85,000 sheep and 10,500 cattle on the forest during the summer grazing season. The beef, mutton, and wool produced will add substantially to the economy ec-onomy of the local counties and to the state. Sportsmen from all parts of Utah and from many outside states participated par-ticipated in the 1954 deer 'hunt on the Ashley. The number of deer harvested is not yet known but in 1953 the Utah Fish and Game Dept. listed a kill of 11,000 deer and 73 elk for the Ashley National Forest and immediate adjacent areas. The percentage of successful success-ful hunters was high too. Not many went home without their deer. In addition to hunters, thousands of fishermen worked the numerous lakes and streams of the Ashley during the summer months. Fishing Fish-ing is, without doubt, the greatest sporting attraction the forest has to offer, and the hundreds of lakes and streams of the Ashley make it Utah's most productive fishing area. Maintaning a constant vigilance over the forest during the dry summer season, alert Forest Rangers, Ran-gers, Guards, and Fire Cooperators suppressed seven forest fires during dur-ing the year. All fires but one were discovered and attecked during their early burning stage and suppressed immediately. One fire burned 50 acres of a watershed water-shed before it was brought under control. The use of aircraft, supplied sup-plied by the Basin Flying Service of Vernal, Utah, added materially in the fast discovery and reconnaissance recon-naissance of going fires. Three of the fires were caused by lightning. lightn-ing. Man was 'responsible for only four. The small number of man-caused man-caused fires is a tribute to the people who use and visit the forest. Without their active support sup-port and caution, the fire control job would be gigantic. The recreation facilities on the Ashley National Forest were taxed to the limit on almost every weekend week-end and holiday during the past summer. On many occasions the present camp and picnic developments develop-ments were totally inadequate. To alleviate this condition the forest is developing new recreational facilities fa-cilities as rapidly as possible. During Dur-ing 1954 twelve camp units were developed at Oaks Park, six units at Paradise Park, and the present facilities in a number of established estab-lished camp and picnic areas were replaced and augmented with new equipment. Fly-proof garbage cans and new toilets were placed on many units and water systems and existing tables and stoves repaired re-paired on others. Summer home areas were established on Uinta River and at Oaks Park, and the Deer Lodge summer home unit was expanded to meet the demand for summer home lots in this area. The estimated 200,000 visits made to the forest during 1954 attest to the need for more intensive development de-velopment of recreation facilities if the forest is to be used without with-out contamination of water supplies sup-plies and the consequent danger of creating conditions detrimental to the health and safety of the public. Roads and trails on the Ashley National Forest received considerable consider-able attention during the year. Five miles of new road was completed com-pleted on Farm Creek Mountain, making it possible to drive from the Uinta River to the Farm Creek settlement by way of Pole Creek Lake. This road was built i primarily to harvest the lage tim-' ber crop at the head of Pole Creek. It will also be used by livestock people and heavily by hunters, fishermen and forest lovers. lov-ers. On the Vernal-Manila forest highway, the Bureau of Public Roads is currently working on the second section of new highway on this route. Reed and Jensen have the contract and are making remarkable progress on the new road. The forest's road crew, under un-der the supervision of Ward Evans, Ev-ans, maintained 315 miles of forest for-est road during the year in addition addi-tion to replacing five bridges with new structures. The Uinta River bridge in Uinta Canyon was replaced re-placed during the year, adding a very essential but expensive structure struc-ture to the forest road system.. Forest trail crews did maintenance mainten-ance work on 1250 miles of the forest's trail system. Sixteen hundred acres of National Nation-al Forest grazing land was re-seeded re-seeded during the year and plans made for an ambitious reseeding program in 1955. Six hundred acres ac-res were reseeded in Lake Canyon Can-yon south of Duchesne, Utah; 400 acres in Lake Fork Canyon north of Altonah were planted to grass; and on Diamond Mountain north of Vernal, the Diamond Mountain cattle permittees drilled grass seed into 700 acres of the land their cattle use during the summer months. All of the permittees using us-ing this range unit contributed to the job and three of their number, Leo Wild, Don Sadlier and Rollin McNeill, did the work. These same permittees, along with sheep permittee Senator B. H. String-ham, String-ham, teamed with the Forest Service Ser-vice in constructing one mile of fense as a means of preventing over-use to certain range areas. Cooperative range improvement work between the Forest Service and permittees using the range was accomplished on a number of other livestock allotments. In cooperation with the Utah State Fish and Game Department, a two-acre game enclosure was constructed in Dutch John Canyon. Can-yon. This was established as a means of obtaining the degree of conflict between game and livestock live-stock in this important winter area ar-ea for game animals. Ashley National Forest receipts during the year ending June 30, 1954, amounted to $56,376.00. Of this amount 25 or $14,094.15 was returned to the county government gov-ernment wherein the forest is located lo-cated for use on schools and roads. Daggett County received $3,145:36; Duchesne County, $5,-065.33; $5,-065.33; Uintah County $3,587.38; and Summit County, $2,296.06. In the management of the Ashley Ash-ley National Forest, the water producing capabilities of this vast "humid island in a desert" must not be overlooked. From the High Uintas comes the life sustaining water that makes- civilization possible, pos-sible, not only in the Uintah Basin Bas-in and other areas adjacent to the forest, but in localities far removed re-moved from the mountain itself. The production of pure, clear water from a watershed comes as a result of using other forest re-sources re-sources properly. Overgrazed range does not produce good water; wat-er; neither does a mountain denuded de-nuded by too many deer or indiscriminate indis-criminate logging. Fire, too, destroys des-troys the water producing capabilities capabil-ities of a watershed. For these reasons, all forest activities must be geared to the needs of the watershed. The production of clear pure water in a dependable flow is the primary goal in administration administra-tion of the Ashley National Forest. For-est. All other forest activities must be compatible with this objective. |