This Land, Your Land

A U.S. Forest Service program will provide $605,000 to reduce wildfire costs and severity, and to fight hemlock wooly adelgid in two popular recreation areas of the Pisgah National Forest, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release today.

The grant is among $40 million to be allocated for 20 forest and watershed restoration projects under the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration program.

The 10-year project is meant to restore natural fire-adapted vegetation in the forest, lower wildfire severity and fire suppression costs, and help threatened and endangered species in and around Linville Gorge and the Wilson Creek Wild and Scenic River corridor.

The proposal for the grant calls for prescribed burns, thinning mature trees and planting shortleaf pine in 36,795 acres of pine and oak forests. Other work includes "removing white pine, red maple, yellow poplar and other mesophytic species from oak-hickory and yellow pine Ecological Zones" to "improve species composition and structure on 1,850 acres of upland forests." Another 2,740 acres will be treated for non-native invasive plants.

The Grandfather Restoration Project (it's named for the ranger district) will also include treatment of 540 acres of eastern and Carolina hemlock for hemlock woolly adelgid within the first two years of the project and then indefinitely thereafter.

Additional plans call for bank stabilization, species reintroduction, and removal of artificial fish barriers and non-native invasive plants on a total of 16 miles of streams in the project area.

The proposal says the work involved, including harvesting and selling wood products, will create 12.6 full-time-equivalent jobs.

The U.S. Forest Service announced its decision Tuesday to not allow boating on a disputed stretch of the Upper Chattooga River, a national wild and scenic river.

"Current management, or not boating, will be maintained year-round between Lick Log Creek and (Georgia) Hwy. 28, an area that includes the popular Delayed Harvest, a highly valued trout fishery," the three forest supervisors in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia have decided. (The northern reaches of the river are in the Nantahala National Forest in Jackson and Macon counties, North Carolina.)

To maintain the ban on boating in the northern section of the river has been the Forest Service's stated preference throughout the decision-making process, so the final ruling comes as no surprise.

"The agency’s decisions have been seven years in the making," the Forest Service news release says, "during which time many individuals and organizations haven’t always seen eye-to-eye on how to manage the upper segment of the Chattooga WSR."

The restricted area is approximately 20 miles of the river's total of 57 miles. For five of the 20 miles, the river passes through the 8,274-acre Ellicott Rock Wilderness, which is protected under the Wilderness Act.

The Forest Service will continue to allow boating in the winter and early spring between Green Creek in North Carolina and Lick Log Creek in South Carolina.

"Other actions include maintaining the current prohibition on commercial boating and boating in the tributaries on the upper segment; preventing large woody debris removal without agency approval; and redesigning, relocating or closing some trails and campsites and maintaining sustainable ones," the release says. "In addition, the agency will continue to monitor visitor use and its impacts."

The 496-page decision and it supporting and background documents are available here.

Work to enhance safety at Dry Falls will close the Nantahala National Forest site's namesake trail and parking lot this spring and summer, the USDA Forest Service said today.

Dry Falls is a 75-foot roadside cascade on U.S. 64 in the Cullasaja Gorge between Cullasaja Falls and Bridal Veil Falls near Highlands. A wide, easy trail allows visitors to walk behind Dry Falls.

The $466,000 project will reconstruct and replace the entire walking path. The work will remove tripping hazards and protect water quality through drainage control measures, a news release says.

Nantahala District Ranger Mike Wilkins said this is the first major work on the Dry Falls trail in more than 30 years.

The construction project, which is funded by Federal Highways Grant of $208,000 and matching agency funds of $258,000, is to begin in early April and conclude by September.

The parking lot at Dry Falls was resurfaced in 2008, work that also required closing the site for several weeks during the season.

If you're interested in how hiking, biking and bridle trails in North Carolina National Forests are managed, consider participating in a series of workshops to develop a non-motorized trail strategy next year.

Forest Service officials say they hope a "wide range of trail-user groups, individuals who represent local communities and ecotourism, or individuals not represented by larger user groups" will collaborate to develop "recommendations for a comprehensive trail management plan for each national forest in North Carolina." Participants might also become volunteers to assist in implementation of the plans, a news release says.

Initial meetings to be held near each subject forest will focus on Pisgah and Nantahala forest trails in January, and Uwharrie and Croatan forest trails next summer.

January meeting dates and times in the western part of the state are posted at www.fs.usda.gov/goto/nctrailstrategy along with an explanation of the program. Additional meeting times and dates are to be posted there, too.

Use of the more than 1,600 miles of non-motorized trails in North Carolina national forests has increased every year as resources used to maintain trails have been static or decreased, the news release says. Forest Service officials and users will work together to look at the trail systems and, officials hope, recommend how to make the best use of current and future resources.

Information gathered at workshops will also be used in work that begins in 2013 to revise the Nantahala/Pisgah National Forests Management Plan.

The National Forest Service has announced plans for prescribed burns in Burke and Haywood county locations in the Pisgah National Forest in the next few weeks.

The Haywood County burn is to include two projects covering about 950 acres near Harmon Den (home to a horse camp closed for the season) and the Max Patch bald. These include aproximately 500 acres between Harmon Den Road and Cherry Creek Trail, and about 450 acres between Max Patch Road and Buckeye Ridge Horse Trail.

The Burke County project is to burn approximately 1,250 acres near near Dobson Knob south of Forest Service Road 106 to Black Fork and Yellow Fork Creek.

The fires are to be set between now and "early December," weather permitting, the Forest Service says in a news release

Prescribed burns reduce the buildup of dead wood, shrubs and other vegetation, and decrease the chance of severe wildfire, the release says.

"Numerous native plants and animals need fire in their habitats to reduce competition from invading species, and to add nutrients back into the soil," according to the Forest Service. "Prescribed burning also helps support strategic goals of restoring ecological systems to their natural resilience, restoring native vegetation, and protecting people and resources from catastrophic fires."

We learned from Joe Miller and the Southern Off-Road Bicycling Association that six miles of new singletrack in the Uwharrie National Forest's Wood Run Mountain Bike Trails are set to open with a celebration a week from next Saturday.

Phase I of the Wood Run Area Trails expansion, which began in 2009 included design and expansion work on Wood Run Road Trail, Supertree Trail and Keyauwee Trail, the SORBA says.

The work was finished October 15 and "includes a half-mile of road-to-trail conversion, rehabilitation of existing unsustainable trail, installation of approximately 20 rolling grade dips on the Supertree Trail, 2,300 square feet of rock armoring, construction of rock retaining walls, at least a dozen in-sloped switchbacks and turns, and over 25 rolling grade dips on the Keyauwee Trail" in addition to six additional miles of trail.

Events at noon November 12 at the Wood Run Area trailhead are to include a ribbon cutting, trail rides, games and food.

"The new trail and upgrades should be really sweet, and the rehabbing will make some of the existing trail much more sustainable," the SORBA post says. "Although these trails are designed and built to be attractive to mountain bikers, they are open to other recreational users, such as hikers and trail runners."

Croatan National Forest said Thursday it has opened nearly all of its day use sites and campgrounds after closing them with damages from Hurricane Irene.

The Pine Cliff Picnic Area remains closed as do all trails in the forest except for the Tideland National Recreation Trail at Cedar Point Recreation Area.

The Forest Service said shortly after Hurricane Irene struck August 27 that 60 percent of roads in the 160,000-acre forest were blocked by fallen trees. Since then, only Cedar Point Recreation Area, the Oyster Point campground and the Dixon's Landing canoe launch and campground reopened on September 8.

The Pine Cliff Picnic Area, below, in Croatan Nation Forest remains closed in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. Click on the photo or the link above for more information.

The U.S. Forest Service said today it was re-opening three campgrounds in the hurricane-stricken Croatan National Forest.

The Cedar Point Recreation Area near Swansboro, which includes a family campground, the Tideland National Recreation Trail, a picnic area and a fishing pier, has reopened, as has Oyster Point Campground near Newport. The Dixon's Landing canoe launch south of Maysville, which allows primitive camping, has reopened as well.

Other Croatan Day Use Areas remain closed, including the Neuse River Recreation Area.

The Forest Service said shortly after Hurricane Irene struck August 27 that 60 percent of roads in the 160,000-acre forest were blocked by fallen trees.

The Tideland Trail at Cedar Point Recreation Area opened Wednesday. Click on the photo for more information.

We spent some time in the Croatan National Forest the week before Hurricane Irene hit, and have added pages to Carolina Outdoors Guide about some of the forest's day use sites and campgrounds that we hope you'll check out.

Recreation sites within the forest remain closed, with about 60 percent of roads blocked by downed trees as of Tuesday, and we sure hope there's not too much damage.

We were particularly impressed with Cedar Point Recreation Area on the White Oak River across from Swansboro, with its Tideland National Recreation Trail (below) and the campground with its green-grass lawns. We were disappointed with the small RV campsites at Neuse River Campground.

The National Forest Service says approximately 60 percent of roads in Croatan National Forest "are impassable due to down trees" in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

All recreation sites will remain closed to the public until hazardous trees are removed and repairs are made, the news release says.

We covered additional parks damage and closings below.