By Shannon Lukens. Courtesy photo.

Work is being done in the Bears Ears area in Routt National Forest, in the Elkhead Mountain Range. It’s part of a fuels and restoration project that will affect 57,000 acres in Routt and Moffat counties, including Wilderness Ranch, Hitch Mountain, and Quaker Mountain. It will improve forest health by reducing wildfire risk and protect watersheds. It will help with Elkhead Reservoir and the water supply for the City of Craig. There will be some prescribed fires as part of the work. Some work will begin in the fall.

Bears Ears Fuels Reduction and Restoration Project

 

Press Release from the US Forest Service Department of Agriculture; July 23, 2024.

Forest Service Releases Environmental Assessment for the Bears Ears Fuels Reduction and Restoration Project

Treatment is planned for up to 57,000 acres using a variety of methods.

(STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.)  July 23, 2024 – The Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District has released an environmental assessment, finding of no significant impact, and decision notice for the Bears Ears Fuels Reduction and Restoration project in Routt and Moffat counties.

Specifically, the decision addresses improvements to forest health and provides for human safety by treating a broad range of landscapes on up to 57,000 acres. Proposed project locations are located on the Routt National Forest in the Elkhead Mountain Range.

Project purposes include:

• Reduce wildfire risk to the communities of Wilderness Ranch, Hitch Mountain, and Quaker Mountain
• Reduce wildfire effects, including sedimentation increases, to the City of Craig water supply, Elkhead Reservoir
• Enhance efforts to protect watersheds and address threats to forest and rangeland health, including catastrophic wildfire, across the landscape
• Protect, restore, and enhance forest ecosystem components, including:
  • Promote the recovery of Greater Sage Grouse and native fish species
  • Improve biological diversity
  • Enhance productivity and carbon sequestration
• Utilize a collaborative process of planning, prioritizing, implementing hazardous fuel reduction projects, and wetland/upland restoration projects

Both fuels and restoration treatments are planned. Fuels efforts include hand work such as lopping and scattering, and mechanical work such as mastication and biochar production. Prescribed fire of varying scales is also planned. Restoration efforts also vary widely and involve such treatments as the seeding of uplands, a seasonal area closure for sage grouse and elk calving, and closed road rehabilitation, to name a few.

“This landscape-level project provides a variety of tools to utilize on the Routt National Forest, in a variety of areas, and affecting multiple resources—the ultimate goal being to enhance the health and resiliency of the Forest in the Elkhead Range,” said Michael Woodbridge, Hahns Peak/Bears Ears District Ranger.

Partnerships already exist in the project area that will allow the Forest Service to leverage resources. Parts of this project will begin implementation as soon as possible, including stream restoration, a biochar project, and then mechanical fuels treatments.

The project documents and objection information are available on-line at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/mbr/?project=63970.

Questions can be directed to project lead Kevin Thompson, kevin.thompson@usda.gov or (970) 638-4170.

Information on the Routt National Forest may be found on our website or on the Forests’ ‘X’ and Facebook accounts. Visitors may also call the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District office at (970) 870-2299.

 

-USDA-