Category Archives: Kaibab National Forest

Kaibab National Forest releases draft decision to add camping corridors

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WILLIAMS — The Kaibab National Forest has released a draft decision to add camping corridors and make other improvements to the transportation system of the Williams and Tusayan ranger districts.

The project, which was designed to improve travel management on the two districts in response to public and internal feedback, will designate approximately 291 miles of camping corridors that extend 300 feet from either side of the centerline of certain roads; add 14 spur roads to the Tusayan Ranger District; close 9 miles of currently open roads on the two districts; add 24 miles of roads to the districts’ open road system; and establish an adaptive management strategy for making limited changes to the transportation system in the future.

The final Environmental Assessment and draft Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact for the South Zone Travel Management Revision Project are available for review on the Kaibab National Forest website at http://go.usa.gov/kpQV.

Unresolved concerns about the final EA and draft DN/FONSI will be addressed through an objection process. In order to file an objection, a person must have previously submitted specific comments regarding the South Zone Travel Management Revision Project. Objections may be filed over a 45-day period. Details about the objection process are available on the Kaibab National Forest website at http://go.usa.gov/kpQV.

Changes to the transportation system included in the draft decision were all developed based on several years of monitoring following implementation of the Travel Management Rule on the two districts, which included documenting public concerns about recreational access and other issues.

“I believe our local community members and our visitors will be pleased with these changes and will recognize that they are responsive to the concerns we’ve been hearing over recent years,” said Williams District Ranger Danelle D. Harrison. “We took our commitment to listen to public and employee feedback seriously, and this decision is evidence of that continuing commitment. Our goal is to provide motorized recreational opportunities where we can while still providing for the protection of our natural and cultural resources.”

A final decision on the South Zone Travel Management Revision Project is expected in the spring with a new Motor Vehicle Use Map anticipated soon thereafter. Current Motor Vehicle Use Maps for the Kaibab National Forest are available at www.fs.usda.gov/goto/kaibab/tmr.

Kaibab National Forest seeks input on proposed changes to management of grazing allotment on Tusayan Ranger District

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TUSAYAN — The Kaibab National Forest is seeking public input on a proposal to make changes to management of the Anita/Cameron grazing allotment on the Tusayan Ranger District.

The proposed action, which is available on the Kaibab National Forest website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=48309, includes the proposed number of livestock, period of use, and range improvement infrastructure for the allotment, which consists of 205,538 acres of national forest available for grazing. The allotment is located east and southeast of the Town of Tusayan.

The purpose of the proposed action is to authorize livestock grazing consistent with Forest Service policy and in a manner that maintains or improves resource conditions, promotes ecological resiliency across the landscape, and provides long-term management direction for domestic livestock grazing.

The proposed action also incorporates flexibility into the management of the allotment in order to allow the Forest Service and individual grazing permittees to better adapt management to changing resource conditions and the achievement of management objectives.

Members of the public are encouraged to review the proposed action for the Anita/Cameron grazing allotment and provide comments by Feb. 24. The proposed action and information on how to comment are available on the Kaibab National Forest website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=48309.

It is Forest Service policy to make forage from national forest lands suitable for grazing available to qualified livestock operators and to continue contributions to the economic and social well-being of people by providing opportunities for economic diversity and by promoting stability for communities that depend on range resources for their livelihood.

Fredonia, Kanab Elementary Schools receive grant for fourth graders

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FREDONIA — Fredonia Elementary School and Kanab Elementary School are each one of 186 sites recently selected to receive a field trip grant from the National Park Foundation for the 2015-2016 school year in support of the White House youth initiative Every Kid in a Park.

As the official charity of America’s national parks, the foundation officially made the announcement in December. A full list of grantees and their projects may be found at http://www.nationalparks.org/ook/every-kid-in-a-park. Leading up to this year’s 100th birthday of the National Park Service (NPS), President Obama announced the Every Kid in a Park initiative in 2015 as a call to action to get fourth graders outdoors spending time with nature, family and friends.

Specific to fourth graders, the Forest Service and other land and resource management agencies already have conservation education programs in place to connect 9-to-11 year-old children to learn about landscapes surrounding their homes and schools. Every Kid in a Park aligns well with these education programs.

Shortly after the program’s announcement in September, representatives from the North Kaibab Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest, Bureau of Land Management Kanab Field Office, Grand Staircase Escalante Partners, and the National Park Service’s Pipe Spring National Monument partnered together to visit fourth graders at schools in Fredonia, Ariz., Colorado City, Ariz., Centennial Park, Ariz., Hildale, Utah, and Kanab, Utah, in order to generate support for the program.

During these visits, each fourth grade student was given a one-year Every Kid in a Park pass, providing the student and anyone accompanying them in the vehicle with free entry to hundreds of parks, forests and sites across the country. In addition to the Every Kid in a Park pass, the National Park Foundation awarded grants to both schools in December. Grant funding will provide field trip opportunities for each fourth grade class to participate in three field trips during the 2015-2016 school year; one each hosted by the North Kaibab Ranger District, Bureau of Land Management Kanab Field Office, and Pipe Spring National Monument. The funding will be used to provide schools with funding for transportation, learning materials and meals.

“We are excited to have this opportunity available to our fourth graders here in Kanab and Fredonia,” said Wildlife Biologist Lisa Church, Bureau of Land Management, Kanab Field Office. “Anytime we can motivate students and teachers to get outside and enjoy nature, it helps the children better understand how they can care for and protect the natural treasures that we have right here in our own backyards for future generations to also someday appreciate.”

Church assisted with the grant application process, resulting in $3,700 being awarded to the Kanab fourth-grade class and $9,000 to the Fredonia fourth-grade class.

“The Every Kid in a Park program has been a great benefit for our students, especially when you consider our location,” said Fredonia Elementary School Principal Joe B. Wright. “Being surrounded by multiple parks and forests, this program provides even greater accessibility for our 4th graders and their families. We sincerely appreciate the federal employees who have spent time working cooperatively with Fredonia Elementary School. Our students are very excited about the grant funded field trips that will be coming up in the next few months.”

National Park Foundation grants have made it possible for more than 400,000 students (including this year’s grantees) to visit national parks and other public lands and waters.

“It is inspiring to see the National Park Foundation and many other partners step up to support our goal of getting fourth graders and their families into parks, public lands and waters that belong to all Americans,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. “These generous grants will ensure children across the country have an opportunity to experience the great outdoors in their community while developing a lifelong connection to our nation’s land, water and wildlife.”

Women in Wildland Fire boot camp opening soon

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The USDA Forest Service Southwestern Region is seeking a small group of career focused women to be on-call Wildland Fire Fighters for the 2016 fire season. These on-call positions will provide support to wildland fire operations over the summer when needed and can help pave the way for future employment and career advancement inside of the Forest Service.

If you are selected for this opportunity, your first assignment will be a Women in Fire Boot Camp. The Boot Camp will provide comprehensive, formal physical wildland fire training and orientation. Upon successfully completing this training each person will receive a Wildland Fire Fighter certification and protective gear.

If you or someone you know may be interested in this opportunity, please carefully review the attached documents for additional information and instructions. The application deadline is Feb. 5, 2016.

The Arizona contact for the Women in Wildland Fire Boot Camp is:

Cory Ball
(928) 477-5024
cjball@fs.fed.us

Visitor center hosts “Kaibab National Forest, A Historic Snap Shot” display

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WILLIAMS — The Williams Visitor Center is hosting a showing of historical images, maps and documents of the Kaibab National Forest from the late 1880s to 1960 as part of the “Kaibab National Forest, A Historic Snap Shot” visual display, which will be available for public viewing through this summer.

This photo and map display represents the historic evolution of public land from the early Grand Canyon Forest Reserve to the Grand Canyon Monument, the Tusayan National Forest, and then eventually the Kaibab National Forest. The photos, which were taken on both sides of the Grand Canyon, are a representative sample of historic activities and places on the national forest. The maps show a stark contrast in boundaries from the early forest reserve to the 1949 version of the Kaibab National Forest. Display visitors will also note additional changes in forest boundaries even after 1949.

“The historic development of the Kaibab National Forest has played a significant role in the overall history of the City of Williams and our surrounding communities. But few have looked at local history from the perspective of the Forest Service,” said Margaret Hangan, heritage program manager for the Kaibab National Forest. “Therefore, the emphasis of this display is to show how the identity and function of the Kaibab National Forest have shaped our region using the forest’s own historic photos and maps to tell the story.”

In 2009, the Kaibab National Forest and Williams Public Library formed a partnership to preserve historic images and documents of the City of Williams and the surrounding area. To date there are more than 2,464 photos, documents and oral histories in the collection, and new collections are always being identified. The collection boasts items representing iconic places and themes such as “the Mother Road” Route 66, cattle and sheep ranching, logging and the timber industry, railroads and more. In 2012, 127 of the collection’s images were posted online as part of the Arizona Memory Project.

The collection, which is entirely digital, is stored on a computer dedicated to the project at the Williams library and is made available to the public free of charge. The purpose of the project is to preserve these precious treasures of the past and to make them available to the public for historic research. Hangan and Williams Public Library director Andrea Dunn have led the multi-year effort to create what is now an indispensable resource for learning about the history of the local area.

The Williams Visitor Center is located at 200 W. Railroad Ave. in Williams.

Tree marking to begin on Williams Ranger District

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WILLIAMS — Timber and silviculture staff on the Williams Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest will begin tree marking operations next week and continuing through the spring, between Forest Road 141 (Spring Valley Road), and Forest Road 76 in advance of eventual tree thinning operations to improve forest health conditions.

The area to be marked is part of the 4,400-acre Moonset Task Order, which will eventually be issued for treatment under the 1st Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) Environmental Impact Statement. Active forest restoration work will occur once the task order has been issued to a contractor, which is expected in 2017. In the meantime, residents and visitors to the area can expect to see trees and internal boundaries marked with orange paint, which will eventually serve as visual guidance to the contractor regarding Forest Service expectations for treatment.

A portion of the tree marking operations will take place on National Forest land that borders private property. Land owners in these areas may notice an increased number of Forest Service personnel and vehicles in the area over the next few months while tree marking operations are completed.

The objectives for treating the area within the Moonset Task Order are to reduce fuel loading and the potential for future high-intensity wildfires and to improve wildlife habitat and overall forest health.

The goal of the 4FRI is to accelerate the pace and scale of restoration within 2.4 million acres of ponderosa pine forest in northern Arizona to increase resilience and proper functioning. Restoring this fire-adapted ecosystem is accomplished with a suite of restoration activities – from watershed maintenance and habitat improvements to prescribed burning and thinning.

Access gates to close near Spring Valley Cabin due to winter conditions

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Recreation staff for the Williams Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest will be closing three road access gates near Spring Valley Cabin Thursday due to winter weather conditions and safety concerns.

The first gate to be closed is near the intersection of forest roads 141 and 76, and the second is farther in on Forest Road 76 as part of the popular Spring Valley Cross-Country Ski Trail. The third gate is also located on Forest Road 76, 1-mile north of Forest Road 58 (Pipeline Road). The gates could remain closed until early spring, depending on weather conditions.

Spring Valley Cabin remains open and available for rental by members of the public through the Arizona “Rooms with a View” Cabin Rental Program. Those reserving the cabin while the gates are closed will have to access it by hiking, snowshoeing or cross country skiing into the area.

Additional information regarding the Spring Valley Cross-Country Ski Trail can be found at: www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/kaibab/recreation/wintersports/recarea/?recid=43349&actid=91. Other nearby winter sports opportunities can be found at: www.fs.usda.gov/activity/kaibab/recreation/wintersports.

Information on Spring Valley Cabin and how to reserve it can be viewed at: hwww.fs.usda.gov/recarea/kaibab/recreation/camping-cabins/recarea/?recid=11662&actid=101.

Kaibab National Forest announces release of wildland fire video

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firevideo-1WILLIAMS — The Kaibab National Forest is announcing the release of an informational video explaining the importance of wildland fire in the ecosystems of northern Arizona from the perspectives of various natural and cultural resource specialists.

Over the last decade, the Kaibab has managed both wildfire and prescribed fire to treat approximately 300,000 acres for a variety of objectives. That work wouldn’t have been possible without employees from all program areas actively engaging in the management of fire across the landscape, according to Kaibab fire staff officer Art Gonzales. Because of those ongoing efforts, Gonzales thought it important to highlight a part of the wildland fire world that most people never get to see.

“Typically, most fire videos provide a fire management officer, fuels specialist or fire ecologist perspective on why we believe fire across the landscape is essential for a number of reasons,” Gonzales said. “I wanted to take this video in a new direction, a direction in which those folks who are often the critical link in a successful program do not remain behind the scenes or go unnoticed. I was looking for a video about fire but from a non-fire perspective.”

To that end, Gonzales teamed with the Southwest Fire Science Consortium and producer Josh McDaniel to create a 10-minute video entitled “Keeping Fire on the Ground: Resource Specialist Perspectives on the Kaibab National Forest,” which can be viewed at https://youtu.be/IpFWb5NDyPI.

“I am hopeful this is a product that can be used to help educate, raise awareness, and highlight the collective efforts necessary to build a successful wildland fire management program,” Gonzales said. “On the Kaibab, we have been fortunate to have past and present employees at all levels of the organization who truly understand fire and who have helped build an extensive history of using wildland fire to achieve benefits to many resource areas across the forest, from protection of the wildland urban interface to ecosystem restoration to cultural and heritage site preservation and more. It is critical that this important work continue, and I hope the video will help spread the word about our efforts.”

Kaibab National Forest hiring window opens soon

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640_jobopsFREDONIA — It’s that time of year again; time to dust off and update the resume in preparation for the USDA Forest Service annual hiring of qualified applicants for 2016 temporary seasonal spring and summer positions. These seasonal job opportunities may include positions in wildland firefighting as well as other challenging and rewarding fields like recreation, range, engineering, archaeology, timber and visitor services.

At nearly 1.6 million acres in size, the Kaibab National Forest is a large area of land to care for with plenty of job opportunities to offer during the spring and summer months.

Please note that most vacancies will only be open for seven days. Applicants should refer to the positions listed in the table below for open/close dates. Specific duty location contacts are identified by each district, and multiple positions may be offered at each duty location. Interested applicants should contact duty locations for additional information regarding vacancies.

Applicants must apply through USAJobs prior to the deadline and are encouraged to apply for multiple locations if interested. This is the first and most important step to working for the USDA Forest Service. After creating an account, the process will enable applicants to apply for future positions, follow up after applying, and streamline the overall process for future applications an individual may submit.
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Tusayan Ranger District Conducts Russell Prescribed Fire

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TUSAYAN — Fire managers for the Tusayan Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest started treatment on the 475-acre Russell Prescribed Fire this morning. The Russell fire boundaries are located near Forest Road 311 and 311A to the west, and Forest Road 310RC to the east. A portion of the Arizona Trail is also within the prescribed fire area. That particular section of the trail will remain open, but visitors should exercise caution when traveling through the area.

A request to burn an additional 475-acres has also been submitted to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and could potentially take place tomorrow in an area adjacent to today’s prescribed burn.

During prescribed fires, community members and visitors may see fire personnel and vehicles in the vicinity. There are no smoke impacts anticipated for Highway 64, the Grand Canyon or the town of Tusayan. Smoke is expected to be carried out to the northeast due to prevailing winds from the southwest.

All prescribed burning on the Kaibab National Forest is subject to approval by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and appropriate weather conditions. For additional information on the Smoke Management Division of the ADEQ and to view prescribed burns authorized on any given day, please visit http://www.azdeq.gov/environ/air/smoke/index.html.

Additional information, photos and maps are available through the following resources: InciWeb http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4113/; Kaibab National Forest Fire Information Phone Line (928) 635-8311; Text Message – text ‘follow kaibabnf’ to 40404.