LEE RANGER DISTRICT

James Small, District Ranger
109 Molineu Rd.
Edinburg, Va. 22824
(540) 984-4101
http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/gwj/lee/

CURRENT AND UPCOMING

Hawk Timber Sale – Proposed 238 acres of logging and ½ miles of roadbuilding. The project is located near the northernmost point on the entire national forest. According to one citizen who visited the area, “numerous large-diameter old Chestnut, Northern Red, & White Oaks, and Black Gums, Red Maple, Hickories, and White Ash (such as 25-40” dbh)” are present and may be vulnerable to logging. Significant trail resources in the area could be impacted as well.


Proposed Industrial-scale Windpower installation in unroaded areas– (Shenandoah/Rockingham Cos.) Developer FreedomWorks has proposed an 18 mi. long, 131-turbine industrial wind facility within the heart of the Falls Ridge and Church Mountain Virginia mountain treasure areas. Resources impacted could include remote ridgetop habitat, raptor and bat populations, and the long-distance Great Eastern Trail, planned for this mountaintop area. The Forest Service turned down an initial proposal for some exploratory turbines, but the project is still being pushed by the developer.

What you can do: See VAFW wind energy page. Call or write the district ranger and ask him to protect unroaded Virginia mountain treasure areas like Church Mountain and Falls Ridge from industrial development. Use the information above or, if you are familiar with the area, add a personal note. Contact information for Ranger District: James Smalls, District Ranger, 109 Molineu Rd., Edinburg, Va. 22824 (540) 984-4101, jsmalls@fs.fed.us

RECENT

Laurel Run/Road timber sale - a proposed 484 acre timber sale southwest of Big Schloss. Approximately 13 or more of the 22 cutting units are within the Falls Ridge area, one of the largest unroaded areas not officially recognized as such by the Forest Service. Approximately 71% of the cutting units are older than 100 years old and 20 acres are older than 120 years old, according to Forest Service information. The project will affect important aquatic and riparian habitat near Laurel Run.

Great Little Timber Sale area, a proposed timber sale in the Lee Ranger District next to the Big Schloss Roadless Area.

photo: Copyright Sherman Bamford 2005

Great Little timber sale - Approved 280 acres of logging immediately outside of Big Schloss Roadless Area on its western side. Big Schloss was 36,526 acres in RARE II, the third largest roadless area on National Forest land in the Eastern U.S. (larger even than the present-day Cranberry Wilderness). This is the third consecutive project proposed near (or in) Big Schloss since 2002. The logging is located in a valley that is visible from the rock outcrop on Big Schloss. Although the area outside the roadless area has already been heavily logged, several of the finest remaining mature forest tracts are targeted for logging in this proposal. In a visit to this project area in the winter of 2005, representatives of VAFW and Wild Virginia observed an even-aged logging unit that was a few years old. Although some of the trees in the unit had survived the logging (or had regrown), most of the trees had snapped in a recent windstorm. This is one more example of Forest Service logging that leaves trees in cutting units exposed and vulnerable to blowdowns. This is another negative effect resulting from the intensive industrial logging techniques used on Forest Service lands. The project area contains sensitive karst soils and sinkholes. Many of the cutting units are located on steep slopes. One cutting unit is located just above a reservoir for the town of Woodstock, Virginia.




Big Mountain prescribed burn – 2300 acres of burning in Page County.


Scothorn Gap trail – extend trail west


Stephens Path – extend trail east


Tuscarora Trail – construction of connector trail


Sandy Timber Sale - A 263 acre logging project on Sandy Ridge above the Lost River. The project takes place in some of the most northern reaches of the George Washington National Forest, in West Virginia. The Forest Service says that it views this project as "routine" and non-controversial, despite the project's very large size. The cutting units are located just south of Corridor H, the controversial four-lane highway. The FS began taking initial comments on this project in spring 2003. There should be additional comment opportunities in the future.


Prescribed Burns - Five separate projects calling for 10,475 acres of prescribed burning (Big Mountain, Devils Hole, Falls Ridge/Laurel Run, Great North Mountain, and Wayonaze burns).

Paddy Run and the Vances Cove Trail: Both are at Risk as a result of the recently approved Paddy Timber Sale

photo: Copyright Sherman Bamford 2005

Paddy Timber Sale - 133 acres of even-aged logging in a portion of Great North Mountain that was part of the Big Schloss Roadless Area inventoried during the RARE II process in 1978. Since 1978, the Big Schloss Roadless Area has been greatly diminished in size. Big Schloss was 36,526 acres in RARE II, the third largest roadless area on National Forest land in the Eastern U.S. (larger even than the present-day Cranberry Wilderness). Its size in the latest Inventory for the GWNF FEIS has been whittled down by 40% to 20,755 acres. Even the 1991 draft EIS for the GWNF Plan included the Great North Mountain area (in the project area) as part of the Roadless Area; it was inexplicably dropped when the Final EIS and Plan were released. That portion of Great North Mountain east of Forest Road 1018, west of FDRs 93 and 93F, north of FDR 371, and south of US 55 is a large de facto roadless area around 6000 acres in size that is presently uninventoried by the FS. It apparently is even contiguous with the presently inventoried Big Schloss RA; the roads (371 and 93F) don't entirely separate these areas. Cutting units 5 and 6 of the Paddy project are part of this uninventoried Great North Mountain roadless area, while other proposed cutting units (all or parts of 1,2,3,4) are in other unroaded lands that are contiguous with the Big Schloss Roadless Area. The lower reaches of the project area near Paddy Run contains numerous seeps; logging will negatively affect this highly biodiverse area. The project was approved in Fall 2004 over the objections of several conservation groups. Wild Virginia is actively monitoring the project.


Sours Supin Timber Sale - Approved Spring 2005. 281 acre timber sale on National Forest land just south of the Bryce Mtn. Ski Resort. The project involves extensive even-aged logging and 1.6 miles of road construction near a tributary of the N. Fork of the Shenandoah River.


Peters Mill Rd/Taskers Gap All-Terrain-Vehicle route relocations - Approved April 2005. The good news is that this project will move two official ATV trails further away from streams that had been impacted by motorized use. The bad news is that some of these ATV route still run through unique biological areas originally recommended for protection by state biologists. We also believe that there is still potential for streams to be damaged by permitted or unpermitted ATV use in the area, despite the changes. Time will tell whether the relocations will successfully reduce damage to the watershed from ATV use.


Slate Timber Sale - 188 acres of logging approved just across the state line from the Paddy Timber sale (see Paddy Timber Sale above). This project would impact portions of the Big Schloss Roadless Area in West Virginia. Virginia Forest Watch and Shenandoah Ecosystems Defense Project filed separate appeals opposing this project.


Buck Mountain prescribed burn – 650 acres of burning in Hardy Co., WVa.