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NORTH RIVER RANGER DISTRICT
(formerly Dry River and Deerfield Ranger Districts)
Elwood Burge, District Ranger
401 Oakwood Drive
Harrisonburg, VA 22801
ph. (540) 432-0187
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Elliott
Knob Roadless Area
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CURRENT AND UPCOMING
There is over 1600 acres of new
logging proposed or approved in this single ranger district as of
August 2009.
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Marshall Run/Rocky Spur timber sales –
(Rockingham Co., North River Ranger District) Two timber sales
totalingapproximately 485 acres. Nearly 300 acres are planned
inside the 17,152 acre Beech Lick Knob mountain treasure area,
part of a large roadless tract that the Forest Service only
belatedly recognized as “potential wilderness” last
summer.
See news articles [Daily
News-Record Sept. 28, 2007 article: Marshall Run area - Plan
For Timber Brings Memories Flooding Back. Marshall Run Area's
Residents Concerned. | Steve Krichbaum's Oct. 25, 2007 Letter-to-the-Editor ]
What you can do: Call or write the district ranger and
ask him to protect portions of these two areas within the Beech
Lick Knob Virginia mountain treasure area from logging and
roadbuilding. Use the information above or, if you are familiar
with the area, add a personal note. Contact information for
Ranger District: Elwood Burge, District Ranger, 401 Oakwood
Drive, Harrisonburg, VA 22801 ph. (540) 432-0187; email: eburge@fs.fed.us, fax: (540)
432-1917
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Back Draft timber sale –The Forest Service
has proposed 566 ac. of logging and 2.4 miles of road
construction/reconstruction in the Back Draft area of Bath County
northwest of Walker Mountain. All but 2-4 of the 25 cutting units
in this sale are in the Walker Mountain Virginia Mountain
Treasure area that lies between Elliott Knob to the south and
Shenandoah Mountain to the north. Several trout stream watersheds
are in the area. There are several small pockets of older forest
on the mountain. Two trails, the Back Draft Trail and the Sam
Judd Ramsey Trail are nearby and may be impacted as well. Nearby
areas (Grindstone and Sidling Hill) have already been impacted by
extensive Forest Service logging.
What you can do: Please urge the Forest Service protect
the Walker Mountain Virginia Mountain Treasure area by canceling
proposals for logging and roadbuilding.Use the information above
or, if you are familiar with the area, add a personal note.
Write:US Mail: Elwood Burge, District Ranger, North River Ranger
District, 401 Oakwood Dr., Harrisonburg, Va. 22801, email: eburge@fs.fed.us, fax: (540)
432-1917
Tims Draft timber sale – (Augusta Co.,
North River Ranger District) This 250 ac. timber sale is proposed
in or near* the 31,000 ac. Jerkemtight-Benson Run mountain
treasure area. This very large mountain treasure is known for its
amazing trails and backcountry opportunities.
* Based on written description in the Forest
Service’s quarterly schedule of projects. Maps of the area
are not yet available.
What you can do: Please urge the Forest Service protect
the Jerkemtight-Benson Run Virginia Mountain Treasure area by
canceling any proposals for logging and roadbuilding within the
area, if contemplated by the agency. Use the information above
or, if you are familiar with the area, add a personal note.
Write:US Mail: Elwood Burge, District Ranger, North River Ranger
District, 401 Oakwood Dr., Harrisonburg, Va. 22801, email: eburge@fs.fed.us, fax: (540)
432-1917
Hodges Draft timber sale – Approximately
180 acres of logging approved around Hodges Draft near the Benson
Run area.
RECENT
Big Run timber sale – This
315 acre logging project was approved in the Hearthstone Lake
area west of Staunton and Harrisonburg. Sixty-five percent (227
acres) of the cutting acreage is proposed in an area (with some
possible unroaded inclusions) in the Little River Potential
Wilderness Area (new agency terminology for a roadless area, not
our terminology) in Augusta County. This timber sale decision was
appealed by Virginia Forest Watch in 2007, and overturned, due to
lack of a reasonable range of alternatives. The sale was up for
appeal a second time in late summer 2008. The Forest Service
considered dropping all cutting units in the 30,000 acre Little
River Potential Wilderness Area in a recent letter requesting
comments from the public.
Rocky Run Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Route Relocation
- In 1996, a 1/5 mile portion of an OHV trail along Rocky Run was
damaged by flooding and the Forest Service determined the section
could not be used again without causing drastic damage. Now the
FS is considering relocating the motorized trail a short distance
from the original OHV route and stream, and reopening the route.
The segment is part of a larger loop that funnels OHVs through
portions of (1.) a special management area on Shenandoah Mtn. and
(2.) through an area classified as "remote habitat for
wildlife" by the Forest Service. The Forest Service took
initial comments on this project in the summer of 2003 and again
in the summer of 2005.
Sugar Run timber project - A 518 acre timber
sale in Pendleton County, West Virginia with 2.3 miles of
roadbuilding in the flats along Little Fork, Seng Run, Sugar Run,
Thorny Run, and George Run just below Bother Knob and the 7313
acre Dry River Roadless Area.
Fox Grape timber project – 263 acres of
logging near the town of Goshen. The project is located in a
management prescription area, part of 91,000 acres on the GWNF
where logging is emphasized over most other uses. Some cutting
units may also lie within or near a scenic corridor that is in
the foreground of Rt 42, an outstanding scenic route on the GWNF.
The project is also located in the watershed of the Calfpasture
River and Cold Sulphur Springs Branch. The Forest Service planned
to convert an unauthorized road to official use as part of this
project.
Signal Corps Knob timber project - SIGNAL CORPS KNOB LOGGING
PROPOSAL - UPDATE: SIGNAL CORPS KNOB PROJECT DROPPED!: It is a rare occasion when the Forest
Service chooses "No Action." From the time that this
project was first announced, Wild Virginia, Virginia Forest Watch
and local citizens had serious concerns about how the 230 acre
timber sale would affect the unique values of the area,
including: remote wildlife habitat, extremely steep slopes, old
growth forest, and trails. Thanks to diligent work by
conservationists and thanks to environmental laws now in place,
such as the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), the
Forest Service looked at the Signal Corps Knob logging project
deliberately before proceeding. Ultimately the Forest Service
decided not to proceed with this project in a highly
inappropriate area. NEPA is a landmark environmental law that
works! Let's defend it.
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Walker Mountain Virginia Mountain Treasure area where the
proposed Back Draft timber sale is proposed
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Back Draft and Ramsey prescribed burns –
burning on 3000 acres at Walker Mountain and Great North
Mountain.
Deerfield prescribed burns – burning on
1,430 acres in the Wallace Tract, Marshall Tract, Augusta
Springs, Ingram Draft, Rail Hollow, Phillips Spring, and Hog
Back.
Dry River prescribed burns – burning on
19,125 acres in Augusta, Highland, Rockingham, and Pendleton
Counties.
Hite Hollow and Chestnut Oak Flat prescribed burns
– burning on 600 acres on Great North Mountain near Forest
Road 82.
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Cutting unit in Cold Springs timber sale
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Cold Springs timber project - In June 2005, the
Forest Service approved the Cold Springs timber sale, an
even-aged logging and thinning project in the rich flats to the
northwest of Elliott Knob. There were several braided streams and
complex riparian areas in or near several of the cutting units.
Two cutting units were located very close to the boundary of the
Elliott Knob RARE II roadless area and one unit may have been
partially within it. In August 2005, following appeals by three
conservation groups (including Virginia Forest Watch), the Forest
Service was willing to engage the public in a constructive
dialogue in an attempt to resolve these concerns. As a result,
the only even-aged cutting unit (663-15) between Forest Service
Road 77 and the Elliott Knob inventoried roadless area will not
be logged. A portion of this area is in or adjacent to the
Elliott Knob RARE II area and we believe that the remaining
portion is part of an uninventoried roadless area. A second
cutting unit (665/11) with a braided stream and complex riparian
area in it will not be logged. This unit has one of the most
significant and sizeable riparian areas in the project. The
Forest Service also formally incorporated promises it had made
regarding riparian area conservation and aquatic species
conservation into binding mitigation measures. The compromise
reached does not fully satisfy the need to protect the
biologically diverse, low-lying forests to the northwest of
Forest Service Road 77 (which have already been heavily logged
and roaded) - or some other concerns.
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Stream below cutting unit in Cold Springs timber sale
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Trout Branch timber project - Approved 70 acres
of logging near the eastern side of the Elliott Knob RARE II
(roadless) area. Virginia Forest Watch appealed this project in
August 2005.
Sidling Hill timber project - Approximately 80
acres of logging approved on Sidling Hill near the Calfpasture
River and Marble Valley. VAFW joined with other citizens and
neighboring landowners in negotiations with the Forest Service in
order to better protect riparian forests at Sidling Hill.
Roadside herbicide spraying - There are thousand
of miles of roads on the George Washington and Jefferson National
Forests. This vast road system negatively affects wildlife,
soils, and watersheds, and provides prime areas for the spread
and introduction of non-native plants. Selected, unneeded roads
could be closed to reduce the spread of non-native plants and
other problems. Instead, the Deerfield Ranger District proposes
spraying 132 miles of the ranger district's roads with toxic
herbicides such as glysophate, triclopyr, and other substances.
Schoolhouse Road timber project - logging near
Sugar Grove, W. Va. A decision has already been signed. Wild
Virginia and SABP are appealing this West Virginia project.
Grindstone Timber Sale - Five years ago, the
original proposal for this project included hundreds of acres of
logging and approx. 5 miles of roadwork on Walker Mtn., just
north of Marble Valley Special Management Area. Wild Virginia
appealed this project.
Chestnut Oak Knob-Grouse Timber Sale - Approved
clearcut logging (combined with old cutting units) would nearly
encircle Chestnut Oak Knob. There is already 641 acres of
recently logged forest (0-40 years old) in the area, but the
Forest Service wants to log even more. Forest Service public
relations campaigns dating to the early 1990s claimed that the
agency was reducing the amount of clearcutting it was doing on
public lands. In reality, the reduction was only a change of
euphemisms, because, at the time, it was still doing a lot of
other types of even-aged logging, with many of the same impacts.
Now the FS is reviving the practice of clearcutting under the
guise of so-called "grouse" logging projects. Chestnut
Oak Knob-Grouse is one of a trio of clearcut logging proposals
labeled as "grouse" timber sales in the George
Washington and Jefferson National Forests (joining the Powell
Mtn. II project in the Clinch RD and the Cripple Creek Grouse
project in the Mt. Rogers NRA). The Chestnut Oak Knob project
decision approves 94 acres of clearcutting and over a mile of
road construction in an area just north of Crawford Mtn. Roadless
Area and just east of Ramseys Draft Wilderness Area.
Farrow Hollow Timber Sale - Proposal for
possible "clearcutting, modified shelterwood logging,
overstory removal" and other logging on 150 acres upstream
from the Calfpasture River and Lake Merriweather in Rockbridge
County. The Forest Service approved this project in an appeal
decision in April 2004.
Sugartree - In 2002, the FS approved 216 acres
of logging and vegetation-clearing just outside of the
Jerkemtight Roadless Area. The Forest Service chose a form of
highgrading - removing trees from the best sites - here. Many of
the cutting units are located deep draws with notable old growth
and large trees. Even before this project was approved, FS
logging in the vicinity of the project denuded long strips of
richest ravines and streamside forests elsewhere, as VAFW members
have observed in 2001 field visits. In 2002, Virginia Forest
Watch joined a Shendandoah Ecosystems Defense Project appeal of
the project.
Liptrap Timber Sale - Additional information plus photos
- 287 acres of logging just outside of Elliot Knob Roadless Area.
Maybe Timber Sale- even-aged logging stands that
are, according to Forest Service CISC records, 90+, 100+, 130,
140, 150, and 200 yrs old or older. The 130 acre logging project
is located high on the slopes of the northernmost section of
Shenandoah Mountain in Virginia. Virginia Forest Watch and other
groups appealed this project; the Forest Service allowed the
project to proceed in an appeal decision in September 2004. North
River Timber Sale - A proposed timber project at a popular
recreation area beside the North River. The FS proposes logging
white pines and artificially planted red pines here. The FS
claims that root disease is affecting some of the planted stands,
but logging is known to worsen root disease in many cases. The
over half of the project area consists of a riparian area and
many of the cutting units appear to be close to the North River.
SEDG and Virginia Forest Watch appealed this decision.
Hogpen Mtn Rd - Proposed closure of a road along
Long Creek that is contributing high amounts of sediment to the
stream. The initial comment period for this project occurred
summer 2003.
Canbe Timber Sale - 163 acre timber sale near
the Little Dry River. The FS plans to close 1 mile of road, but
the benefits of this will be lost because, as part of the same
project, the FS also plans build an additional 0.8 mi. of roads.
Some of the sale area is potential habitat for the rare Cow Knob
salamander. Potential old growth could be affected by this
project, but the FS failed to adequately consider old growth and
even failed to document how old the trees are in the area.
Virginia Forest Watch joined a fall 2002 appeal of this project
by Shenandoah Ecosystems Defense Groups and other groups.
Dice Run Timber Sale - 126 acres of logging on
the northwest side of Shenandoah Mtn. in Pendleton Co., West
Virginia. Decision approved by the FS in January 2003
Jerkemtight Roadless
Area
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