Archive for the ‘Grandfather Ranger District’ Category

Prescribed Burn in McDowell County to temporarily close three trails

Sunday, March 4th, 2012
The U.S. Forest Service plans to implement a prescribed burn on Singecat Ridge in McDowell County between now and late March, depending on the weather. The prescribed burn could occur as early as Tuesday, March 6.

The Forest Service’s Grandfather Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest plans to burn approximately 2,000 acres on National Forest land and around 100 acres on Blue Ridge Parkway land. The center of the burn unit will be approximately 10 miles northwest of the city of Marion. The boundary of the burn is the Blue Ridge Parkway to the north, Bee Rock Creek also on the north above the Armstrong Fish Hatchery, Highway 80 on the west, and Singecat Branch and Armstrong Creek on the east.

This is the first prescribed burn conducted under the Grandfather Restoration Project. Last month, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced $605,000 in Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration program funding for the project.

Woods Mountain Trail #218, Armstrong Creek Trail #223, and Bad Fork Trail #204 will be closed for the duration of the project, which may last up to five days to provide for visitor safety.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Posted in Grandfather Ranger District, McDowell County, Prescribed burns | Comments Off

Grandfather Ranger District to receive $605,000 for forest restoration

Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Last week the U.S. Forest Service announced funding awards for ten new projects under the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) program. The recipient of one of those awards was the Grandfather Ranger District in North Carolina. Located within the Pisgah National Forest, the Grandfather Ranger District is an area of 330,360 acres southeast of the Blue Ridge Parkway, between Asheville and Blowing Rock.

Over the next 10 years, the award of $605,000 will be used primarily for the following projects:

* Restoration of the natural fire regime to fire adapted vegetation to benefit threatened and endangered species, restore native forests and woodlands, benefit early successional wildlife species, and reduce wildfire costs and severity.

Essentially, the goal is to increase the number of prescribed burns on 36,795 acres of pine and oak forests. The Forest Service typically burns about 2,000 acres a year, but with CFLR funding, will increase that to 6,507 acres per year.

* Control non-native invasive plants to benefit threatened and endangered species at Linville Gorge and restore riparian vegetation at Wilson Creek Wild and Scenic River.

* Treat eastern and Carolina hemlock for hemlock wooly adelgid to maintain genetically and ecologically important hemlock forest in the face of a non-native pest.

For more information on the program, please click here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Posted in Grandfather Ranger District, Pisgah National Forest | Comments Off