How does the forest service decide what to fix?

[pdxgene]

Does anyone know how the process works? I'm just curious since so much seems to be getting done this year yet some glaring needs are being left untouched.

Examples...
Opal Creek... A well used area with a simple bridge repair that is needed. The material for the repair has been sitting right next to the bridge for two full years now. You couldn't have a much more "shovel ready" project. Yet it sits untouched.

Burnt Lake would be another.. They put up new signs to help guide more people to the trail. They are building an expensive new bridge to provide access. Yet even on their own website they call the damaged part of the trail "treacherous". Still no one at the forest service offices or the ranger stations has any idea about a timeline for repairing the trail.
I'm sure there are plenty of other examples but these are two I see on a regular basis.
So any guesses out there?

[retired jerry]

Of course, there's the Timberline Trail Eliot crossing - but that will be expensive and difficult to fix in a way that won't be destroyed in the next big storm.

[drm]

My guess - and that's all it is - is that different forests and ranger districts have different priorities and expertise. Some might have more interest in focusing on roads or campgrounds, or the many things in national forests that don't involve recreation. Some might have more experience in going for stimulus grants, which I think is a pretty bureaucratic process. Having a couple of people who know that process could well greatly speed up the process.

Also, one experienced trail maintenance person told me that stimulus funds were mixed blessings. Such funds are often mandated to only pay for certain things, and are prohibited from paying for other things. So you might have the money to pay for trail crews, but nobody to schedule, support, and manage them without dropping something else you think is important - that stimulus won't pay for.

[forestkeeper]

Hi. I am a volunteer with the US Forest Service out of the Clackamas River Ranger District in Estacada, OR and the answer to your question is: the work isn't getting done because there is no one to do the work. Uncle Sam (our precious government) has cut about 80 % of most government agencies. The Forest Service, BLM, State Parks and Recreation, and most counties no longer have even road maintenance crews. All work is "farmed out" to private contractors. I am under the trail maintenance dept and as of 6/01/11 there was only one paid trail engineer at the Estacada office. Most trail maintenance projects are volunteer. Even Forest Service Law Enforcement have been cut. There are only two officers in Clackamas County alone. The rest falls on the Clackamas County Sheriff Dept,. which in turn, only has two or three units for the whole county working in the woods. It's really sad.

In the month of June, I volunteered over 100 hours to picking up trash and shooting debris in the Hillockburns area of the Mt. Hood National Forest. It's so depressing to spend so much time cleaning the forests only to see it trashed the next week. I spent one week debrushing, clearing, and maintaining Hillockburn Trail 516 only to see it completely trashed over the 4th of July weekend. There is a small camp site next to the trail. I went there on July 5th, 2011 to see it totally ruined. Whoever stayed there cut down about 12 small trees with a camp ax, tepee'd the trees, stripped the bark off two trees and spray painted Nazi swastikas, left shattered glass every where possible. I never returned after that.

If you see work that needs to be done, please call the nearest Forest Service Ranger Station, and just tell the information desk and they will put it on report. If you want, just email me at [email protected] and I will relay the information or see that it gets done.

[retired jerry]

Thanks forestkeeper, for the info and for maintaining trails. I know what you mean, I hate seeing trash in the wilderness.

That's interesting how much the budget has been cut.

And then this will cause us to think the forest service is incompetent and want to cut the other 20%

[Charley]

This is one of the reasons we're headed for another recession. No matter how many times someone says "the government doesn't create jobs," when a Forest Service employee is laid off, that's another person on the dole, another person who can't support their local rural community with their wages. I know this isn't supposed to be a political forum, but the impact is not only on the unmaintained FS facilities, but also the local and national economies as well.

[Waffle Stomper]

The Northwest Youth Corps was just leaving burnt creek for a weekend break yesterday.

Edit: The trail is in good condition the whole way. Thank you NYC.

[Crusak]

Biggest question I have is: if the federal government is cutting forest service budgets this much, where are they spending all that money they're borrowing? (okay, please consider this a rhetorical question... I don't want to fuel any political chat)

I'm grateful for any/all of the time & sweat that my fellow hikers donate to maintaining trails. Your efforts are much appreciated.
* hand salute *

[Charley]

Biggest question I have is: if the federal government is cutting forest service budgets this much, where are they spending all that money they're borrowing? (okay, please consider this a rhetorical question... I don't want to fuel any political chat)

I'm grateful for any/all of the time & sweat that my fellow hikers donate to maintaining trails. Your efforts are much appreciated.
* hand salute *

Iraq, Afghanistan, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security. Those are the big drains on the budget.

[pdxgene]

A lot more of the forest service money seems to be going into fire fighting these past few years.
And social security is actually the holder of the biggest chunk of U.S. debt, far greater than China, not the creator of it.