Efforts to prevent forest fires and invasive mussels are among the list of projects that may receive funding from the U.S. Forest Service this year.
On Tuesday, the San Juan Title II Resource Advisory Committee recommended several projects throughout Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma and San Juan counties to the Forest Service.
The projects, if approved by the Forest Service, will be funded under the Title II provision of the Secure Rural Schools Act, designed to fund projects that improve conditions in national forests. In general, the work is done by private contractors.
Notably, $15,000 will be geared toward continuing the inspection of non-native, invasive aquatic species at McPhee and House Creek boat ramps on McPhee Reservoir.
Forest recreation planner Tom Rice said troublesome mussels, such as zebra and quagga, are commonly transported from other reservoirs like Lake Powell to non-infected waterways.
The mussels have been known to destroy fisheries and the health of watersheds, as well as clog irrigation and drinking-water systems, costing exorbitant amounts to maintain.
“We recognize the economic impact if mussels got into the infrastructure, the drinking-water and irrigation system that McPhee provides,” Rice said. “This is a stopgap project.”
The grant money will help hire a full staff to operate an inspection program at McPhee, which will enforce boats to arrive clean, drained and dry.
It costs $80,000 per year for the McPhee boat inspections and the budget is split between the San Juan Forest and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Last year, the regional office of the Forest Service cut the 2016 budget for McPhee boat inspections by $40,000. However, San Juan Forest officials report full funding was secured for 2016 season, but a long term budget solution is needed.
In La Plata County, $10,860 would be put toward fire mitigation along County Road 205, from the entrance to Falls Creek Ranch to 0.6 miles south of the entrance.
Paulette Church, a member of Falls Creek Firewise, said the goal of the project is to trim and remove encroaching trees and vegetation to allow firefighters safe access to the area, which has more than 100 homes.
Jimbo Buickerood, a member of the RAC representing La Plata County and public lands coordinator for San Juan Citizens Alliance, said the past years’ efforts of residents around Falls Creek make the proposal a “model project.”
“They’ve done all this work north of this boundary, and this is not a lot of money to make this possible,” he said. “Some of you may remember the story of the Weber Fire. The fact those guys had gotten after it, gotten money, had done the work so fire crews could feel like they had safe egress made all the difference.
“That’s been one of the poster childs used across the country of how to do things, and that’s a smaller development. So an investment of $10,000 here pays off saving lives, property and so forth.”
Also in La Plata County, $31,650 was recommended to fund resurfacing of 3.9 miles of Saul’s Creek Road from the County Road 526 intersection to the Forest Service gate. The project is slated to be complete by summer 2017.
Because of the funding of two previous projects, a proposal to thin susceptible forest fire areas along Saul’s Creek received no money.
Kevin Heiner of the Southwest Conservation Corps said the project would help improve the skill development of eight at-risk youths, who would have worked on about 20 acres throughout a two-week period.
RAC members recommended the Southwest Conservation Corps work with the fire mitigation project along Falls Creek.
In Dolores County, $18,329 was recommended to fund road improvements along two miles of Cottonwood Road.
In Montezuma County, about $10,000 was recommended to resurface County Road X. Remaining grant money, about $10,000, would go to the removal of invasive weeds around McPhee Reservoir. That project originally requested around $29,000.
And in San Juan County, $26,945 would be used to improve Forest Service Road 585, which provides access to South Mineral Campground.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
