Forest Service seeking comments on draft plan

Fort Howes buildings being torn down

 

April 25, 2019



A Forest Revision Planning Meeting was held earlier this month in Ashland, in order to help gauge public interest in long term planning options for the Ashland Ranger District of the Custer/Gallatin National Forest.

Several alternative plans have been made, with the major differences on the Ashland District seeming to be the designation and management of areas such as Cook Mountain, King Mountain, and the Tongue River Breaks area north of Birney. Alternatives include keeping them the way they currently are as “low development areas", removing them all together from special management, reclassifying them as “backcountry areas”, or designating them as wilderness areas.

The Forest Service is looking for comments on the draft plans. Public Affairs Specialist Mariah Leuschen-Lonergan emphasizes that comments should have the “why” or reason behind the comment, as those answers will provide much needed guidance for the Forest Service to help make their decisions.

The documents with different draft plans are available by Googling “Custer National Forest Draft Plan”. Comments are open from March 1 to June 6th of this year.

In other Forest Service News, the Forest Service is transferring the jurisdiction and administration of the Fort Howes Administrative Site (formerly the Fort Howes Ranger Station) to the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM is assuming management of the site and several

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existing facilities including three bunkhouses, two residences, a chlorination building and the helicopter hanger. Several years ago, the BLM built a new fire station at Fort Howes.

A contract has been awarded to Asphalt Plus of Billings to decommission the remaining buildings (garage/shop, office, and residence), along with the supporting infrastructure. The biggest changes the public are likely to see is the removal of some of the buildings and the water spigot that some people were using for personal use. According to the Forest Service, the water cannot be secured, it is not tested to ensure it is safe for public use/consumption, and the agencies do not hold a water right that includes public use. The water right that is held is for industrial use for the Fort Howes facility only so the high volume water fill up facility for filling wildland fire suppression equipment will remain.

“In 2012 the Forest Service determined the administrative site was excess to the agency’s needs,” said Ron Hecker, Ashland District Ranger. “The original structures were constructed at different times beginning in the 1930s and were repaired over the years but have reached the end of their useful life.”

Hecker said that the buildings had been evaluated by the Forest Service for historical significance, and not found to hold the criteria to keep them around, due to changes and updates which had occurred over the years. Folks in the area are used to seeing the old buildings, and even grown fond of the structures, so there’s sure to be some feelings when folks see them come down.

For additional information please contact the Ashland Ranger Station.

 

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