Downhill thrill: The Life of a Snow Ranger during Alpine World Ski Championships

USDA:

Posted by Max Forgensi, White River National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, on January 16, 2015 at 10:00 AM

Max Forgensi is the lead snow ranger for the Eagle-Holy Cross Ranger District on the White River National Forest and for the International Ski Federation Alpine World Ski Championships in Vail, Colorado. (U.S. Forest Service/Roger Poirier)

There is an amazing partnership happening on public lands across this country, and it’s been ongoing for nearly a century.

You may not know that large private companies operate ski resorts on your national forests and for that reason the U.S. Forest Service has snow rangers across the country responsible for a myriad of jobs on different national forests. Snow rangers may issue backcountry avalanche advisories or assist the ski resorts with the development of summer activities. Snow rangers coordinate other recreation events like extreme races, while balancing proposals for new chairlifts, restaurants, and snowmaking lines.  The duties are endless and dynamic.

I have the fortunate opportunity to serve as a snow ranger for the White River National Forest in Colorado, upholding a long-standing legacy that was started by Montgomery Atwater, the first snow ranger at Utah’s Alta Ski Resort in the 1940s. In the beginning snow rangers existed to mitigate avalanches and provide a safe winter experience for national forest visitors. Today, that original mission holds true but the job has become much more complex – and equally as fun.

Winter sports have long been a part of U.S. Forest Service history. In this 1940 photo, two skiers are on the practice slope of Anvil Lake Ski Trail in Wisconsin. (U.S. Forest Service/Leland J. Prater)

My forest is the second national forest in the nation’s history and the most-visited among the 154 other national forests. The White River has 12 ski resorts operating with permits within its boundaries. The White River is truly a winter playground and a premier destination for skiers and snowboarders from around the world.

Next month, for the third time in history, the forest will play host to some the best athletes in the world at the International Ski Federation’s Alpine World Ski Championship in Vail, Colorado. These athletes will use the forest as their extreme course to compete for the title. A rare event on public land, this is truly a unique benefit of our national forests.

A massive crowd gathers at the finish area at Beaver Creek Mountain Resort on the White River National Forest to see the athletes compete for speed and glory. The steepest section of the men’s race course is known as “The Brink,” which features a 40-degree slope where the racers can reach speeds of 80 miles per hour. (U.S. Forest Service/Roger Poirier)

So what does a typical day hold for a snow ranger during such a world class event? I start off the day at Beaver Creek Resort by standing at the finish, an area that bustles with smiling volunteers and staff. From where I stand, I can observe the skier flow at the bottom of the Larkspur and Grouse Mountain Express chairlifts and make mental notes for safety.

From there, my morning commute to the office isn’t by car but by chair lift. In addition to supporting the race venue, attending event safety and logistics meetings, my day will involve the investigation of boundary issues above Stone Creek before another meeting to discuss a proposed snowmaking expansion on the Centennial run. Everyday my job involves interacting with the public, partners, and those who operate with permits on the White River National Forest. Sliding off the chair, I turn and look across the valley at the Gore range in the Eagles Nest Wilderness then down to the grandstand 2,000 feet below.

The contrast resonates inside me. Managing ski area permits helps conserve our national forests and ensures quality recreation experiences for the American people.  My job as a snow ranger embodies the core value of the Forest Service motto “Caring for the land and serving people.”

A skier races to the finish line at the men’s downhill as part of the annual Birds of Prey event at Beaver Creek Mountain Resort in Colorado. At the 2015 International Ski Federation Alpine World Ski Championships the best athletes in the world will use the White River National Forest as the ultimate race course. (U.S. Forest Service/Roger Poirier)

Archaeological Heritage of Colorado's Ute Tribe Part of National Forest's History in Rocky Mountain Region

From USDA:

Posted by Michael Stearly, Rocky Mountain Region, U.S. Forest Service, on January 9, 2015 at 11:00 AM

Wickiups, conical-shape dwellings used by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of southwestern Colorado, are still in use for ceremonial purposes. This photo shows a leaner Ute tipi from the 1870-1880s. The U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Region partnered with the Dominguez Archaeological Research Group as part of the Region’s mission focus on historic and cultural preservation goals. (Photo courtesy of Curtis Martin, Dominguez Archaeological Research Group)

There are small piles of fallen wooden timbers on national forests in the Rocky Mountain Region that tell a story of the area’s past. They are part of aboriginal wooden structures known as wickiups, a conical-shaped dwelling used by native people.

These relics are known to be part of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of southwestern Colorado and are still in use for ceremonial purposes. The relics are part of the tribe’s legacy of living on these lands and are a part of the cultural history on the Grand Mesa – Uncompahgre – Gunnison, San Juan, White River and Rio Grande national forests.

“Part of the Forest Service mission includes interpretive services, which includes sharing with the public how these lands have been used by those who came before us,” said Brian Ferebee, deputy regional forester for the Rocky Mountain Region. “Wickiups and other aboriginal wooden features, such as tree platforms and brush fences, were once commonplace in Colorado. Few examples are still in existence; the majority of the remaining features can be associated with Ute culture and consequently represent the only surviving architecture of the state’s living indigenous peoples.”

Since 2003, the Forest Service has participated in the Colorado Wickiup Project to document historic aboriginal wooden structures in the state. The project is managed by the Dominguez Archaeological Research Group in partnership with the Ute Indian Tribe of northeastern Utah, Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes of southwestern Colorado, and other public land management agencies and supported by state funding.

The remains of a free-standing wickiup is inspected in Mesa County, Colorado. Wickiups were used by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of southwestern Colorado and are still in use for ceremonial purposes. (Photo courtesy Dominguez Archaeological Research Group)

Researchers for the Wickiup Project have found the remnants of hundreds of such features in locations from Rocky Mountain National Park to the Uncompahgre Plateau, to the Colorado River Basin and Piceance Creek area. The research combines archaeology, ethnography, history and technological innovation and helps to explain how aboriginal peoples of this region used these ephemeral wooden structures in the past. Frequently, metal and stone artifacts are also located at the sites that range in age from less than 100 years to more than 200 years.

“We study the historic records of native peoples and use this to examine the archaeological documentation of abandoned habitations and campsites,” said Molly Westby, the Rocky Mountain Region Heritage Program leader. “What we find helps us to manage these resources as part of our historic and cultural resource preservation goals.”

The research group sought the perspective of the Ute, who see wickiups as a link to their heritage. The project has revealed new aspects about the traditional life ways of the Ute and demonstrates the extensive range of Ute occupation in Colorado.

The Forest Service received the 2014 Steven H. Hart and Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation for work conducted in partnership on the Colorado Wickiup Project. The award recognizes outstanding projects in archaeology and historic preservation in the state.

Wickiups, conical-shape dwellings used by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of southwestern Colorado, are still in use for ceremonial purposes. The U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Region partnered with the Dominguez Archaeological Research Group as part of the Region’s mission focus on historic and cultural preservation goals. (Photo courtesy Curtis Martin, Dominguez Archaeological Research Group)

Digging Those Dinosaurs on National Forests, Grasslands

From USDA:

Posted by Robert Westover, U.S. Forest Service, Office of Communication, on January 7, 2015 at 2:00 PM

Young people are made honorary junior paleontologists in the rotunda of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. (Courtesy The Smithsonian Institution)

When most folks think about our grand and beautiful national forests they probably don’t conjure up images of a fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex munching on his morning prey or a gentle Brachiosaurus chewing enough leaves to nearly fell a small forest just to fill her vegetarian stomach.

But millions of years ago this was exactly what was happening on lands that today comprise national forests and grasslands like the Thunder Basin National Grassland.

We know this because fossilized evidence is widespread on many acres managed by the agency. And, according to Forest Service paleontologist Mike Fracasso, lots of people visiting forests and grasslands want to take a piece of this fossilized history home for themselves.

“We generally don’t have an issue with the average visitor to a forest or grassland taking home a small sample or two of a common and abundant plant or animal fossil without a backbone,” said Fracasso.

Because it’s often all about that backbone.

Ancient animals that developed a vertebrae (or backbone) are rarer to find than plants or non-vertebrate animals and fossil bones that, at first glance look isolated, often lead to more complete skeletons. By collecting such fossil bones, a national forest visitor may be unwittingly destroying the fossilized evidence of a full dinosaur skeleton or worse, the only evidence of a creature new to science and yet to be discovered.

It is the job of paleontologists working for all federal land management agencies to educate visitors about the importance of what may or may not be collected from federal lands. To emphasize this educational importance, as well as to recruit young folks into the field of fossil hunting, the National Park Service and Smithsonian Institution sponsored a ceremony on National Fossil Day last fall to recognize a new crop of junior paleontologists.

“These young folks are enthusiastic ambassadors of awareness to the larger community,” said Fracasso. “They’re the ones that will be able to explain to their friends and family why they should be careful about what type of fossils to take off our national lands.”

Even small pieces may lead archeologists to great discoveries.

In Colorado, so many dinosaur fossils were being discovered in a quarry on the Comanche National Grassland that experts referred to the find as a “tossed salad of dinosaur parts.” In 2012, workers found the first Ceratosaurus tooth within the Picket Wire Canyonlands, best known for a huge dinosaur track site along the bank of Purgatoire River.

A Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth found by Barb Beasley during a 2012 Passport in Time excavation in the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation on the Custer National Forest in South Dakota.

That same year, Forest Service paleontologist Barbara Beasley was leading another crew of 20 volunteers when she found a Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth on the Custer National Forest in South Dakota. The rare find is estimated to be 66 million years old.

On the Thunder Basin National Grassland in Wyoming, Passport in Time volunteers unearthed an intact nearly three-foot Triceratops horn.

Passport in Time is a Forest Service volunteer archaeology, paleontology, and historic preservation program. Through this program, students and volunteers get the opportunity to go in the field and work shoulder-to-shoulder with professional Forest Service archaeologists, paleontologists and historians on a wide variety of activities throughout the U.S.

A tooth from a meat-eating Ceratosaurus recovered from the River View Quarry in October 2012. (U.S. Forest Service Photo)

U.S. Forest Service: Responding and Adapting to Wildland Fire

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Tom Harbour, Director of Fire and Aviation Management, U.S. Forest Service, on April 10, 2014 at 1:00 PM

The U.S. Forest Service has burned more than 480 acres in the Flying J Project, an effort on the Kaibab National Forest in Arizona to protect the community of Tusayan. The project is outside the Grand Canyon National Park and represents a small part of a larger effort to use controlled burns on more than 4,500 acres of the forest. So far, nearly 1,900 acres have been treated. (U.S. Forest Service/Holly Krake)

The loss of property and firefighters during wildfires are a reminder of the challenges we face in reducing the risks associated with large, unpredictable wildfires. Climate change, drought, insect infestations, changing land-use patterns, and other factors have contributed to increases in the complexity and in the numbers of wildfires across the United States.

Over the past four decades, some states such as Arizona and Idaho have seen the number of large fires burning each year more than triple. In many other western states, including California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Wyoming, the number of large fires has doubled, according to a report by Climate Central. Average spring and summer temperatures across 11 Western states have increased by more than 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit, contributing to higher wildfire risks. In Arizona, spring temperatures have warmed faster than any other state in the U.S., rising nearly 1 degree per decade since 1970, which likely played a role in the increasing number of fires in the state.

The U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Interior are responding in part to these real, visible trends by implementing the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. The strategy was developed in conjunction with hundreds of stakeholders across all jurisdictions in response to the Federal Land Assistance, Management, and Enhancement Act (FLAME) passed by Congress in 2009.

The strategy identifies the greatest challenges and outlines available opportunities to create resilient landscapes, prevent the loss of lives and property, and respond to wildfires. Although we successfully suppress nearly 98 percent of unwanted wildfires, there is still much work to be done to mitigate the risks posed by the growing number and size of fires. The Cohesive Strategy provides federal, local, and state governments, tribes, and organizations with improved planning and implementation tools for wildland fire management and landscape restoration activities.

The strategy has three goals: to maintain and restore resilient landscapes; create fire-adapted communities; and effectively respond to wildfires. To reach these goals, the Forest Service has used prescribed, or planned, fire and other treatments to reduce hazardous vegetation. In fiscal year 2012, we completed more than 1.2 million acres of prescribed fires and more than 662,000 acres of mechanical treatments.

In addition, to reach the second goal of the Strategy, the California Wildfire Coordinating Group, in collaboration with the Forest Service and many other stakeholders, launched a statewide, interagency wildfire prevention campaign One Less Spark, One Less Wildfire. In response to a rapidly worsening 2013 wildfire season, the campaign based its actions on predicted changes in wildfire threat. Resources were pooled together and utilized to address these rising threats and inform communities throughout the year.

In this time of shrinking resources and rising numbers of wildfires, we will continue to work with our partners and stakeholders to address challenges and meet the goals of the Cohesive Strategy.

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