We love a good bushwhack, but we love healthy forests and watersheds even more!
The Forest Service has opened a short 14-day comment period for the BCC Watershed Restoration EA, and we need supporters of healthy forests and resilient watersheds to voice support by June 23rd at midnight.
This proposal aims to “improve ecosystem conditions and reduce risks of adverse effects to the watershed from wildfires on the Salt Lake Ranger District. The action proposed by the Forest Service would create and promote conditions in the canyon that reduce the risks of and effects from wildfires by thinning vegetation and creating shaded fuel breaks over approximately 4,900 acres of NFS lands within the approximate 18,000 acre project boundary.”
WBA supports this proposal and encourages you to submit a comment in support of the project.
This restoration effort has been a long time in the making. After years of planning, the Forest Service hopes to begin boots-on-the-ground work as early as this summer, with implementation expected to continue over the next 5-10 years. Healthy forests take long-term stewardship, and this project is an important step in that direction.
Why This Project Matters
The BCC Watershed Restoration EA focuses on improving watershed health, overall forest health, and wildfire resiliency in Big Cottonwood Canyon through targeted restoration work.
Some of the primary goals include:
- Reducing conifer encroachment into aspen stands (can we get a heck yes!)
- Removing dead beetle-impacted trees
- Creating healthier age diversity across forest stands
- Reducing hazardous wildfire fuels
- Strengthening natural fire breaks near canyon bottoms, roads, and established trails, etc.
The proposed treatments are primarily cut-and-pile and lop-and-scatter. The Forest Service may also use limited prescribed fire in very select areas in the future, but only after several years of fuel reduction work have already taken place.
There will be no logging or timber harvest. No heavy machinery is planned, with most of the work done by hand crews using chainsaws. Some work will take place in Roadless Rule areas, which demonstrates an important point: we do not need to rescind the Roadless Rule to reduce wildfire risk. Some temporary recreation closures are expected, so make sure you read signage at trailheads. The Forest Service intends to avoid long-term recreation closures whenever possible.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because similar restoration work has already been implemented successfully in Mill Creek Canyon. That project has helped improve watershed resilience, reduce fuel loading, and restore healthier forest structure while maintaining recreational access.
What Could This Mean for Recreation?
Most of this work will not directly open up or clear out overgrown backcountry ski terrain.
That said, restoring aspen stands by reducing dense conifer encroachment could improve travel in certain zones. Areas like the Power Parks in Mill D North are good examples of places where aspen ecosystems have slowly been overtaken by thick conifer growth, and we might see some clean up in these areas.
Wasatch Backcountry Alliance supports this proposed plan. Use the link below if you wish to submit a comment to the Forest Service.
Comment by June 23rd at midnight.
