The Lemhi County Forest Restoration Group selected the Hughes Creek area of the Salmon-Challis National Forest's North Fork District as their first collaborative project in August 2006. In April 2007, the group provided the Forest Service with their consensus recommendation.
In March 2009 Forest Supervisor Bill Wood approved the Hughes Creek Fuels Reduction Project on Thursday March 5th. The Hughes Creek Project approves the treatment of over 13,000 acres in the Hughes Creek drainage on the North Fork Ranger District. Work will be accomplished through the use of prescribed burning, commercial timber harvest and non-commercial thinning. The project also approves the replacement of the Ditch Creek Bridge.
“Our traditional method of planning usually involved the Forest Service developing a proposal and then having all interested parties throw rocks at it. More often that not on these complex vegetation management projects the end result was appeals and litigation, not results on the ground.” said North Zone District Ranger Russ Bacon. “Thanks to the collaborative process in Hughes Creek many of the areas of disagreement were ironed out during project development. As a result we ended up with a project that received no formal objections that is ready to implement right now.”
Collaborative members immediately went to work on private land, restoring streams and treating noxious weeds. The group also has an active multiparty monitoring committee and plan. The 2011 Hughes Creek Multiparty Monitoring Fact Sheet is now available.
In April 2011, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation advertised for bids for the initial commercial harvest and thinning work to be done on National Forest lands under the scope of their stewardship agreement with the Salmon-Challis National Forest.
For more information about the implementation phase of the Hughes Creek project, click below:
