Burns, Tree Removal Proposed in South Hills

HANSEN Preventative burns and mechanical tree removal could change the face of a heavily used area of the South Hills.

U.S. Forest Service officials hope to hold a public meeting in early April to tell the public about preventative burns and other work they want to do on 1,600 acres along Rock Creek Road in the Rock Creek Recreation Complex.

The meeting likely will be held at the Forest Service supervisors office or some other Twin Falls location.

Officials are prescribing preventative burns to reduce wildfire risk as well as other treatments to restore a healthy, resilient landscape. The Rock Creek Fuels and Vegetation Project would be carried out over 10 years on nearly 8,000 acres in an area heavily used by campers, hunters and off-road riders.

Nearly 4,100 acres is in Twin Falls County; 3,875 acres is in Cassia County.

The area extends from the Fourth Fork Rock Creek subwatershed to the upper Goose Creek subwatershed. Included are four organizational camps, 17 summer homes, Magic Mountain Resort and nearby Nordic trails, five developed Forest Service campgrounds, one designated dispersed campsite, one dispersed campsite, the Rock Creek Guard Station, one communication site, the Diamondfield Jack Snowplay Area and the Pike Mountain viewing area.

In 2013, 4,300 campers paid fees for developed campsites in the area.

The burns and other work shouldnt have a huge effect on user groups, said Loren Poppert, district ranger for the Sawtooth National Forests Minidoka Ranger District in Burley. Officials already are having discussions to make sure they dont do work on high-use weekends. Theyll likely work around the campgrounds after Labor Day 2016.

Theyre also looking at timing prescribed burns so they dont interfere with the nesting seasons of migratory birds.

Weve talked to some user groups and theyre fairly positive, Poppert said. We had some concerns from environmental organizations concerned with how removing trees might affect wildlife. The projects wont affect the fish thats not a big fishing area, anyway.

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Burns, Tree Removal Proposed in South Hills