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Forest Service money allotted to projects in Madison County

From weed control to trail maintenance, Forest Service resource advisory committees (RAC) approved funding for multiple projects on Oct. 1, many of which are located in Madison County.

According to a 2012 visitor report, the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest (BDNF), which spans much of Southwest Montana including Madison County, hosts 692,000 visitors every year. Maintaining the forest and its surrounding areas to prevent the spread of noxious weeds, provide public access and more is an expensive undertaking, though interested parties with specific projects can apply to the Forest Service Resource Advisory Committees (RAC) for funding.

“The Southwest Montana RAC includes Beaverhead, Madison, Silver Bow and Jefferson counties,” according to a Forest Service press release announcing the RAC funding. “The funding will support a wide diversity of projects in the area including improving westslope cutthroat trout habitat, improving road surfacing, repairing and maintaining trails, as well as fighting and eradicating invasive weeds.”

RACs were established in 2000 under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, according to the press release. Each RAC consists of 15 members that represent a wide array of interests from conservationists to government officials to private landowners – Commissioner Dave Schulz and Virginia City resident Joe Bettinger are the only Madison County residents on the Southwest Montana RAC.

Out of 14 approved projects in the Southwest Montana region, five projects closely impact Madison County, said Patty Bates, RAC coordinator.

 

Cliff and Wade lakes

The RAC allotted $25,000 to a road preservation project, which will improve road conditions from Highway 287 to Cliff and Wake lakes in south Madison County, Bates said.

“The money will go to Madison County so they can add gravel to the road,” she said. “A good layer of gravel will improve access to the lakes.”

Bates said it is up to Madison County to establish a timeline to complete the project.

“We’re looking to do it first thing next spring after snow removal,” Madison County commissioner Jim Hart said. “The 13 mile stretch of road from U.S. Highway 287 to MT Highway 87 [which provides access to the lakes] is just slightly better than a trail.”

Hart said improving the roadway is important because it provides access to the lakes, federal land, campgrounds and even a subdivision – the traffic on the road increases every year, he said.

“At one time it was just a trail,” he concluded. “We need a better road.”

 

Lee Metcalf Wilderness

Beginning next spring or summer, the Forest Service will work with the Montana Conservation Corps to complete Lee Metcalf Wilderness Trail Maintenance, another RAC-approved project that was given $27,000.

“We’re focusing on a variety of trails in the Lee Metcalf [Wilderness],” Bates explained. “All the access points come out of the Madison Valley and need work.”

The work done will include some heavy drainage work but also general trail maintenance, Bates said.

Hart said improving public access to wilderness areas is always important.

“It’s always good to accommodate public walking and horseback riding,” Hart said. “Better trails mean more use. That’s why we have wilderness areas.”

 

Weeds in the Madison Valley

This year’s RAC also approved $8,000 to a project called the Madison Valley Noxious Weed Initiative, which Bates said will require cooperation between the Forest Service and the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group (MVRG) weed committee, which is managed by Melissa Griffiths.

“Right now, it’s a very general project,” Griffiths said. “We’re looking at areas of critical importance in the Madison Valley where Toadflax may creep in so we can stop the spread before it gets out of hand.”

Griffiths explained that Toadflax is a noxious weed that is just now infiltrating Montana – she said if the weed committee focuses on a few problem areas next spring and summer, they will hopefully be able to stop the spread.

“The money will serve as an incentive to landowners to ask for help,” she explained. “The dollars will go to private landowners so we can cost share weed work with them.”

 

Weeds in the Upper Ruby

The Upper Ruby Noxious Weed Cooperative Expansion Project is in its second year of RAC funding and received $30,000 this year, said Margie Edsall, weed office coordinator for Madison County.

A group of ranchers who are Forest Service permittees in the Upper Ruby first initiated the program, Edsall added.

“They saw a growing weed problem and brought it to our attention,” Edsall said. “All the funding goes to contracted weed spraying services – first we treat the roads, then identified problem areas.”

Edsall said the work assists private landowners who permit the land, but also compliments the weed control efforts they already have in place.

“It’s really a co-op working together,” she said. “It was all initiated by private landowners.”

 

AmeriCorps efforts

In an effort to improve national forest use through a collaborative effort between the Forest Service and AmeriCorps St. Louis, the AmeriCorps Partnership and Recreation Enhancement Work project was awarded $31,500.

The project will use the “AmeriCorps St. Louis Program to effectively and economically complete deferred facility and trail maintenance/reconstruction/obliteration, hazard tree removal, protect riparian areas, treat noxious weeds and provide initial attack for fire suppression” across the BDNF, including the Tobacco Root, Gravelly and Snowcrest mountain ranges in Madison County, according to Forest Service documents.

 

Madison County benefits

Schulz said he is pleased with how the RAC funding was allocated this year.

“I felt fortunate,” he explained. “[Bettinger] and I were the only two people there representing Madison County, but there was a lot of support from other committee members for Madison County-related projects.”

Bettinger said he has served on the RAC for nine years and thinks it is a beneficial program for the area.

“It’s a very good funding source and does help the forest,” Bettinger said. “Some of the projects are directly in the forest, others are on the lands around the forest – it can be a lot of things.”


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