The
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Serving Wayne & Garfield Counties, Utah Loa • Fremont • Lyman • Bicknell • Teasdale • Torrey • Grover • Fruita • Caineville • Hanksville Panguitch • Panguitch Lake • Hatch • Antimony • Bryce • Tropic • Henrieville • Cannonville • Escalante • Boulder
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Issue # 1097
Dixie National Forest to Use Aerial Ignition During Spring Prescribed Burning
Irit Reed
For the Birds
For several weeks, area lakes, reservoirs and even fields have been visited by a variety of waterfowl migrating through Wayne and Garfield counties. Escalante resident Irit Reed captured a photo of these Snowy Egrets at around 9am on Saturday, April 23rd, while kayaking at Wide Hollow Reservoir.
Fishlake National Forest Employee Mel Bolling Promoted to Forest Supervisor OGDEN - The Intermountain Region, USFS is proud to announce Mel Bolling as the new Forest Supervisor for the Fishlake National Forest. He is currently the Public Services Staff Officer for the Forest and is responsible for the recreation, trails, heritage, special uses, lands and realty, geographic information systems, environmental coordination and forest planning program areas. In addition to his current position, he previously served as the District Ranger in Fillmore. He has worked on the Fishlake National Forest for the last nine years and resides in Monroe, Utah. An effective date is still to be determined but is anticipated for the end of May. Intermountain Regional Forester Nora Rasure says, “Mel’s experience and familiarity with the Fishlake National Forest is of great benefit for both the forest and the local community. He knows
the area and the local issues. He is committed to strengthening local partnerships and continuing the great work already happening on the forest.” Over the course of his approximately 20 years with the U.S. Forest Service, he has worked in Mel Bolling will serve as the new Fishlake three regions National Forest Supervisor. with duty stations in North Carolina, Utah, ation, Heritage and WilderArizona, and New Mexico. ness Resources. He graduated He started as a volunteer and from the University of Georgia has worked in a variety of with a Bachelor of Science in positions including forestry Recreation and Leisure Studtechnician, outdoor recreation ies with a focus in Recreation planner, district staff officer, Resource Management. Bolling says he is excited and district ranger. He has also served temporarily as the Act- to take on this new role, “I’m ing Fishlake Forest Supervisor really honored and humbled and the Acting Intermountain by this great opportunity and Region Director of Recre- look forward to working with
our communities and local leaders, cooperators, the variety of partners in central Utah, and all the great employees on the Forest.” Personal interests include spending time with his wife and daughter, hiking, skiing, enjoying the outdoors, landscaping and home improvement projects, and traveling. Fishlake National Forest is part of the Intermountain Region of the Forest Service encompassing nearly 34-million acres of National Forest System land. The Intermountain Regional Office in Ogden, Utah provides administrative oversight and support to 12 national forests and one national grassland in Utah, Nevada, western Wyoming, eastern California, and southern and central Idaho. More than 20 million people visit each year to hunt, fish, hike, ski, camp, drive, ride and enjoy the national forests and grasslands. —U.S. Forest Service, Intermountain Region
Fuel Tanker Roll Over On Hwy 24 WAYNE CO. - At approximately 8:15am on Sunday, May 3rd, 2015, a semi truck hauling 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel to Wayne County wrecked on Hwy 24, mile marker #43. The tank was actively leaking fuel onto and around the highway. According to the driver of the semi he said he was coming down the hill, when he slightly went off the road way, he did correct himself but his rear tank trailer fish tailed causing his semi truck to roll over, blocking the entire highway. The Highway was closed at this time, and traffic was detoured over the old Fishlake Dirt Road and Highway 25 at the The Fishlake turn junction. Wayne County Sheriff's Office was called to assist with detouring traffic around the accident. Sevier County's Fire
GARFIELD CO. - Fire is an important component of a healthy ecosystem and this spring the Dixie National Forest is planning to implement some prescribed burns to return fire to the landscape. In order to manage some of the impacts prescribed burning has on local communities the Dixie National Forest will be using a helicopter to assist in igniting the Dave’s Hollow and Stump Springs areas. The use of a helicopter and aerial ignition provides project managers the ability to ignite larger areas under defined fuel and weather parameters also known as the prescription. Thus reducing the time needed to implement and complete a project as well as reducing the amount of smoke in the air. “The Forest Service wants to do everything we can
to minimize the impacts our actions have on local communities. By using aerial ignition as part of our prescribed burning program, we should be able to reduce the overall duration of residual smoke and meet our mission of trying to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the Dixie National Forest, “said Paul Hancock, District Ranger. Local residents can expect similar prescribed fire operations as they have observed in previous years, only more of the project area will be treated in the same time period. Ignition may take 2 to 5 days over a 1 to 3 week time frame. For additional information contact the Escalante Prescribed Burning Cont'd on page 7
Local Citizen Scientists Monitor Sky Quality
Courtesy of Annette Lamb
Local citizen scientists hold Sky Quality Meters in the air to check night sky brightness. TORREY - A group of night sky enthusiasts gathered the evening of April 17th to discuss a biannual Sky Quality Monitoring project. It was too rainy and cloudy to collect data, so they reconvened the night of April 19th. Nearly a dozen citizen scientists traveled to five locations in the Torrey-Grover-Teasdale triangle measuring the brightness of the night sky along with collecting information such as temperature, wind speed, and barometric pressure. Entrada Institute board members, staff from Capi-
tol Reef National Park, along with community members interested in the night sky used a variety of fascinating data collection devices to gather baseline data. Every six months, information will be recorded from the same locations and added to a database. Sandwiched between International Dark Sky Week (April 13-19) and Earth Day (April 22), the event was an excellent opportunity to discuss the importance of studySky Quality
Cont'd on page 7
Wayne High School Recieves Football Grant
Courtesy of Wayne High School
Wayne High School Football team, Coach McCartney, Principal Bray, Nichol Stringham, and Susan Frantz.
A fuel tanker that rolled over on Hwy 24 on Sunday morning blocked the entire highway, and spilled a total of 6,000 gallons of fuel on and around the roadway. departments and Hazmat team were called to assist Wayne County Fire departments to start clean up of the spill. Utah Highway Patrol are currently investigating the scene.
REGIONAL WEATHER FORECAST FOR SOME BUT NOT ALL REGIONS REPRESENTED IN OUR NEWSPAPER COVERAGE AREA
THURS. MAY 7 - WED. MAY 13 DO A LITTLE RAIN DANCE because with some additional luck we may continue to get showers Thursday through Sunday, the current chance is at 50%, highs in 50s/60s. Followed by mostly sunny skies Sunday through Wednesday, highs in 70s. Gusty winds throughout week, anywhere from 12-20mph.
The driver of the semi truck was wearing his seat belt and said he was not injured. He was assessed by Wayne County Ambulance, no injuries were visible. They advised him that he should go to the hospital to be checked out just to be safe. Driver was transported
to Sevier Valley Hospital by Koosharem Ambulance for further evaluation. As of Monday, it was determined that the total amount of fuel spilled from the tanker was 6,000 gallons. —Wayne County Public Information Office
You can observe a lot by just watching. —Yogi Berra
BICKNELL - On May 1, Wayne High School’s football team received $1000 from the California Casualty Thomas R. Brown Athletics Grant. California Casualty representative, Susan Frantz, and NEA representative, Antonio Galindo presented the check to Coach Rick McCartney in an assembly. Wayne High School faculty member, Nichol Stringham, was able to write the grant to help support the football
team. The California Casualty Thomas R. Brown Athletics Grant program accepts grant requests from schools where athletic programs are in jeopardy or the need for more funding is present. Because Wayne High School’s football program is brand new, funding is very necessary. Coach McCartney plans to use the $1000 to update weight room equip-
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BOXHOLDER
Wayne Football Cont'd on page 7
PRE-SORT STANDARD PAID RICHFIELD, UTAH PERMIT No. 122