Chelan Snowmobiling Trails Open (Washington)
USDA Forest Service – Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest
Contact: Joe Kastenholz, Chelan Ranger District Resource Assistant, 509-682-4900
Susan C Peterson, Okanogan-Wenatchee NF Central Zone Public Affairs, 509-548-2558
Website: www.fs.fed.us/r6/wenatchee
Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/okawennf
Chelan, WA- The Chelan Ranger District announced that all snowmobile trails in the Chelan area are officially open Friday, December 18th, 2009, which is good news for snowmobilers and other winter recreation enthusiasts.
Roads now closed to four-wheel vehicles and open to snowmobiles are:
Categories: Access Tags: 25 mile creek sno-park, antilon lake sno-park, bergman gulch, cooper mountain rd, echo valley, entiat river rd, entiat river sno-park, forest service, four-wheel vehicles, grade creek road, purtteman gulch, shady pass rd, slide ridge rd, snowmobile, snowmobilers, snowmobiles, upper joe creek rd, washington, washington creek rd, wenatchee national forest, winter recreation enthusiasts
Winter Logging Begins in Lion Gulch Near Liberty, Washington
Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest – USDA Forest Service
Contact: Kim Larned (509) 852-1062
Website: www.fs.fed.us/r6/wenatchee
Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/okawennf
Cle Elum, WA – Winter logging operations have begun in Lion Gulch near Liberty as part of the Liberty Wildland Urban Interface Fuels Reduction Project. Logging operations and log trucks will be working Monday – Friday from 7 AM to 5 PM. The road will be plowed for log trucks but enough snow will be left on the road to allow continued snowmobile use. The road will remain closed to all other wheeled vehicles. Snowmobilers are urged to use extreme caution when riding on FS road 9712 as they will likely encounter log truck traffic during the week. The logging is expected to last through February.
The need for the fuels reduction project came from unnaturally extreme fire conditions in the Liberty area are the result of a century of well-intended fire suppression practices that have allowed fuels to build to unacceptable levels. This project is a step toward returning the area to a healthy condition and will create fuel breaks by commercially thinning approximately 1,310 acres, opening the forest cover, and reducing fuels. The focus of thinning will be on smaller diameter trees. In the planned fuel breaks, fuels will be reduced using a variety of means, including hand- and machine-piling and burning piles, and/or underburning.
For more information, please call the Cle Elum Ranger District at (509) 852-1100.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/wenatchee/news/2009/12/01/index.shtml
Categories: Access Tags: cle elum, forest service, liberty, lion gulch, snowmobile, snowmobilers, snowmobiling, washington, wenatchee national forest, winter
Snowmobilers Help Rescue Winter Recreation
Things were looking pretty bleak for snowmobilers who love to ride the dry winter powder on state trust lands near Yakima and Ellensburg.
Due to budget cuts earlier this year by the Legislature, DNR was planning to suspend its winter recreation program at five snow parks this season. Concerned about the possibility of not having access to their favorite winter recreation sites , the snowmobiling community decided to get proactive.
In a short few weeks, members of the Yakima Ski Benders collected the $25,000 necessary to keep the program alive.
Read more at Snowmobilers Help Rescue Winter Recreation
Categories: On The Web Tags: department of natural resources, dnr, recreation, snow park, snowmobilers, snowmobiling, washington, winter, yakima
