CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla., (Oct. 24, 2018) —
What’s open and what’s closed? The general forest area in the Wakulla Ranger District of the Apalachicola National Forest, the area of the Forest east of the Ochlockonee River, is open although developed recreation sites and trails in that area are closed. The Apalachicola Ranger District west of the river remains closed. All roads with fallen trees across them are closed.
Recovery Team Progress
Roads: Workers continue to make good progress clearing some main roads with bulldozers, loaders, tractor plows, excavators, masticastors and feller bunchers. A total of 78.5 miles of road has been cleared with heavy equipment to date. Saw teams work in tandem with that equipment to clear roads.
Teams for recreation, wildlife, timber and wildfire risk continue to assess damage.
Recreation: Workers continued opening access to hunt camps on the east side of the Ochlockonee River and a few sites on the west side. Today work will continue on the camps, which are all closed to the public pending safety certification. A helicopter flight on Tuesday over the entire Florida National Scenic Trail and some off-road vehicle trails in the northeast section of the Forest found 12 miles of the trails with heavy damage, 3 miles with moderate damage and 141 miles of light damage. The heaviest damage was on the western section of the scenic trail on the Forest. Some campgrounds will require arborists and bucket trucks to remove dangling limbs. Availability of this equipment is limited in the immediate area, so some sites will take some time to reopen. Archaeological assessments were completed in the northeast section of the Forest and should be completed for the entire Forest in the next few days.
Wildlife: Teams continue surveying clusters of red-cockaded woodpecker trees to develop a mediation funding proposal. They have assessed 252 woodpecker tree clusters to date.
Timber: District employees continue planning for salvage operations and reengage existing timber sales. Yesterday they inspected existing timber sales on the ground and today they will evaluate areas for potential sales. Heavy equipment is opening roads to existing sales.
Wildfire risk: Fire behavior analysts continue to work with the Forest to identify the increased difficulty to suppress wildfire due to downed trees and additional fuels to predict fire behavior and the need to update fire suppression and prescribed fire plans. Addressing wildfire risk will be a long-term process for the Forest. In the near-term, established fire lines will be cleared of hurricane debris.
How to stay safe in the Forest: Many roads in the area remain blocked by fallen trees and anyone in the Forest should use extreme caution as leaning and broken trees and limbs are significant safety hazards. Under no circumstance should members of the public try to clear fallen or leaning trees from Forest Service lands. Doing so requires specialized training and supervision and poses a significant safety risk to those carrying out such actions. It could also slow operations of assessment and road-clearing teams. Archery season for deer and turkey is open, so visitors should be aware that hunters may be in the woods. Visitors should also watch for heavy equipment such as excavators and masticators on roads and maintain a safe distance from them when they are in use.
The Osceola and Ocala National Forests remain open. They, and other national forests in the Southern Region unaffected by Hurricanes Michael and Florence, will continue to waive fees at campgrounds and concessionaire-managed sites for evacuees and displaced individuals from both storms.
Photo of archaeological assessment by Rhonda Kimbrough/USFS
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