A ‘waiver’, is actually done at Supervisors office, not District. At least it used to be.
Prior to about 2002 that authority was held solely at the Regional level in the FS.....which is why there were very few waivers granted.
A ‘waiver’, is actually done at Supervisors office, not District. At least it used to be.
Prior to about 2002 that authority was held solely at the Regional level in the FS.....which is why there were very few waivers granted.
The USFS Policy is written at FS Manual Chapter 2320-Wilderness Management and give the Forest Supervisor authority (at 2326.04) to allow motorized (chainsaws) use, except Regional Forester must approve use of tractors for fire fighting.
Here's one verifiable report - I was at the Hidden Lakes in the Pasayten August 20th-24th 2002.
A small fire was burning above the lakes and on the day I was hiking in the smokejumpers flew in. They set a camp near Tatoosh Buttes and also down at the lakes. They wrapped the cabins and other structures with foil, made a tiny dam on Stubb Creek near where it empties into First Hidden and put a gas powered pump there and laid out a lot of sprinkler lines.
They had chainsaws and were putting them to good use. They felled a large tree that was very close to the main cabin and whacked it up and turned it into a footbridge. They cleared a ton of trail around the area also. After working for a couple days a couple helis came in and ferried them and their supplies out. Took a few trips.
I looked at my pics of that trip this morning and I didn't get any of the chainsaws in action, but I did get pics of the helis picking them up.
My guess is they got permission to use chainsaws, etc because of the historic structures.
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