JEFFERSON NATIONAL FOREST CHAPTER 3 MANAGEMENT PRESCRIPTIONS INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION The 1985 Land and Resource Management Plan for the Jefferson National Forest included specific direction on how to manage different land areas. These land areas were called management areas. This revised plan also contains management areas, but they are now related to ecological regions, watershed boundaries, and other biological, and social divisions of land found across the Jefferson National Forest. These new management areas are described in Chapter 4. Each management area has different attributes that require a slightly different management emphasis. These differences are reflected in the management prescriptions applied to each area. Management prescriptions related to one another are grouped in “categories,” numbered 0 through 12. The numbering system and emphasis of each management prescription is consistent across the national forests of the southern Appalachians. This Chapter only includes management prescriptions used in the Revised Forest Plan; therefore, there are gaps in the numbering sequence. A complete list of management prescriptions used throughout the southern Appalachians, along with their related emphasis, is available in Process Paper: Management Prescriptions of the Southern Appalachians. All management prescriptions provide multiple uses, even though their titles may imply a single use. Each management prescription includes: Title – tells the primary focus of management. Emphasis – briefly describes this primary focus of management for the prescription area in a little more detail. Desired Condition – shows opportunities and/or conditions available in the future for all the multiple uses and resources found throughout the prescription area. Standards – provides managers specific management direction as they work toward achieving the desired condition for each particular area. Table 3-0 on the next page lists each of the management prescriptions, their total acres of national forest system lands, the percent of the Jefferson National Forest allocated to each individual management prescription, and the acres of lands suitable for timber production within each management prescription. REVISED LAND AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN 3-1 Table 3-0. Summary of Management Prescriptions on the Jefferson National Forest. 3-2 REVISED LAND AND RESOUR REVISEDLAND AND 3-2 CHAPTER 3 3CHAPTER Management Total Acres on Percent of Total Acres of Lands Management Total Acres on Percent of Total Acres of Lands Prescription Jefferson National Jefferson National Suitable for Timber Prescription Jefferson National Jefferson National Suitable for Timber Forest Forest Acres Production Forest Forest Acres Production 0B 3,500 <1% 0 7D 6,000 1% 0 1A 57,800 8% 0 7E1 19,600 3% 0 1B 25,200 3% 0 7E2 51,800 7% 36,200 2C1 900 <1% 0 7F 3,900 1% 1,300 2C3 4,400 1% 0 7G 3,700 1% 0 4A 30,700 4% 0 8A1 112,600 16% 85,600 4C1 1,500 <1% 0 8B 19,600 3% 13,200 4D 4,700 1% 0 8C 57,300 8% 40,600 4E1a 200 <1% 0 8E1 16,000 2% 11,500 4E1b 1,500 <1% 1,000 8E2a 2,400 <1% 0 4F 1,000 <1% 0 8E2b 5,300 1% 4,100 4J 3,900 1% 1,900 8E4a 900 <1% 0 4K1 5,200 1% 1,500 8E4b 8,800 1% 6,400 4K2 4,400 1% 0 8E6 1,300 <1% 400 4K3 5,100 1% 0 9A1 19,200 3% 12,800 4K4 5,100 1% 0 9A2 <100 <1% 4K5 4,200 1% 0 9A3 1,700 <1% 500 4K6 5,500 1% 0 9A4 6,500 1% 0 FOREST NATIONAL JEFFERSON 5A 200 <1% 0 9F 7,400 1% 0 5B 200 <1% 0 9G1 100 <1% 0 CE MANAGEMENT PLAN 5C 3,700 1% 0 9H 24,700 3% 12,900 6A 300 <1% 0 10B 16,200 2% 11,600 6B 800 <1% 0 11 (73600) 10% 0 6C 30,200 4% 0 12A 9,700 1% 0 7A 1,800 <1% 0 12B 91,300 13% 0 7B 23,500 3% 17,000 12C 9,800 1% 0 7C 1,500 <1% 400 TOTAL 723,300 258,900 JEFFERSON NATIONAL FOREST CHAPTER 3 0B CUSTODIAL MANAGEMENT - SMALL, ISOLATED LAND AREAS 0B CUSTODIAL MANAGEMENT This management prescription is allocated to approximately 3,500 acres (<1%) across the Jefferson National Forest. EMPHASIS: These areas are managed at a minimum level prior to disposal or land exchange. No expenditures are involved except those required by law, to fix environmental problems, or to protect human health or safety. No resource is emphasized. DESIRED CONDITION: These areas are generally surrounded by private lands and not accessible by the public. There are no developed recreation areas. Adjacent private landowners control access to the limited dispersed recreation opportunities found in these areas. The desired future condition of these tracts is conveyance to private ownership. These areas retain a natural, forested appearance shaped primarily by natural processes until conveyance. These natural appearing landscapes feature a structurally diverse, multi- aged forest community under a continuous forested canopy, with the exception of occasional gaps created by storms, insects, diseases, or fire. Infrequent pastoral and historic/cultural enclaves may also exist. These areas do not contain rare communities, or threatened, endangered, or sensitive species habitat. No particular forest successional stage is emphasized. Other than inventory work prior to conveyance, no investments are made in wildlife, fisheries, recreation, or scenery. STANDARDS General 0B-001 These tracts of land are identified as available for trade. 0B-002 Limit land and resource management investments and activities to resource inventories, location and marking of boundaries, and the specific items mentioned in the following standards. 0B-003 If threatened, endangered, sensitive, or locally rare species, a rare community, or significant heritage resources are found within an area; it will no longer be available for disposal. Water, Soil, and Air 0B-004 Watershed restoration needs are completed prior to conveyance. Vegetation and Forest Health 0B-005 Only control insect and disease outbreaks to prevent damage to resources on adjacent land; or where needed for safety or legal reasons. 0B-006 Allow salvage of dead, dying, and damaged trees only for fuels reduction, pest management, or public safety reasons. Timber Management 0B-007 These lands are unsuitable for timber production. REVISED LAND AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN 3-3 CHAPTER 3 JEFFERSON NATIONAL FOREST 0B CUSTODIAL Wildland Fire Suppression MANAGEMENT 0B-008 Lightning fires are generally suppressed to minimize acreage burned due to 1A DESIGNATED the proximity of private lands. WILDERNESS Scenery 0B-009 Management activities are designed to meet or exceed the following Scenic Integrity Objectives, which may vary by inventoried Scenic Class: Inventoried 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Scenic Class Scenic Integrity H M L L L L L Objectives Minerals 0B-0010 These areas are available for Federal oil and gas with a No Surface Occupancy stipulation. Other Federal mineral leases are allowed on a case- by-case basis. Allow existing Federal leases to continue until expiration. Do not reauthorize. Allow roads, pipelines, utilities, and other facilities per existing Federal leases. 0B-011 These areas are not available for mineral materials for commercial, personal, or free use purposes. Administrative use of mineral materials is allowed. Roads 0B-012 Road construction is generally prohibited, subject to valid existing rights or leases. Limit road reconstruction and/or decommissioning, including betterment and relocation, to (a) improvement of soil and water, (b) maintenance of existing special uses and mineral leases, (c) access to private rights, and (d) protection of property or public safety. 0B-013 Road construction, reconstruction, and decommissioning are informed by a watershed-scale or site-specific road analysis. Lands and Special Uses 0B-014 When considering new special use authorizations, evaluate the effect of additional encumbrances on these tracts. Encourage proponent to trade this tract for another. 1A DESIGNATED WILDERNESS Congress has designated eleven wilderness areas on the Jefferson National Forest: James River Face, Thunder Ridge, Barbours Creek, Shawvers Run, Mountain Lake, Peters Mountain, Kimberling Creek, Beartown, Little Dry Run, Little Wilson Creek, and Lewis Fork. These areas encompass 57,645acres (8%) of the Jefferson National Forest and 115 acres on the George Washington National Forest. EMPHASIS: The emphasis is to allow ecological and biological processes to progress naturally with little to no human influence or intervention, except the minimum impacts made by those who seek the wilderness as a special place offering opportunities to experience solitude and risk in as primitive surroundings possible. 3-4 REVISED LAND AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN JEFFERSON NATIONAL FOREST CHAPTER 3 DESIRED CONDITION: 1A DESIGNATED WILDERNESS The Wilderness Act of 1964 describes wilderness as "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. Wilderness is an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed to preserve its natural conditions. Wilderness generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable. It has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation. It has at least five thousand acres of land or is of sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition. And, it may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historic value." These areas retain a natural evolving landscape character shaped primarily by natural processes. These landscapes feature a structurally diverse older aged forest community with a continuous forested canopy, with the exception of occasional gaps created by storms, insects, diseases, or fire. The valued character of these landscapes is intact with no deviations.