Mark Twain trails and timber

Mark Twain National Forest

The agency files it as “National Recreation Trails and Timber Management Proposal”

Timing

The agency stopped taking comments on September 8. What you find still counts: it backs the formal objections from people who did comment, it goes to the lawyers on the fight, and it is the story.

The sentence we think is wrong

“Over-mature trees adjacent to trails are dying, increasing the likelihood of falling trees, damage to trail tread, and safety concerns for visitors.”

The agency wrote that in its own document, under Purpose and Need: Why do we need to act?. Nobody has been out to check it. A dated photograph either backs it up or ends it.

How you settle it

Walk a National Recreation Trail on the Mark Twain and photograph the big old oaks right along the trail: whole trees, trunks and crowns, healthy and dead alike. Photos showing full green crowns on the large old oaks beside the trail, or showing them dead and dropping limbs, settle which picture is right.

The decision

The Mark Twain National Forest is proposing to amend its 2005 Forest Plan to remove two existing standards that currently restrict logging near National Recreation Trails, replacing them with a single, narrower standard. This is a formal pre-decisional objection period under 36 CFR 218, meaning the agency has already released a final Environmental Assessment and draft decision. Only those who prev

Read the whole thing, and write to the agency about it

How to record it so it counts

01Stand in the patch of forest the document names. Agencies mark these with a numbered tag, a sign or colored flagging tied to a tree; photograph it if you find one, and don’t touch it.
02Pick the five largest trees within about 20 meters of where you stand. Photograph each with a person, a trekking pole or a tape in the frame for scale.
03If you have a tape, measure each trunk around at chest height and write the number down. Circumference in inches is fine; we convert.
04Photograph the canopy straight up, and any standing dead trees (snags) and big downed logs.
05Turn slowly and take a photo every quarter turn: four photos, one 360.
06Write one paragraph: what the stand looks like to you, in your own words.

What would count

A scale reference in the frame. A wide shot of big trees proves little; a tape does.
The measurement, written down, beside the photo it belongs to.
That marker somewhere in your set of photos, so nobody can argue you were in the wrong patch of woods.

All of it, with the phone settings, in the field guide

Are you going?

Say yes or no. It tells the next person whether anyone has this ground covered, and it is the only way we know a request was answered rather than just read. You can change your mind any time, and nobody follows up.

Join, then say you’re going

Nobody has answered yet

Before you go

Public land only. Plenty of land inside a national forest or park boundary is privately owned, and that is not yours to walk on. A gate or a closure sign means stop. Check the rules for the specific place you are going, because they differ.
Don’t touch survey stakes, flagging, equipment or anything a crew left. Photograph it; leave it.
Don’t approach crews, contractors or agency staff about the project. Don’t interfere with any operation.
Wildlife at a distance. No drones in wilderness or anywhere they’re prohibited. Stay off closed roads and trails.
If you’re not sure, don’t. Weather, terrain, water, fire and people are your call, and yours alone.

More Than Just Parks doesn’t direct where you go or what you do. Terms.