Forest gears up for ‘stimulus’ projects

The Stanislaus National Forest is set to receive an extra $3.5 million in federal funding with the aim to both improve the forest and create jobs.

That money, from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, includes $2.2 million to build or repair trails at some of the forest’s most popular attractions, such as Donnell Vista and Columns of the Giants.

“This is designed to create jobs in the community and infuse the local economy with much-needed cash,” said forest spokesman Jerry Snyder.

The Stanislaus plans to hire temporary employees and contractors to complete the work, Snyder said.
  

Donnell Vista — a high-country overlook and picnic area 13 miles northeast of Pinecrest — is slated to receive a new handicap-accessible trail leading to a new overlook. Another trail will connect the new overlook with the existing one, which provides views of Donnell Reservoir and the Dardanelles.

Further east on Highway 108, the quarter-mile dirt trail at Columns of the Giants is expected to be paved using the funds.

“It will make it ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible,” Snyder said. “Wheelchairs would be able to navigate (the new paved trail).”

Formed by a volcano and sculpted by glaciers thousands of years ago, the columns are next to the Pigeon Flat Campground on the Summit Ranger District.

Plenty of work also is to be done on the Calaveras Ranger District, including:

• Construction of 8.1 miles of new trail and repairs to 1.2 miles of existing trail in the San Domingo Canyon area. This project will add three miles to the Arnold Rim Trail, which connects Hathaway Pines to White Pines Lake.

• Construction of a handicapped-accessible paved trail that spans nearly a mile from the Sierra Nevada Logging Museum in White Pines through the forest to an area overlooking San Antonio Creek. This trail will connect with the Arnold Rim Trail.

• Completion of the Mokelumne Coast to Crest Trail within the forest.

Repairs will also be made to three trails in the Emigrant Wilderness — Bigelow Lake Trail, Black Bear Trail and Twin Lakes Trail.

“The project will correct existing and potential resource damage from erosion and sedimentation,” Snyder said of the Emigrant work.

The forest will use the remaining $1.3 million in funding to complete backlogged maintenance projects and other work.

Included in that is $915,000 to upgrade or repair 24 campsites and day-use areas throughout the forest. 

That work involves installing 32 picnic tables and 20 campfire rings at Fence Creek Campground on the Summit Ranger District along with installing nine campfire rings and other upgrades at Mosquito Lakes on the Calaveras Ranger District. The parking area at Rainbow Pool on the Groveland Ranger District will receive paving repair.

Funding will be used to renovate buildings at the High Sierra Institute at Baker Station — a partnership between the Forest Service and Yosemite Community College District, which includes Columbia College.

The money will also allow for several deteriorating buildings to be torn down at American Camp, four miles north of Columbia on the Mi-Wok Ranger District.

Most of the projects are expected to be completed by the end of next year, Snyder said. The money expires at the end of 2010.