Rebuilding the historic Camp Lamoille lodge, and other fire news

Before the burn

I attended a meeting this evening of the Northeastern Nevada Stewardship Group, where representatives from the US Forest Service, the Nevada Department of Wildlife, the Nevada Division of Forestry and NNSG reported on current conditions and potential directions for restoration after the devastating Lamoille Canyon fire.

There are a lot of updates to report:

CAMP LAMOILLE - The Elko Host Lion's Club has started a GoFundMe account to rebuild the historic Camp Lamoille Lodge.  Click here to donate.  The club is trying to raise $200,000, and the effort is just getting off the ground.  Donate, and share that you did on your social media accounts.  Every nickel counts.

The camp is on the National Register of Historic Places... no word on whether the Lions will be chasing potential funding sources through that listing.

The USFS district ranger, Josh Nicholes, stated that the USFS is "100% behind" efforts to rebuild the historic lodge.  It was originally designed by USFS architects, and built in 1939 using funds provided by philanthropist Max C. Fleischmann.

LAMOILLE CANYON ROAD - Right now, the road is the USFS' biggest concern in the canyon.  The guard rails on the road burned, making it much easier for drivers to plummet down steep cliffs while they're gawking at the burn area.  In addition, house-sized rocks above the road have been destabilized and there is major concern that one or more of them will come crashing down without warning.  There is also significant smaller rockfall - smaller than the huge rocks but still large enough to smash a windshield and take out a driver.  The USFS has experts working on the problem, but it won't be solved in the next day or two.  Right now the tentative date for reopening the road is November 30th.

RESEEDING - It's critical that reseeding be done quickly in order to minimize the spread of invasive weeds in the canyon.  The agencies plan to reseed with a mix of native grasses, and don't plan to introduce non-native species that may be more attractive to specific wildlife species (for example, mule deer).  Unfortunately, seed availability for forbs (broadleaf plants like native wildflowers) is very, very limited this year, with poor growing/seed gathering conditions and the huge demands on seed supplies from the many western fires under restoration.

Right now NDOW plans a sagebrush seed gathering day for volunteers to be held December 1st, with the location and volunteer information to be determined.  NNSG plans on hosting a seed gathering day targeting mountain mahogany in November, date and location TBD.  Unfortunately, mountain mahogany will be very, very slow to re-establish, but seeding will at least give them a chance.

The good news, if you can call it that, is that the fire spread so quickly that much of the canyon's root stock survived the blaze.  The fire spread more than 150 acres every 15 minutes... the entire 9000+ acres were on fire in only 12 hours.

TRAILS - The news is less good when it comes to trails.  The USFS is considering closing the Secret-Lamoille Trail for a year in order to prevent people from cutting the (now very visible) switchbacks in the first half mile, and letting the seedings get established.  I suggested that there might be other ways of approaching the problem, as are often used in Colorado and other more trafficked areas where many feet need to stay on the trail.  It's all very early in the process, but decisions are being made so now's the time to pick up the phone if you'd like to see another solution.

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION - NNSG plans on doing research into fire effects and recovery at a couple of different sites in the burn area.  In addition, they plan on partnering with the agencies and Friends of Lamoille Canyon to provide education and information on the effects of fire and how nature recovers after a burn.

WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW - The fire remains 90% contained.  Crews are working to mitigate hazards in the burn area, in addition to the road.  They're felling hazard trees in the campgrounds, clearing streams to prevent spring flooding (thank you, says this Lamoille resident), repairing dozer lines, treating noxious weeds and working on slope stabilization - where they can.  It's steep up there and there isn't much they can do in a lot of places.

Overall, the agencies are very much facing a triage situation given the number of massive fires this year, including the South Sugarloaf fire in Elko County earlier this summer.  That fire burned a popular USFS campground just below the Wildhorse Dam, as well as thousands of acres, hundreds of miles of fence, and hundreds of miles of roads.  All of the dozer line needs to be reseeded, firebreaks and green breaks need to be established, invasive weeds need to be treated.  All while the agencies are robbing Peter to pay Paul.

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I spoke this afternoon with a woman whose friend was at the Spring Creek Rifle Range when the fire started.  Apparently there were a number of people using the range to sight in their rifles that morning - every table was in use.

That gives me hope that the fire investigators might have more than tracks and casings to work with.  We'll see.