Stewardship Contracting a Success on the Allegheny NF
Diane Peffer, along with team members Bob and Snowball, played a leading role in making the project a success.
Horses used in sensitive soil area to complete the Forest's first stewardship logging contract.
Through diligent, hard work by all parties involved, the Allegheny National Forest's first stewardship contract has produced substantial results. A variety of work was performed at five campsites at the Beaver Meadows Recreation Area to improve drainage and correct erosion and sedimentation problems at the recreation area.
The Allegheny exchanged timber volume for the improvements. In exchange for doing the work, timber was removed from about 10 acres within the 50-acre contract area. Some thinning was accomplished along with the salvage of timber that was down and/or damaged after a wind-throw event. In keeping with the spirit of improving problems with soils at the site, logs were skidded using a team of horses. For a smaller project such as this, horses are an ideal way to minimize soil compaction and reduce the widths of skid trails.
Firth Maple Products was awarded the contract and employed long-standing philosophies to accomplish the work. Both the timber removal and campsite improvements improve public safety at the campground by reducing hazardous fuels and removing hazard trees and by improving conditions at individual campsites. Of course natural resources benefit as well.
Given that this was the Allegheny's first venture into Stewardship End Result Contracting, it was a learning process for the staff.
Diane Peffer, an Allegheny Natural Resources Data Management Specialist, shepherded the contract through the process, overcoming many obstacles along the way.
"Without Diane's hard work and dedication, this project never would have come to fruition," said David Cotterman, a Timber Sale Administrator on the Marienville Ranger District.