Mark Twain National Forest

PROJECT PLANS

NEPA

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

Plans

Plans going through the development and approval (NEPA) process are on this page When they are approved and ready for implementation they are move to the Project Plans Implemention Page click here. Typically, they are moved 1-6 months after Decision date. We welcome your input and involvement in the process.

Each project plan under development on the Forest will be listed under the distrct where the project will be done unless it is a Forest Wide or Mutli-District project.

Links
Forest Wide or Multi-District
Ava/Cassville/Willow Springs Ranger District
Eleven Point Ranger District
Houston/Rolla/Cedar Creek Ranger District
Poplar Bluff Ranger District
Potosi/Fredericktown Ranger District
Salem Ranger District

Forest Wide or Multi-District Projects

• Schedule of Proposed Actions This is a link to the new Forest Service SOPA reports. It will open in a new window and display the reports. You can then close that window and you'll return here. If you have any comments about this new site, drop the Webmaster r9_marktwain_webmaster@fs.fed.us a line. Mark Twain National Forest publishes quarterly reports to inform the public of current, on-going, or upcoming projects.
  
  
• Non-native Invasive Plant Control Project
  The Proposed Action is to treat non-native invasive plant infestations on the Mark Twain National Forest using an integrated combination of manual, mechanical, cultural, chemical, prescribed fire and biological control treatment methods.
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Ava/Cassville/Willow Springs Ranger District

• Openlands Haying Project
  The Ava/Cassville/Willow Springs Ranger District is proposing to authorize mechanical removal (haying) of forage in a manner that moves toward Forest Plan Goal and Objectives and desired conditions. The primary purpose of this action is to provide for open land maintenance and forage in response to demand. The 2005 Forest Plan sets goals and objectives for the management of the Mark Twain National Forest. Goals and objectives describe the desired resource condition sometime in the future and are the bases for project-level planning.
  
  
• Chadwick Trail Relocation Project
  Trail relocation due to paving one mile of Look Out Road (Trail 171) within Chadwick Motorcycle and ATV area. This relocation affect trails 130, 130A, 131, 132A and 171 where portions of these trails will be relocated, improved, and decommissioned.
  
  
• Open Land Grazing Management Project NEW ITEM Decision Memo 9/27/2008
  The Ava/Cassville/Willow Springs Ranger District is proposing to renew permits to authorize grazing in a manner that moves the allotted areas, (allotments) toward 2005 Forest Plan goals, objectives and desired conditions. The primary purpose of this action is to provide and maintain open lands for wildlife and forage in response to demand. The project area is located on 11 separate tracts of National Forest System lands totaling approximately 1,141 acres of open pastures throughout the district. These grazing areas were acquired by the Forest Service in the last 70 years and have been managed by the Forest Service as grazing allotments since acquisition. In addition to the grazing activities, other connected actions will include mowing, fertilizing, road maintenance, noxious weed control, and prescribed fire.
  
  
• Blue Hole Project (#18196) NEW ITEM Scoping Report 12/10/2008
  The project area is located on the Willow Springs unit approximately 12 miles northwest of West Plains, Missouri in both Douglas and Howell Counties. The project area contains 17,297 acres with approximately 8,828 acres of National Forest System lands. The Proposed Action would enhance natural communities and improve forest health conditions while providing a variety of dispersed recreational uses and timber products.
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Eleven Point Ranger District

• Hog Cliff Salvage Project
  Based on field review, several stands in Compartments 160, 161, and 157 (near the junction of T25N and T26N, R2W and R3W approximately 3 miles northwest of Irish Wilderness, Missouri) have been identified containing components of black and scarlet oaks displaying symptoms of decline in stands identified to be mature and overmature and are in need of salvage to claim impeding mortality. The need for salvage is based on a field review by a Certified Silviculturist who has determined that the existing stands conditions warrant the salvage project.
  
  
• Handy Project
  The Handy Project area is located on the Eleven Point Ranger District within Oregon, Ripley and Carter counties, Missouri. The nearest town is Handy, Missouri within the project area. The Handy Project will emphasize the restoration and re-establishment of natural vegetation communities with treatment of the vegetation being initiated first to move existing conditions in this 1.1 Management Area toward conditions that would respond better to the re-introduction of fire, also proposed in this project. This would move the area back to the Desired Conditions generally described in the 2005 Mark Twain National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan.
  
  
• Turner South Access Site Project NEW ITEM Scoping Report 8/28/2008
  The Doniphan Ranger District is proposing this action for the purpose of improving public safety, maintaining and improving recreational and commercial access to the Eleven Point River while maintaining the qualities for which the river was classified as a National Scenic River. The proposed action is needed due to the lack of a functioning boat launch and the loss of a canoe/tube launch facility. This project will help improve and continue to move this area toward the desired condition.
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Houston/Rolla/Cedar Creek Ranger District

• Lynchburg Salvage Project NEW ITEM Decision Notice 8/19/2008
  Purpose of the project is to improve forest health and protect a wide diversity of habitats that move the Lynchburg Salvage project area towards the Desired Condition as outlined in the 2005 Mark Twain National Forest LRMP. Salvage through mechanical means is limited to approximately 9,267 acres of merchantable dead and dying black, scarlet, and northern red oak as a result of advanced oak decline on government lands within Management Prescription 2.1 inside the project area. The proposal would leave white, post, chinkapin and blackjack oak, hickory, pine, black gum and other trees in association with the oak-hickory forests of the area. This salvage activity would improve the health of the red oak group component of the stands that would be lost if the trees were left to die since dead trees do not sprout.
  
  
• Southwest Project (#21888) NEW ITEM 30 Day Comment 9/11/2008
  The Southwest project is located in the west and southwestern portion of the Cedar Creek Ranger District and, as identified in the current 2005 Forest Plan, consists of only Management Areas 2.1 and 6.3. The project consists of proposed activities on Federal lands within the Houston/Rolla/Cedar Creek Ranger District of the Mark Twain National Forest (MTNF) in both Boone and Callaway Counties, Missouri. The Houston/Rolla/Cedar Creek Ranger District’s primary objective of the Southwest project is to provide a wide variety of goods, uses, and services including wood products, other products, visual quality, developed and dispersed recreation opportunities, and habitat for a variety of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife, fish, and other biota.
  
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Poplar Bluff Ranger District

• Cane Ridge East Project (#14903)
  The project area is located on the Poplar Bluff Ranger District within Wayne and Butler counties, Missouri. The nearest town is Williamsville approximately 1 mile north of the project area. The project will emphasize the restoration and re-establishment of natural vegetative communities where appropriate. It is needed to move existing conditions in this 1.1 Management Area toward conditions that more closely resemble the Desired Conditions generally described in the 2005 Mark Twain National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan.
  
  
• Otter Creek Southeast Area (#19489)
  The principal purpose of the project is to address black and scarlet oak decline in this area of the Poplar Bluff Ranger District. The project originally involved salvage and sanitation harvest of dying black and scarlet oak in the Otter Creek South area, which included seven compartments: 78- 81, and 83- 85, respectively. Compartments 78-81 were addressed in an earlier project proposal. This project addresses oak decline and forest health in compartments 83, 84, and 85 only. It also addresses re-introduction of fire into the ecosystem, transportation needs, and Old Growth designations.
  
  

  On November 2, 2007, Doug Oliver, District Ranger for the Poplar Bluff Ranger District, signed a Decision Notice for the subject project.  This decision guides management on the estimated 3,596 acres of National Forest System lands located in Township 27 North, Range 3 East, sections 1-5, 9-11, and 14-16, Carter County, Missouri.  It authorizes Alternative 2 as described in the Environmental Assessment.  These resource management activities are designed address oak decline and move the project area toward the desired condition generally outlined by the 2005 Mark Twain National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP).
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Potosi/Fredericktown Ranger District

• Ozark Trail Courtois Section
  The action proposed is to construct an approximately 11 mile segment of the Courtois Section of the Ozark Trail from the current terminus near the Butts Road to the National Forest boundary just south of the Huzzah Conservation Area.  Seven of the 11 miles would be on National Forest.  Due to a lack of rights-of-way across private property, a 3 mile section in the middle will utilize Crawford County Road 550 as a connector.
  
  
• Shirley Project Area NEW ITEM 30 Day Comment 12/12/2008
  The objective of the Shirley project is to provide a wide variety of goods, uses, and services including wood products, other products, visual quality, developed and dispersed recreation opportunities, and habitat for a variety of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife, fish, and other biota.
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Salem Ranger District

• Sutton Bluff Aquatic Passage Low-Water Crossing Replacement (#16613)
  The Salem Ranger District is proposing the replacement of the low-water crossing on Reynolds County Road 849 near the Sutton Bluff Campground for the purposes of improving aquatic organism passage, public safety and stream habitat and morphology.  The low-water bridge design will maximize the openings for water flow, which will allow aquatic species to migrate upstream, and the stream system to stabilize and heal itself from the scouring and elevation changes caused by the current crossing.
  
  
• Medley Hollow Project (#20455)
  The purpose of the Medley Hollow Analysis Area project is to utilize an ecosystems management approach to maintain and restore the structure and composition of the natural communities that fit with historic landscape patterns in the area. This ecosystem management includes vegetation management methods to mimic historic disturbance regimes. Moving toward the desired condition may take 15 to 25 years for ground cover and more than 100 years for the composition and structure of respective canopy characteristics. Project vegetation treatments will also improve forest health in the area by salvaging dead and dying black and scarlet oaks. The forest health concern of oak mortality is an immediate concern for the analysis area and the timely treatment of affected stands will lay foundations for maintaining sustainable natural communities and providing wildlife habitat diversity. The project will also include measures to eradicate the excessive vegetation in Loggers Lake in order to insure quality recreation opportunities for the recreation area in the future. The proposal has additional actions for protecting soil and water resources and management of the forest transportation system within the analysis area.
  
  
• Marcoot/Minninghaw Prescribed Burns Project (#19902)
  The Salem Ranger District is proposing prescribed burn treatments for approximately 5,663 acres to reduce hazardous fuels and improve wildlife habitat. The prescribed burns would consist of the expansion of two units which have previously been managed on a 3 to 5 year rotation with prescribed burning and mechanical treatments. In addition to the prescribed fire activities, other connected actions will include fire-line construction and maintenance.
  
  
• Blair Creek Raised Fen Project NEW ITEM Comment Package 11/12/08
  Blair Creek Raised Fen is a deep muck fen and is unique in that it is the only “raised” fen known to occur in Missouri. It was included in the Missouri Natural Areas system in 1985. Fens are mucky, wet areas fed by mineralized groundwater. Fens are ecologically important in that they provide habitat for many sensitive species including several plants species that are restricted to fens. The primary purpose of the Blair Creek Raised Fen Natural Area Project is to remove the effects of flooding caused by beaver activity, on the flow of mineralized groundwater in the fen and on the fen-characteristic and restricted vegetation of the fen. Improve open woodland wildlife habitat in the fen and surrounding uplands by reducing encroaching species and improving the plant diversity, health, and vigor of the native grasses, sedges, and forbs. Protect the fen from feral hogs and illegal OHV use. In addition to maintaining healthy natural communities, project activities will help reduce the amount of hazardous fuels and risk of catastrophic fire to the lands adjacent to the burn unit.
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US Forest Service - Mark Twain National Forest
Last modified: Tuesday, 16 December 2008
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/marktwain