2015 winter spring newsletter copy - WordPress.com · 2015-03-04 ·...
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Northern Rocky Mountain Retiree Association Newsletter
2015 Dues
In order to keep receiving the newsle3er, it is 5me to pay your $10.00 dues for 2015. You do not need to pay dues if you are a life member. Please use the form on the last page of the newsle3er to submit your dues. Dona5ons are always welcome.
We had a few new members in 2014 but would welcome more. Remember, we meet for lunch on the first Wednesday of each month at 11:30 a.m. at Jakers.
For the past several months we have been joined by a person from the Regional Office who has brought us up to date on various Forest Service issues. This has been greatly welcomed and very informa5ve. We look forward to this link with the Regional Office con5nuing into the future.
Remember: The FS Re5rees Reunion is coming up in October in Albuquerque. Visit their website for further informa5on on the reunion and registra5on informa5on:
www.2015.fsreunions.org
DC3/BT-‐67 -‐-‐ Le3er to Missoulian
Please click this link to see the ar5cle Barry is responding to: h3p://missoulian.com/news/local/first-‐flight-‐of-‐the-‐final-‐year-‐smokejumpers-‐last-‐dc-‐/ar5cle_d7c4bf60-‐a5a9-‐5045-‐b6ac-‐116201cefc03.html
Rob, nice ar5cle although it would have been more accurate had it been wri3en in 1990 when the originally designed and used DC-‐3 was actually re5red. The pictures of 115Z (or jump 15) in the ar5cle are actually a BT-‐67 rather than a DC-‐3.
115Z came out of remanufacture in 1991 from Basler Turbo Conversions LLC, a Wisconsin company, as a BT-‐67. The Basler Company made modifica5ons to the Douglas DC-‐3 airframe designed to significantly improve the DC-‐3's serviceable life5me.
Total flight 5me since remanufacture of 115Z is 5800 hours, which is rela5vely low flight 5me. Basler has remanufactured 65 BT-‐67’s to date and 30 of them have been for government agencies including N707BA a US State Department aircrag. It would be poli5cally untenable to declare the aircrag not airworthy given that the Department of State and the Air Force along with the Military Air Forces of eight other countries are currently opera5ng BT-‐67’s. This makes it very important for the Forest Service to clearly state “why” they have chosen to re5re this aircrag. The BT-‐67 is American made. Using performance as the basis, It is the safest and has the most capacity (16 smokejumpers) of any aircrag in the system. The capacity allows for the ability to put a Type 3 organiza5on on a rapidly emerging fire in the shortest amount of 5me. During this period when fires are larger this relates to improved safety for firefighters. It is the best, most economical smokejumper aircrag in service today.
A bigger ques5on is: Has Forest Service Fire & Avia5on management applied pressure to current knowledgeable employees to not share this same public informa5on? If so, is that a good situa5on for an agency that touts its “safety of fire fighters” as a number one priority?
Barry Hicks, Re5red Regional Avia5on Officer, Forest Service
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A LONG STRING (Jack Pucke@)
This story happened in the early fall of 1960 on the Powell District which at that 5me was on the Lolo NF. It was a fall that was dry late in September. The back country was open to hun5ng and wouldn’t you know it a fire broke out south of Bear Mountain Lookout. It was discovered late in the evening so the district had all night to get organized. At that 5me highway 12 ended at the Warm Springs pack bridge and by morning crews were on the way and a helicopter was on hand to ferry them to Bear Mountain lookout and to hike into the fire from there. The pack strings were brought down from Powell to pack in the fire camp and supplies. One of the packers was on leave and couldn’t be reached.
On that par5cular day the Forest Supervisor (Ross Leavi3) and a man from the Washington office came over to see what was going on with the fire. Everything was sort of congregated at the end of the road. The helicopter was ferrying men and the supply truck arrived with the 50 man camp. The packer and the truck driver unloaded the supplies and the truck driver leg. There is a mountain of supplies, two pack strings, and one packer-‐-‐Don Heslip. The man from the Washington office asked the supervisor. “Doesn’t he need any help?” The supervisor said “he doesn’t want any”. And so they watched while the packer loaded both strings of mules (18), pick up his lead rope swing on his horse and head up the trail and not look back. Them, were the good old days.
Welcome New Members:
Vicky Maclean -‐ Helena NF re5reeJim Olivarez -‐ Regional Office re5reeGeorge Weldon -‐ Regional Office re5ree
Fred Cooper is showing Barry Hicks the first crank variety mobile phone. Imagine the convenience it afforded to be able to carry it to the field, tap into a phone line and make a call back to the District. If you used a phone like that, did you ever think it would be replaced by our current, very small cell phones?
This phone will become part of the network of old phones displayed and used at the Yellowstone Nature Connec5on in West Yellowstone, Montana.
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We Remember
Roger Allen Ward, 73, of Kamiah, Idaho, passed away Friday, Feb. 6, 2015, at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Idaho. He died as a result of an ice fishing accident. His passion for fishing began at a young age and had a desire to move west. He wanted to be near the mountains and forests. AVer graduaWng from Kokomo High School (Indiana) in 1959 he went on to Purdue. He graduated college with a degree in forestry. He moved to Philipsburg, Mont., and worked as a forester. Roger’s desire to serve his country overrode his dreams of the west. He joined the Navy and a@ended NOCS. Roger served his country as lieutenant on the U.S.S. Bon Homme Richard in Vietnam. Following his service, Roger returned to the forest that he dreamed about. He went to Elk City as a forester for the U.S. Forest Service. Roger was transferred to Priest Lake where the fishing was much be@er. He was a member of the Society of American Foresters and while on a study tour with them he was able to tour New Zealand and Australia. Roger managed to conWnue his educaWon. He received his masters in sivilculture from the University of Idaho. Roger transferred to the Kamiah office where the Ward family made Kamiah their home.. He worked at the Kamiah office for several years before transferring to the Grangeville office where he reWred in 1998.
Judson Napoleon Moore, 93, passed away Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015, at Immanuel Lutheran Home in Kalispell. Judson was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on Jan. 18, 1922. Judson a3ended grade school in Tuscumbia, Alabama, Treadwell Junior High School in Memphis and graduated from Central High in Memphis in 1940. He a3ended Memphis State College from 1940 to 1942. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps (which later became the U.S. Air Force) in 1942 and served as a navigator/bombardier in the 8th Air Force, 401st Bombardment Group, flying in a B-‐17, sta5oned in England. Following the War, Judson enrolled in the journalism school at the University of Montana. Judson had various jobs following his gradua5on and in 1962, he was hired by the U.S. Forest Service in Missoula to be the informa5on officer. He con5nued to work for the Forest Service in Missoula un5l his re5rement in 1996. Judson also served in the Air Force Reserve for 20 years, re5ring from the Air Force in 1982 as a major.
Ager his re5rement, Judson volunteered extensively at numerous chari5es in the Missoula area including Missoula Food Bank, Missoula Public Library, 10 years with Miss Cox's fourth-‐grade class at Lewis and Clark Grade School and others. Judson also kept physically ac5ve in his re5rement, running in many road races in the Missoula area and walking the family dogs un5l all their dogs had gone to heaven. Judson was a quiet, unassuming Southern gentleman. He was a faithful, trustworthy, ethical, honest, industrious and dependable man. He was a man of sterling character and ethics, a conscien5ous, hard worker.
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Heaven welcomed a gentle soul on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2015, when Ormie Walter Nei, 77, passed away peacefully in his sleep. He was residing at Surprise, Arizona at the 5me. Ormie received a general science degree from the University of Montana in 1960. Shortly thereager he went to work for the Department of Defense as an ammuni5on inspector. Through Ormi’s career with the DOD and Forest Service he lived in Wisconsin, Illinois, New Mexico, North Carolina, Georgia, California, Montana and Arizona.
Ormie’s ul5mate goal was to get back to Missoula to raise his children and he did so in 1975. He re5red from Region I, USFS as a personnel officer. For several years thereager he inves5gated personnel complaints against government employers. These inves5ga5ons took him to places like Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
Le3y Harrington Schiweck, 86, of Missoula, passed away Jan. 22, 2015..
Le3y went back to work and eventually became a key punch supervisor and a documents clerk for the U.S. Forest Service. She worked there for approximately 30 years and re5red in 1993.
Le3y was known as a gentle and kind person who faced life’s challenges with acceptance, perseverance and quiet determina5on. She enjoyed being with her extended family at many gatherings at the ranch, at her sister Doris’ house, at Flathead Lake and at the Orchard Homes Country Life Club.
Donna Genevieve Tubbs Huguet, 84, a lifelong Missoula resident, died peacefully in her home, on Dec. 3, 2014. Donna graduated from Missoula County High School (now Hellgate High), in 1947 and a3ended the University of Montana for one year before being hired as a secretary for John Toole Insurance Agency and then for the U.S. Forest Service. Donna con5nued working at the Forest Service un5l the birth of her fourth child, then devoted all of her 5me, a3en5on and care to her growing family which eventually grew to six boys and three girls. As a mother she was a natural, making sure her brood was happy and healthy. When the youngest of the family was safely off to school, Donna returned to work at the USFS, re5ring in 1992 ager 22 years of service.
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Place: Gravelly Range, (old) Madison Range District, (old) Beaverhead Na5onal Forest, MT.
Time: Summer, 1954.
This is my story of riding sheep allotments on the “Gravelies” ager gradua5ng from the School of Forestry, University of Montana. District Ranger Ron Schultz had a schedule when the sheep were to move onto the Forest and which bands were to be counted. He suggested that I ready some warm clothes, buy groceries for several weeks, and have my saddle gear ready for the summer.
In early July Ron and I trucked three horses to the Crocke3 Lake Cabin, unloaded my gear, and checked and mended the pasture fence, and turned the horses in. Ron spent several hours showing me maps of the sheep allotments, grazing schedules, and providing informa5on about my job and answering my many ques5ons. We then cooked up some dinner and filled the kerosene lanterns, unrolled our sleeping bags, and got ready to turn in. I was already liking the job!
Crocke3 Lake Cabin was the first of three cabins I would be working out of; Black Bu3e and West Fork cabins would come later. Now we had to get the sheep and tomorrow was going to be a day of learning as I had no experience with sheep.
Ron and I drove to the sheep corral and inspected and repaired as necessary. Ron taught me how to count the sheep through the gate...don't count the lambs, only the ewes...click the tally-‐whack when the 5th ewe went out the small gate. When the corral was empty one could take the count on the tally-‐whack and mul5ple by 5 to get the total ewe count of that band.** Not all the sheep had to be counted each year; about 1/3 of the bands every year were counted.
My job as Grazing Guard was to inspect the sheep grazing to see that the herders were staying on their allotment, were bedding the sheep in a different area each night, were sal5ng in rocky outcrops*, had any ques5ons about the rota5on or grazing pa3ern, and establishing good will with the herders and camp tenders . In late agernoon or ager dinner I would map my route and mark where the sheep were observed, and make notes of significant departures from that allotment's grazing plan that Ranger Ron should know about.
Ron had briefed me about a camp tender on an allotment that had a cabin and invited the Grazing Guard to come to the cabin, stay overnight, and ride his two allotments the next day. He was a good friend of the Forest Service. When the 5me came to ride his allotments I rode over, found the cabin but nobody home. Ager puwng my horse in the corral and saddle gear in a shed, I stoked the stove and made some coffee and peeled some spuds while awai5ng his return. We got acquainted and prepared dinner while talking about his two herders and two bands of sheep he was responsible for. We lit the Coleman lanterns and he said “you crawl in first (to a double bed) as I will be gewng up early to check the herders. You can get up and have some breakfast ready when I get back.” Well that didn't leave me any choice for sleeping quarters so I peeled off my clothes down to my shorts and crawled in, all the way across the bed to the wall! He doused the lanterns and crawled in. Well, I stayed awake quite awhile with a 5ght pucker string un5l falling asleep! I never heard him leave in the early morning and slept un5l the sun came up. I got up, stoked the stove, put the coffee on, and started frying some bacon. He soon arrived, had a coffee while I cooked four yolks over easy, and we con5nued our conversa5on from last night. We then washed the dishes, made a sandwich and grabbed an apple and candy bar for lunch while watching the sheep graze. The herder joined us and in broken English told the boss he killed a black bear near the sheep. That evening, back in the Black Bu3e cabin, I so noted in my record.
A NIGHT WITH A (SHEEP) CAMP TENDER (Charles R. (Dick) Joy)
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Request for help
Tom Schenarts received the following request from Zane Smith:
“I recently received a request from a church camp located in the Idaho Panhandle NF for informa5on on water rights. In the 19950’s I was among a number of forestry students at the University of Montana who spent summers working for the FS at Shoshone Work Camp on the Wallace District. A few years ago, Be3y and I visited the camp which was under special use permit by the FS. In 2009 they were able to purchase the camp and land and are now trying to establish water rights related to camp use. The well providing drinking water and domes5c use has been accomplished. The irriga5on right for water pumped from the creek has not been established. Apparently they need to establish that the Forest Service, in fact, had irrigated with a pump from the creek prior to 1971. I believe that it probably did in the 1950’s but can’t say for sure. I have contacted other students of my era and they came up with the same thoughts.
What will be necessary is for someone who does remember that irriga5on occurred prior to 1971 be iden5fied. The camp only needs a notarized statement from such an individual. It is my hope that the re5ree organiza5on for R-‐1 could ask if anyone would have the answer and be willing to so state. Clint Kunze is the Camp Director and can be reached at: [email protected] or 208-‐667-‐3459 #114. I would greatly appreciate if you or someone who communicates with re5rees could ask if anyone could help. I know the camp would be forever grateful.”
The rest of the summer was quite unevenzul but most enjoyable to be able to ride horseback, chewsome tobacco, watch some awesome sunsets and a few sunrises, climb Black Bu3e Mountain, and listen to Mother Nature. The best of this summer's experiences related to riding the near/same areas, living in the same cabins, and drinking mountain water as did my father, Chic Joy, from 1924 1931. I do believe I found a few of his footsteps to follow “up on the Gravellies.”
Sal5ng the rocky outcrops was the responsibity of the herder or camp tender. They put salt out for the sheep on rocky areas so as to not damage forage-‐growing areas.
** Here is a side story of my learning experiences that summer.
One day ager coun5ng through a band I looked up and my eyes focused on a green FS vehicle.
“Over here, Dick”, called a familiar voice. I walked over and recognized Carl Simpson, Range/
Wildlife Staff from the office in Dillon. “How many, Dick?”
“Just a minute while I tally, Carl. Looks like we had 1,225 total.”
“ How did you count them, Dick?” I explained to Carl the process. Carl then asked who taught me that and I told him Ron had. He said he was going to skin Ron for leading me astray.
“How do you count them, Carl?” I asked.
“Dick, you count the legs and divide by four!”
A national smokejumper reunion will be held in Missoula, July 17-19, 2015. Festivities will be held at the University of Montana. To get additional information, clink on the link: http://smj2015reunion.wordpress.com
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No EIS (Tom Schenarts, USFS ReMred)
The snow lies late in the spring in the North Fork of the Clearwater River in Idaho and the elk carcasses provide plenty of feed for the predators. It is steep, tough country for man and beast. The occasional benches along the narrow bo3om provided winter forage for the elk herds for centuries. The last fire to sweep the bo3om of the North Fork was 1928. Every igni5on since was quickly stamped out.
Joe Bross, Idaho Game Warden, stopped by the Bungalow Ranger Sta5on for coffee and news one day in the summer of 1966. The subject came up about the diminishing elk herds in the Weitas country, a drainage of the North Fork. The ouzi3ers were complaining about fewer elk and Joe agreed this had become a problem. He pointed out that the poor state of the winter browse in the bo3om of the North Fork was a key factor because there had been no fires in the winter range for about 40 years. We took a drive up the river and looked over winter range. It was in very poor condi5on. It needed a burn.
The next April, shortly ager moving back to the Bungalow from our winter quarters in Orofino, Clark Fuller, Fire Control Officer and I drove along the river. There were lots of dead elk. The snow s5ll covered the hillsides except for a narrow band along the bo3om of the drainage which was bone dry. This was the winter browse zone. It was a good opportunity to burn out the bo3om and the fire would only go to the snowline. We filled out a 1300-‐4 project work form, put it in the file and made plans for the burn.
The next day was clear and warm and when the sun reached the bo3om of the North Fork, Clark and I with our propane torches started igni5ng the dry brush along the south facing slopes. One of us would start burning and the other drove ahead about a half mile, leg the pickup and started burning ahead. We leap-‐frogged our way for several miles along the river and soon had the en5re bo3om on fire. The fire burned hot and clean, right up to the snow line. We put out a few snags and went back to the sta5on. The whole opera5on took only a few hours, a couple gallons of propane and about one man day. There was virtually no paperwork involved.
Joe Bross was elated and within a few years the elk herd exploded. The ouzi3ers were having great success and their business increased. About 40 years later at a mee5ng in Missoula, I was asked by a Clearwater employee who knew I had been the Ranger in the 60’s, if I knew anything about what caused the elk herd to expand back then. I told him this story and pointed out to him that there was no EIS, no public mee5ngs and no lawsuits. It was the Ranger’s decision to act when the need presented itself. Those were the good ole days!
Northern Rocky Mountain Retiree Association
P.O. Box 3215
Missoula, Montana 59806
NONPROFITORG
U.S. PostagePAID
Missoula, MTPermit 569
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