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The environment desk at Aspen Public Radio covers issues in the Roaring Fork Valley and throughout the state of Colorado including water use and quality, impact of recreation, population growth and oil and gas development. APR’s Environment Reporter is Elizabeth Stewart-Severy.

Forest Service releases decision to log 1,800 acres in Fryingpan Valley

Elizabeth Stewart-Severy
/
Aspen Public Radio

The U.S. Forest Service released a draft decision yesterday to log up to 1,800 acres in the Upper Fryingpan Valley.

 

 

Forest Service officials said the plan provides timber to local industries, improves the diversity of the forest and offers snowshoe hare habitat. Local residents had expressed concern about damage to pristine wildlife habitat and popular recreation areas and increased traffic on the narrow Fryingpan Road.

The decision removes 35 acres from the original logging proposal in order to protect high-quality habitat for the endangered Canada lynx. The Forest Service has acknowledged that the project could have negative impacts on foraging and nesting habitat for several birds of prey species.

 

Aspen native Elizabeth Stewart-Severy is excited to be making a return to both the Red Brick, where she attended kindergarten, and the field of journalism. She has spent her entire life playing in the mountains and rivers around Aspen, and is thrilled to be reporting about all things environmental in this special place. She attended the University of Colorado with a Boettcher Scholarship, and graduated as the top student from the School of Journalism in 2006. Her lifelong love of hockey lead to a stint working for the Colorado Avalanche, and she still plays in local leagues and coaches the Aspen Junior Hockey U-19 girls.
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