Agreement Narrative: Sugar Creek Stewardship SPA
Primary Funder: Nantahala National Forest (Stewardship)
Location: Nantahala Ranger District, Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina
Innovation: Repackaging timber sale that previously went no-bid when offered as a conventional timber sale contract. Commercial timber harvests will create young and open forest conditions. Service work items include noncommercial habitat improvements such as thinning to promote hardwood saplings in middle-aged forests, wildlife field maintenance, nonnative invasive plant control, and roadside wildlife fields. The sale includes aerial logging operations, so there will be a need to support advanced timber harvesting systems in the project.
Impact: The stewardship project will generate the following outputs across the 1,912-acre project area: 1) 192 acres of commercial timber harvests to create young and open forest conditions, 2) 10.7 acres of roadside wildlife field creation, 3) 148 acres of post-harvest site clearing to promote hardwood seedling development, 4) 10 acres wildlife field rehabilitation, 48 acres nonnative invasive plant control, and 3 gates installed.
Partners: We will collaborate with North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission on implementing the wildlife opening rehabilitation and Mainline Natural Resources on logging plan and inspections for skyline operations. Service work contracts will be awarded to local and regional contractors.
Deliverables:
Q1 2023, executed the stewardship agreement with the US Forest Service.
