Wildlife, sport and activities, sometimes all at once

The Inyo National Forest, Mammoth Ranger District, is proposing to implement a project to improve meadow wildlife habitat at Upper Crater Meadow in the Ansel Adams Wilderness, southwest of Mammoth Mountain, according to USFS spokesperson Nancy Upham.

The primary objective is to improve meadow habitat for the Yosemite toad, a species of amphibian that lives only in high mountain meadows of the Sierra Nevada.

The project will re-route part of the Pacific Crest trail and an associated trail cut-off to Mammoth Pass out of sensitive meadow habitat into the surrounding dry forest, she said in a press release.

The toad is a Forest Service sensitive species. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently determined the species is warranted for consideration as a threatened or endangered species under the Federal Endangered Species Act, since the species population has been in decline for a number of years.

The project would also improve habitat for other meadow wildlife species, while re-routing the existing trails to a suitable and less-sensitive location.

Mammoth District Ranger Jon Regelbrugge said expects the analysis to be completed, and to issue a decision to implement this project in June of this year.

Funding has been obtained through the Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region Sensitive Species Program. The Pacific Crest Trails Association is planning a volunteer work crew to assist in the trail project.

Work crews will construct the new trails, and rehabilitate the current trails through the meadow by de-compacting soil and placing organic material on the old trail tread to facilitate revegetation.

It is expected that the decision for this project may be issued using a categorical exclusion.

Comments on this proposal would be most useful if received by May 25, 2007. They can be sent to Gary Milano at the Inyo National Forest, 351 Pacu Lane, Suite 200, Bishop, CA 93514, or gmilano@fs.fed.us.