Contractors are starting work on the Blue Dot Project, a forest health project on the Roosevelt National Forest near Magnolia Road. For public safety, an area closure is now in effect around the immediate work zone.

This 50-acre project is implementing several landscape-scale Forest Service decisions: the Forsythe II Project (2017), which authorized vegetation treatments on approximately 2,500 acres to meet forest health and fuel reduction objectives; and the Magnolia Non- Motorized Trails Project (2016), which authorized the re-routing of existing trails, creating new trails, closing system and social trails, and converting some portions of roads and social trails to system trails.

Located approximately two miles east of the intersection of Hwy 119 and Magnolia Road, the project will impact several Forest Service administrative roads as well as system trails and usercreated trails that serve as portions of the Boy Scout or Dots Trails System. These areas will remain closed to the public until work is complete.

The work involves thinning densely forested areas to improve the forests’ resiliency to wildfire and selective tree cutting to increase diversity in the age, size, and species of trees across the landscape. Diversity helps make forests more resilient to disease and insect infestations while gaps in the tree canopy promote opportunities for wildfire suppression strategies.

Vegetation will be cut with mechanical equipment utilizing tree shears, skidders, and loaders. Larger material will be temporarily decked and removed from the site. Smaller logs and slash material will be piled to burn or chip. Piled material intended to be burned will need to cure on site for at least one year.

Some administrative roads in the project area have been improved to facilitate access to the units and hauling of woody material. Upon final completion of the project, the improved roads will be converted to a single track and incorporated into the Forest’s trail system. Some user-created routes were identified in the Magnolia Trails Project to become system trails after the project is complete while other user-created routes won’t be protected.

Crews are expected to be on site for up to four weeks, working between the hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.