Oakwood Bottoms in the Shawnee National Forest is pictured in 2015.
The Shawnee National Forest is hosting a public “field trip” meeting Friday in the Alexander County woodlands to discuss ideas to improve the health of the Bean Ridge area.
It will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and include a roughly 1-mile round-trip hike — one-half mile down a ridge to a creek bed, and one-half mile back up an adjacent ridge.
The meeting location is in Southwest Alexander County on Bean Ridge Road, between Thebes and Tamms (directions provided below).
In a news release, Forest Supervisor Brendan Cain said that data gathered in the Bean Ridge area in 2018 “indicates a decline in forest health is occurring.”
The goal of the meeting, Cain said, is to facilitate a “science-based discussion with the public and our forest management partners about how to achieve forest health improvement.”
The day will begin with a briefing on survey results and discussion, followed by the hike.
“We’ll stop along the route and discuss what people are noticing, what sort of forest management strategies should be employed,” Justin Dodson, a Shawnee National Forest silviculturist, told The Southern in an interview late last week.
Dodson stressed that the Forest Service’s mission is to sustain healthy, diverse and productive forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. That requires the use of science-based and proven management strategies, he said, adding, “I think it’s something that the public tends to not understand.”
