§539n Crystal Springs Watershed Special Resources Management Unit

Summary

After the land swap called for in section 1206(a)(2), certain Forest Service lands in Oregon are set aside as the Crystal Springs Watershed Special Resources Management Unit, shown on a June 2006 map. Lands already made wilderness by section 1202 are not part of the unit. The federal land in the unit is taken out of use for new public land claims, new mining claims or patents, and for new mineral or geothermal leases, subject to any valid rights that existed on March 30, 2009. The rule about public land claims does not apply to the parcel shown as “HES 151” on the map. The unit’s two main goals are to protect Crystal Springs as a clean drinking water source for people in Hood River County, Oregon, and to let visitors enjoy the area’s scenic, natural, cultural, and wildlife values. The Secretary must file the map and legal description with the Senate and House natural resources committees soon after March 30, 2009 and keep them available at Forest Service offices. The Secretary must run the unit under National Forest rules and only allow uses that match the two goals. To protect water, scenery, and wildlife, the Secretary may do fuel reduction and forest health work, including creating fire-resilient forests and removing slash and ladder fuels. Work can be done up to 400 feet from structures on Forest or adjacent private land, up to 400 feet from Cooper Spur Road, Cloud Cap Road, or Cooper Spur Ski Area Loop Road, and elsewhere in the unit with priority on restoring previously logged areas. Unless someone has a prior right, the unit bans building new roads or renovating certain non-Forest roads (except for safety), commercial timber harvesting (except byproducts from work done to meet the goals), commercial grazing, new fuel storage tanks, and use of toxic chemicals except when needed for the unit’s purposes (fire retardants allowed). The Secretary may close or gate Forest Service roads, but is not required to close Cloud Cap Road. Private owners and their guests keep access to private land shown in the “Zone of Contribution.” The Secretary is encouraged to work with willing private landowners and may buy willing sellers’ land inside that zone and add it to the unit when purchased.