Aspen Working Group Schedules Public Field Trip

The Eastern Idaho Aspen Working Group in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management has scheduled a public field trip to the Soda Hills area in Caribou County on Thursday, September 13. BLM staff from the Pocatello Field Office will show the aspen restoration work the BLM has completed in the Soda Hills, specifically discussing aspen treatments, how aspen have responded, and future restoration research and efforts the BLM is pursuing. The field trip will run from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Those with questions or who would like to attend should contact working group member member Aren Eddingsaas via email at aeddingsaas@sbtribes.com or by calling 208-239-4577, to ensure that interested participants will know where to meet and what to bring. The field trip is free. Quaking aspen is the most widely distributed tree species in North America, ranging throughout Canada and most of the United States, including Alaska, and extending into Mexico. Since the late 19th to early 20th centuries, however, it is estimated that the aspen component of the landscape in eastern Idaho has declined by as much as 65 percent. At one time on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, 45 percent of the Caribou acreage and 40 percent of the Targhee acreage were occupied by aspen. Now that has dwindled to less than 27 percent on the Caribou and less than 9 percent on the Targhee. Lost aspen means a loss of valuable habitat to wildlife, and a reduction in a resource that is valued by the public as a whole.