With a new focus on timber production, Lincoln County’s elected officials were taken on a comprehensive tour of the Kemmerer Ranger District during July.

Their guide for the southern Bridger-Teton excursion — Adam Calkins, District Ranger based in Kemmerer.

Calkins said the mid-summer tour for the Lincoln County Commission and other officials was designed to “showcase all of the active timber sales,” allowing them to see the landscapes after a timber sale is completed  and a preview of timber sales scheduled to be listed later this year.

Key stops included larger sales, such as the Allen Rock Slide Timber Sale and the Squirl Salvage Sale.

“They’ll see a lot of dead and downed timber,” Calkins shared prior to the tour. “There’s a lot of thick timber and landscapes that are not healthy.”

In addition, the tour included stops noting a series of potential sales that will help stimulate the local economies.

This is a “new approach for small timber sales,” he explained. “We will put out in five-acre units.”

The small sales will include site reviews and a silent bid process. “The small timber sale idea is something that myself and Justin Laycock of the Greys River Ranger District have been working on because we recognize people have been looking for these five to six acre timber sales they can get for firewood, for a front-yard saw mill, and  a place that they can get wood for furniture,” he explained. “This is the idea for these small sales, for the local operator.

The first small sales are planned for mid-August.

“We’ll have an auction or bid process based out of the Kemmerer District,” he said.” “If they have the right bid they can walk away with a five-acre…timber sale.” He added, “This will change the way we have been doing  timber sales in this area.”

Calkins looks for improved timber production with the Kemmerer and Greys River programs.

“Were hoping for more timber production here on the Bridger Teton,” he concluded. “That is one of our big  goals for us this year, more sales and more things for the public — so  the public can see us activity managing their forest here in Kemmerer and across the Bridger-Teton.”