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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Wasatch-Cache National Forest just got more complicated. Now it's the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
The mouthful of a name is worth $2 million a year in administrative savings for U.S. Forest Service's Intermountain Region.
Budgets are the biggest thing driving the consolidation. Funding has languished while demands for firefighting and recreation are rising.
Some ranger districts are losing a recreation planner in the consolidation.
A similar consolidation took place in 1973 when the Wasatch and Cache forests were combined.
The latest consolidation adds the Uinta forest around Provo region to the much larger Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
The Uinta forest always was Utah's most confusing national forest -- it covers three disconnected sections along or near the Wasatch Range and no part of the prominent Uinta mountains topping out at 13,528 feet.
The Wasatch-Cache forest covers almost all of the Wasatch Range from the Idaho border south. It also takes in part of the Uinta mountains.
Forest Service spokeswoman Kathy Jo Pollock emphasized that the consolidation doesn't shrink any forests -- only Congress can change the boundaries.
Forest Supervisor Dave Myers said the change will eliminate or combine 20 management positions, but that maintenance and service should improve.
Ogden District Ranger Chip Sibbernsen said the consolidation "is just entirely driven by budget. It's static to slightly declining, and our fixed costs are going up, and we can't let those two lines cross. That's what's driving this whole thing."
His district has seen funds for recreation and forest trails programs go down at the expense of firefighting.
Uinta forest supervisor Brian Ferebee was appointed acting supervisor of the combined forests.
Ferebee said he plans to reduce the vehicle fleet and consolidate office space for district rangers.
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Information from: Standard-Examiner
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
