Shasta-Trinity National Forest; California; Elk Late-Successional Reserve Enhancement Project, 13618-13621 [2013-04642]
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Notices
Federal Register
Vol. 78, No. 40
Thursday, February 28, 2013
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request
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February 22, 2013.
The Department of Agriculture has
submitted the following information
collection requirement(s) to OMB for
review and clearance under the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
Public Law 104–13. Comments
regarding (a) Whether the collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate
of burden including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility and
clarity of the information to be
collected; (d) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on those who are to respond, including
through the use of appropriate
automated, electronic, mechanical or
other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information
technology.
Comments regarding this information
collection received by April 1, 2013 will
be considered. Written comments
should be addressed to: Desk Officer for
Agriculture, Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Office of
Management and Budget (OMB), New
Executive Office Building, 725—17th
Street NW., Washington, DC, 20503.
Commenters are encouraged to submit
their comments to OMB via email to:
OIRA_Submission@OMB.EOP.GOV or
fax (202) 395–5806 and to Departmental
Clearance Office, USDA, OCIO, Mail
Stop 7602, Washington, DC 20250–
7602. Copies of the submission(s) may
be obtained by calling (202) 720–8681.
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor a collection of information
unless the collection of information
displays a currently valid OMB control
number and the agency informs
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potential persons who are to respond to
the collection of information that such
persons are not required to respond to
the collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number.
National Agricultural Statistics Service
Title: Agricultural Prices.
OMB Control Number: 0535–0003.
Summary of Collection: The
Agricultural Prices surveys provide data
on the prices received by farmers and
prices paid for production goods and
services. This information is needed by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
National Agriculture Statistics Service
(NASS) for the following purposes: (a)
To compute Parity Prices in accordance
with requirements of the Agricultural
Adjustment Act of 1938 as amended
(Title III, Subtitle A, Section 301a, (b) to
estimate value of production, inventory
values, and cash receipts from farming,
(c) to determine the level for farmer
owned reserves, (d) to provide
guidelines for Risk Management Agency
price selection options, (e) to determine
Federal disaster prices to be paid, and
(f) to determine the grazing fee on
Federal lands. General authority for
these data collection activities is granted
under U.S. Code Title 7, Section 2204.
Need and Use of the Information: The
NASS price program computes annual
U.S. weighted average prices received
by farmers for grain and beans, corn,
sugar, rice, cotton, peanuts, pulse crops
and oilseeds based on monthly
marketing. Prices estimates are used by
many Government agencies as a general
measure of commodity price changes,
economic analysis relating to farm
income and alternative marketing
policies, and for disaster and insurance
payments.
Description of Respondents: Farms;
Business or other for-profit.
Number of Respondents: 53,530.
Frequency of Responses: Reporting:
On occasion; Monthly; Annually;
Biennially.
Total Burden Hours: 25,273.
National Agricultural Statistics Service
Title: Vegetable Surveys.
OMB Control Number: 0535–0037.
Summary of Collection: The primary
function of the National Agricultural
Statistics (NASS) is to prepare and issue
current official state and national
estimates of crop and livestock
production, prices and disposition. The
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Vegetable Surveys Program obtains
basic agricultural statistics for fresh
market and processing vegetables in
major producing States. The vegetable
program has two types of utilization:
some crops are processing only, some
are fresh market only, and others are
dual crops (both processing and fresh
market). Vegetable processors are
surveyed in August for acreage
contracted and estimated yield. In late
November, processors are asked for final
acreage harvested, production, and
value. The fresh market vegetable
program consists of specialized growers
who are surveyed at the conclusion of
the growing season for estimates of crop
production. Producers of onions,
strawberries, and asparagus are
surveyed in August to obtain forecasted
acreage and production. NASS will
collect information using surveys.
Need and Use of the Information:
NASS will collect information to
estimate acreage intended to plant,
acreage planted, acreage harvested,
yield/production, price, and utilization
for the various crops. The estimates
provide vital statistics for growers,
processors, and marketers to use in
making production and marketing
decisions.
Description of Respondents: Farms;
Business or other for-profit.
Number of Respondents: 33,064.
Frequency of Responses: Reporting:
Annually; Other (seasonally).
Total Burden Hours: 9,066.
Charlene Parker,
Departmental Information Collection
Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2013–04644 Filed 2–27–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–20–P
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Shasta-Trinity National Forest;
California; Elk Late-Successional
Reserve Enhancement Project
Forest Service, USDA.
Notice of intent to prepare an
environmental impact statement.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
The Forest Service will
prepare an environmental impact
statement (EIS) to evaluate and disclose
the predicted effects of the Elk LateSuccessional Reserve Enhancement
project, which would treat natural
SUMMARY:
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stands and plantations on
approximately 2,930 acres to reduce the
current and future risk of large-scale
disturbance events within early, mid
and late-successional habitat within the
Elk Flat Late-Successional Reserve and
nearby stands. Additional benefits from
risk reduction treatments include
increasing the resilience and promoting
continued development and
connectivity of late-successional forest
habitat within the Elk Flat LateSuccessional Reserve. Objectives
include improving forest health;
increasing resiliency to natural events
such as drought, insect and disease
infestations and high severity wildfire;
and restoring unique habitats. Forest
stand treatments would be completed
using commercial and non-commercial
thinning and regeneration prescriptions.
Fuels reduction would be completed
using mechanical and hand methods
and prescribed fire. Proposed road
actions include maintenance and
reconstruction of National Forest
System roads, construction of temporary
roads to complete project activities, and
closure and decommissioning of
National Forest System roads and
existing routes. The project is located in
Siskiyou County, California on the
McCloud Ranger District of the Shasta
McCloud Management Unit, ShastaTrinity National Forest. The project’s
legal location is: Township 40 North,
Range 1 West, Sections 4 and 5; and
Township 41 North, Range 1 West,
Sections 27 to 34, Mt. Diablo Meridian.
The project area is approximately nine
miles northeast of the town of McCloud,
California, and 70 miles northeast of
Redding, California.
Submit comments concerning
the proposed action on or before April
1, 2013.
DATES:
Send written comments to
Christine Jordan, USDA Forest Service,
Shasta McCloud Management Unit, P.O.
Box 1620, McCloud, California 96057.
Electronic comments and other data
may be submitted via email to
comments-pacificsw-shasta-trinitymtshasta-mccloud@fs.fed.us or via
facsimile to (530) 964–2938.
ADDRESSES:
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Christine Jordan, Natural Resources
Planner, at (530) 964–3771.
Individuals who use
telecommunication devices for the deaf
(TDD) may call the Federal Information
Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern
Time, Monday through Friday.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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Purpose and Need for Action
The primary purpose of the Elk LateSuccessional Reserve Enhancement
project is to reduce the current and
future risk of large-scale disturbance
events within early, mid and latesuccessional habitat within the Elk Flat
Late-Successional Reserve (LSR) and
nearby stands. This is consistent with
Objectives I and III that guide the
development and application of
treatments within the Forest’s LateSuccessional Reserves (Forest-wide
Late-Successional Reserve Assessment,
LSRA). We recognize that natural
disturbance is an important process
within late-successional forest
ecosystems, but both human and natural
processes have altered the disturbance
regime within the Elk Flat LSR such that
without action, further stand and
structural composition loss would result
from the combination of continued
overstocking and density-related
mortality, root disease, insect attacks
and predicted lethal fire effects.
Approximately 15 percent of the Elk
Flat LSR is currently comprised of large
pockets (10 to 80 acres) of standing dead
trees that are a current and future threat
to both the surrounding habitat, due to
increasing fuel loads, and members of
the public visiting and recreating in the
project area. Smaller mortality pockets
range from groups of 5 to 10 trees up to
1⁄2 acre, primarily in the ponderosa pine
component, with additional root
disease-related mortality occurring in
white fir stands. Additional benefits
from risk reduction treatments include
increasing the resilience and promoting
continued development and
connectivity of late-successional forest
habitat within the Elk Flat LSR (LSRA
Objectives II and IV). The Elk Flat LSR,
designated as RC–360 in the LSRA,
comprises approximately 90 percent of
the project area, with the remaining 10
percent in matrix allocation.
Within the dry forested landscape of
the California Cascades Province where
the project area is located, fire
suppression has resulted in significant
increases in accumulated ground and
understory fuels, while also making
forested stands much more vulnerable
to insects and disease impacts due to
resultant overstocking. Because of the
fire suppression history and lack of a
natural fire regime in the project area,
approximately 80 percent of the forested
stands in the Elk Flat LSR are highly to
extremely dense, particularly in relation
to the survivability of pine. Current
stand conditions reflect an increase in a
shade-tolerant understory and midstory,
composed primarily of white fir and
incense cedar. Without low intensity
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fire or other disturbance, stand densities
have increased as trees have continued
to grow larger, with slowed tree growth
as stands approach and reach a
maximum carrying capacity. For most
species, density-related tree mortality
increases as stands reach and exceed 60
percent of a maximum stand density
index, or SDI. An exception to this 60
percent standard is ponderosa pine.
Research has repeatedly observed
widespread mortality in ponderosa pine
stands resulting from pine beetle
outbreaks at densities below what had
been considered 60 percent of
maximum SDI. Stand exams completed
in 2007 within the natural stands
proposed for treatment measured
densities above an SDI of 230, with
many exceeding an SDI of 365.
Additionally, older plantations (> 40
years) are near or above an SDI of 365.
Based on the relationship with bark
beetles, as ponderosa pine stands reach
and exceed an SDI of 230 (or 60 percent
of the SDI of 365), pine mortality from
beetle outbreaks is increasingly likely.
Dense stocking also stresses trees as
they compete for limited nutrients and
moisture, especially during dry
conditions, and it is often the larger,
older trees that are most susceptible to
this stress. It is important to note that
the density-related mortality is not
limited to the understory trees in the
project area; the large dominant and predominant ponderosa pine trees have
also died, or are dying. This is reflected
in the existing conditions of large
mortality pockets described above,
which are located in both the natural
stands and plantations within the
project area. Reducing tree densities in
the lower and mid-level canopy layers
with thinning can reduce fire behavior,
improving both direct suppression
efforts and reducing the potential for
large-scale habitat loss from a running
crown fire. Underburning after thinning
can reduce surface and maintain ladder
fuels at levels that do not allow for
ground fire to transition into the upper
canopy.
Without action, the density-related
mortality, further exacerbated by
drought, disease and future insect
attacks will continue to spread
throughout the project area, contributing
to more standing and dead fuels and
increasing the risk of a stand-replacing
fire. Current ground fuel loadings in the
Elk Flat LSR range from 5 to 10 tons per
acre and are expected to increase to 20
plus tons per acre in the mixed conifer
stands. Ground fuel loading is
approximately 10 to 15 tons per acre in
the ponderosa pine-dominated stands,
where there are high levels of existing
and ongoing mortality, and is expected
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to increase to 35 to 100 plus tons per
acre when these dead and dying trees
fall. Forest Health specialists have also
assessed the LSR for the presence of
black stain and Heterobasidion root
disease, locating it in several proposed
treatment units.
Additional project benefits and
objectives include increasing the
resilience and promoting continued
development and connectivity of latesuccessional forest habitat within the
Elk Flat LSR and restoring forest stand
and meadow conditions on adjacent
matrix lands to allow for a natural fire
regime. Through risk reduction and
habitat restoration treatments, the
potential for high severity fire effects on
adjacent private lands and within
Wildland Urban Interface associated
with the Mt. Shasta Forest subdivision
would be reduced, stream channel and
Riparian Reserve function along Ash
and Swamp Creeks would be improved
and hardwood species diversity would
be increased.
Proposed Action
The following acreages and distances
are approximate. The proposed action
would thin natural stands ranging from
60 to 120 years of age on 1,520 acres and
10 to 40 year old plantations on 680
acres. These treatment areas will also
include radial thinning around legacy
pine to protect this stand component
and regeneration and group selection in
existing mortality and root disease
pockets. Removal of encroaching
conifers, predominantly ponderosa
pine, to restore meadow conditions in
Elk Flat is proposed on 730 acres with
follow-up underburning. Hardwoods,
including aspen and California black
oak, would be released to increase
hardwood species diversity across the
project area.
Within all treatment units, surface
and activity generated fuels would be
treated with a combination of machine
piling and burning in areas with heavier
mortality, hand piling in sensitive areas
as needed, lop and scatter, mastication
and/or underburning (or any
combination thereof) to meet the desired
condition for fuel objectives. The entire
project area is proposed for
underburning after initial thinning
treatments are completed. Underburning
the entire project area would reduce the
need to construct control lines, with the
exception of private property
boundaries and where control lines are
needed to protect resources. While
existing roads would be used as control
lines as needed, fire would be allowed
to cross unit boundaries and creep into
adjacent treated and untreated stands
within the project area. Where resource
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protection is required, such as to retain
large down logs, within sensitive
Riparian Reserve areas, or near cultural
sites or plant populations, line may be
constructed in accordance with the
developed resource protection
measures.
The proposal includes road
reconstruction on four miles of National
Forest System roads to improve
drainage and reduce erosion impacts.
Closure and decommissioning of 13.5
miles of System roads and unauthorized
routes is proposed to reduce impacts to
wildlife connectivity, stream channels
and floodplain function. Approximately
two miles of temporary roads, which
would be decommissioned after use,
may be required to complete project
activities. No new National Forest
System roads would be constructed.
Approximately 120 landings up to
0.75-acre in size (some landing areas in
heavy mortality zones may be one acre
or more in size) would be located within
or near unit boundaries. Landings and
skid trails would be rehabilitated when
no longer needed for the project.
Project implementation is currently
proposed for completion under a
stewardship contract. Proposed
underburning activities and the site
preparation of group selection areas,
planting and monitoring is expected to
be completed by Forest Service staff
and/or service contracts. Contracts may
take anywhere from one to five years
from award to completion. Proposed
road closures and decommissioning
would occur upon completion of project
activities. While the entire project area
is a priority for treatment to slow the
progression of existing mortality and
loss of late-successional habitat, priority
treatment areas have been identified.
They include those areas of large
standing dead material, the older
plantations that are densely stocked,
units with known black stain and
heterobasidion root disease pockets and
natural stands that contain larger
pockets of mortality.
Approximately 90 percent of the
project area is within Late-Successional
Reserve allocation where a minimum of
10 percent of each thinned unit would
remain unthinned to retain processes
and conditions such as thermal and
visual cover, natural suppression and
mortality, small trees, natural size
differentiation and undisturbed debris.
In addition to the ten percent unthinned areas, approximately 380 acres
of natural stands within the Elk Flat
LSR have been excluded from thinning
treatments as field review either
identified that they are not currently at
risk or to maintain current latesuccessional habitat conditions for the
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northern spotted owl and northern
goshawk. The latter stans will remain at
high stocking densities where fire
hazard and density-related mortality
will remain high while continuing to
function as habitat for these species.
This is one element of an overall spatial
and temporal strategy to provide habitat
and address forest change over time in
the advent of disturbance events and is
consistent with Recovery Action 10 of
the Revised Recovery Plan for the
Northern Spotted Owl. The remaining
10 percent of project area is within
matrix allocation with a commercial
wood products emphasis, including the
majority of Elk Flat meadow. There are
approximately 280 acres of Riparian
Reserves associated with intermittent
and ephemeral streams within the
project area; overlapping both LSR and
matrix lands.
Thinning prescriptions were
specifically developed to reduce the risk
of losing late-successional habitat,
increase conifer species composition
and diversity in plantation areas and
natural stands to increase resilience to
disease and stocking pressure, treat
black stain and/or heterobasidion root
diseases and reduce the risk of future
mortality areas. Within natural stand
units, existing mortality pockets of pine
and fir may be removed to create
openings or be retained to reserve snag
habitat and future coarse woody debris
for wildlife. Retention/removal areas
will be dependent on the objectives for
the specific treatment unit, safety
considerations of the public and
operations and meeting fuel load
objectives.
The proposed action is the result of
field reviews, data acquisition and
analysis including reviews and use of
best available science by resource
specialists on the project
Interdisciplinary Team. Coordination
and consultation with Tribes, the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service,
the Regional Water Quality Control
Board, and collaboration with local
watershed and restoration groups and
adjacent landowners has been ongoing
and will continue. The proposed action
was guided by direction and objectives
embodied in the Northwest Forest Plan,
the Forest Plan, the Forest-wide LateSuccessional Reserve Assessment and
recommendations in the McCloud Flats
Ecosystem Analysis. It is designed to be
consistent with the Aquatic
Conservation Strategy objectives and the
Revised Recovery Plan for the Northern
Spotted Owl. It incorporates guidance
from the National Fire Plan, the Forest’s
Fire Management Plan and the Forest’s
Record of Decision for Motorized Travel
Management. A project consistency
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review with the Regional Ecosystem
Office for the specific proposed thinning
treatments and resultant stand
conditions may be required.
The project Interdisciplinary Team
developed Resource Protection
Measures common to all action
alternatives to minimize or eliminate
potential environmental effects while
achieving the desired condition.
Development was guided by Forest Plan
direction as well as other applicable
law, regulation and policy, projectspecific objectives and resource
concerns identified by resource
specialists. These measures complement
the project design criteria developed as
part of the proposed action, including
species and age class retention
preferences, microsite thinning and
fuels treatment modifications in suitable
habitat for late-successional species and
within Riparian Reserves and cultural
resource protections. Best management
practices for maintaining, protecting
and monitoring water quality and soils
will also be utilized.
Responsible Official
J. Sharon Heywood, Forest
Supervisor, Shasta-Trinity National
Forest.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
The Forest Supervisor will decide
whether to implement the proposed
action, take an alternative action that
meets the purpose and need, or take no
action.
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Permits or Licenses Required
A permit would be required from the
State of California prior to burning piles.
The appropriate regulatory agencies will
be consulted regarding national or state
required permits associated with roads
used during project implementation. All
required permits will be obtained prior
to implementation.
Scoping Process
The project is included in the ShastaTrinity National Forest’s quarterly
schedule of proposed actions (SOPA).
Detailed information on the proposed
action, including maps, that will aid in
the informing comments will be
available on the Forest Web site at
https://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/
nepa_project_exp.php?project=31312.
Scoping notice will be published in the
Redding Record Searchlight and the
Mount Shasta Herald.
This notice of intent initiates the
scoping process, which guides the
development of issues (cause-effect
relationships that highlight effects or
unintended consequences), alternatives
and analysis for the environmental
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19:12 Feb 27, 2013
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impact statement. It is important that
reviewers provide their comments at
such times and in such a manner that
they are useful to identifying issues,
developing alternatives, conducting
resource analysis and preparing the
environmental impact statement.
Therefore, comments should be
provided prior to the close of the 30-day
comment period and should clearly
articulate the reviewer’s concerns.
Please include the following
information with your comments: Your
name, address and telephone number,
the project name: Elk Late-Successional
Reserve Enhancement project and sitespecific comments about the proposed
action, along with supporting
information you believe will help
identify issues, develop alternatives or
predict environmental effects of the
proposal. The most useful comments
provide new information or describe
unwanted environmental effects
potentially caused by the proposed
action. If you reference scientific
literature in your comments, you must
provide a copy of the entire cited
reference and include rationale as to
how you feel it is pertinent to the Elk
Late-Successional Reserve Enhancement
project.
A public information meeting will be
held on March 5, 2013 from 6:30 p.m.
to 8:30 p.m. at the McCloud Ranger
Station conference room, located at
2019 Forest Road in McCloud,
California. At this meeting, members of
the project Interdisciplinary Team will
present information on the purpose and
need, existing conditions and the
developed proposed action to meet the
desired conditions in the project area.
Written comments may be submitted at
this meeting in addition to submitting
them via mail and electronically as
described in the ADDRESSES section
above. Comments received in response
to this solicitation, including names and
addresses of those who comment, will
become part of the public record for this
proposed action.
Dated: February 14, 2013.
J. Sharon Heywood,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 2013–04642 Filed 2–27–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–11–P
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
San Bernardino National Forest;
California; Omya Sentinel and
Butterfield Quarry Expansion Project
AGENCY:
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Forest Service, USDA.
Frm 00004
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13621
Notice of intent to prepare an
environmental impact statement and
environmental impact report.
ACTION:
Omya California (Omya), a
division of Omya Inc., has submitted the
following applications:
• An Amended Plan of Operations
and Reclamation Plan to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Forest
Service, San Bernardino National Forest
(SBNF); and
• A Mining and Land Reclamation
Plan Conditional Use Permit application
submitted to the County of San
Bernardino (County).
Combined, these applications propose
the expansion of the existing Sentinel
and Butterfield Quarries. The existing
permitted Sentinel and Butterfield
limestone quarries are located on
mining claims within the SBNF. Known
limestone ore resources, within the
proposed quarry expansions, will add
an additional 20 years life to the
Sentinel Quarry, add an additional 40
years life to the Butterfield Quarry, and
will allow mining at both quarries to be
extended until 2055. Depending on
market demand, the combined Sentinel
and Butterfield Quarries average ore
production rates will be approximately
680,000 tons per year compared to the
3-year average between 2004–2006 of
approximately 378,000 tons per year.
Reclamation will occur concurrently
with mining. The proposed expansion
includes 48.7 acres of disturbance at the
Sentinel Quarry and 28.8 acres of
disturbance at the Butterfield Quarry,
for a total of 77.3 acres. Quarry
development and expansion will be
phased. Disturbance proposed for the
project includes expansion of existing
Sentinel and Butterfield Quarries,
expansion of associated overburden
placement sites, additional internal
access roads and ancillary facility areas,
and minor adjustments to existing
disturbance boundaries. There are no
new quarries, haul roads or overburden
sites in this plan, only the phased
expanded development and reclamation
of the existing Sentinel and Butterfield
Quarries.
Implementation of the Proposed
Project will require discretionary
approvals from Federal, State, and local
agencies and, therefore, this project is
subject to the environmental review
requirements of both the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and
the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA). To ensure coordination
between the NEPA and CEQA processes,
and to avoid duplication of effort, a joint
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
and Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
is being prepared as recommended by
SUMMARY:
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 40 (Thursday, February 28, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13618-13621]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-04642]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Shasta-Trinity National Forest; California; Elk Late-Successional
Reserve Enhancement Project
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact
statement (EIS) to evaluate and disclose the predicted effects of the
Elk Late-Successional Reserve Enhancement project, which would treat
natural
[[Page 13619]]
stands and plantations on approximately 2,930 acres to reduce the
current and future risk of large-scale disturbance events within early,
mid and late-successional habitat within the Elk Flat Late-Successional
Reserve and nearby stands. Additional benefits from risk reduction
treatments include increasing the resilience and promoting continued
development and connectivity of late-successional forest habitat within
the Elk Flat Late-Successional Reserve. Objectives include improving
forest health; increasing resiliency to natural events such as drought,
insect and disease infestations and high severity wildfire; and
restoring unique habitats. Forest stand treatments would be completed
using commercial and non-commercial thinning and regeneration
prescriptions. Fuels reduction would be completed using mechanical and
hand methods and prescribed fire. Proposed road actions include
maintenance and reconstruction of National Forest System roads,
construction of temporary roads to complete project activities, and
closure and decommissioning of National Forest System roads and
existing routes. The project is located in Siskiyou County, California
on the McCloud Ranger District of the Shasta McCloud Management Unit,
Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The project's legal location is:
Township 40 North, Range 1 West, Sections 4 and 5; and Township 41
North, Range 1 West, Sections 27 to 34, Mt. Diablo Meridian. The
project area is approximately nine miles northeast of the town of
McCloud, California, and 70 miles northeast of Redding, California.
DATES: Submit comments concerning the proposed action on or before
April 1, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Christine Jordan, USDA Forest
Service, Shasta McCloud Management Unit, P.O. Box 1620, McCloud,
California 96057. Electronic comments and other data may be submitted
via email to comments-pacificsw-shasta-trinity-mtshasta-mccloud@fs.fed.us or via facsimile to (530) 964-2938.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christine Jordan, Natural Resources
Planner, at (530) 964-3771.
Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD)
may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Purpose and Need for Action
The primary purpose of the Elk Late-Successional Reserve
Enhancement project is to reduce the current and future risk of large-
scale disturbance events within early, mid and late-successional
habitat within the Elk Flat Late-Successional Reserve (LSR) and nearby
stands. This is consistent with Objectives I and III that guide the
development and application of treatments within the Forest's Late-
Successional Reserves (Forest-wide Late-Successional Reserve
Assessment, LSRA). We recognize that natural disturbance is an
important process within late-successional forest ecosystems, but both
human and natural processes have altered the disturbance regime within
the Elk Flat LSR such that without action, further stand and structural
composition loss would result from the combination of continued
overstocking and density-related mortality, root disease, insect
attacks and predicted lethal fire effects. Approximately 15 percent of
the Elk Flat LSR is currently comprised of large pockets (10 to 80
acres) of standing dead trees that are a current and future threat to
both the surrounding habitat, due to increasing fuel loads, and members
of the public visiting and recreating in the project area. Smaller
mortality pockets range from groups of 5 to 10 trees up to \1/2\ acre,
primarily in the ponderosa pine component, with additional root
disease-related mortality occurring in white fir stands. Additional
benefits from risk reduction treatments include increasing the
resilience and promoting continued development and connectivity of
late-successional forest habitat within the Elk Flat LSR (LSRA
Objectives II and IV). The Elk Flat LSR, designated as RC-360 in the
LSRA, comprises approximately 90 percent of the project area, with the
remaining 10 percent in matrix allocation.
Within the dry forested landscape of the California Cascades
Province where the project area is located, fire suppression has
resulted in significant increases in accumulated ground and understory
fuels, while also making forested stands much more vulnerable to
insects and disease impacts due to resultant overstocking. Because of
the fire suppression history and lack of a natural fire regime in the
project area, approximately 80 percent of the forested stands in the
Elk Flat LSR are highly to extremely dense, particularly in relation to
the survivability of pine. Current stand conditions reflect an increase
in a shade-tolerant understory and midstory, composed primarily of
white fir and incense cedar. Without low intensity fire or other
disturbance, stand densities have increased as trees have continued to
grow larger, with slowed tree growth as stands approach and reach a
maximum carrying capacity. For most species, density-related tree
mortality increases as stands reach and exceed 60 percent of a maximum
stand density index, or SDI. An exception to this 60 percent standard
is ponderosa pine. Research has repeatedly observed widespread
mortality in ponderosa pine stands resulting from pine beetle outbreaks
at densities below what had been considered 60 percent of maximum SDI.
Stand exams completed in 2007 within the natural stands proposed for
treatment measured densities above an SDI of 230, with many exceeding
an SDI of 365. Additionally, older plantations (> 40 years) are near or
above an SDI of 365. Based on the relationship with bark beetles, as
ponderosa pine stands reach and exceed an SDI of 230 (or 60 percent of
the SDI of 365), pine mortality from beetle outbreaks is increasingly
likely.
Dense stocking also stresses trees as they compete for limited
nutrients and moisture, especially during dry conditions, and it is
often the larger, older trees that are most susceptible to this stress.
It is important to note that the density-related mortality is not
limited to the understory trees in the project area; the large dominant
and pre-dominant ponderosa pine trees have also died, or are dying.
This is reflected in the existing conditions of large mortality pockets
described above, which are located in both the natural stands and
plantations within the project area. Reducing tree densities in the
lower and mid-level canopy layers with thinning can reduce fire
behavior, improving both direct suppression efforts and reducing the
potential for large-scale habitat loss from a running crown fire.
Underburning after thinning can reduce surface and maintain ladder
fuels at levels that do not allow for ground fire to transition into
the upper canopy.
Without action, the density-related mortality, further exacerbated
by drought, disease and future insect attacks will continue to spread
throughout the project area, contributing to more standing and dead
fuels and increasing the risk of a stand-replacing fire. Current ground
fuel loadings in the Elk Flat LSR range from 5 to 10 tons per acre and
are expected to increase to 20 plus tons per acre in the mixed conifer
stands. Ground fuel loading is approximately 10 to 15 tons per acre in
the ponderosa pine-dominated stands, where there are high levels of
existing and ongoing mortality, and is expected
[[Page 13620]]
to increase to 35 to 100 plus tons per acre when these dead and dying
trees fall. Forest Health specialists have also assessed the LSR for
the presence of black stain and Heterobasidion root disease, locating
it in several proposed treatment units.
Additional project benefits and objectives include increasing the
resilience and promoting continued development and connectivity of
late-successional forest habitat within the Elk Flat LSR and restoring
forest stand and meadow conditions on adjacent matrix lands to allow
for a natural fire regime. Through risk reduction and habitat
restoration treatments, the potential for high severity fire effects on
adjacent private lands and within Wildland Urban Interface associated
with the Mt. Shasta Forest subdivision would be reduced, stream channel
and Riparian Reserve function along Ash and Swamp Creeks would be
improved and hardwood species diversity would be increased.
Proposed Action
The following acreages and distances are approximate. The proposed
action would thin natural stands ranging from 60 to 120 years of age on
1,520 acres and 10 to 40 year old plantations on 680 acres. These
treatment areas will also include radial thinning around legacy pine to
protect this stand component and regeneration and group selection in
existing mortality and root disease pockets. Removal of encroaching
conifers, predominantly ponderosa pine, to restore meadow conditions in
Elk Flat is proposed on 730 acres with follow-up underburning.
Hardwoods, including aspen and California black oak, would be released
to increase hardwood species diversity across the project area.
Within all treatment units, surface and activity generated fuels
would be treated with a combination of machine piling and burning in
areas with heavier mortality, hand piling in sensitive areas as needed,
lop and scatter, mastication and/or underburning (or any combination
thereof) to meet the desired condition for fuel objectives. The entire
project area is proposed for underburning after initial thinning
treatments are completed. Underburning the entire project area would
reduce the need to construct control lines, with the exception of
private property boundaries and where control lines are needed to
protect resources. While existing roads would be used as control lines
as needed, fire would be allowed to cross unit boundaries and creep
into adjacent treated and untreated stands within the project area.
Where resource protection is required, such as to retain large down
logs, within sensitive Riparian Reserve areas, or near cultural sites
or plant populations, line may be constructed in accordance with the
developed resource protection measures.
The proposal includes road reconstruction on four miles of National
Forest System roads to improve drainage and reduce erosion impacts.
Closure and decommissioning of 13.5 miles of System roads and
unauthorized routes is proposed to reduce impacts to wildlife
connectivity, stream channels and floodplain function. Approximately
two miles of temporary roads, which would be decommissioned after use,
may be required to complete project activities. No new National Forest
System roads would be constructed.
Approximately 120 landings up to 0.75-acre in size (some landing
areas in heavy mortality zones may be one acre or more in size) would
be located within or near unit boundaries. Landings and skid trails
would be rehabilitated when no longer needed for the project.
Project implementation is currently proposed for completion under a
stewardship contract. Proposed underburning activities and the site
preparation of group selection areas, planting and monitoring is
expected to be completed by Forest Service staff and/or service
contracts. Contracts may take anywhere from one to five years from
award to completion. Proposed road closures and decommissioning would
occur upon completion of project activities. While the entire project
area is a priority for treatment to slow the progression of existing
mortality and loss of late-successional habitat, priority treatment
areas have been identified. They include those areas of large standing
dead material, the older plantations that are densely stocked, units
with known black stain and heterobasidion root disease pockets and
natural stands that contain larger pockets of mortality.
Approximately 90 percent of the project area is within Late-
Successional Reserve allocation where a minimum of 10 percent of each
thinned unit would remain unthinned to retain processes and conditions
such as thermal and visual cover, natural suppression and mortality,
small trees, natural size differentiation and undisturbed debris. In
addition to the ten percent un-thinned areas, approximately 380 acres
of natural stands within the Elk Flat LSR have been excluded from
thinning treatments as field review either identified that they are not
currently at risk or to maintain current late-successional habitat
conditions for the northern spotted owl and northern goshawk. The
latter stans will remain at high stocking densities where fire hazard
and density-related mortality will remain high while continuing to
function as habitat for these species. This is one element of an
overall spatial and temporal strategy to provide habitat and address
forest change over time in the advent of disturbance events and is
consistent with Recovery Action 10 of the Revised Recovery Plan for the
Northern Spotted Owl. The remaining 10 percent of project area is
within matrix allocation with a commercial wood products emphasis,
including the majority of Elk Flat meadow. There are approximately 280
acres of Riparian Reserves associated with intermittent and ephemeral
streams within the project area; overlapping both LSR and matrix lands.
Thinning prescriptions were specifically developed to reduce the
risk of losing late-successional habitat, increase conifer species
composition and diversity in plantation areas and natural stands to
increase resilience to disease and stocking pressure, treat black stain
and/or heterobasidion root diseases and reduce the risk of future
mortality areas. Within natural stand units, existing mortality pockets
of pine and fir may be removed to create openings or be retained to
reserve snag habitat and future coarse woody debris for wildlife.
Retention/removal areas will be dependent on the objectives for the
specific treatment unit, safety considerations of the public and
operations and meeting fuel load objectives.
The proposed action is the result of field reviews, data
acquisition and analysis including reviews and use of best available
science by resource specialists on the project Interdisciplinary Team.
Coordination and consultation with Tribes, the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, and
collaboration with local watershed and restoration groups and adjacent
landowners has been ongoing and will continue. The proposed action was
guided by direction and objectives embodied in the Northwest Forest
Plan, the Forest Plan, the Forest-wide Late-Successional Reserve
Assessment and recommendations in the McCloud Flats Ecosystem Analysis.
It is designed to be consistent with the Aquatic Conservation Strategy
objectives and the Revised Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl.
It incorporates guidance from the National Fire Plan, the Forest's Fire
Management Plan and the Forest's Record of Decision for Motorized
Travel Management. A project consistency
[[Page 13621]]
review with the Regional Ecosystem Office for the specific proposed
thinning treatments and resultant stand conditions may be required.
The project Interdisciplinary Team developed Resource Protection
Measures common to all action alternatives to minimize or eliminate
potential environmental effects while achieving the desired condition.
Development was guided by Forest Plan direction as well as other
applicable law, regulation and policy, project-specific objectives and
resource concerns identified by resource specialists. These measures
complement the project design criteria developed as part of the
proposed action, including species and age class retention preferences,
microsite thinning and fuels treatment modifications in suitable
habitat for late-successional species and within Riparian Reserves and
cultural resource protections. Best management practices for
maintaining, protecting and monitoring water quality and soils will
also be utilized.
Responsible Official
J. Sharon Heywood, Forest Supervisor, Shasta-Trinity National
Forest.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
The Forest Supervisor will decide whether to implement the proposed
action, take an alternative action that meets the purpose and need, or
take no action.
Permits or Licenses Required
A permit would be required from the State of California prior to
burning piles. The appropriate regulatory agencies will be consulted
regarding national or state required permits associated with roads used
during project implementation. All required permits will be obtained
prior to implementation.
Scoping Process
The project is included in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest's
quarterly schedule of proposed actions (SOPA). Detailed information on
the proposed action, including maps, that will aid in the informing
comments will be available on the Forest Web site at https://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/nepa_project_exp.php?project=31312. Scoping notice
will be published in the Redding Record Searchlight and the Mount
Shasta Herald.
This notice of intent initiates the scoping process, which guides
the development of issues (cause-effect relationships that highlight
effects or unintended consequences), alternatives and analysis for the
environmental impact statement. It is important that reviewers provide
their comments at such times and in such a manner that they are useful
to identifying issues, developing alternatives, conducting resource
analysis and preparing the environmental impact statement. Therefore,
comments should be provided prior to the close of the 30-day comment
period and should clearly articulate the reviewer's concerns.
Please include the following information with your comments: Your
name, address and telephone number, the project name: Elk Late-
Successional Reserve Enhancement project and site-specific comments
about the proposed action, along with supporting information you
believe will help identify issues, develop alternatives or predict
environmental effects of the proposal. The most useful comments provide
new information or describe unwanted environmental effects potentially
caused by the proposed action. If you reference scientific literature
in your comments, you must provide a copy of the entire cited reference
and include rationale as to how you feel it is pertinent to the Elk
Late-Successional Reserve Enhancement project.
A public information meeting will be held on March 5, 2013 from
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the McCloud Ranger Station conference room,
located at 2019 Forest Road in McCloud, California. At this meeting,
members of the project Interdisciplinary Team will present information
on the purpose and need, existing conditions and the developed proposed
action to meet the desired conditions in the project area. Written
comments may be submitted at this meeting in addition to submitting
them via mail and electronically as described in the ADDRESSES section
above. Comments received in response to this solicitation, including
names and addresses of those who comment, will become part of the
public record for this proposed action.
Dated: February 14, 2013.
J. Sharon Heywood,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 2013-04642 Filed 2-27-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-P