Alpine Forest Restoration Project
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Carson Cit ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT y Alpine Forest Restoration Field Offiec Nevada Project EA-NV-030-08-011 U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Carson City Field Office 5665 Morgan Mill Road Carson City, NV 89701 775-885-6000 June 2008 1 Alpine Forest Restoration Project .............................................................................................................. 1 I. INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE AND NEED ......................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 3 PURPOSE & NEED .................................................................................................................................. 4 LAND USE PLAN CONFORMANCE STATEMENT ............................................................................ 4 RELATIONSHIPS TO STATUTES, REGULATIONS, AND OTHER PLANS ..................................... 6 II. PROPOSED ACTION/ALTERNATIVES ............................................................................................ 6 PROPOSED ACTION ............................................................................................................................... 6 NO ACTION ALTERNATIVE ............................................................................................................... 18 SCOPING AND ISSUE IDENTIFICATION .......................................................................................... 18 CRITICAL ELEMENTS OF THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT ............................................................ 18 RESOURCES PRESENT BUT NOT AFFECTED (other than Critical Elements) ................................ 20 SOILS ....................................................................................................................................................... 20 RESOURCES PRESENT AND BROUGHT FORWARD FOR ANALYSIS (Critical and non-Critical Elements) ................................................................................................................................................. 20 AIR QUALITY ........................................................................................................................................ 20 CULTURAL RESOURCES .................................................................................................................... 21 FEDERALLY LISTED SPECIES ........................................................................................................... 22 FIRE MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................................................... 25 FOREST HEALTH .................................................................................................................................. 26 GENERAL WILDLIFE ........................................................................................................................... 28 INVASIVE NON-NATIVE SPECIES .................................................................................................... 31 RECREATION ........................................................................................................................................ 31 SPECIAL STATUS SPECIES ................................................................................................................. 32 VEGETATION ........................................................................................................................................ 38 VISUAL RESOURCES ........................................................................................................................... 39 WATER QUALITY (Surface) ................................................................................................................. 40 CUMULATIVE IMPACTS ..................................................................................................................... 42 MONITORING ........................................................................................................................................ 45 IV. PERSONS, GROUPS, AND AGENCIES CONSULTED ................................................................... 46 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................... 47 V. APPENDICES AND MAPS .................................................................................................................. 52 APPENDIX A – Federally listed species and habitats ............................................................................. 52 APPENDIX B – General Wildlife Habitats ............................................................................................. 53 APPENDIX C – BLM Sensitive Species & State of California Status Species ...................................... 55 APPENDIX D- Migratory Bird Species of Concern ............................................................................... 57 APPENDIX E – Impacts to federally listed species and habitats ............................................................ 58 APPENDIX F – Effects to BLM Sensitive Species ................................................................................. 60 APPENDIX G – Effects to Migratory Birds ............................................................................................ 62 APPENDIX H – Specifications for Wildlife Brush Piles, Snags/Dead Standing & Downed Logs ........ 64 APPENDIX I - Soil Water and Air program Best Management Practices .............................................. 65 Map 1 - Treatment Units, Overview.…….………………………...…………...……………………….67 Map 2 - Treatment Units, Indian Creek………………………………………………………...………68 Map 3 - Treatment Units, Bagley Valley……………………………………………………………….69 Map 4 - Fuels Treatment History……………………………………………………………………….70 Map 5 - Large Wildfire History………………………………………………………………………...71 Map 6 - Condition Class………………………………………………………………………………..72 2 I. INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE AND NEED INTRODUCTION The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared this Environmental Assessment on the potential effects of forest restoration on up to 532 acres of BLM administered lands in Alpine County, California, in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act. The proposed project is part of a nation-wide initiative to restore healthy, diverse, and resilient ecosystems to conditions that minimize the potential for uncharacteristically intense fires. More than 93% of the land base in Alpine County is either state land or public land managed by the federal government. Consequently, the County is dependant on public lands to support economic growth and viability. Approximately 19,000 acres of public land in Alpine County are administered by the BLM. Public lands in Alpine County are recognized for their high recreational values. Included is the popular 7,044-acre Indian Creek Recreation Area. The desire to enhance and protect private property, natural resources and recreation values guide management actions on BLM lands in the County. Until the mid-1980s, the BLM’s only vegetation management program in Alpine County was to suppress any wildfires, and there had not been many of those. Aesthetic and other forest values were recognized, and outdoor recreation was the primary program managed. No need had been recognized for any actions to reduce fire hazard fuels, to treat forest health problems such as disease and insects, or to maintain ecosystem diversity and wildlife habitat. The earliest recognition of such a need was in the wildlife program, when BLM biologists began a small project of clearing "browse lanes" by hand tools in bitterbrush stands that had become so densely overgrown that browse forage had become inaccessible and impenetrable to deer in an important migration area. In 1983, foresters worked with recreation staff to address the problem of trees dying from dwarf mistletoe and bark beetles in the then-new Indian Creek Campground. In 1984, a 19,000-acre wildfire burned much of the scenic backdrop of the Indian Creek Recreation Area. The Alpine County Board of Supervisors established a Bark Beetle Committee, which evolved into the Alpine Forest Land Advisory Committee after the 1986 Fredericksburg Fire burned 6,000 acres and the 1987 Acorn Fire burned 6,000 acres and 26 homes. It was then that BLM managers initiated small projects to reduce fire hazard fuels and thin timber stands to protect forest health. The BLM, United States Forest Service (USFS), California Department of Forestry (CDF), Alpine County and local residents remain concerned that the altered condition of forest vegetation would cause substantial damage to public and private property values and diminish the long-term sustainability of the land. In recent years, BLM has acted in cooperation with the USFS, CDF and Alpine County to complete several vegetation treatments. Since 1990, over 433 acres of BLM land in Alpine County have been treated using prescribed fire and mechanical treatments in strategic locations to reduce the severity of potential wildfires; improve timber stand health, vigor, and resistance to fire, insects, and disease; and enhance wildlife habitat (Map 4). The treatments completed to date have been a good start but forest restoration treatments are a work in progress in a changing environment and additional treatments have been identified. 3 PURPOSE & NEED The forest restoration proposed in