Environmental Assessment-Preliminary
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United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Forest Plans Amendment Forest Management Direction for Large Diameter Trees in Eastern Oregon Environmental Assessment-Preliminary Pacific Northwest Region (R6) Oregon and Washington August 2020 Photo Credit: Mark Penninger, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, La Grande, OR Field Office USFS-Pacific Northwest Region-6 Responsible Official Delegated by the Regional Forester Shane Jeffries, Forest Supervisor Ochoco National Forest 3160 NE 3rd Street Prineville, Oregon Phone: 541-416-6500 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) 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USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. 1 Adapting the Wildlife Standard of the Eastside Screens 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 4 1.1 Forest Service Planning Framework ................................................................................ 4 1.2 History of the Eastside Screens ....................................................................................... 5 1.3 Public Input ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Purpose and Need for Action .......................................................................................... 7 1.5 Need for Change .............................................................................................................. 7 1.6 Goals ................................................................................................................................ 8 1.7 Decision to be Made ........................................................................................................ 8 2 Proposed action and alternatives ............................................................................................ 8 2.1 Current Management Alternative ................................................................................... 9 2.2 Old Tree and Large Tree Guideline with Adaptive Management (Proposed Action) .... 10 2.3 Old Tree Standard Alternative ....................................................................................... 11 2.4 Adaptive Management Alternative ............................................................................... 12 2.5 Alternatives Considered but Not Fully Analyzed ........................................................... 12 2.6 Change Common to All Action Alternatives .................................................................. 13 2.7 Compliance with NFMA-Substantive Requirements ..................................................... 13 3 Affected Environment and Environmental Effects of the Proposed Action and Alternatives 15 3.1 Vegetation ..................................................................................................................... 15 3.1.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 15 3.1.2 Effects Analysis Scale and Applicability ............................................................... 16 3.1.3 Analysis Methods ................................................................................................ 16 3.1.4 Assumptions ........................................................................................................ 23 3.1.5 Affected Environment ......................................................................................... 27 3.1.6 Environmental Effects ......................................................................................... 35 3.1.7 Vegetation Effects Summary ............................................................................... 41 3.2 Social and Economic Resources ..................................................................................... 42 2 USFS-Pacific Northwest Region-6 3.2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 42 3.2.2 Analysis Area ....................................................................................................... 42 3.2.3 Affected Environment ......................................................................................... 43 3.2.4 Environmental Effects ......................................................................................... 64 3.3 Aquatic Resources (Fisheries) ........................................................................................ 69 3.4 Wildlife .......................................................................................................................... 72 3.4.1 Affected Environment ......................................................................................... 72 3.4.2 Environmental Effects ......................................................................................... 79 3.5 Botany ............................................................................................................................ 88 3.5.1 Affected Environment ......................................................................................... 88 3.5.2 Environmental Effects ......................................................................................... 90 3.6 Cumulative Effects ....................................................................................................... 105 4 Public Involvement and Agencies and Persons Consulted .................................................. 107 4.1 Tribes ........................................................................................................................... 107 4.2 Stakeholder Engagement ............................................................................................ 107 4.3 Other Agencies ............................................................................................................ 107 5 Literature Cited .................................................................................................................... 108 6 Appendix A-Botany Sensitive Species List ........................................................................... 125 7 Appendix B-Alternatives Crosswalk ..................................................................................... 142 8 Appendix C-1995 Eastside Screens ...................................................................................... 153 9 Appendix D-Wildlife Effects Table ....................................................................................... 167 10 Appendix E – Description of the Viability Outcomes .......................................................... 174 3 Adapting the Wildlife Standard of the Eastside Screens 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 FOREST SERVICE PLANNING FRAMEWORK National forests and grasslands are required to have a Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP). Those plans inform the overall management of each unit and all projects on each unit must be in conformance with the associated LRMP. When plan components (desired conditions, goals, standards, and/or guidelines) need to be changed for any reason the planning unit must complete a plan amendment (36 CFR 219). The amendment process is intended to help keep plans current and responsive as conditions change or updated science changes our understanding. The Eastside Screens were adopted in 1994-95 (see below) and amended the underlying forest plans which were published in either 1989 or 1990, depending on the forest. They consisted of three components for screening proposed timber sales: riparian screen, ecosystem screen, and the wildlife screen. The Inland Native Fish Strategy (INFISH) and Pacific Anadromous Fish Strategy (PACFISH) now operate in place of the riparian screen. Under the ecosystem screen, the Forest Service compares current conditions of a proposed timber sale area with the historical range of variability (HRV). Under the wildlife screen, the Forest Service imposes certain harvesting restrictions according to whether or not the condition of a sale area is within the HRV for late and old structure (LOS) forest1. Subsection 2 of the Wildlife Screen’s Scenario A stipulates that: Outside of LOS, many types of timber sale activities are allowed. The intent is still to maintain and/or enhance LOS components in stands subject to timber harvest as much as possible, by adhering to the following standards: a) Maintain all remnant late and old seral and/or structural live trees ≥ 21-inch dbh2 that currently exist within stands proposed for harvest activities. The amendment analyzed in this document specifically addresses this portion of subsection two and a portion of subsection four (see Appendix B). These portions are commonly referred