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Pemi Northwest Project Towns of Benton, Easton, Landaff and Woodstock United States Department Grafton County, NH of Agriculture 30-Day Comment Report Forest Prepared by the Service Pemigewasset Ranger District October 2012 Mountain National Forest For Information Contact: Kori Marchowsky White Mountain National Forest 71 White Mountain Drive Campton, NH 03223 Phone: 603 536-6108 Fax: 603 536-3685 www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/white_mountain White 30-Day Comment Report This document is available in large print. Contact the Pemigewasset Ranger District White Mountain National Forest 603-536-6100 TTY 603-536-3665 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Printed on Recycled Paper Cover photo: Winter view across the project area from Black Mountain, with Mt. Moosilauke in the distance (WMNF photo). 2 Pemi Northwest Project Table of Contents Chapter 1—Project Background .................................................................................... 5 What is the Forest Service proposing? ................................................................... 5 About the Pemi Northwest Project Area ................................................................ 6 Purpose of and Need for this Project .................................................................... 10 Public Involvement ................................................................................................. 18 Chapter 2—Proposed Action, Issues and Alternatives ............................................ 19 Alternatives considered in detail .......................................................................... 21 Comparison of Alternatives ................................................................................... 37 Chapter 3—Environmental Analysis .......................................................................... 40 Issue 1: Tunnel Brook Road Restoration/Reconstruction ................................. 40 Issue 2: 2005 Forest Plan Inventoried Areas ........................................................ 47 Air .............................................................................................................................. 64 Fire-Dependent Natural Communities ................................................................ 70 Recreation ................................................................................................................. 74 Water Resources ...................................................................................................... 82 Soils............................................................................................................................ 99 Federally Threatened, Endangered and Proposed Species and Regional Forester Sensitive Species (TEPS) ....................................................... 107 Wildlife ................................................................................................................... 112 Vegetation ............................................................................................................... 130 Non-Native Invasive Species (NNIS) ................................................................. 143 Socio-Economics and Environmental Justice .................................................... 148 Eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers ........................................................................... 155 Scenery .................................................................................................................... 161 Heritage Resources ................................................................................................ 169 Riparian and Aquatic Habitats ............................................................................ 172 Appendix A—Design Features .................................................................................. 183 Appendix B—Silvicultural Prescriptions ................................................................. 188 Appendix C—Preparers and Consultants ................................................................ 191 Works Cited .................................................................................................................. 192 3 30-Day Comment Report 4 Pemi Northwest Project Chapter 1—Project Background What is the Forest Service proposing? The Pemigewasset Ranger District of the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) is initiating a 30-day public comment period for a resource management project in the towns of Benton, Easton, Woodstock and Landaff in Grafton County, New Hampshire. The Pemi Northwest Project is designed to promote desired wildlife habitat and vegetation conditions outlined in the 2005 White Mountain National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan); provide a wide range of recreational opportunities; provide a sustained yield of high quality sawtimber and other forest products; and manage the transportation system to meet administrative and public needs. This document provides information on the environmental analysis of the Proposed Action as well as four other alternatives, including No Action, which were analyzed for this project. This document, based on and tiered to the 2005 White Mountain National Forest Plan Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), analyzes the effects from implementation of the proposed Pemi Northwest Project to physical, biological, and social resources. Chapters 1 and 2 of this document provide background information, public involvement, issues, and a detailed description of the Proposed Action and other alternatives considered for the project. The effects of alternatives analyzed in detail, including the Proposed Action, on recreation; scenery; soils; water; fisheries; roadless/wilderness; wildlife habitat, including Federal Threatened, Endangered, and Proposed Species (TEPS), Regional Forester Sensitive Species (RFSS) and Non-Native Invasive Species (NNIS)); social/economic resources; air quality and heritage resources are described in Chapter 3. Summary of the Proposed Action Forest Plan goals, objectives, standards and guidelines provide resource management direction for the White Mountain National Forest (USDA- Forest Service, 2005c, WMNF). Applicable Forest Plan goals, objectives and standards and guidelines were used to design the Pemi Northwest Project. The proposed action for the Pemi Northwest Project is described in detail in Chapter 2. In summary, it includes implementation of the following site-specific activities: This project proposes timber harvest using many different treatment methods on about 3642 acres, with the possibility of adding prescribed fire on 156 of these acres. Up to 270 acres on Black Mountain would be burned to restore natural vegetative communities, and specific wildlife 5 30-Day Comment Report habitats would be improved through small-scale proposals. The proposed action includes stream channel restoration in two locations, replacement of undersized and deteriorating culverts, and relocation/reconstruction of a section of the Tunnel Brook Road. Hazard trees would be removed within 100 feet of Long Pond and Long Pond Spur roads. Boulders would be places in several locations to protect resources and block unauthorized motorized use in the project area, and several changes to the transportation system are proposed. These changes range from simple data updates to on-the-ground decommissioning of 2.7 miles of road and reconstruction of 0.8 miles of road. Most of the proposed project activities would be implemented within the next 3 to 5 years, with the exception of prescribed burning and vegetative release treatments which would likely be extended to the next 5 to 10 years. This project also incorporates a variety of project design features to minimize impacts to air quality and public health from prescribed burning, reduce adverse impacts to scenic quality from timber harvest activities, protect cultural resource areas, minimize impacts to forest visitors recreating in the project area, protect trail integrity and maintain high quality wildlife habitat features. All proposed project activities would be undertaken within the scope of the Forest Plan’s standards and guidelines. The Proposed Action and alternatives for the Pemi Northwest Project, as well as the analysis of their effects described in this document, are confined in scope to the area of the White Mountain National Forest within which they are contained. Neither the environmental analysis, nor the eventual decision document, will apply to or set precedent for any area outside of this project. About the Pemi Northwest Project Area The Pemi Northwest Project Area is located on the west-central edge of the White Mountain National Forest in the Wild Ammonoosuc South Habitat Management Unit (HMU). It includes approximately 12,000 acres of National Forest lands