COPPER KING FIRE SALVAGE Agriculture Forest Environmental Assessment Service
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United States Department of COPPER KING FIRE SALVAGE Agriculture Forest Environmental Assessment Service April 2017 Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District, Lolo National Forest Sanders County, Montana Cover Photo: First day of the Copper King Fire as seen from Highway 200. Photo taken July 31, 2016. In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible Agency or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720- 2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English. To file a program discrimination complaint, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online at http://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_cust.html and at any USDA office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by: (1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights 1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; (2) fax: (202) 690-7442; or (3) email: [email protected]. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. Copper King Fire Salvage Environmental Assessment Contents CHAPTER 1: PURPOSE AND NEED FOR ACTION ................................................................................3 1.1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................................3 1.2 Background .........................................................................................................................................4 1.3 Purpose and Need for Action ..............................................................................................................6 1.4 Proposed Action ..................................................................................................................................8 1.4.1 Design Criteria .............................................................................................................................8 1.5 Public Involvement .............................................................................................................................9 1.6 Issue Resolution ................................................................................................................................ 10 CHAPTER 2: ALTERNATIVES ................................................................................................................ 13 2.1 Alternatives Considered in Detail ..................................................................................................... 13 2.1.1 Resource Protection Measures ................................................................................................... 17 2.1.2 Monitoring .................................................................................................................................. 24 2.2 Alternatives Considered but Eliminated from Detailed Study .......................................................... 25 2.3 Comparison of Alternatives .............................................................................................................. 26 2.4 Conflicting Views over Post-fire Salvage ......................................................................................... 30 CHAPTER 3: ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ......................................................................................... 37 3.1 Past, Present, and Reasonably Foreseeable Future Actions .............................................................. 37 3.2 Vegetation ......................................................................................................................................... 40 3.2.1 Resilient Vegetative Conditions ................................................................................................. 40 3.2.2 Old Growth ................................................................................................................................. 44 3.2.3 Forest Carbon Storage and Climate Change ............................................................................... 48 3.2.4 Botany ........................................................................................................................................ 50 3.2.5 Weeds ......................................................................................................................................... 51 3.3 Soils ................................................................................................................................................... 56 3.4 Hydrology ......................................................................................................................................... 64 3.5 Fisheries ............................................................................................................................................ 76 3.6 Wildlife ............................................................................................................................................. 86 3.7 Transportation System/Public Safety .............................................................................................. 131 3.8 Heritage ........................................................................................................................................... 133 3.9 Recreation ....................................................................................................................................... 134 3.10 Economics ..................................................................................................................................... 137 Agencies and Persons Consulted ............................................................................................................... 142 Appendix A - Maps Appendix B: Detailed Vegetation Treatments Appendix C: Soils Appendix D: Response to Literature Provided in Public Comment i Copper King Fire Salvage Environmental Assessment ii Copper King Fire Salvage Environmental Assessment CHAPTER 1: PURPOSE AND NEED FOR ACTION 1.1 Introduction The Lolo National Forest is proposing the Copper King Fire Salvage project (the project) to harvest fire-affected trees, cut hazard trees along roads, and plant tree seedlings within the perimeter of the Copper King Fire, which burned in the summer of 2016. The fire perimeter, of approximately 29,000 acres, is located on the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District in Sanders County about 5 miles east of Thompson Falls (see maps in Appendix A). On July 31, 2016, the Copper King Fire started on National Forest System (NFS) land near the mouth of the Thompson River. Despite initial suppression efforts, a wind event caused the fire to burn across containment lines, affecting nearly 29,000 acres (approximately 19,300 acres of NFS land; 1,400 acres of State Department of Natural Resources and Conservation land; 8,200 acres of Weyerhaeuser land). The fire burned with varying severity, leaving a mosaic of burn patterns on the landscape that range from unburned islands to areas where tree crowns were completely consumed. Of the 19,300 acres of NFS land affected by the fire, approximately 85 percent of the area burned at very high, high, or moderate severity. Virtually all the trees within the very high severity burn areas (7400 acres) are dead. The majority (92 percent) of the NFS land affected by the fire is allocated to timber production and/or where salvage is permitted by the Lolo Forest Plan1. Salvage of burned timber is therefore appropriate. While the fire was still burning, the Forest Service received numerous comments from the public, local timber industry, and State and local governments to consider salvage of the burned trees to benefit the local economy in an area where unemployment is high and milling infrastructure is nearby2. These requests were considered as well as other comments desiring that the post-fire landscape be left without management. To address the spectrum of public input, the Forest Service developed the project, which includes salvage where economically feasible from accessible lands and retains large blocks of the burned area without management. The Forest Service has prepared this Environmental Assessment (EA) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Lolo National Forest Plan, 40 CFR 1508.9, 36 CFR 220.7, and other relevant federal and State laws and regulations. This EA discloses the project’s foreseeable environmental