U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Environmental Assessment DOI-BLM-CA-N020-2018-0011-EA Timbered Crater ACEC/WSA Hazard Tree Removal Project May 2018 Craig Drake Applegate Field Office Manager 708 W. 12th Street Alturas, CA 96101 U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Applegate Field Office Phone: (530) 233-4666 Fax: (530) 233-5696 Contents 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .............................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Proposed Action Location ....................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Purpose and Need .................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Scoping, Public Involvement, and Issues ................................................................................................................ 3 1.5 Plan Compliance and Tiering .................................................................................................................................. 3 Special Designations – Areas of Critical Environmental Concern: ............................................................................... 4 2. PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES ..................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Alternative 1 – Proposed Action .............................................................................................................................. 5 2.2 Alternative 2 – No Action ........................................................................................................................................ 5 2.3 Alternatives Considered but Eliminated from Further Discussion .......................................................................... 5 3. AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS, AND CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ................... 6 3.1 General Description ................................................................................................................................................. 6 3.2 Environmental Effects ............................................................................................................................................. 6 3.4 Resource Issues........................................................................................................................................................ 6 3.5 Resources Eliminated from further analysis ............................................................................................................ 7 3.6 Air Quality ............................................................................................................................................................... 8 3.7 Fuels and Fire Management ................................................................................................................................... 11 3.8 Invasive, non-native Species.................................................................................................................................. 13 3.9 Soils ....................................................................................................................................................................... 14 3.10 Wilderness Study Areas/Wilderness Characteristics ........................................................................................... 16 4. AGENCIES, TRIBES, ORGANIZATIONS, AND INDIVIDUALS CONSULTED ............................................. 17 5. DOCUMENT PREPARATION .............................................................................................................................. 18 6. REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................................ 19 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background The Applegate Field Office received a notification regarding standing dead trees from a private landowner that borders the eastern edge of the Timbered Crater Area of Critical Environmental Concern and Wilderness Study Area (ACEC/WSA) during the summer of 2017. The landowner has a private residence that is immediately adjacent to the eastern boundary of the WSA and is accessed from Pine Shadows Road near Day, California. The landowner expressed concern that deceased trees could eventually fall on to his property and cause damage to his house and surrounding outbuildings. The trees died within the past three years (2014-2016) as a result of beetle activity in the area, principally mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) and drought. In response, the Applegate Field Office performed a hazard tree assessment of the area on December 27, 2017. Approximately eighteen trees where assessed, of which, six were identified as posing an immediate threat to the residence and public safety. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Applegate Field Office (AGFO) hired a professional timber faller to cut sixteen trees adjacent to a private residence on February 1, 2018. The project area is approximately 1.5 acres in size and is located within the Timbered Crater ACEC/WSA which is located at the junction of Shasta, Siskiyou, and Modoc Counties in northeastern California (Figure 1.1). The WSA contains 18,095 acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Figure 1.1: The photo on the left shows the identified hazard trees (indicated with blue flagging) along the boundary between the private residence and the Timbered Crater ACEC/WSA and the photo on the right shows the identified hazard trees following falling operations. 1.2 Proposed Action Location The proposed project is located in northeastern Shasta County, California near the town of Day, California (Figure 1.2). The legal description is as follows: Township 39N, Range 5E, Section 27; Mount Diablo Base Meridian. Figure 1.2: Location of the Timbered Crater Hazard Tree Removal project in northeastern Shasta County, California. 1.3 Purpose and Need The purpose of this action is decrease fuel loading and visual impacts of downed trees immediately adjacent to the boundary between the Timbered Crater ACEC/WSA and an adjacent private residence. The action is necessary to respond to a request from a private landowner regarding dead trees on public land that were threatening his private property. Once the trees were cut, the fallen trees now create a potential hazardous fuels situation adjacent to the private lands and constitute an incompatible action within the WSA. 1.3.1 Decision to be Made The BLM would decide on whether or not to treat hazardous fuels and visual impacts following falling operations within the Timbered Crater ACEC/WSA. Page 2 DOI-BLM-CA-N020-2018-0011-EA 1.4 Scoping, Public Involvement, and Issues 1.4.1 Internal Scoping The BLM Applegate Field Office conducted internal scoping with an interdisciplinary team of specialists on January 4, 2018. 1.4.2 External Scoping An initial scoping letter was sent out on January 24, 2018 in anticipation of this EA. Scoping letters were sent to all identified interested parties within the vicinity of the project area. The interested parties included: local tribes, landowners, wilderness groups, and state and federal agencies. In addition, a letter was sent to the livestock grazing permittee that utilizes the Hot Springs Allotment. Federally recognized tribes were consulted with during the project planning process and the California State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) was consulted with during the project planning process as well. No comments were received during the initial scoping period and no concerns were expressed by the tribes during the formal consultation process. 1.4.3 Issues Identified through Internal and External Scoping An “issue” is a point of disagreement, debate, or dispute with the proposed action based on some anticipated environmental effect. An issue has a cause and effect relationship with the proposed action or alternatives. It is within the scope of the analysis, has not been decided by law, regulation, or previous decision, and is amendable to scientific analysis rather than conjecture. Identification of issues for this assessment was accomplished by considering the resources that could be affected by implementation of one of the alternatives. 1.4.3.1 Issues Selected For Detailed Analysis What are the impacts to the wilderness values such as solitude and naturalness? What are the impacts of prescribed fire activities (i.e. pile burning) on local and regional air quality? What are the impacts of pile burning on noxious weed populations within the project area? What are the impacts of pile burning on soils within the project area? What are the potential impacts of fuel loading and subsequently fire behavior within the project area? 1.5 Plan Compliance and Tiering The Timbered Crater ACEC/WSA Hazard Tree Removal Project EA references and is tiered to the 2008 AFO RMP FEIS. 2008 Alturas Field Office Resource Management Plan Final Environmental Impact Statement (AFO RMP FEIS): Fuels Management: Section 2.6.3 (2-29): Fuel treatment projects would specifically target juniper-invaded sagebrush-steppe, important wildlife habitats, the WUI,