COALITION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 925 SAGE AVENUE, SUITE 302 KEMMERER, WY 83101 COUNTY COMMISSIONS AND CONSERVATIO NDISTRICTS FOR LINCOLN, SWEETWATER, UINTA, AND SUBLETTE - WYOMING April 3, 2017 VIA E-MAIL - [email protected] ORIGINAL VIA OVERNIGHT MAIL Patricia O’Connor Forest Supervisor Bridger-Teton National Forest 340 N. Cache P.O. Box 1888 Jackson, WY 83001 Dear Ms. O’Connor, Pursuant to 36 C.F.R. Section 218, Subparts A and B, through its undersigned counsel, the Coalition of Local Governments (“CLG”) on behalf of its members including the Lincoln County Board of County Commissioners files this objection to the United States Forest Service’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (“FEIS”) and Draft Record of Decision (“Draft ROD”) for the Teton to Snake Fuels Management Project on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming (“Project”). See 36 C.F.R. §218.8(d)(4). The responsible official who will issue a final decision on this project is Dale Deiter, District Ranger of Jackson Ranger District. See id. This objection is timely filed because legal notice of the FEIS and Draft ROD was published in the Casper Star-Tribune on February 17, 2017, which places the end of 45-day objection period on April 3, 2017. 36 C.F.R. §§218.9, 218.26(a). I. Objector, 36 C.F.R. §§218.2, 218.8(d)(1) Coalition of Local Governments 925 Sage Avenue, Suite 302 Kemmerer, WY 83101 Coalition Member Board of Commissioners, Lincoln County, Wyoming Attn: Kent Connelly, Chairman 926 Sage Avenue, Ste. 302 Kemmerer, WY 83101 (307) 877-9056 Patricia O’Connor Objection of Teton to Snake Fuels Management Project April 3, 2017 Page 2 II. Statement of Interest The Coalition is a voluntary association of local governments organized under the laws of the State of Wyoming to educate, guide, and develop public land policy in the affected counties. Wyo. Stat. §§11-16-103, 11-16-122, 16-1-101, 16-1-104(a).1 Coalition members include Lincoln County, Sweetwater County, Uinta County, Sublette County, Lincoln Conservation District, Sweetwater Conservation District, Uinta County Conservation District, Sublette County Conservation District, Little Snake River Conservation District, and Star Valley Conservation District. The Coalition serves many purposes for its members, including the protection of vested rights of individuals and industries dependent on utilizing and conserving existing resources and public lands, the promotion and support of habitat improvement, the support and funding of scientific studies addressing federal land use plans and projects, and providing comments on behalf of members for the educational benefit of those proposing federal land use plans and land use projects. Lincoln County has broad authority to protect the public health and welfare of county residents and this includes providing for transportation, fire protection, land use and zoning, and assuring a supply of water for agriculture, municipal, and industrial purposes. Wyo. Stat. §§18-2- 101(a)(vi), 18-3-504, 18-3-509, 18-5-201. Lincoln County has adopted land use plans and policies addressing various public land uses and the impact of public land use decisions, including fire management and minimizing impacts to private landowners, forage, and water sources. Ex. 1, Lincoln County Comprehensive Plan at 7, 8 (2006); Ex. 2, Lincoln County Comprehensive Plan, Appendix 3: Public Lands Policy at 3-4, 3-9 - 3-11, 3-29 - 3-31 (2006). The County supports actions that provide resources for the state’s timber and logging industries and programs that improve watersheds, forests, and forage for the benefit of wildlife species. Ex. 2, Lincoln County, Wyoming, Comprehensive Plan, Appendix 3 Public Lands Policy, at 3-13 (2006). It is Lincoln County’s position that fire, timber harvesting, and treatment programs must be managed so as to prevent waste of forest products, prevent catastrophic events, and reduce fire potential at the urban interface. Id. at 3-31. Lincoln County funds wildfire suppression and over the years the County has signed memoranda of understanding (“MOU”) with the Forest Service to cooperate on fire suppression and control. Lincoln County has also developed a Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Ex. 3, Lincoln 1 The Coalition has standing to submit objections on behalf of its member Lincoln County, because an organization has standing so long as one of its members does, the interests of the member are germane to the organization, and no monetary damages are sought. Hunt v. Washington Apple Advertising Comm’n, 432 U.S. 333, 343 (1977). The participation of Lincoln County in the NEPA process and its legal interests in wildfire suppression clearly put the Forest Service on notice regarding the issues raised in this statement of objections. Patricia O’Connor Objection of Teton to Snake Fuels Management Project April 3, 2017 Page 3 County Comprehensive Plan, Appendix 7.B: Community Wildlife Protection Plan (2006). On National Forest System lands, the County supports the use of harvests and thinning to maintain diversity in both age class and stand densities to curtail insect and disease outbreaks, and to reduce the potential for large scale stand replacement wildfires. Id. at 6. Part of the of Project boundary lies within the northeastern corner of Lincoln County, but the proposed fire treatment areas are located to the north and east of the County within Teton County, Wyoming. Fuels management in the area surrounding Lincoln County and near the Snake River drainage will impact the management of the Forest Service lands in Lincoln County, the watershed upon which Lincoln County and its residents’ rely upon, and potential threats to forest and rangeland health in the County due to catastrophic wildfires. III. Statement of Specific Issues Related to the FEIS and Draft ROD for the Teton to Snake Fuels Management Project that are the Subject of this Objection, 36 C.F.R. §218.8(d)(5) CLG and Lincoln County2 object to the Forest Service’s FEIS and proposed adoption of a modified Alternative 3 in the Draft ROD for the following reasons: 1. Past management practices, including reduced timber harvesting and an extensive beetle infestation, aggravated by continued fire suppression, has created the perfect storm for large, catastrophic wildfires in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. As a result, the FEIS and Draft ROD emphasis on prescribed burn treatments in the Project area ignores the conditions of the Project area, places private landowners at risk, threatens the forest health, and creates the risk of significant harm to air quality, water quality, and wildlife habitat. The Forest Service must consider and utilize more mechanical treatments, including thinning and timber harvesting, to effectively address the current forest conditions or explain how it will mitigate the potential harm to the environment. 2 By statute, local governments including counties and conservation districts have the authority to cooperate with each other. See Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§16-1-101, 16-1-104(a). A county may delegate to a particular agent the duty and authority to perform certain tasks, including submitting comments or objections, on behalf of the county. See Wyo. Stat. Ann. §18-5-208(b) (A board of county commissioners of a county that has adopted a comprehensive plan may participate in efforts to coordinate the plan with federal agencies as provided in federal statutes.); see also Maverick Motorsports Grp., LLC v. Dep't of Revenue, 253 P.3d 125, 133 (Wyo. 2011) ("‘Agency' is the fiduciary relationship that arises when one person (a ‘principal') manifests assent to another person (an ‘ agent') that the agent shall act on the principal's behalf and subject to the principal's control, and the agent manifests assent or otherwise consents so to act. This contemplates different entities for agent and principal."). Patricia O’Connor Objection of Teton to Snake Fuels Management Project April 3, 2017 Page 4 2. Reducing the fire treatments and failing to consider additional mechanical treatments in the inventoried roadless areas (IRAs) places private landowners at risk and threatens the forest health with catastrophic wildfire. The 2001 Roadless Rule, 66 Fed. Reg. 3244 (codified at 36 C.F.R. Part 294), allows timber harvesting to maintain or restore the ecological conditions of an area and when the IRA has been modified to an extent that the roadless characteristics are no longer present. These conditions exist in the Munger Mountain and Phillips Ridge IRAs and, therefore, mechanical treatments, including thinning and timber harvest, should be considered in the FEIS. 3. Deferring all mechanical treatments in the Palisades Wilderness Study Area (WSA) and removing a number of the prescribed burn units in the southern portion of the WSA allows fuel loads to continue to grow, threatens the forest health and wildlife habitat, and places the health and safety of the public at risk. The FEIS must consider the use of non-commercial thinning in the Palisades WSA as a fire management activity that is consistent with legislative direction and national forest policy to control fire and reduce the risks of wildfire within wilderness areas. IV. Previous Comments and New Issues Introduced After the Comment Periods, 36 C.F.R. §218.8(d)(6) Lincoln County3 submitted written comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (“DEIS”) on October 1, 2015. The County supported the proposed Alternative 2 but requested the Forest Service to expand the proposed treatments to enhance efforts to protect the watersheds and address threats, including catastrophic wildfire, to forest and rangeland health. Ex. 4, Lincoln County DEIS Comments (Oct. 1, 2015). The expanded treatments requested were removal of timber and salvage, and the use of existing Forest Service roads. Id. Lincoln County specifically requested additional treatments in the Munger Mountain and Phillips Ridge IRAs to protect public health and safety from the threat of fire and to protect bordering private lands.