----------- Draft Environmental Impact Statement Pine Mountain Late-Successional United States Reserve Habitat Protection and Department of Agriculture Enhancement Project Lake and Mendocino Counties, California Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region April 28, 2017 Photo: view from Pine Mountain Lookout. Recreation.gov For Information Contact: Frank Aebly, Ph.D. District Ranger Mendocino National Forest, Covelo and Upper Lake Ranger Districts 10025 Elk Mountain Road, Upper Lake, California (707) 275-1401 Pine Mountain Late-Successional Reserve Habitat Protection and Enhancement Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement Lake and Mendocino Counties, California Lead Agency: USDA Forest Service Responsible Official: Ann D. Carlson, Forest Supervisor Mendocino National Forest 825 N. Humboldt Avenue Willows, California 95988 For Information Contact: Frank Aebly, Ph.D. District Ranger Mendocino National Forest, Covelo and Upper Lake Ranger Districts 10025 Elk Mountain Road Upper Lake, California (707) 275-1401 2 Abstract Current conditions The Pine Mountain Late Successional Reserve (LSR) is one of the smaller LSRs within the Forest but provides an important link between the Blue Slides LSR seven miles to the southeast and the Sanhedrin LSR, 1.25 miles to the north. The Pine Mountain LSR also provides a critical link to State and other Federal lands to the south and west. It is the last remaining largest southernmost functional patch of late successional habitat in the Inner California Coast Range of California. The area is currently part of Northern Spotted Owl Critical Habitat (Unit 11, Subunit ICC 5), a land allocation designated by US Fish and Wildlife Service, and also includes 1.6 miles of critical habitat for anadromous fish. These habitats are located within both the LSR and matrix lands. However, the LSR is suffering from overstocking and crowding of trees across a range of diameters. In the majority of the LSR small diameter trees (< 10 inches diameter breast height) are the main problem. Due to past management activities the forest is so dense that walking through it is almost impossible and the quality of habitat is declining. In other areas trees across a range of diameters are very dense and present ladder fuels problems that threaten the overstory canopy. A wildfire in the project area would likely result in large contiguous areas of habitat loss rather than small patches that would have occurred in historic times. We observe an alteration of species composition shifting toward a majority of shade tolerant species, such as Douglas-Fir, a decrease in biodiversity, declining forest health and resiliency to inherent disturbances, such as fire, insects, and disease. Density related tree mortality is occurring over large areas and the susceptibility to drought-induced tree mortality, because of intense between tree competition for resources (light, nutrients and water) is increasing. Ecological consequences of past land management practices also include: diminished late successional habitat for wildlife including the northern spotted owl; increased forest stand density with low-level growth and/or vigor; increased susceptibility of forest stands to insects and disease; changed species composition of forestlands, grasslands, chaparral, and oak woodlands; habitat alteration of forestlands, chaparral, oak woodlands, and grasslands (i.e. loss of biodiversity); and Increasing probability of larger more intense fires (Perry et al. 2011). Future Desirable Conditions Future desirable conditions as described in the Mendocino National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP 1995) include an increase of northern spotted owl (NSO) habitat as well as increased habitat for species that depend on late seral forests. Additionally, future desired conditions include a decrease in the size and intensity of wildfires, and a decrease in the potential for stand replacing losses from major outbreaks of insects such as pine beetles and diseases. The Pine Mountain Late Successional Reserve Assessment (USDA 2000) identifies the project area as having a history of frequent, low-intensity fires which is desirable to maintain healthy ecological conditions. Most of the recent larger fires within the project area, have included a high proportion of acres burned at higher intensity than desired (USDA 2000). This is most likely due to a departure from the natural fire return interval. The LSRA rates fuels hazard, within the project area, as 3 moderate, however the current project analysis for the project area rated this area as having a high fuels hazard (Fire and Fuels Report, USDA 2016c). Future desirable conditions are a reduced fire hazard rating. Purpose and need The primary purpose of the proposed Pine Mountain Late Successional Reserve Habitat Enhancement and Protection project is to protect and enhance late successional habitat by putting the landscape on a trajectory where characteristic fire regimes and processes can return and ecological processes are restored. Silvicultural treatments (including prescribed fire) are being proposed to reduce stand density and increase the quality and amount of late successional habitat by increasing species diversity and average tree size. By reducing stand density, between-tree competition for resources will be reduced and the remaining trees will be more resilient to fire, insects, and disease. The remaining trees will also be more resilient to drought and warmer drier periods which are anticipated due to climate change (IPCC 2014). Treatments are also being proposed to reduce ladder fuels to lessen overstory mortality in the event of a wildfire and to better protect the LSR from fires entering from the west and southwest. As stated in the Northern Spotted Owl Recovery Plan (2011) federal land managers need to be maintaining or improving ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change. Resilient forests are those that not only accommodate a gradual change related to changes in climate but also tend to return toward a prior condition after disturbance either naturally or with management assistance (Millar et al. 2007). Managing for resilient forest conditions should be considered a fundamental recovery goal for norther spotted owls. Federal land managers should apply ecological forestry principles where long-term northern spotted owl recovery will benefit, even if short-term impacts to spotted owls may occur (Franklin et al. 2007, USDI FWS 2007). There is a need to implement actions consistent with the LRMP, LSR assessment, and Spotted Owl Recovery Plan guidelines to reduce the probability of large scale loss of Late Successional Habitat and protect this vital link between other areas of Late Successional Habitat. The LSRA also identifies areas with high road densities that fragment wildlife habitat. Roads can also affect the natural hydrologic flow path, and, if not designed and maintained properly, can lead to significant erosion and mass wasting problems. There is an opportunity within this project to decommission or close roads that are no longer needed, and storm proof ones that will receive future use. There is a need to develop and manage a transportation system that minimizes the impacts of roads on the landscape. Treatments are being designed to accomplish the following Purpose and Need objectives: 1. Enhance habitat for the northern spotted owl and associated late successional species. 2. Reduce the risk to late-successional habitat loss from wildfire through vegetative treatments designed to modify and restore characteristic fire regimes and forest structure. 3. Improve forest health, vigor, and resilience to fire, insects and disease as well as enhance the diversity of plant and animal habitat found within the project area 4. Manage National Forest lands (including roads and trails) to meet the Aquatic Conservation Strategy Objectives and direction set forth in the Mendocino National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP). 4 Based on the guiding principles from the LSR assessment, this project is designed to achieve the objectives and facilitate ecosystem restoration for a more sustainable future condition. To Provide Comments: The Pine Mountain LSR Habitat Protection and Enhancement Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is available online at the Mendocino National Forest website: http://fs.usda.gov/mendocino. Reviewers should provide the Forest Service with their comments during the review period of the DEIS. This will enable the Forest Service to analyze and respond to the comments at one time and to use information acquired in the preparation of the final environmental impact statement, thus avoiding undue delay in the decision-making process. Reviewers have an obligation to structure their participation in the National Environmental Policy Act process so that it is meaningful and alerts the agency to the reviewers’ position and contentions. (36 CFR 218.5) Environmental objections that could have been raised at the draft stage may be waived if not raised until after completion of the final environmental impact statement. Comments on the draft environmental impact statement should be specific and should address the adequacy of the statement and the merits of the alternatives discussed (40 CFR 1503.3). The opportunity to Comment ends 45 days following publication of the notice of availability (NOA) in the Federal Register. Send Comments to: Frank Aebly, Ph.D. District Ranger Mendocino National Forest, Covelo and Upper Lake Ranger Districts 10025 Elk Mountain