Wild Goose Timber Harvest Environmental Assessment DOI-BLM-ORWA-N020-2017-0006-EA February 2019 OR/WA Bureau of Land Management Northwest Oregon District, Marys Peak Field Office 1717 Fabry Road SE Salem, OR 97306 (503) 375-5646 WILD GOOSE TIMBER HARVEST ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT Table of Contents 1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................................1 1.1 Project Area Location .......................................................................................................1 1.2 Background .......................................................................................................................1 1.3 Purpose and Need ..............................................................................................................3 1.4 Decisions to be Made ........................................................................................................4 1.5 Conformance with Land Use Plan ....................................................................................4 1.6 Public Input and Issue Development ................................................................................4 1.6.1 Scoping........................................................................................................................4 1.6.2 Issues Identified for Analysis ......................................................................................5 2. Alternatives ............................................................................................................................6 2.1 Comparison of Alternatives ..............................................................................................6 2.2 Alternative 1 – No Action .................................................................................................7 2.3 Alternative 2 – Proposed Action (Adaptive Management) ...............................................7 2.4 Alternative 3 – Commercial Thinning ..............................................................................9 2.5 Connected Actions ..........................................................................................................10 2.6 Alternatives Considered but Not Analyzed in Detail ......................................................11 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Effects .........................................................13 3.1 Issue 1: How would harvest contribute towards ASQ within the Salem SYU? .............13 3.1.1 Affected Environment ...............................................................................................13 3.1.2 Environmental Effects ...............................................................................................15 3.1.3 Cumulative Effects ....................................................................................................17 3.2 Issue 2: How would proposed timber harvest and connected actions affect habitat conditions of northern spotted owl sites within the project area? ...................................20 3.2.1 Affected Environment ...............................................................................................20 3.2.2 Environmental Effects ...............................................................................................23 3.2.3 Cumulative Effects ....................................................................................................25 3.3 Issue 3: How would proposed timber harvest and connected actions affect conditions of critical habitat designated for the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet in the project area? ....................................................................................................................26 3.3.1 Affected Environment ...............................................................................................26 3.3.2 Environmental Effects ...............................................................................................27 3.3.3 Cumulative Effects ....................................................................................................28 3.4 Issue 4: How would proposed timber harvest and connected actions prevent degradation or removal of habitat occupied by red tree voles in the project area? ............................29 3.4.1 Affected Environment ...............................................................................................29 3.4.2 Environmental Effects ...............................................................................................32 3.4.3 Cumulative Effects ....................................................................................................33 4. Consultation, Contacts, and References ...........................................................................34 4.1 Endangered Species Act – Section 7 Consultation .........................................................34 4.2 Tribal Contacts ................................................................................................................35 4.3 State Historic Preservation Office Consultation .............................................................35 4.4 List of Preparers ..............................................................................................................35 4.5 References Cited .............................................................................................................36 Appendix .........................................................................................................................................1 Appendix A: Glossary of Terms and Acronyms .................................................................... A-1 Appendix B: EA Unit Maps ......................................................................................................B-1 Appendix C: Issues Considered but not Analyzed in Detail ................................................. C-1 Appendix D: Project Maps ....................................................................................................... D-1 Appendix E: Project Design Features and Best Management Practices ..............................E-1 Project Design Features Common to Both Action Alternatives .......................................... E-2 Project Design Features Specific to Regeneration Harvest ............................................... E-11 Project Design Features Specific to Commercial Thinning .............................................. E-12 Best Management Practices ............................................................................................... E-13 Appendix F: Proposed Road Work .......................................................................................... F-1 List of Tables Table 2-1. Comparison of Alternatives ........................................................................................... 6 Table 2-2. Alternative 2 – Proposed Action overview by unit ....................................................... 8 Table 2-3. Alternative 3 – Commercial Thinning overview by unit ............................................. 10 Table 3-1. Current stand attributes, modeled for all stands (trees > 7” DBH) ............................. 14 Table 3-2. Current vegetation and stand history from available records ...................................... 15 Table 3-3. Alternative 2 Volume Estimates and Post-Harvest Stand Conditions ......................... 16 Table 3-4. Alternative 3 Volume Estimates and Post-Harvest Stand Conditions ......................... 17 Table 3-5. Habitat Conditions in Northern Spotted Owl Home Ranges Overlapping the Project Area. 1,2 .................................................................................................................................. 22 Table 3-6. Dispersal Habitat Removal resulting from the Proposed Action regeneration harvest units within two northern spotted owl home ranges. ............................................................ 24 Table 3-7. Survey effort and red tree vole findings within the Project Area. ............................... 30 Table 3-8. Proposed management for occupied red tree vole habitat within the project area. ..... 31 Table 4-1. Effects to Federally listed wildlife species and critical habitat by Action Alternative 34 List of Figures Figure 3-1. Additional volume of the Wild Goose timber sales, combined with the volumes of other timber sales within the Salem SYU for fiscal year 2019. ............................................ 18 Figure 3-2. The Marys Peak Field Office does not currently intend to offer timber from the Wild Goose project in fiscal years 2020 or 2021. .......................................................................... 19 Figure 3-3. ASQ contributions broken down by Field Office. ..................................................... 20 Cover photo. Timber sale unit in T. 7 S., R. 6 W., Section 6. August 2017. 1. Introduction This document includes the analysis of commercial timber harvest and connected actions on approximately 651 acres1 of forestland within the Marys Peak Field Office of the Northwest Oregon District Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This chapter provides a description of the project area, the purpose and need for the action, the decisions to be made, a description of how the project conforms to management direction and applicable laws and regulations, and the scope of the analysis. 1.1 Project Area Location The project area is located approximately six miles south of Willamina,