Kawerak, Incorporated Forest and Fire Management Plan For Native Allotments in the Bering Straits Region of Alaska Prepared by Will Putman, CF Jake Sprankle, CF Doug Hanson, CF Tanana Chiefs Conference Forestry Program Fairbanks, Alaska April 18, 2008 Forest and Fire Management Plan For Native Allotments in the Bering Straits Region of Alaska Kawerak, Inc. _______________________________ Title: _______________________________ Date: _______________________________ Bureau of Indian Affairs Alaska Regional Office _______________________________ Title: _______________________________ Date: _______________________________ Forest and Fire Management Plan for Native Allotments in the Bering Straits Region of Alaska Executive Summary Within the Bering Straits region of Alaska, there are 636 pending, approved and certified Native allotments. Because each allotment may consist of as many as four parcels, there are a total 1,018 individual allotment parcels. The total area of these parcels covers 79,965 acres. The United States government is trustee of these allotted lands, and as such has management responsibilities on these lands, including the assurance that these lands and their resources are managed in perpetuity for the benefit of their Native Alaskan owners. Kawerak, Inc., through an Indian Self Governance Compact agreement with the U.S. Government, has assumed forest management activities on Native allotments within this region. An important element of this trust responsibility is also the protection of the land and resources from damaging wildland fires. This document is a programmatic plan designed to guide Kawerak, Inc. in fulfilling it’s trust responsibilities, and serves as both the forest management plan and the fire management plan for Native allotments within the Bering Straits region. The plan was prepared by Tanana Chiefs Conference Forestry Program under contract with Kawerak, Inc. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has guided the development of this management document, which conforms to the spirit of NEPA. Therefore, this document is the environmental assessment evaluating the proposed action of implementing forest and fire management for Native allotments in the Bering Straits Region of Alaska. Part of Kawerak, Inc.’s mission is to help each allotment owner identify their goals and objectives for managing their forest resources. While Kawerak, Inc. is responsible for managing the patchwork of small parcels of land scattered across the region, each with their own goals and objectives, it also has underlying responsibilities to the Native peoples of the region and to the management of the land and natural resources across the landscape. This plan is a landscape approach for managing allotments on a parcel by parcel basis while ensuring that these underlying responsibilities to the region and to its people are met. Highlights of the Plan are: • Of the 1,018 individual allotment parcels, 154 are forested with the remaining 864 being non-forested. • Total acreage of forested land is 5,497 acres of which 5,393 acres are considered “accessible”. Total volume of all forested acreage is estimated to be 8.29 million board feet or 3.62 million cubic feet of wood across all subunits. • The more restrictive State of Alaska, Forest Resources & Practices regulations and riparian standards for Region II (and not Region III) are the preferred Best Management Practices for all forest management activities and forest road building. • Fish are the most important renewable natural resource within the region. Fish are simply too valuable for subsistence and cultural purposes and too precarious a natural resource for anything but the most stringent management practices that protect them and their habitat. Forest and Fire Management Plan For Native Allotments in the Bering Straits Region of Alaska Table of Contents I. Introduction ..............................................................................................1 A. Purpose and Need.........................................................................................................1 B. The Region ...................................................................................................................2 C. Goals and Objectives....................................................................................................3 D. Authority ......................................................................................................................3 II. Summary of Alternatives.........................................................................5 III. Description of the Affected Environment ..............................................7 A. Description of Allotted Trust Lands.............................................................................7 B. Air Quality..................................................................................................................11 C. Cultural Resources .....................................................................................................11 D. Water Resources.........................................................................................................11 E. Soil Resources ............................................................................................................12 F. Wildlife Resources.....................................................................................................15 G. Fisheries Resources ....................................................................................................22 H. Timber Resources.......................................................................................................25 I. Fire and Fuels .............................................................................................................39 J. Other Land Uses.........................................................................................................42 IV. Forest Management Practices...............................................................43 A. Identification of Commercially Viable Timber Stands ..............................................43 B. Mature High Risk Timber Stands...............................................................................43 C. Silvicultural Systems..................................................................................................46 D. Forest Development ...................................................................................................47 V. Fire and Fuels Management Practices .................................................50 A. Introduction ................................................................................................................50 B. Cooperators ................................................................................................................51 C. Fire Management Planning ........................................................................................54 D. Emergency Operations for Wildland Fire Management ............................................54 E. Operation Standards for Hazardous fuels Reduction .................................................57 F. Fire Program Elements and Concerns ........................................................................66 i Forest and Fire Management Plan For Native Allotments in the Bering Straits Region of Alaska VI. Issues, Concerns and Opportunities .................................................... 70 A. Air Quality..................................................................................................................70 B. Cultural Resources .....................................................................................................70 C. Water Resources.........................................................................................................70 D. Soil Resources ............................................................................................................71 E. Wildlife Resources.....................................................................................................71 F. Fisheries Resources and Essential Fish Habitat .........................................................71 G. Timber Resources.......................................................................................................72 H. Fire and Fuels .............................................................................................................72 VII. Goals and Objectives ............................................................................. 74 A. Air Quality..................................................................................................................75 B. Cultural Resources .....................................................................................................75 C. Water Resources.........................................................................................................76 D. Soil Resources ............................................................................................................76 E. Wildlife Resources.....................................................................................................77 F. Fisheries Resources and Essential Fish Habitat .........................................................80 G. Timber Resources.......................................................................................................81 H. Fire and Fuels .............................................................................................................83