82 FR 35745 - Umpqua and Diamond Lake Districts, Umpqua National Forest, Oregon, Calf Copeland Restoration Project

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 146 (August 1, 2017)

Calf and Copeland Creek are major tributaries to the North Umpqua River and lie in the very center of the Umpqua National Forest. The 51,650 acre planning area is within a mixed-severity fire regime landscape in which the steep slopes and canyons historically tended to burn hot while the benches and ridges tended towards high-frequency, low-severity fire. As a consequence, the benches and ridges developed open stands of mixed-age Douglas-fir, sugar pine, ponderosa pine and incense-cedar. Fire suppression and past timber harvest have converted these areas to overstocked stands of predominately young Douglas-fir and white fir that are rapidly choking out the pine and leaving the entire landscape at risk to uncharacteristic wildfire. The Umpqua National Forest has witnessed a sharp increase in wildfire over the last couple of decades. During this period, tens of thousands of acres have burned within the planning area and the immediately adjacent watersheds, about 20,000 acres of which were stand replacement fire within habitat for the northern spotted owl. This project proposes a combination of timber harvest, non- commercial thinning, and prescribed fire to reduce stem densities and improve the fuel profiles in plantations as well as in older stands with sugar or ponderosa pine. The project also proposes to create strategically placed shaded fuel breaks along roads to help manage wildfire to reduce the risk of stand replacement fire in the remaining late-successional and old-growth stands. Finally, the project would provide log placement in lower Calf Creek to improve stream conditions, restore two wetlands and possibly decommission or close roads to improve watershed conditions.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 146 (Tuesday, August 1, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35745-35746]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-16129]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Umpqua and Diamond Lake Districts, Umpqua National Forest, 
Oregon, Calf Copeland Restoration Project

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: Calf and Copeland Creek are major tributaries to the North 
Umpqua River and lie in the very center of the Umpqua National Forest. 
The 51,650 acre planning area is within a mixed-severity fire regime 
landscape in which the steep slopes and canyons historically tended to 
burn hot while the benches and ridges tended towards high-frequency, 
low-severity fire. As a consequence, the benches and ridges developed 
open stands of mixed-age Douglas-fir, sugar pine, ponderosa pine and 
incense-cedar. Fire suppression and past timber harvest have converted 
these areas to overstocked stands of predominately young Douglas-fir 
and white fir that are rapidly choking out the pine and leaving the 
entire landscape at risk to uncharacteristic wildfire. The Umpqua 
National Forest has witnessed a sharp increase in wildfire over the 
last couple of decades. During this period, tens of thousands of acres 
have burned within the planning area and the immediately adjacent 
watersheds, about 20,000 acres of which were stand replacement fire 
within habitat for the northern spotted owl.
    This project proposes a combination of timber harvest, non-
commercial thinning, and prescribed fire to reduce stem densities and 
improve the fuel profiles in plantations as well as in older stands 
with sugar or ponderosa pine. The project also proposes to create 
strategically placed shaded fuel breaks along roads to help manage 
wildfire to reduce the risk of stand replacement fire in the remaining 
late-successional and old-growth stands. Finally, the project would 
provide log placement in lower Calf Creek to improve stream conditions, 
restore two wetlands and possibly decommission or close roads to 
improve watershed conditions.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by August 31, 2017. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement is 
expected December, 2018 and the Final Environmental Impact Statement is 
expected July, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 2900 NW Stewart Parkway, Oregon 
97471. Comments may also be sent via email to [email protected], or via facsimile to 970-
957-3283.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Helliwell at 541-957-3337, 
[email protected] or Amy Nathanson at 541-957-3338, 
[email protected].
    Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose of this project is to provide greater landscape 
resiliency to wildfire and other disturbances. Integral to maintaining 
landscape resiliency is maintenance of legacy ponderosa and sugar pine 
and recruitment of new pine to begin replacing the trees that have been 
lost to competition in the wake of decades of fire suppression. Also 
essential to restoring fire resiliency is the need to restore the 
historic species composition and structure where it has been altered 
due to past timber management. In order to truly improve landscape 
resiliency it would be necessary to group management actions, as much 
as practical, into ecologically significant units that would allow fire 
to function more similarly to how it did historically. There is a need 
to manage for old-growth and late-successional habitat for the northern 
spotted owl and other old forest species to compensate, in part, for 
the many thousands of acres that have been converted to early seral 
habitat due to recent stand-replacement fires in and adjacent to the 
planning area. Finally, there is a need to improve aquatic conditions 
that have been altered through roads and past timber harvest.

Proposed Action

    Restoration of mixed-conifer stands with sugar pine or ponderosa 
pine would occur on 1,777 acres. Treatment would consist of removal of 
all conifers under 20-24 inches diameter breast height (DBH) within 20-
25 feet of the dripline of all healthy pine over 20 inches DBH. Overall 
canopy cover in the stands would be reduced to 40-60% canopy closure. 
No trees over 20-24'' DBH would be removed.
    Non-commercial thinning, girdling or burning would occur on 185 
acres. Non-commercial thinning would be comprised of predominately 
conifers under 7'' DBH, although larger trees up to 24'' DBH may be cut 
and left within 20 feet of the dripline of large pines. In some cases 
trees up to 24'' DBH could also be girdled in the vicinity of large 
pines rather than felled. Fuels treatments may consist of pile and 
burning or broadcast burning or both.
    Thinning would occur on 1,147 acres of previously managed stands. 
All of these stands had been clearcut between 1956 and 1975 and planted 
to predominately Douglas-fir. These stands would be thinned to 40-60% 
canopy closure and small gaps of 0.5 to 3 acres would be created and 
planted to rust-resistant sugar pine or ponderosa pine. A 50 foot no 
entry buffer would be left along all streams, allowing for thinning

[[Page 35746]]

within the riparian reserve area outside of that 50 feet.
    Shaded fuel breaks would be created along about 28 miles of road. 
The fuel break would remove conifers less than 7'' DBH and ladder fuels 
up to 150 feet on either side of the road. This would result in up to 
1,033 acres of shaded fuel breaks although 216 of these acres overlaps 
with other proposed treatment stands.
    Log placement would occur at eight locations along lower Calf 
Creek. The failing sump along Forest Service road 4750-200 would be 
restored to a series of three small wetlands. The small earthen dam 
would be removed and the new wetlands contoured in to take its place.
    The wetland at Little Oak Flats that is currently being drained by 
Forest Service road 4770-030 would be restored to retain approximately 
its natural hydrologic state. About six miles of road would be 
decommissioned, including the last 1.7 miles of Forest Service road 
2801 that follows Copeland Creek.
    About 13 miles of road have been identified as not currently needed 
or expected to be needed within the next twenty years. These would be 
put into storage that would include pulling the culverts such that they 
would no longer be drivable. Of these, about 10 miles would be closed 
to all vehicle traffic while about three miles would still be 
accessible to motorized vehicles under 50'' in width.

Responsible Official

    North Umpqua District Ranger.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    The deciding officer will decide whether to implement the proposed 
action, take an alternative action that meets the purpose and need or 
take no action.

Preliminary Issues

    Preliminary issues include vegetation management in areas 
designated as Late Seral Reserves under the Northwest Forest Plan as 
well as vegetation management in designated critical habitat for the 
threatened northern spotted owl. Management of the road system is an 
issue that has been identified for this project area. Noncommercial 
vegetation management in inventoried roadless areas and areas that are 
currently undeveloped is also an issue for this project.

Scoping Process

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process, which guides 
the development of the environmental impact statement. Public meetings 
and field trips will be planned for the summer of 2017. These meetings 
will be announced in the Roseburg News Review and the Umpqua National 
Forest Web page.
    It is important that reviewers provide their comments at such times 
and in such manner that they are useful to the agency's preparation of 
the environmental impact statement. Therefore, comments should be 
provided prior to the close of the comment period and should clearly 
articulate the reviewer's concerns and contentions.
    Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names 
and addresses of those who comment, will be part of the public record 
for this proposed action. Comments submitted anonymously will be 
accepted and considered, however.

    Dated: July 19, 2017.
Jeanne M. Higgins,
Acting Associate Deputy Chief, National Forest System.
[FR Doc. 2017-16129 Filed 7-31-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3411-15-P