Appendix B: Design Features, Best Management Practices and Mitigation Measures

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1 Appendix B: Design Features, Best Management Practices and Mitigation Measures Additional discussion of the design features, best management practices and mitigation measures listed below (including their efficacy) is in the resource reports. Number Design Feature / Best Management Practice / Mitigation Measure Protect existing infrastructure and improvements. All damaged range improvements will be repaired at least two weeks prior to 1. range turnout or prior to the end of the day during grazing season. Aquatics & Riparian When removing culverts as part of decommissioning roads at stream crossings, dewater the site or isolate it from flowing waters, 2. excavate the fil and restore slopes and stream channels to mimic the natural stream channel and banks and restore the natural valley configuration including removal of sediment trapped behind the culvert inlet. 3. No machine piling of slash within RHCAs No new landings, or expanded landings, would be located within an RHCA. If existing landings are utilized in RHCAs, suitable erosion control measures or other retention methods would be installed prior to landing use and would remain in place during 4. harvest operations. Any landings used within RHCAs would be scarified, seeded and organic debris would be scattered over them after timber harvest activities are complete. 5. Vehicles and equipment used during restoration activities would not leave existing roadways within the RHCA For all operations using heavy machinery, equipment, or gas-powered tools, measures would be in place to contain accidental 6. spills of hazardous materials and petroleum products. Refer to PACFISH guidelines. Wetlands would be identified prior to operations; to ensure that activities are consistent with management objectives within 7. RHCAs. 8. Rock stream crossings on Pettijohn, Lightning and Henderson Creeks with gravel as close to when haul is planned as is feasible 9. Any hazard tree felled in RHCAs would be left on site. Botany/Sensitive Plants No treatment activities would occur within 50 feet of Coeloglossum viride populations (Units 44-46). Flag and tag an area around 10. the plant population. 11. Implement underburns to protect C.viride and P.obtusata populations. Cultural Protect cultural resources by either flagging for avoidance or via implementing fuel reduction treatments by hand including where needed, hand line construction or the use of fire retardant materials to protect fire sensitive features in National Register eligible 12. sites. All cut material will be carried off site by hand and no trees will be planted within site boundaries. No debris piles, landing areas, fuel breaks (dozer or hand line), roads or skid trails will be constructed within site boundaries. Timber harvesting equipment or other heavy machinery will not be used within site boundaries, unless the unit is designated for over-snow operations. 13. Cultural resource monitoring would occur within the APE and at cultural resource sites as project undertakings take place. Page 1

2 14. Avoid National Register eligible and unevaluated cultural resources per Section 106 of the NHPA. Unavoidable cultural resources and eligible or listed on the National Register, mitigation measures will be developed in 15. consultation with State Historic Preservation Officer, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, interested parties, and/or local tribes. Noxious Weeds 16. Herbicide applications would be made in accordance with Okanogan National Forest Integrated Weed Management Environmental Assessment, 2000 and herbicide label requirements. 17. All soil disturbance would be evaluated and seeded with grasses as needed to reduce the potential for noxious weed invasion and spread. Native plant materials are the first choice in re-vegetation. 18. Modify the AOI plan to avoid salting in herbicide application area for smooth brome and pubescent wheatgrass populations during first 2 years of seed establishment. 19. Time prescribed burning in areas of nonnative grasses to occur at least 30 days following herbicide application. 20. Prescribed fire control lines would not be constructed through known noxious weed patches. 21. All known weed populations are to be shown on sale area maps. 22. Clean all equipment before leaving the project site after operating in areas infested with weeds (Units 4,14,19-23, 25, 27, 31, 32, 35-40, 43,44-46, 48, 51, 52, 54, 57, 66, 77,78, 83-88) Unless operations occur during winter. Dozer constructed piles that are burned would be seeded as soon as practical following burning. Excavator and dozer 23. constructed piles would be evaluated after burning to determine the need for seeding. Seeding would take place as soon as practical. 24. Noxious weed information would be made available to contractors and employees. 25. All off-road equipment must be cleaned of debris that could contain seed or reproductive plant parts prior to entering National Forest system lands (Contract Clause WO-C6.36). 26. Gravel, straw or mulch used for project activities must be certified noxious weed-free in accordance with the 2005 R6 Invasive Plant EIS. 27. Require over snow harvest in Units 44, and Excavator piling should be implemented outside the average flowering period for hawkweeds. (July 1 to Sept.15). (Units 44, 45, and 48) 29. No excavator piling in units 57 and No Under-burning within the identified hawkweed site in unit All disturbed soil areas would be annually inspected for invasive plants for three years following disturbance. UP to 10 years where prescribed fire occurs in and near hawkweed infestations (Stone, 2010). 32. Existing infestations of invasive plant species would be treated by the FS prior to and after project implementation as funding allows Prescribed Fire Page 2

3 33. Coordination to occur between the FS Fuels and Range departments for prescribed burning in active grazing season. Notify permittee of proposed time and location in the annual meeting prior to grazing/prescribed burning season. Design fuels treatments and fire suppression strategies, practices, and actions so as not to prevent attainment of RMO s, and to minimize disturbance of riparian ground and canopy cover and vegetation, Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics (MIST) would be utilized to suppress fire spread in RHCA s. Design prescribed burn projects and prescriptions to retain present and future woody debris needs so as not to prevent attainment of RMO s or be damaging to long-term ecosystem function or inland native fish. 34. Fireline would not be constructed within defined RHCA unless there are no other alternatives to prevent catastrophic effects to the riparian area. Existing roads within the RHCA would be used for the purpose of controlling fire with minimal disturbance of ground cover and vegetation in RHCA if the road is located outside/above the defined inner gorge. Range Prohibit storage of fuels and other toxicants within RHCA s. Prohibit refueling within RHCA s unless there are no other alternative. Refueling sites within a RHCA s must be approved by the Forest Service or and have an approved spill containment plan. Establish an emergency team to develop a rehabilitation treatment plan to attain RMO s and avoid adverse effects on inland native fish whenever RHCA s are significantly damaged by a prescribed fire burning out of prescription. Include installation of cattleguard ( ) in contractual Timber Sale language (Range NEPA covers the installation of any 35. devices on the fence lines- including road crossings, National Forest Road at Lighting Creek and Pettijohn Creek, and National Forest Road 3230 at Henderson Creek). Closing or decommissioning roads identified as stock driveways would be done in such a way that does not preclude travel by 36. cows. To replace the existing natural barrier lost as part of vegetation treatments construct approximately 100 yards of fence from the 37. cattleguard on Forest Road 3200 to Bonaparte Lake. Include a pedestrian walk through at the roadside where the fence connects to the cattleguard. (Unit 15) Recreation Provide alternate snowmobile routes when the 3300 or is closed for harvest activities to maintain access to Bonaparte 38. area snowmobile trails. 39. Protect Pipsissewa Trail during project activities by minimizing harvest equipment encroachment 40. Close Pipsissiwa trail to public access during thinning and prescribed burning activities adjacent to the trail location No weekend hauling activities will be allowed from Memorial Day through Labor Day unless specifically authorized by the Tonasket District Recreation Program Manager and the Timber Sale Administrator. No winter haul on Forest Road (Units 1-3) and logging operations would be prohibited on weekends and holidays during winter logging operations to minimize the disturbance to snowmobilers. Roads Page 3

4 Snow plowing would include water drainage outlets appropriately spaced, constructed, and maintained in the dike of snow or berm caused by snow removal operations. Water drainage holes would be placed to obtain surface drainage without discharging on erodible fills. Typically, snow removal would be conducted in such a way as to keep the blade a minimum of 2 inches above the road surface Barriers installed on roads which will be open for non-motorized or non-motor vehicle use will be designed so they do not pose a hazard. Road closure work associated with haul routes would be completed prior to the next winter season after completion of timber 44. harvest activities. Roads used for administrative access via ATV/UTV or snowmobile, would remain closed to public use following project activity. 45. Maintenance level one roads used during burn preparation and implementation as maintenance level two roads, would be returned to maintenance level one once burning is completed. Road closure work (changing roads to Maintenance Level 1 status) may include, but is not limited to: blading and shaping the 46. road surface to restore proper cross-slope, reinstalling drain dips and installing waterbars, spreading slash or debris over the road surface, and blocking the road with an earthen berm(s). When decommissioning stream crossings, dewater the site or isolate it from flowing waters, excavate fill and restore slopes and stream channels to mimic the natural stream channel and banks and restore natural valley configuration, place and shape 47. excavated material into cutbanks near crossings in such a way that sediment-laden runoff can be managed to minimize impact to the stream and place large woody material and/or large rocks as necessary for streambed substrates to mimic natural streambed characteristics upstream and downstream of the crossing removal. Temporary roads will be constructed to minimal standards necessary for safe use and decommissioned and returned to resource 48. production following completion of timber harvest activities on that unit. Water source for dust abatement of roads will be Bonaparte Lake where the outlet for the lake is located on road at mile 49. post 0.2 and Henderson Creek where it crosses FR road at mile post 1.1. All water removal will be in accordance with WDFW/FS MOU. Danger trees would be assessed and fell prior to project construction, reconstruction, or use of roads, if it is determined to be necessary, along all roads to be used for logging to protect contractors, Forest Service employees and the public (FSM 7700, 50. Chapter 30). Assessment and removal criteria would be based upon Field Guide for Danger Tree Identification and Response (Toupin and Barger 2008). Pre-haul road maintenance and/or reconstruction activities are proposed for approximately 41 miles of road. Pre-haul 51. maintenance and/or reconstruction would be completed prior to use of the roads for harvest activities. Scenic/Visual Quality 52. Maintain Visual Quality Objectives of retention or partial retention in Management Area 5 (Units 4-8, 13-35) 53. Flush Cut stumps within 100 feet of both sides of the Pipsissewa Trail. Rehabilitate landing sites along the Forest Road to maintain the scenic character of that section of the Pacific Northwest 54. Scenic Trial. Soil Page 4

5 Use Summer Ground Based yarding in this project when soils are dry (soil moisture is near or below the wilting point. Use historic 55. skid trails where feasible. Where skid trails are not present or visible, average distance between new skid trails should be no less than 100 feet unless approved by District soil scientist on a unit by unit basis. 56. Make handpiles 6-8 ft in diameter, burn with spring or fall soil moisture conditions soil moisture, burn on old landings/roads where feasible 57. Recontour, slash where material is readily available, seed, & block entrance to skid trails and temporary roads 58. When prescribed burning, leave 80% ground cover in each unit 59. When skyline harvest technique is used, full suspension of logs is desirable and will be implemented to the extent feasible 60. Winter ground based yarding will occur over a combination of 8 of snow and/or frozen soil ( Units 44, 46, 64, 65, 66, 68, 70) Vegetation 61. Provide for safety of people and infrastructure when Helicopters haul logs over Bonaparte Lake Bonaparte Lake Campground, Organization Camps, or Recreation Residences. Notify permitees of aspen treatment plans in AOIs and treat large blocks to disperse livestock use (Units 62 & 64). If monitoring indicates that new aspen shoots are being browsed to the point that the goal of 100 new stems per acre reaching 10 feet in height 62. within five years is not being achieved, then one or more of the following strategies would be implemented to reduce livestock impacts: grazing periods could be altered; cattle could be temporarily moved to other allotments; salt blocks could be located away from the clones to draw cattle out of the area; cattle could be actively herded away from the clones; or if other strategies fail to prevent browsing from livestock then temporary fencing to obstruct access could be utilized. 63. Where feasible, tops would be yarded to the landings with the last log in all commercial treatment units except for stand initiation and consolidation units (3, 12, 25, 53, 58, 60 and 75) 64. Ground and live fuels would be managed as to provide adequate site preparation for natural regeneration and planting 65. No trees 21 inches DBH or larger would be targeted for harvest 66. In most cases, the medium sized tree ( inches DBH) of harvest treatment units would not be diminished to the point that patches would lose LS status due to insufficient large trees. 67. Patches of Cold Mesic and Very Moist LOSM, larger than one acre, within the proposed treatment units would have no harvest, ladder fuel reduction or pre-commercial thinning Wildlife 68. Dead trees (snags) cut for safety purposes would be left in place near the stump or returned to the stump 69. No mechanical harvest between March 1-August 15. Limited Operating Period (LOP) may be lifted by wildlife biologist if surveys indicated that stands are not being used for nesting (units 4-7, 15, 16, 24, 64, 71, 75, 77, Install up to 12 great grey owl nesting platforms, as needed, to improve nesting availability in forests near open meadows (see Appendix A of the wildlife resource report for a nesting platform diagram) No mechanical harvest within 500 feet of Bonaparte Lake between April 1st through August 31th (Limited Operating Period 71. (LOP)). LOP may be lifted by the wildlife biologist or the signing official if surveys indicate that the loon nesting pair was unsuccessful after June 30th). 1 Where feasible, the prescribed burning proposed in the Light Restoration area would use existing roads, skid roads trails, and natural barriers to contain the ignition operations. Page 5

6 When this is not feasible due to topography, existing fuels, and conflicting management objectives, containment lines would be constructed in order to implement prescribed burning. At most, 45 miles of containment line would be constructed. The containment line might consist of hand line (18" to 24" trail of cleared combustible material) or dozer line (trail about 48 inches wide or less that is cleared of combustible material by equipment). Page 6