Appendix C. Consistency With Eastside Screens. Salvage Recovery Project

Transcription

1 Consistency With Eastside Screens Salvage Recovery Project

2 APPENDIX C Consistency of Forest Vegetation Proposed Actions With Eastside Screens (Forest Plan amendment #11) CHANGES BETWEEN DRAFT EIS AND FINAL EIS Changes in Appendix C between the Draft and Final EIS include: No changes. In March 1993, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) petitioned the U.S. Forest Service (Pacific Northwest Region) to halt all timber harvest activity in old growth forest occurring on national forest lands located east of the Cascade Mountain crest in Oregon and Washington (this geographical area is also known as the Eastside). A month later in April 1993, a group of university and U.S. Forest Service research scientists released an Eastside Forest Ecosystem Health Assessment in draft form; this assessment is known as the Everett Report because it was directed by Dr. Richard Everett, a scientist located at the Wenatchee Forestry Sciences Laboratory (Everett et al. 1994). In response to both the NRDC petition and the Everett report, the Pacific Northwest Region of the U.S. Forest Service issued interim direction in August 1993 requiring that timber sales prepared and offered by Eastside national forests be evaluated to determine their potential impact on riparian habitat, historical vegetation patterns, and wildlife fragmentation and connectivity. This interim direction, known as the Eastside Screens, was used to amend Eastside forest plans when Regional Forester John Lowe signed a Decision Notice on May 20, 1994 to implement Regional Forester s Forest Plan Amendment #1 (USDA Forest Service 1994). Regional Forester s Forest Plan Amendment #1 is amendment #8 to the Umatilla National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan. A slightly revised version of the Eastside Screens was issued as Regional Forester s Forest Plan Amendment #2 when Regional Forester John Lowe signed a Decision Notice on June 12, 1995 (USDA Forest Service 1995). Regional Forester s Forest Plan Amendment #2 is amendment #11 to the Umatilla National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (decision notice approved on 6/12/1995). The Eastside Screens consist of six items: three general items (items 1 to 3), a riparian standard (item 4), an ecosystem standard (item 5) and a wildlife standard (item 6). This section describes how proposed actions for the School Fire Ecosystem Maintenance Project will comply with the Eastside Screens. School Fire Salvage Recovery C-1

3 General Standards (items 1-3 in FP Amendment #11) Item 1 defines the scope of the Eastside Screens to be timber sales only. Result: The salvage timber harvest proposed action will be implemented using a commercial timber sale contract, so the Eastside Screens apply to the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project. Item 2 exempts personal-use firewood sales, post and pole sales, sales to protect health and safety, and sales within recreation special use areas from the amendment. Result: It is not anticipated that personal-use firewood sales, post and pole sales, sales to protect health and safety, or sales within recreation special use areas would be used when implementing the salvage timber harvest proposed action, so item 2 does not apply to the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project. Item 3 exempts five categories of timber sales from the ecosystem standard (but not from the riparian and wildlife standards): 1. Precommercial thinning. Result: The School Fire Salvage Recovery Project proposed action does not include precommercial thinning, so an exemption will not be claimed for this category. 2. Material sold as fiber. Result: Wood products resulting from the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project proposed action will not be sold primarily as fiber, although incidental amounts of fiber material may be included depending on timber sale timing and how it affects wood decay status and associated timber merchantability. Since most of the salvage timber volume is not expected to be sold as fiber, an exemption will not be claimed for this category. 3. Dead material less than 7 inches in diameter, with incidental green volume. Result: Wood products resulting from the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project proposed action will not consist primarily of dead material less than 7 inches in diameter. Incidental green volume refers to situations where live (green) trees are included in the treatment proposal to meet stocking or other silvicultural objectives. Any green volume included in the salvage harvest areas involves trees that are alive now but are predicted to die within one year after experiencing fire-caused injuries (five years for mature and overmature ponderosa pines); these green trees have fire-caused injuries that predispose them to die in the near future(schmitt and Filip 2005; Scott et al. 2002, 2003).. Implementation of the Eastside Screens is largely directed by letters and memoranda produced by the Regional Forester s Eastside Screens Oversight Team after reviewing timber sale projects on Eastside national forests. Two Eastside Screens oversight letters specifically address the circumstances under which dying trees can be considered to be dead (Devlin 1998a, 1998b). The Pacific Northwest Region Regional Forester has directed that these letters be considered when applying the Eastside Screens (Goodman 2005). Whether a tree is live or dead is an important consideration because although dead trees are used to meet the snag and down wood standards from the wildlife screen, most of the Eastside Screens applies to live trees only (Norris 2005, USDA Forest Service 1995). School Fire Salvage Recovery C-2

4 The two oversight letters referenced above allow dying trees to be counted as snags (dead trees) if there is a professional determination that the tree will definitely be dead in 5 years or less. Using the Scott Guidelines (Scott et al. 2002, 2003), which were prepared by professional entomologists and a pathologist, to predict the probability of tree survival is deemed a professional determination in this context (Goodman 2005). Since the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project proposed action does not consist primarily of dead material less than 7 inches in diameter, and because it does not include incidental green volume (other than fire-injured trees that are considered to be dead in the context of the Eastside Screens), an exemption will not be claimed for this category. 4. Salvage sales located outside mapped old growth, with incidental green volume. Result: Mapped old growth is defined to include both of the Forest Plan allocations for old growth (C1 and C2) and as depicted on published maps distributed with the Forest Plan (USDA Forest Service 1990a), as amended. This definition for mapped old growth follows written guidance and direction from the Pacific Northwest Region "Eastside Screens Oversight Team" (Lowe 1995). The School Fire Salvage Recovery Project proposed action includes salvage timber harvest in portions of two C1 areas that experienced substantial fire effects. The proposed action (alternative B) also includes a Forest Plan amendment to re-designate four burned C1 areas by selecting replacements in close proximity to the original locations (designating replacements is mitigation for fire-caused damage, not for proposed impacts from salvage timber harvest). Alternative C of the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project does not include salvage timber harvest in either of the existing C1 old growth areas. Since the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project proposed action includes salvage timber harvest in currently mapped old growth, and because it also includes a Forest Plan amendment to designate new old growth areas to replace the existing burned ones, it is appropriate to claim an exemption using this category because no salvage harvest is proposed for the final (replacement) old growth areas. 5. Commercial thinning and understory removal sales located outside mapped old growth. Result: The School Fire Salvage Recovery Project proposed action does not include commercial thinning or understory removal treatments, so an exemption will not be claimed for this category. Final Result for Item 3: This item describes five timber sale categories that can be considered for exemption from the ecosystem standard (item 5) but not from the riparian (item 4) or wildlife (item 6) standards. Four of the five exemption categories do not apply to the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project, but one category ( salvage sales located outside mapped old growth ) does apply and an exemption is claimed on that basis. Riparian Standard (item 4 in Forest Plan Amendment #11) Item 4 of the Eastside Screens directs that timber sales (green and salvage) will not be planned or located in riparian areas. Umatilla National Forest policy is that amendment #10 (USDA Forest Service and USDI Bureau of Land Management 1994) to the Land and Resource Management Plan will be applied in lieu of the riparian standard from the Eastside Screens. Result: This policy means that applying PACFISH also meets the Eastside Screens riparian standard. School Fire Salvage Recovery C-3

5 Forest Plan amendment #10, commonly referred to as PACFISH, is interim direction designed to arrest the degradation and begin the restoration of aquatic habitat and riparian areas on lands administered by the Forest Service and BLM; it applies to watersheds outside the range of the northern spotted owl that provide habitat for Pacific salmon, steelhead, and sea-run cutthroat trout. PACFISH uses a buffer concept to establish riparian habitat conservation areas (RHCA) along both sides of streams, rivers, lakes and other wetlands. RHCA widths extend from the edge of the active stream channel and they vary with stream class and whether a stream is fish bearing or not. RHCAs can be established using specified feet of slope distance (300 feet on either side of perennial, fishbearing streams) or in numbers of site potential tree heights (2 site-potential tree heights for perennial, fish-bearing streams). The interim RHCA widths established by the PACFISH environmental assessment could be adjusted during watershed analysis or after site-specific analysis presenting a rationale for RHCA modifications. Result: Neither of the forest vegetation proposed actions (salvage timber harvest, tree planting) will occur in riparian habitat conservation areas established using PACFISH (Forest Plan amendment #10). Ecosystem Standard (item 5 in Forest Plan Amendment #11) The ecosystem standard requires a landscape-level assessment of the historical range of variability (HRV) for structural stages, including a comparison of current structural stage amounts with their historical ranges. Result: An HRV analysis for structure classes (equivalent to structural stages in the Eastside Screens) is presented for the entire School Fire analysis area in Appendix E of this document. However, the ecosystem standard does not apply to the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project because it is exempt from meeting this standard as a result of item 3 (e.g., it is a salvage sale located outside mapped old growth ). Wildlife Standard (item 6 in Forest Plan Amendment #11) Item 6 (a) states that the wildlife standard has two possible scenarios to follow as based on HRV results for late-old structural stages (LOS), and it defines LOS to be the multi-stratum with large trees and single stratum with large trees structural stages. Result: Since the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project is exempt from meeting the ecosystem standard (see result for item 3 above), item 6 (a) is not applicable because the results of an HRV analysis are not used to determine which of the wildlife scenarios to follow. Item 6 (b) directs that: 1. Scenario A (item 6 d) is to be used whenever either one of the LOS stages is below HRV. If both LOS stages occur within a single biophysical environment and one is above HRV and one is below, scenario A is to be used. 2. Scenario B (item 6 e) is to be used only when both LOS stages for a particular biophysical environment are within or above HRV. Result: Since the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project is exempt from meeting the ecosystem standard (see result for item 3 above), item 6 (b) is not applicable because the results of an HRV analysis are not used to determine which of the wildlife scenarios to follow. School Fire Salvage Recovery C-4

6 Item 6 (c) requires that any of the five timber sales exempted from the ecosystem standard (see numbered list for item 3 above) must still meet the intent of the wildlife standards by following items 1-4 from the scenario A direction (scenario A is item 6 (d) of the wildlife standard). Result: Since the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project meets one of the five timber sale exemption categories described for item 3 above, item 6 (c) requires that scenario A direction from the wildlife standard be followed during project planning. Item 6 (d) of the wildlife standard, which is scenario A, includes four major items and many sub-items as described below. 1. Item 1 allows some timber sale activities to occur within late/old structure (LOS) stages that are within or above HRV in order to maintain or enhance LOS in a particular biophysical environment. Result: This item refers to LOS and how manipulation of LOS could occur. The salvage timber harvest proposed action will not affect LOS because it applies to dead trees only (e.g., fire-killed and fire-injured trees that are determined to be dead as based on a professional determination meeting the requirements of the Eastside Screens (Devlin 1998a, 1998b; Goodman 2005)), and LOS involves live trees only (Norris 2005, USDA Forest Service 1995). 2. Item 2 states that many types of timber sale activities are permissible outside of LOS, with the intent of maintaining or enhancing LOS components, but that remnant late and old seral and/or structural live trees greater than or equal to 21 inches in diameter must be maintained; that manipulation of vegetative structure not meeting LOS standards should occur in such a way that conditions are moved toward LOS structure; and that maintenance or restoration of open, park-like structure should be emphasized whenever appropriate. Result: This item refers to LOS components, which are defined to be remnant late and old seral and/or structural live trees 21" DBH. The salvage timber harvest proposed action will not affect LOS components because it applies to dead trees only (e.g., fire-killed and fire-injured trees that are determined to be dead as based on a professional determination meeting the requirements of the Eastside Screens (Devlin 1998a, 1998b; Goodman 2005)), and LOS components involve live trees only (Norris 2005, USDA Forest Service 1995). 3. Item 3 involves maintaining or enhancing the current level of connectivity between LOS stands and between Forest Plan old-growth areas, reducing fragmentation of existing LOS stands, and not applying even-aged regeneration cutting methods or group selection to non-los stands located within, or surrounded by, LOS stands. Result: This item refers to connectivity between LOS stands; and it prohibits certain cutting methods to avoid fragmentation and thereby maintain connectivity. The salvage timber harvest proposed action will not affect LOS connectivity because it applies to dead trees only (e.g., fire-killed and fireinjured trees that are determined to be dead as based on a professional determination meeting the requirements of the Eastside Screens (Devlin 1998a, 1998b; Goodman 2005)), and LOS connectivity involves live trees only (Norris 2005, USDA Forest Service 1995). 4. Item 4 involves retention of snags, green-tree replacements, and down logs. It also addresses goshawk habitat by requiring protection of every known goshawk nest (both active and historical), requires 30 acres of goshawk nesting habitat surrounding all active and historical goshawk nest trees, and provision of a 400-acre post fledging area around every known active nest site. Result: This item refers to dead wood and how it will be managed to meet the 100% potential population level for primary cavity excavators; and it stipulates that dead wood levels should be School Fire Salvage Recovery C-5

7 determined using the best available science on species requirements as applied through current snag models or other documented procedures. The salvage timber harvest proposed action will affect dead wood levels by removing fire-killed and fire-injured trees from within the School Fire analysis area. However, the best available science is being used (e.g., Forest Vegetation Simulator, Fire and Fuels Extension, and the DecAID decayed wood advisor) to ensure that sufficient levels of standing dead and down wood will be reserved from salvage harvest to meet the 100% potential population level of primary cavity excavators (for specific details, see the wildlife specialist report dealing with dead wood). Appendix B (Implementation/Marking guide) documents how standing dead and down wood will be handled during preparation of the salvage timber harvest portion of the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project. According to the wildlife specialist report, there are no known goshawk nests in the School Fire analysis area. If a nest is discovered during project preparation or implementation, most-suitable nesting habitat and post-fledging area standards from this item will be applied at that time. Item 6 (e) of the wildlife standard is scenario B and it contains four major items. Result: Items 6 (a) through (c) require that either scenario A or B of the wildlife screen is to be followed. Since the School Fire Salvage Recovery Project claimed an exemption because it is a salvage sale located outside mapped old growth, item 6 (c) states that it must follow scenario A. Since only one of the two scenarios is to be used, this means that item 6 (e) (scenario B) is not applicable. School Fire Salvage Recovery C-6