Logo Department Name Agency Organization Organization Address Information 196 East Tabernacle Suite 40 St. George, UT Agriculture

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1 Logo Department Name Agency Organization Organization Address Information United States Forest Dixie National Forest 196 East Tabernacle Suite 40 Department of Service Pine Valley Ranger District St. George, UT Agriculture Fax: File Code: 5150; 2510; 2300 Date: October 4, 2017 Joe Rechsteiner Pine Valley District Ranger 196 East Tabernacle Suite 38 St. George, UT Dear Interested Party, The Dixie National Forest has prepared this environmental assessment in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other relevant Federal and State laws and regulations. The environmental assessment discloses the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts that would result from the proposed action and alternatives. This letter serves as the notification of a 30-day Opportunity to Comment on the Environmental Assessment. The Pinto Watershed and Defensible Fire Space Improvement Project (Pinto Project) proposed action was provided to the public and other agencies for comment during a 45 day scoping period (March 3, 2017 to April 17, 2017). Comments received during the scoping period have been considered through this environmental analysis process. The Environmental Assessment and additional documentation, including more detailed analyses of project-area resources, may be found at the project website: or in the project planning record located at the Pine Valley District Office at 196 E Tabernacle, Suite # 38, St. George, UT 84770; BACKGROUND The Pinto Project area is unique and important to multiple resources. It includes public residences and their ingress and egress (access) routes, intersects critical summer and winter wildlife habitat, contains a large area of water collection for two important creeks, provides many recreation opportunities, and has several cultural values. There are a variety of vegetation types within the Pinto Project on the Pine Valley Ranger District. Elevation within the project area varies from 5,530 feet at the lowest point on Pinto Creek, to 7,940 feet near the base of Stoddard Mountain. At lower elevations the vegetation is a mosaic of scattered pinyon pine and juniper trees (P-J), sagebrush, and mountain brush. As elevations rise from the valley bottom the vegetation transitions to dense stands of pinyonjuniper woodland, mountain mahogany, and gamble oak-mountain shrub. Downstream from Pinto and Little Pinto Creek is Newcastle Reservoir. This reservoir has been assigned a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) by the State of Utah s Department of Environmental Quality for low dissolved oxygen and excess total phosphorus as points of concern. TMDL is a regulatory term describing a plan for restoring impaired waters by setting the maximum amount of a pollutant. Caring for the Land and Serving People Printed on Recycled Paper

2 Joe Rechsteiner 2 PROJECT AREA DESCRIPTION The Pinto Watershed and Defensible Fire Space Improvement Project is located within the Pine Valley Ranger District of the Dixie National Forest. The project lies within both Washington and Iron County, Utah. The project area is located adjacent to and around the communities of Pinto and Old Irontown which are rural in character. The legal description for the project area is T37S, R13W, Sections 4-9, 17, and 18; T37S, R14W, Sections 1-23, 26-31, 34, and 35; T37S, R15W, Sections 1-3, 12, 13, 15, 16, 20-29, and 31-36; T37.5S, R14W, Sections 31 and 32; T38S, R14W, Section 6; T38S, R15W, Sections 1-6, 8-12, 14, and 15 (see Figure 1: Vicinity and Treatment Map). Access to Pinto and Page Ranch are via Forest Road (FR) 30009, also known as Pinto Road. This through road runs east to west connecting HWY 56 to HWY18. This route intersects Forest Road which runs from the town of Newcastle South to Forest Road These two routes are the only ways to access the town of Pinto. The town of Old Irontown can be accessed by Forest Road off of HWY 56. Approximately 15,600 acres of the proposed project are within the Cove Mountain, Kane Mountain, Atchinson, and Stoddard Mountain Inventoried Roadless Areas (see Figure 7). Purpose and Need The purpose of the project is (I) to improve water quality; (II) to create a more fire resilient landscape; and (III) to maintain and enhance landscape scenic quality. In order to fill the gap between the existing and desired conditions mentioned in the next sections, the Dixie National Forest has developed the following needs for action: A. There is a need to improve water quality in accordance with the recommendations from the Newcastle TMDL Plan. B. There is a need to reduce the risk of crown fire and projected flame lengths through vegetation modification to reduce and re-arrange the fuels. C. There is a need to improve scenic integrity of the project area from a Class C Landscape to a Class B Landscape. PROPOSED ACTION The actions proposed by the Forest Service to meet the purpose and need include: Action 1 Vegetation Treatments The vegetation treatments (1-A 1-E) are designed to provide a multiple resource benefit and address all of the needs of the project. The P-J woodlands and brush lands lack species diversity. This lack of diversity allows more surface runoff to occur and less infiltration causing more sedimentation to the streams. P-J and brush treatments are designed to increase species diversity and promote infiltration thus helping to improve water quality within the Newcastle Watershed and addressing need A. Need B will be addressed by re-arranging/reducing fire behavior and promote conditions that provide for low resistance to fire control by reducing/altering fuels. These treatments will lower potential wildfire flame lengths and lower the risk of active crown fires. These treatments are consistent with the Forest Plan and will also create conditions where firefighters can directly attack fires adjacent to private property. These proposed treatments would allow for and include the maintenance of the desired vegetative conditions within the area to maintain effectiveness.

3 Joe Rechsteiner 3 Lastly, these treatments were designed to address need C and make the landscape more aesthetically pleasing by removing hard lines and increasing overall visual diversity. Each of the treatments 1-A 1-E involve 2 main components. 1) Brush treatment to promote early seral conditions and 2) P-J density reduction. For treatments 1-A 1-D, the brush component will be treated to accomplish a target of 80-85% early seral stage condition for vegetation and have more diversity in grass, forb, and shrub species. P-J densities across the area will be reduced to approximately trees per acre. For treatment 1-E, the brush component will be treated to accomplish a target of 80-85% early seral stage condition for vegetation and have more diversity in the representation of riparian species. P-J will be removed from these areas unless they are identified by the forest hydrologist and fisheries biologist as required for bank stability or other aquatic concerns. Although the treatments are similar and all are designed to meet needs A, B, and C; these treatments also have area specific goals as stated below. 1-A. Existing Chaining Re-treatments (3,957 Acres) These areas were chained in the 1970s and created open meadows. Since then, P-J has been encroaching into these areas and they currently lack species diversity. These treatments would address all needs and in conjunction with the other treatments create defensible fire space around the communities of Pinto, Old Irontown and surrounding private property within the project area and provide access and egress routes for these communities in the event of a wildfire. 1-B. Defensible Fire Space (3,210 Acres) These treatments in conjunction with the other treatments would create an effective defensible fire space around the communities of Pinto, Old Irontown and surrounding private property within the project area in the event of a wildfire. The communities of Pinto and Old Irontown have community wildfire protection plans which when implemented would enhance the effectiveness of this treatment. These treatments would also improve storm water infiltration due to a decrease of flow from the increase in vegetative cover after recruitment and seeding of forbs and grasses. 1-C. P-J Removal (2,683 Acres) Treating in these areas will help remove hard lines from the existing chainings and blend it to appear more natural over time. This will be done by leaving remaining P-J in clumps and undulating the boundary as explained further in the Practices Common to Action 1 Treatments 1- A 1-E section below. Also implementing this treatments in conjunction with the other treatments would create an effective defensible fire space around the communities of Pinto, Old Irontown, and surrounding private property within the project area and provide access and egress routes for these communities in the event of a wildfire. They would also improve storm water infiltration due to greater vegetative cover after recruitment and seeding of forbs and grasses. 1-D. Ingress/Egress (878 Acres) Treating along these routes would provide improved access and egress routes, allowing vehicles and machinery to enter and exit the area as needed in the event of a wildfire.

4 Joe Rechsteiner 4 1-E. Riparian Ingress/Egress (176 Acres) Treating here would provide improved access and egress routes for the area in the event of a wildfire while still promoting the resiliency of the riparian ecosystem. Practices Common to Action 1 Treatments 1-A 1-E While the full range of fuel reduction methods are authorized, consistent with forest management area emphasis and direction, the treatments will likely fall into general implementation categories of: Mastication Dixie Harrow Hand cut, lop, and scatter Hand cut, pile, and pile burn Mastication is a treatment which is done by using tracked heavy equipment outfitted with a masticating head which grinds up vegetation. An operator will treat P-J or brush on slopes less than 30% and in areas which are accessible to the equipment without driving on slopes greater than 30%. Woody debris generated from mastication activity would be scattered and left in place across the project site. Dixie Harrow will be used to treat brush on slopes less than 30%. The Dixie Harrow method usually uses a large tractor or tracked heavy equipment to pull a custom built harrow over the terrain. On slopes greater than 30%, the P-J and brush will be treated one of two ways. The first option is hand cut, lop, and scatter. Using chainsaws, hand crews would selectively cut pinyon and juniper. Brush would be cut and scattered where appropriate as determined by the fuels specialist. The second option is hand cut, pile, and pile burn. Using chainsaws, hand crews would selectively cut P-J and brush on slopes greater than 30%. The slash would be piled in preparation for curing and pile burning in appropriate locations as determined by the fuels specialist. Mechanical treatment will focus mainly on P-J removal with some shrub removal in areas of thick density. Selective thinning is designed to leave different age classes of browse species, may include planting bitterbrush, willow or other plants where appropriate. Due to the prolific nature of juniper and less aggressive re-establishment of pinyon pine, in mixed stands, juniper will be selected for treatment and pinyon left standing for habitat where possible in conjunction with fuels reduction efforts. These treatments were designed to address Need C and make the landscape more aesthetically pleasing by removing hard lines and increasing overall visual diversity. This will be accomplished by: Leaving P-J in clumps varying from 1-15 trees per clump along the length of the roadways and trails. These clumps will need to leave 50% cover along the length of the roadways and trails within 200 feet of the edge of the roadway and trails. Leaving P-J in clumps varying from 1-15 trees per clump along the forest/private boundaries.

5 Joe Rechsteiner 5 The perimeter of the treatment areas will follow an undulating pattern. This will be accomplished by following natural vegetative changes; landscape features such as rock outcroppings, ridgelines, and drainage bottoms; or in a pattern determined by the district recreation specialist during implementation. This will remove hard lines from the landscape and improving aesthetics. Although the treatments will undulate along their extents, they will remain within the footprint of the mapped treatment areas. Brush will be left in managed clumps and patches varying in size and in irregular shapes. Sizes will vary from 1 50 acres. Seeding is proposed as part of the vegetative treatments 1-A 1-E. This would be accomplished using multiple tools such as: aerial seed, rangeland drill, and seed hopper and harrow. Two approved seed mixes would be used as determined by Forest Botanist and other specialists. The seed mix used within the IRA would focus on native species appropriate for elevation and site potential. Outside of the IRA a seed mix including non-native species would be allowed for the purposes of out-competing invasive plants and noxious weeds. Timing and sequence of treatment efforts would be strategically timed to give germinants a competitive advantage against invasive plants such as cheatgrass. For example, where feasible, the site would be seeded prior to mastication and harrowing, so that the mastication and harrowing process would further cover the seed and prepare the seed bed. Action 2 Riparian Pastures (117 Acres) Approximately 22,000 feet of fencing will be constructed to create riparian pastures which will limit cattle access throughout most of the year. These pastures will be open to feed during certain parts of the grazing season as determined by the range specialist according to established guidelines and vegetative response. This will promote stream channel stability and maintain and increase representation of riparian species. This action addresses Need A. Action 3 Revetment Area (75 Acres) Stream bank armoring in the form of Juniper revetments will be implemented on approximately 1,200 feet of stream bank. These revetments will be situated on the outside bends in order to stabilize the bank and prevent further lateral stream migration. Revetment material will be selectively harvested from the adjacent hillsides. Approximately 100 trees will be cut and dragged into the stream. They will be secured into the bank with steel cable and anchored. Trees will be overlapped and cabled together to eliminate gaps in coverage of the streambank. This action will address Need A. HOW TO COMMENT AND TIMEFRAME This letter initiates a 30-day Notice of Opportunity to Comment on the Pinto Project. The Responsible Official for this analysis and decision is the Pine Valley District Ranger, Dixie National Forest, 196 E Tabernacle, Suite # 38, St. George, UT Given the purpose and need, the deciding official reviews the proposed action, the other alternatives, and the environmental consequences in order to make the following decisions: The Responsible Official will decide whether to implement the Proposed Action as

6 Joe Rechsteiner 6 described, a modification thereof, another alternative, or No Action; or whether further analysis is needed through the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement. The Enviromnental Assessment will be made available for administrative review before the final decision is made per Forest Service Objection Regulations at 36 CFR 218 subparts A and B. Written, facsimile, hand-delivered, and electronic comments concerning this action will be accepted for 30 calendar days following the publication of the legal notice for this proposed project in The Spectrum (the official newspaper ofrecord for the Dixie National Forest). The publication date in the newspaper ofrecord is the exclusive means for calculating the comment period for this analysis. Those wishing to comment should not rely upon dates or timeframe information provided by any other source. Regulations prohibit extending the length of the cormnent period. Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR l.27(d), any person may request the agency to withhold a submission from the public record by showing how the Freedom of Infonnation Act (FOIA) pennits such confidentiality. Persons requesting such confidentiality should be aware that, under the FOIA, confidentiality may be granted in only very limited circumstances, such as to protect trade secrets. The Forest Service will infonn the requester of the agency's decision regarding the request for confidentiality; wh re the request is denied, the agency will return the submission and notify the requester that the comments may be resubmitted with or without name and address within a specified number of days. Written comments must be submitted to Joseph Rechsteiner, District Ranger, Pine Valley Ranger District, 196 E Tabernacle, Suite# 38, St. George, UT The District office business hours for those submitting hand-delivered comments are: 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. Electronic comments must be submitted in a format such as an message, plain text (.txt), rich text format (.rtf), or Word (.doc or.docx) to commentsintermtn-dixie-pine-valley@fs.fed.us and must include the project title "Pinto Watershed and Defensible Fire Space Improvement Project" in the subject line. Sincerely,

7 Joe Rechsteiner Figure 1: Vicinity and Treatment Map 7