Calf-Copeland Project Description Figure 1: Dead sugar pine in the Calf-Copeland planning area. Sugar pine grow best in open conditions. In the absence of fire disturbance, high densities of Douglas-fir create moisture stress for the pines, which makes them more susceptible to white pine blister rust and mountain pine beetle attacks. Why here, why now? Within the Calf-Copeland planning area, sugar and ponderosa pine are dying at an alarming rate due to competition from other conifers. Without active treatment, these largediameter centuries-old trees will continue to disappear from the landscape. Additionally, this area is at high risk for large, uncharacteristically severe wildfire that threatens northern spotted owl habitat. Project Background: Calf and Copeland Creek are major tributaries to the North Umpqua River and lie in the center of the Umpqua National Forest. The 51,650 acre planning area is within a mixed-severity fire regime where 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 outcompeting the pine and leaving the entire landscape at risk to uncharacteristically severe wildfire. The Umpqua National Forest has witnessed a sharp increase in wildfire over the past several decades. During this period, tens of thousands of acres have burned within the planning area and the immediately adjacent watersheds (Table 1, Attachment A - Fire History Map). Within these fire boundaries, approximately 20,000 acres were stand-replacement fire (nearly all overstory trees killed) within habitat for the northern spotted owl. Table 1: Large fires that have impacted the Calf-Copeland planning area since 1987. Note that there are other fires near the planning area, but that did not overlap. See Attachment A - Fire History Map for more information. Wildfire Year/Name Total Acres Burned Acres within Planning Area Percent of Planning Area 1987 Apple Fire 2,038 420 1% 1996 Spring Fire 16,328 3,968 8% 2002 Apple Fire 17,465 7,602 15% 2002 Calf2 Fire 721 718 1% 2008 Rattle Fire 19,771 1,240 2% 2009 Boze Fire 10,094 1,842 4% Cumulative acres (includes reburns): 66,416 15,789 -- Total area burned since 1987: 52,728 14,377 28% USDA Forest Service is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Pine health is an important component of this project. Over-crowded forests resulting from decades of fire suppression are causing extensive mortality to large legacy pines (Figure 1). In the absence of fire or mechanical thinning, sugar and ponderosa pine are outcompeted by Douglas-fir for moisture and other resources on most growing sites. Stressed, mature trees of both species are susceptible to mountain pine beetle. Sugar pine is also susceptible to white pine blister rust, an introduced pathogen. Based on research conducted on the Wolfpine project in the adjacent Little River drainage, sugar pine mortality may be as much as 25% per decade (Goheen et al. 2011). There has been no comparable research done locally on ponderosa pine, but large-diameter dead ponderosa pine are routinely seen in this area, suggesting the mortality rate may be similar to that of sugar pine. Without active treatment in this area, centuries-old largediameter pines will continue to die at an alarming rate, and the potential for stand-replacement fire will continue to increase. Planning Area: The Calf-Copeland planning area is located 28 miles east of the town of Glide along Highway 138, in Douglas County, Oregon. The planning area is located within the Middle North Umpqua 5 th field watershed. It contains several smaller watersheds including Calf, Copeland, Deception and Dry creeks that all drain directly into the North Umpqua River. The topography consists of a mix of steep, rocky slopes and gently sloping benches. The western half of the planning area is part of the North Umpqua Ranger District while the eastern portion resides within the Diamond Lake Ranger District. There are four private properties, including the community of Dry Creek, which are entirely within the planning area, plus a small part of a fifth private property on the western border of the planning area. The area around privately owned land is identified as Wildland Urban Interface. Almost all of the project area is designated as Late Successional Reserves in the Northwest Forest Plan. Additionally, approximately two-thirds of the area is designated as critical habitat for the northern spotted owl, and nearly a third of the planning area is an Inventoried Roadless Area (Table 2, Attachment B - Land Use Allocation Map). Purpose and Need Table 2: Land use allocations and project area features. Land Use Allocations Size (acres) Percent of Planning Area Private Inholdings 521 1% Late-Successional Reserve 48,645 94% Wilderness 1,918 4% Matrix 566 1% Calf-Copeland Planning Area - Total 51,650 100% Management Direction Inventoried Roadless Area (IRA) 19,073 37% Critical Habitat Unit for Spotted Owl (CHU) 34,224 66% Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) 10,618 21% Landscape Features Unique Habitats (non-forested) 2,218 4% Previously Managed Stands 9,012 17% Stream miles within Planning Area Boundary Road miles within Planning Area Boundary Highest Point - Twin Lakes Mountain Lowest Point - North Umpqua River 232 miles 197 miles 5,479 feet 1,420 feet The purpose of this project is to provide greater landscape resiliency to wildfire and other disturbances such as insects and disease. Retaining legacy ponderosa and sugar pine is integral to maintaining landscape resiliency, as is recruiting new pine to replace trees 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, particularly in areas that were clearcut and planted to a monoculture of Douglas-fir. 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 Page 2 of 5
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. Under the Northwest Forest Plan, Copeland Creek is a Tier 1 Key Watershed. Key watersheds represent areas that have a high potential for restoration and provide directly for conservation of fish. As one of the first major tributaries to the North Umpqua River below the North Umpqua Hydroelectric Project, it is an important contributor to the quality of fish habitat within the basin. Restoring Landscape Resiliency In order to improve landscape resiliency it is necessary to group management actions, as much as practical, into ecologically significant units that would allow fire to play out on the landscape more similarly to how it did historically. Rather than taking a scattershot approach to selecting stands for treatment, we have attempted to clump them in a manner that approximates the size and extent of historical areas of high frequency, low severity fire. We selected preliminary areas for restoration based on aerial photographs from the 1950s. Though by this time forests had already experienced decades of fire suppression, photos distinctly show areas with larger trees that have a second generation of trees growing in below. Forest stands like this tended to be on the flatter benches of the project area. These areas are distinct from those that experienced stand-replacement fire, which have a much more uniform, single-aged stand structure and tend to be in the steeper canyons (Figure 2). We interpreted the multi-aged stands as those that experienced high frequency, low severity fires in the past. We then visited these areas looking for stands that contained large-diameter pines. Our proposed management activities are concentrated within the areas that appeared to have a high frequency, low severity fire regime, and are either mixed-conifer stands that contain pine, or stands that were clearcut between 1956 and 1975. We grouped our management activities as much as possible into ecologically significant units designed to mimic the extent of past high frequency, low severity fire disturbance. By grouping our treatments this way, we hope to promote resilience to fire disturbances at the landscape level, rather than just promoting fire resilience at the stand level. We are also proposing linear fuel breaks along some roads. Some of these fuel breaks overlap proposed treatment units, some link management activities together, and some are not close to other proposed treatments. In this last case, the fuel breaks are intended to compartmentalize the landscape and reduce the risk of fire spread to the steep slopes and canyons. These areas are often high-quality northern Figure 2: Aerial photograph from 1956/1957 in the Calf-Copeland planning area. Note how forested areas to the west (left) of the line have a much smoother, more homogeneous appearance, while forested areas to the east (right) have a much rougher texture, indicating a more complex `structure. Viewing this image under a stereoscope reveals a two-story structure in the eastern area. Light colored areas are meadows. Page 3 of 5
spotted owl habitat which we want to maintain on the landscape. However, they historically had stand-replacing fire disturbances and are difficult to access for firefighting activities. Proposed Action In order to provide greater landscape resiliency to wildfire and other disturbances, retain pines, and manage for old growth habitat we propose (See Attachment C - Proposed Stand Treatments Map): Restoration of mixed-conifer stands with sugar pine or ponderosa pine on 1,777 acres. Treatment would consist of removing conifers under 24 inches in diameter at breast height within 20-25 feet of the dripline of all healthy pine over 20 inches in diameter. Additionally, overall canopy cover in the stands would be reduced to 40-60% canopy closure. No trees over 24 inches would be removed. Non-commercial thinning, girdling, or burning would occur on 185 acres. Non-commercial thinning would primarily consist of cutting conifers under 7 inches in diameter, although larger trees up to 24 in diameter may be cut and left within 20 feet of the dripline of large pines. In some cases trees up to 24 inches in diameter could be girdled in the vicinity of large pines rather than felled. Fuels treatments may consist of pile and burning, broadcast burning, or both. Thinning would occur on 1,147 acres of previously managed stands. All of these stands were clearcut between 1956 and 1975 and planted predominately to 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 within the riparian reserve area outside of that 50 feet. Shaded fuel breaks would be created along approximately 27.4 miles of road. The fuel breaks would extend up to 150 feet on either side of the road. Treatments would remove conifers less than 7 inches in diameter and ladder fuels. These treatments would result in up to 1033 acres of shaded fuel breaks, however 216 of these acres overlap with other proposed treatments. In order to improve aquatic conditions we propose: 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 approximately its natural hydrologic state. To improve aquatic conditions we also propose making the following changes to the transportation system (See Attachment D - Transportation Map, Attachment E - Travel Management): Approximately 1.1 miles currently designated as Road Closed to All Motorized Vehicles would be decommissioned. 1 1 Decommission Road: The road is no longer needed for management or resource protection and there is not a demonstrated use of the road as a recreation trail. The road will be evaluated in the EA/EIS and treatments developed to return the roadway/trail to as near a pre-development state as needed. It would range from no treatments needed as the roadway is revegetating and not causing any adverse environmental effects to full recontouring to return function to the impacted ecosystem. Page 4 of 5
Approximately 2.2 miles currently designated as Roads Open to All Vehicles would be decommissioned. This includes the last 1.7 miles of Forest Service road 2801 that follows Copeland Creek. Approximately 2.8 miles currently designated as Motorized Trail (ATVs less than 50 inches in width) would be Closed to All Motorized Vehicles and Removed from the Trail System, and the road Placed in Storage for Future Use. 2 Approximately 10 miles currently designated as Open to All Vehicles would be Closed to All Motorized Vehicles and Placed in Storage for Future Use. 2 Approximately 3 miles currently designated as Open to All Vehicles would be designated as Motorized Trail (ATVs less than 50 inches in width). 3 Reference: Goheen, D.J., E.M. Goheen and K. Marshall. 2011. Wolfpine thinning evaluation establishment report. SWOFIDTC 98-1. Roseburg District, Bureau of Land Management and Umpqua National Forest, Roseburg, OR. 9 p. 2 Road Placed in Storage for Future Use, Road Closed to All Motorized Vehicles: The road will be closed to all motorized use by the public. It will be retained as a road as there is anticipated future resource management activates that will require future road access. The road will be evaluated in the EA/EIS. Treatments of the roadway could range from no action, blocking with a gate, rocks, culverts being removed, or cross ditches installed to prevent erosion. The intent is to minimize, to all practical extent, needed future maintenance and make the road hydrologically self-sustainable. It is expected that the road will be reopened in the future when access is needed for emergency or future planned management activities. 3 Designation of Route as Motorized Trail Less than 50 in width (ATVs less than 50 inches in width with State OHV Permit); all Other Motorized Vehicles Prohibited: The road will be closed to all motorized use, a motorized trail will be designated on the roadway allowing ATVs less than 50 inches in width on the new designated trail that follows the road prism. The road will be retained for future resource management needs requiring road access. The road will be evaluated in the EA/EIS and treatments of the roadway could range from no action, blocking with rocks, culverts being removed, or cross ditches installed to prevent erosion but allowing passage of ATVs under 50 inches wide. The intent is to minimize, to all practical extent, needed future maintenance and make the road hydrologically self-sustainable. It is expected that the road will be reopened in the future when access is needed for emergency or future planned management activities. Maintenance of the trail will be completed as needed. Page 5 of 5