Elk Creek Watershed Project Proposala123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/forestservic...Elk Creek...

Elk Creek Watershed Project Proposal

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Elk Creek Watershed Project Proposal Happy Camp/Oak Knoll Ranger District, Klamath National Forest

Background The Happy Camp/Oak Knoll Ranger District, Klamath National Forest proposes the Elk Creek Watershed Project to address the need to manage forest stands to be more resilient to future disturbances, improve water quality to maintain and restore riparian and aquatic habitat, maximize efficiency of system roads and trails that provide public access to the Forest while minimizing resource impacts, improve terrestrial habitat for northern spotted owl and Roosevelt elk, reduce fuel accumulations, contribute to local and regional economies by providing forest products and enhancing recreational opportunities, and improve the vigor and prevalence of Karuk cultural resources. Of the 45,922 acre project area, 785 acres are private and 45,207 acres are Forest Service lands. This project proposes to treat about 10,550 acres of Forest Service lands.

The project is located within the Elk Creek and Ukonom Creek-Klamath River 5th-field watersheds. The project is about two miles south of Happy Camp, California, Siskiyou County: Township 16 North, Range 7 East, Sections 10 to 12, 13 to 15, 22 to 27, and 34 to 36; Township 16 North, Range 8 East, Sections 21, 22, and 27 to 34; Township 15 North, Range 7 East, Sections 1 to 3, 10 to 15, 23 to 27, and 34 to 36; Township 15 North, Range 8 East, Sections 16 to 22, and 27 to 34; Township 14 North, Range 7 East, Sections 1 to 3, Humboldt Meridian; and Township 45 North, Range 12 West, Sections 17 to 20, 30, and 31; Township 44 North, Range 12 West, Sections 7, 18, and 19, Mount Diablo Meridian (see Appendix A for vicinity and project maps). Elevation ranges from 1,100 to 5,000 feet.

The project area overlaps the Westside Fire Recovery project area (Record of Decision signed in 2016). Treatments proposed for the Elk Creek project that are within the Westside Fire Recovery project area focus on road management recommendations from the Elk Creek Travel Analysis Process and the remediation of legacy sites. About 245 acres of vegetation treatment proposed in this project are within the boundary of the Westside Fire Recovery Project, however, they are not within the footprint of the 2014 Happy Camp Complex as the Westside Fire Recovery Project boundary included a buffer beyond the boundary of the fire itself. This overlap in project boundaries includes 178 acres of underburning, 48 acres of commercial thinning, 7 acres of roadside fuels reduction, 10 acres of noncommercial thinning, and 2 acres of meadow enhancement. A combination of underburning and roadside fuels reduction is proposed on 30 acres of land within the Happy Camp Complex footprint. This is due to the need to connect underburning boundaries to defensible ridges and features, and the need to connect roadside fuels reduction to existing roadside fuels treatments. This project proposal does not include vegetation management treatments within the 2014 Happy Camp Complex footprint other than the 30 acres of underburning and roadside fuels reduction.


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Management Direction The 1995 Klamath National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan, as amended) includes standards and guidelines from the Northwest Forest Plan. The Forest Plan provides forest-wide and management area direction for project-level projects. The Elk Creek watershed is a “key watershed” that makes up 74 percent of the project area. In key watersheds, the Forest Plan direction emphasizes watershed restoration, specifically targeting roads (see Forest Plan, pages 4-25, 4-26 and 4-27). Management areas located in and their goals applicable to this project are found in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Management areas where treatments would occur within the project boundary.

Management Area Acres of Project

Area (Percent of

Project Area)

Pages in Forest Plan

Goals Pertinent to this Proposal

Management Area 5- Late-Successional

Reserves

9,578 (20.9) 4-83 to 4-89

To protect and enhance conditions of late-successional and “old growth” forest ecosystems, which serve as habitat for late-successional and “old growth”-related species including the Northern Spotted Owl. These reserves are designated to maintain a functional interacting late successional and “old growth” forest ecosystem.

Management Area 10-Riparian Reserves

9,602 (19.6) 4-106 to 4-114

Maintain and restore riparian-dependent structures and functions of intermittent streams. Provide benefits to riparian-dependent and associated species other than fish, enhance habitat conservation for organisms that are depended on the transition zone between upslope and riparian areas, improve travel and dispersal corridors for many terrestrial animals and plants, and provide for greater connectivity of the watershed. Provide connectivity corridors among the late successional reserves. Be consistent with aquatic conservation strategy goals.

Management Area 11- Retention Visual Quality

Objective

1,193 (2.6) 4-115 to 4-116

Provide a level of attractive, forested scenery by maintaining the areas in a natural or natural-appearing condition. Manage human activities so they are subordinate to the characteristic landscape. Also manage human activities so they are not evident to the casual Forest visitor. Manage for a programmed, sustained harvest of wood products in areas that are capable, available, and suitable for timber management. Maintain stand health, as well as resilience to the wildland fire, insect, disease, and other damage.

Management Area 13- Designated and Recommended

Recreational Rivers

1,823 (4) 4-120 to 4-122

Preserve the Recreational Rivers in a free-flowing condition. Protect the rivers and their immediate environments for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations. Protect and enhance the outstandingly remarkable values for which the rivers are designated, while providing for public recreation and resource uses that do not adversely impact or degrade those values.


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In addition to Forest Plan direction, the interdisciplinary team considered guidance from mid-level assessments or guidance documents, including the Happy Camp Community Wildfire Protection Plan (2015), Elk Creek Ecosystem Analysis (1995), Forest-wide Late Successional Reserve Assessment (1999) and the Westside Late Successional Reserve Review (2003).

The project area also contains other areas of interest including the Johnson Inventoried Roadless Area, Happy Camp Wildland Urban Interface, and critical habitat for Endangered Species Act listed northern spotted owl and Southern Oregon Northern California Coho Salmon. Appendix C, of the Forest Plan Final Environmental Impact Statement contains information on the Johnson Inventoried Roadless Area (pages C-27 to C-30). The main stem of Elk Creek and portions of the major tributaries are considered Southern Oregon Northern California Coho Salmon critical habitat totaling about 13.2 miles. The project would be designed to meet the latest northern spotted owl and Southern Oregon Northern California Coho Salmon recovery plans. Table 2 below summarizes these areas of interest within the project boundary.

Table 2: Areas of interest within the project boundary.

Area of Interest Acres of Project Area

Johnson Inventoried Roadless Area 7,417

Happy Camp Wildland Urban Interface 9,316

Elk Creek Key Watershed 33,900

Northern Spotted Owl Critical Habitat 21,826

Management Area 15- Partial Retention Visual

Quality Objective

17,297 (37.7)

4-128 to 4-130

Provide an attractive, forested landscape where management activities remain visually subordinate to the character of the landscape. Manage human activities so they are subordinate to the character of the landscape. Manage for a sustained yield of wood products in areas capable, available, and suitable for timber production. Maintain stand health as well as resilience to wildland fire, insect, disease, and other damage.

Management Area 17- General Forest

4,332 (9.4) 4-133 to 4-137

Provide a programmed, non-declining flow of timber products, sustainable through time. Maintain conifer stocking levels and high growth rates commensurate with the capability of the site to produce wood fiber. Maintain stand health, as well as resilience to wildland fire, insect, disease, and other damage. Reforest capable, but currently non-stocked, lands. Intensively manage young regenerated stands to maximum growth potential. Emulate ecological processes and stand and landscape patterns where possible. Within harvest units, maintain appropriate structure, composition, and ecological functioning of the area. Provide for snags and hardwood habitat to help maintain viable populations of wildlife species that require these structural components. Meet the visual quality objectives. Achieve less modified visual conditions when possible. Where possible, adjust planting levels to reduce pre-commercial thinning and fuel hazard costs in the future.


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Southern Oregon Northern California Coho Salmon Critical Habitat

13.2 miles

The interdisciplinary team designed the project to be consistent with all applicable law, regulation, policy, and direction.

Purpose and Need for Action The purpose and need for this project is to:

Reduce fuel accumulations and create ridgetop fuel breaks to increase options for managing planned and unplanned ignitions;

Improve water quality to maintain and restore riparian and aquatic habitat;

Maximize efficiency of system roads and trails that provide public access to the Forest while minimizing resource impacts;

Manage forest stands to be more resilient to future disturbances and improve terrestrial habitat for northern spotted owl and Roosevelt elk;

Contribute to local and regional economies by providing forest products and enhancing recreational opportunities; and

Improve the vigor and prevalence of Karuk cultural resources that were historically present in the planning area.

Existing and Desired Condition

Table 3 below provides a summary of the existing and desired conditions, which were considered during development of the purpose and need and proposed action.

Table 3: Summary table of the existing and desired conditions.

Statement of Need Existing Conditions Desired Conditions

Reduce fuel accumulations and create ridgetop fuel breaks to increase options for managing planned and unplanned ignitions.

• Within the wildland urban interface, local communities and residential enclaves are nestled within and adjacent to forests in a fire-adapted ecosystem.

• Progressively increasing fuel loads where potential flame lengths are projected to exceed four feet. Flame lengths over four feet are resistant to fire suppression tactics.

• Much of the project area not affected by the 2014 Happy Camp Complex currently has an accumulation of hazardous fuels and dense vegetation as a result of 100 years of fire suppression and a changing climate.

• Manage fuels to reduce intensity and increase suppression capabilities.

• To the extent possible, restore fire to a natural role in the ecosystem. However, the desired condition would also include reduced risk of high intensity fire within the wildland urban interface.

• Fuel loadings commensurate with project surface flame lengths of less than four feet.

• In the long term, promote fire-resilient forested ecosystems which experience less high severity fires and lessen impacts to watershed conditions from future fires.

• Reduced fire associated risk to local communities and residential enclaves within the wildland urban interface.


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Improve water quality to maintain and restore riparian and aquatic habitat.

• Chronic and acute road-related sedimentation into streams is adversely affecting water quality and aquatic habitats.

• Road-stream crossing drainage structures are hindering or preventing aquatic habitat connectivity.

• All streams in the Elk Creek watershed are listed as impaired under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Currently, the streams do not meet water quality standards and do not optimally support designated beneficial uses such as cold freshwater fish spawning, reproduction, and/or early development. Beneficial uses are impaired by elevated temperatures and sedimentation.

• Desired future condition of Forest riparian reserves is characterized in part in the Forest Plan (pg. 4-107) as: "The water quality in streams and lakes meets or exceeds State water quality requirements. Fine sediment from management activities is not adversely affecting stream channels. Macro-invertebrates that represent the desired water quality conditions are present. Fish habitats in perennial waters are in good condition, with stable populations of fish present at various times of the year."

Maximize efficiency of system roads and trails that provide public access to the Forest while minimizing resource impacts.

• System roads pose risks to resource including cultural resources, geologic, water quality, weeds, wildlife, and heritage.

• System roads provide benefits to resources including vegetation management, fire and fuels access, public access, private access, cultural resources, recreation, and minerals.

• System road risks to resources are mitigated or decreased.

• System road benefits to resources are improved or maintained.

• A summary of the proposed actions derived from recommendations can be seen in Table 4.

Manage forest stands to be more resilient to future disturbances and improve terrestrial habitat.

• Previously regenerated stands are dense, lack understory vegetation diversity, and growth is stagnated.

• Much of the project area not affected by the 2014 Happy Camp Complex is covered with dense vegetation, as a result of over 100 years of fire suppression.

• Plantations in the 40 to 60 year old class have all or some of the following characteristics: interlocking crowns; little to no understory hardwood or conifer regeneration; low tree species diversity; showing signs of competition through crown loss or dead and dying trees and are at or nearing commercial size.

• Mid-seral natural stands in the watershed that have not been managed to control stocking and growth due to fire exclusion.

• Habitat conditions contribute to sensitive species recovery and minimize adverse impacts such that these species do not trend toward federal listing status.

• Management indicator species habitats are well represented and distributed across the Forest.

• The forest stands treated during the project are either meeting the objectives of the management area or the management activities are driving the natural processes towards the management objectives.

• The composition and structure of the forest, rangeland, and aquatic ecosystems are within the natural range of variability. These ecosystems function in a healthy manner and are resilient to changes, including repeated fires. Quality habitat is present for aquatic and terrestrial species. Habitat is conducive to the movement and interaction of species and to movement across landscape and Forest boundaries. This distribution helps to insure the perpetuation of healthy populations.


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Contribute to local and regional economies by providing forest products and enhancing recreational opportunities.

• Local economies are not performing to their full potential.

• Recreational opportunities near the Happy Camp community are limited.

• Local communities have a broadened economic base to support quality of life.

• New forest-based products contribute to the economic base.

• There would be a variety of high quality recreational opportunities including developed campgrounds with multi-family facilities in relatively uncrowded, visually attractive settings.

• Recreational programs, consistent with current trends, would emphasize recreational vehicle access, mountain bike trails, interpretive areas, etc. Trails would serve as primary transportation arteries and, in some cases, as stand-alone recreational attractions.

• The trail system would provide for a variety of uses and users. Primary trails would be maintained as needed to assure continuous access. Secondary trails would sometimes not be easily passable, especially for other than hikers.

• Recreation projects would be constructed in close cooperation with the public.

Improve the vigor and prevalence of Karuk cultural resources that were historically present in the planning area.

• Existing conditions within cultural resource areas include fuel loading within site boundaries, meadow encroachment, potential erosion and sediment discharge, and risk of looting or vandalism from public access.

• Karuk cultural resources are being decreased or degraded due to the lack of treatments such as prescribed fire. These resources can be grouped as food, fiber, or medicinal, and are widespread depending on seasonality, locality, and intended use. Cultural resource areas are denoted as being historically present based on oral tradition, remnant plant assemblages, and traditional ecological knowledge.

• Protect culturally sensitive areas while promoting stability and resilience from natural and human factors.

• Use wildland fire managed for resource benefits, prescribed fire, and biomass utilization to reduce fuel loads or for the management of vegetation, such as bear grass.

• Develop measures to protect significant tribal cultural resources from adverse effects, in consultation with the Karuk, the California State Historic Preservation Officer, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Measures developed to protect specific tribal values ranging from complete avoidance and corresponding protection of its environmental setting, to mitigation procedures that conserve the tribal values of the resource.

Proposed Action

The proposed action was designed to meet the purpose and need of the project. The proposed action would treat about 10,550 acres within the 45,922-acre project boundary. Acres by treatment type are described below and do not account for overlap in treatment types (acres receiving multiple treatments may be double counted). Treatment acreages are approximate at this time and may be adjusted and refined following scoping. The proposed action also addresses the existing condition of the National Forest Transportation System (Forest System) by treating


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legacy sites1, changing road maintenance levels, and decommissioning roads. Recreation opportunities would be expanded through the addition of trails. All treatments would manage for improving the health and vigor of hardwood species according to the Forest Plan. Riparian reserves within and adjacent to treatment units would be evaluated on a site-by-site basis for treatment, and would include equipment and treatment exclusion zones. A summary of treatment areas can be seen in Table 5. Both new and existing temporary roads would be hydrologically stabilized at the end of the project.

Landings: Existing landings would be used where possible. Landing size would be appropriately sized for operational safety. Cable landings would use roads where possible. Cable landings off the road system and ground-based landings would average one acres in size but would not exceed 1.5 acres in size. Both new and existing landings would be hydrologically stabilized at the end of the project.

Commercial Thinning (1,782 acres): Commercial thinning is an intermediate harvest with the objective of reducing stand density primarily to improve growth, enhance forest health, and other resources objectives. Treatment can recover potential mortality while producing merchantable material. Thinning includes the following: crown (removal of trees from dominant and co-dominant strata), free (no consideration to crown position), low (removal of trees from lower crown classes), selection (removal of the crown class to favor those in the lower crown classes).

Thinning prescriptions would be developed on a stand-by-stand basis to meet the objectives of the purpose and need. Prescriptions for commercial thinning units would focus on meeting the management goals of each management area. These goals include, but are not limited to, producing timber yields, reducing the risks of large-scale disturbance, controlling stocking levels, and acquiring desired vegetation characteristics. For all vegetation management goals, please refer to the standards and guidelines of management areas in the Forest Plan.

At this time, the Forest Service is proposing to accomplish commercial units through a combination of treatments and harvesting systems. Where conditions meet the Forest Plan and its standards and guidelines regarding soil and slope conditions for ground-based logging, ground-based logging systems would be used. If conditions are not conducive to ground-based logging systems, cable logging systems would be used. If cable logging cannot be funded or is not physically feasible, the unit would be treated by hand. Options for hand treatments include girdling, lopping and scattering, retaining downed logs for coarse woody debris, hand piling without burning, and hand piling with pile burning. Activity fuels within harvest units would be hand piled, landing piled, lopped and scattered, or made available for biomass or permitted public fuelwood collection prior to burning. Specific treatments for activity fuels in units would require further evaluation by fuels specialist to narrow the scope of successful treatments. There are no commercial units proposed within inventoried roadless areas.

1 A legacy sediment site meets all of the following conditions: a. is discharging or has the potential to discharge sediment to waters of the state in violation of applicable water quality requirements; b. was caused or affected by human activity; and c. may feasibly and reasonably respond to prevention and minimization management activities.


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Noncommercial Thinning (1,256 acres): Noncommercial thinning is an intermediate harvest which removes the less desirable trees of any species in a stand of poles or larger trees primarily to improve the composition and quality of the stand.

Thinning prescriptions would be developed on a stand-by-stand basis to meet the objectives of the purpose and need. Prescriptions for noncommercial thinning units would focus on meeting the management goals of each management area. These goals include, but are not limited to, producing timber yields/forest products, reducing the risks of large-scale disturbance, controlling stocking levels, and acquiring desired vegetation characteristics. For all vegetation management goals, please refer to the standards and guidelines of management areas in the Forest Plan.

Noncommercial thinning units would include ground-based logging systems where conditions meet the Forest Plan and its standards and guidelines regarding soil and slope conditions. If conditions are not conducive to ground-based logging systems, woody vegetation would be removed by hand falling with chainsaws or hand tools. Heavy equipment would be excluded from treating units within the inventoried roadless areas. Activity fuels within harvest units would be hand piled, lopped and scattered, or made available for biomass or permitted public fuelwood collection prior to burning. Specific treatments for activity fuels in units would require further evaluation by fuels specialist to narrow the scope of successful treatments.

Hardwood Enhancement (76 acres): Hardwood enhancement would focus on stimulating the growth and available resources for preferred hardwood species according to the Forest Plan. This enhancement would be completed by thinning competing species within a fixed diameter around desired hardwood species. Lands managed for low timber yields would provide for greater amounts of hardwoods than lands managed for higher timber yields. Pure hardwood stands would be managed for wildlife habitat values within those stands. Please refer to the Forest Plan Standards and Guidelines 8-31 and 8-32 (page 4-31), which describe forestwide standards and guidelines for hardwood associated species habitats.

At this time, the Forest Service is proposing to accomplish hardwood enhancement through hand and mechanical thinning with ground-based and cable logging systems. The noncommercial component of these stands, where it is not feasible to treat with mechanical systems, would be treated by hand piling, lopping and scattering, or biomass harvesting. Activity fuels within harvest units would be hand piled, landing piled, lopped and scattered, or made available for biomass or permitted public fuelwood collection prior to burning. Specific treatments for activity fuels in units would require further evaluation by fuels specialist to narrow the scope of successful treatments. There is no hardwood enhancement within inventoried roadless areas.

Meadow Enhancement (18 acres): Meadow enhancement treatments would focus on reducing conifer encroachment by removing conifer seedlings and saplings growing within the meadow footprint. Existing conifers within the meadow footprint would be evaluated for removal, snag retention, or retention as downed woody debris based on their ability to contribute towards meadow ecological processes. Conifers outside of the meadow footprint that are detrimental to meadow ecological processes would be removed, retained as snags, or left as down woody debris. These conifers would be identified through a prescription designed by the interdisciplinary team. Equipment exclusion zones would be used to protect sensitive areas within the meadow enhancement treatment area. Please refer to the Forest Plan Standards and Guidelines 8-42 and 8-43 (pages 4-32 and 4-33), which describe forestwide standards and guidelines for meadows.


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At this time, the Forest Service is proposing to accomplish meadow enhancement through hand and mechanical thinning with ground-based and cable logging systems. Where it is not feasible to treat with logging systems, or equipment is excluded from the area, the noncommercial component of these stands would be treated by hand piling, lopping and scattering, or biomass harvesting. Activity fuels within harvest units would be hand piled, landing piled, lopped and scattered, or made available for biomass or permitted public fuelwood collection prior to burning. Specific treatments for activity fuels in units would require further evaluation by fuels specialist to narrow the scope of successful treatments. There is no meadow enhancement within inventoried roadless areas.

Fuels reduction Adjacent to Private Property (153 acres): Fuels reduction adjacent to private property would vary in width depending on site conditions. Fuel breaks created to protect private property would extend up to 500 feet adjacent to private property boundaries. The fuel treatments would involve cutting and pile burning of ladder fuels: brush, hardwoods, and conifer trees up to ten inches diameter at breast height.

Defensible Fuel Profile Zone (823 acres): Fuel breaks in defensible fuel profile zones would vary in width depending on site conditions. These fuel breaks are existing on the landscape, strategically used during passed fire suppression activities. The width of the defensible fuel profile zone would be up to 250 feet on either side of proposed ridge lines. The fuel treatments would involve cutting and pile burning of ladder fuels: brush, hardwoods, and conifer trees up to ten inches diameter at breast height.

Roadside Fuels Reduction (1,896 acres): Fuel breaks along roadsides would vary in width depending on site conditions. The roadside fuel breaks would extend up to 300 feet above and 50 feet below either side of identified Forest System and county roads adjacent to Forest Service Lands. The fuel treatments would involve cutting and pile burning of ladder fuels: brush, hardwoods, and conifer trees up to ten inches diameter at breast height.

Underburning (4,552 acres): Four underburning blocks are being proposed. These underburn units are intended to be burned at low to moderate intensities to reduce fuel loadings and reduce the risk of catastrophic fire. The largest of these underburn units would be implemented within the footprint of the Stanza fire (2002) and the Panther fire (2008) to reduce the fuel loading associated with these events. Underburning units may receive other fuel treatments that would achieve a similar goal if underburning is deemed infeasible due to time, weather, or other constraints. These fuel treatments include, but are not limited to, lopping and scattering, hand piling, pile burning, and jackpot burning. Travel Analysis: A risk and benefit analysis was conducted for Forest System roads within the East Fork Elk Creek and Lower Elk Creek 6th field watersheds. Recommendations were developed by interdisciplinary team members considering the risks and values of each road in these watersheds.

From this assessment, it was found that certain roads within the Elk Creek watershed, deemed to have legacy sites, are not in compliance with the total maximum daily loads. The Klamath stream temperature total maximum daily load defines excess sediment loads as soil, silt, sand, clay or other material rock, and/or sediment discharge to waters of the state in an amount that could be harmful to beneficial uses or cause nuisance. In some cases, the most efficient, cost effective, or long-term treatment of legacy sites is to decommission or downgrade a road.


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The recommendations developed through the travel analysis process are proposed as actions through the Elk Creek Watershed Project. In this project, about 22 miles of road are proposed to be fully or partially decommissioned, 15 miles are proposed to be fully or partially downgraded to management level 1, and 10 miles would be upgraded to management level 3. A summary of the proposed actions derived from recommendations can be seen in Table 4.

Table 4: Elk Creek Travel Analysis Proposed Actions Summary.

Primary Recommendation Miles Percent of Total

Leave as is 95 67 percent

Upgrade to management level 3 10 7 percent

Downgrade to management level 1 13 9 percent

Downgrade portion to management level 1 2 1 percent

Decommission 12 9 percent

Decommission portion 10 7 percent

Total miles in Elk Creek Watershed 142

In addition to the Forest System road actions described in Table 4, four miles of non-system roads would be rehabilitated. Trails: Recreation improvements would include the construction of 4.3 miles of new multi-use trails and up to 13 miles of mountain bike trail. The existing Happy Camp Town Trail would be connected to Curly Jack Campground to provide continuity between these recreation areas. The Town Trail would also be extended beyond its current end point to expand recreation opportunities out the two nearby ridges between Elk Creek, Wood Creek, and the Klamath River. These ridges would also serve as handlines for existing underburn units planned in other projects. The proposed mountain bike trail would fall within the identified defensible fuel profile zone along Titus Ridge and connect to existing National Forest System roads.

Connected Actions

Access: Access for this project would be mainly accomplished by use of roads on the National Forest Transportation System. About three miles of temporary roads would be needed to facilitate commercial thinning operations. Most of these temporary roads would occur on existing roadbeds. However, several short new temporary spur roads would also be constructed. Both new and existing temporary roads would be hydrologically stabilized at the end of the project.

Landings: Existing landings would be used where possible. Landing size would be appropriately sized for operational safety. Cable landings would use roads where possible. Cable landings off the road system and ground-based landings would average one acre in size but would not exceed 1.5 acres in size. Both new and existing landings would be hydrologically stabilized at the end of the project.


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Table 5: Summary of Treatment Areas.

Treatment Type Acres Percent of Total Treated Acres1

Management Areas and other areas of interest (Acres)

Commercial Thinning 1,782 17 percent General Forest (145)

Partial Retention Visual Quality Objective (1,034)

Recreational River (40)

Riparian Reserve (392)

Late Successional Reserve (171)

NSO Critical Habitat (836)

Wildland Urban Interface (748)

Noncommercial Thinning 1,256 12 percent General Forest (6)







Inventoried Roadless Area (230)

Hardwood Enhancement 76 Less than 1 percent Partial Retention Visual Quality Objective (61)





Meadow Enhancement 18 Less than 1 percent Partial Retention Visual Quality Objective (9)




Wildland Urban Interface(17)

Fuels Reduction Adjacent to Private Property

153 1 percent Partial Retention Visual Quality Objective (71)

Recreational River (18) Retention Visual Quality Objective

(14) Riparian Reserve (50)



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Defensible Fuel Profile Zone 822 8 percent General Forest (84)

Partial Retention Visual Quality Objective (619)

Retention Visual Quality Objective (15)

Riparian Reserve (6) Late Successional Reserve (98)


Wildland Urban Interface (181) Inventoried Roadless Area (62)

Roadside Fuels Reduction 1,896 18 percent General Forest (53)


Recreational River (106) Riparian Reserve (382)



Wildland Urban Interface (558) Inventoried Roadless Area (136)

Underburning 4,551 43 percent General Forest (29)


Recreational River (588) Retention Visual Quality Objective (9)

Riparian Reserve (1,099) Late Successional Reserve (99)

NSO Critical Habitat (2,066)

Wildland Urban Interface (1,474) Inventoried Roadless Area (1)

Total Treatment Acres

(not accounting for overlap)

10,554 100 percent

1- Treatments overlap in some areas. Overlap in treatment type is accounted for in the calculation of total treated acres.

Please see attached proposed action map where fuels treatments overlap vegetation treatments.


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Table 6: Summary of Proposed Actions

Proposed Action Area or Distance

Commercial Thinning 1,782 acres

Noncommercial Thinning 1,256 acres

Hardwood Enhancements 76 acres

Meadow Enhancements 18 acres

Fuels Reduction Adjacent to Private Property 153 acres

Defensible Fuel Profile Zone 822 acres

Roadside Fuels Reduction 1,896 acres

Underburning 4,551 acres

Leave road as is 95 miles

Upgrade road to management level 3 10 miles

Downgrade road to management level 1 13 miles

Downgrade portion of road to management level 1 2 miles

Decommission road 12 miles

Decommission portion of road 10 miles

Rehabilitate non-system road 4 miles

New multi-use trail 4.3 miles

Mountain bike trail 13 miles


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Appendix A: Maps

Figure 1: Elk Creek Watershed Project Vicinity Map


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Figure 2: Elk Creek Watershed Project Proposed Action Map


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Figure 3: Elk Creek Watershed Project Proposed Action: Roads and Trails Treatment Map

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