LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Federal officials are moving through the process to approve a fuel reduction and forest restoration project in the 2018 Ranch fire footprint.
Acting Mendocino National Forest Supervisor Kristen Sexton has issued a draft decision notice with a finding of no significant impact for the North Shore restoration project’s environmental assessment.
The purpose of the project is to improve community wildfire safety by reducing fuels within the wildland urban interface while also restoring and reforesting burned areas from the 2018 Ranch fire.
The project area is located in Lake County, about 11 miles southeast of Upper Lake, near communities on the north and northeast shores of Clear Lake.
Sexton has selected Alternative 6 — or the modified Alternative 3.
The decision would allow for reforestation on just over 2,600 acres located on the Upper Lake Ranger District in areas that experienced high levels of tree mortality during the 2018 Ranch fire.
The project includes fuels reduction treatments on approximately 40,000 acres. Those treatments could include prescribed burning, pile burning, hand thinning and mechanical treatment on areas with slopes less than 35%.
Alternative 6 also recognizes that salvage sales are not economically feasible and herbicide use will be limited to research plots only.
Forest officials issued a legal notice in the Chico Enterprise Record announcing the opportunity to file an objection to the decision within 45 days.
Hinda Darner, fuels officer for the Covelo and Upper Lake ranger districts, said that if the forest doesn’t receive an objection to the project, they can sign the final decision after the 45-day objection period concludes and start working immediately.
“We do have funding and partnerships in place that can be used towards this project,” Darner said.
Darner said they have California Climate Investments grants in partnership with the Clear Lake Environmental Research Center and grant funds with Tribal EcoRestoration Alliance, a multi-tribal hand crew.
“So the timeline depends on funding, resource availability, and how much our partners can take on, but there will likely be years of work under the project,” Darner said.
She added that the project also includes maintenance work, so there will be periodic National Environmental Policy Act reviews, as necessary.
Objections can be filed by mail, fax or email to the reviewing officer: USDA Forest Service, Jennifer Eberlien, Regional Forester, 1323 Club Drive, Vallejo, CA 94592, Attn: North Shore Restoration Project; fax, 707-562-9229; or email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with subject: North Shore Restoration Project.
Formats that will be accepted for electronically submitted comments are: .doc, .pdf, .rtf, or .txt. The objection period ends at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, June 27, 2022.
Additional instructions for submitting objections can be found in the legal notice and on the project website.
The environmental assessment, finding of no significant impact, draft decision notice and supporting documentation are available online at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=55716.
Forest Service issues draft decision notice for North Shore Project
- Mendocino National Forest
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