Final Environmental Impact Statement

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Vestal Final Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 1 10 recreation areas, protecting sensitive plant species and habitat and enhancing/maintaining visual quality. Goal 8.2-204: Manage fuels to retain a natural forest appearance and to reduce the threat of wildfire damage to forest resources. • Opportunity exists to manage vegetation focused on reducing insect, fire and fuels hazard while retaining a natural forested setting. Goal 8.2-206: Control insect-and-disease pest populations in and adjacent to the area through active monitoring while reducing pest-population potential through vegetative management… • Opportunity exists to manage vegetation focused on reducing insect, fire and fuels hazard to be compatible with goal of controlling and reducing pest populations within and adjacent to recreation areas. Other Direction The Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) of 2003 (H.R. 1904) provides improved statutory processes for hazardous fuel (including insect/disease) reduction projects and healthy forest restoration on National Forest System lands. Other supporting policy includes the Healthy Forest Initiative, intended to reduce administrative process delays related to implementation of fuels (and insect/disease) reduction projects; National Fire Plan, and The Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy. The main focus of this National guidance is an emphasis on reducing the probability and occurrence of largescale wildfire in fire adapted ecosystems, especially near at-risk communities and the wildland-urban interface (WUI); and to reduce the levels of insect infestations and disease which threaten forest resources on public and private lands. The HFRA contains a variety of provisions to expedite hazardous fuel reductions on specific types of National Forest land. The Vestal Project is an authorized hazardous fuel reduction project under Section 102(a)(4) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003. The area qualifies under section 102(a)(4) because there is an existing mountain pine beetle epidemic occurring within and adjacent to the project area which poses a significant risk to resource values on National Forest and private lands (see Determination of Insect Epidemic letter, Appendix H). Another provision of the HFRA regards the encouragement of communities to prepare a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). Custer County has completed a CWPP which was adopted by resolution in 2011. The plan discusses a 3 mile zone around Custer. This 3-mile zone is the WUI. The ‘at-risk’-community of Custer lies within the project area. Figure 1 displays the 3 mile WUI surrounding the ARC of Custer, as well as Keystone, Hill City and Pringle outside of the project area. In total, there are 17,693 acres (40%) of private lands and approximately 3,200 structures including homes and businesses contained within this project area.
Vestal Final Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 1 Figure 1. At-Risk Communities (ARC) with 3-Mile WUI Boundary The following demonstrates the Vestal project’s consistency with applicable portions of the HFRA: • The proposed action is consistent with the Forest Plan • The proposed action does not include treatments within designated wilderness, wilderness study areas or other Federal land where timber harvest is prohibited. 11
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Final Environmental Impact Statement

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