Final Environmental Impact Statement

Vestal Final Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 1
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• Collaboration with local governments, tribes and fire departments was
conducted.
• The proposed action is on land determined to contain a MPB epidemic
with imminent risk to ecosystem components.
• The primary objective of the project’s purpose and need is to reduce MPB
risk.
Purpose and Need for Action
The primary purpose for action in the Vestal project area is to reduce the threat to forest
resources from the existing MPB epidemic. This action is needed because there is a
rapidly increasing MPB outbreak occurring within the project area, on National Forest
and private lands, which is resulting in substantial levels of pine mortality. The MPB are
infesting trees across all ownerships. Many landowners have experienced MPB caused
mortality on their land and are taking action to reduce the potential for further mortality
Existing stand conditions across the project area are largely at high risk for MPB caused
mortality.
A secondary purpose of this project is to protect local communities and watersheds from
large-scale, high intensity wildfire. This action is needed because the project area is
located within and surrounding the City of Custer, SD and approximately 84% of
National Forest lands within the project area have a fire hazard rating of high to very
high. This is due to dense stand conditions and dead, dry fuels resulting from MPB
caused mortality. Approximately 40% of lands in the project area are privately owned,
with an estimated 3,194 private structures.
Proposed Action
The action proposed by the Forest Service is designed to address the purpose and need
for action described above. All proposed activities would occur on National Forest lands.
Refer to proposed action maps 6, 7, and 8 in Appendix A for both vegetation treatments
and fuels treatments, as well as the transportation map noting proposed adjustments to the
transportation system. The proposed action and no action alternatives are presented in
more detail in Chapter 2.
Strategies proposed to reduce mountain pine beetle caused mortality include, mechanical
thinning to reduce stand density to reduce risk, and sanitation which removes green trees
that have live beetle brood in them. It is recommended that treatments be implemented as
soon as possible to be most effective. In the Black Hills, stands that are less than 80
ft 2 /acre basal area are at a reduced risk. Further lowering densities would further lower
the MPB risk. Therefore, reducing stand basal area is a preventative treatment.
Sanitation is considered a suppression strategy because it directly removes beetle larvae
from the forest, directly reducing beetle populations.
Proposed activities include vegetation treatments on approximately 25,449 acres. This
acreage includes all potential treatments. Vegetation treatments would consist of
commercial thinning, free selection, group shelterwood, hardwood conversion, hardwood
release, overstory removal, pine encroachment, sanitation, shelterwood seedcut, variable
density thinning, precommercial thinning, and products other than logs (POL) thinning.