Final Environmental Impact Statement

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Vestal Final Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 1 14 • The proposal was presented as a topic at the Custer Volunteer Fire Department meeting on 5-3-11. • A News Release was sent to media outlets on April 28, 2011, announcing the Vestal project, requesting comments on the proposal and noting the time and place for the public meeting. Articles appeared in both the Custer Chronicle and the Rapid City Journal. • A public meeting was held at the Custer High School on May 11, 2011. Two South Dakota State employees participated in this meeting to provide information to private landowners on how to protect their property from MPB and wildfire. • The project was presented at the Tribal consultation meeting on June 22, 2011. In addition to the specific meetings listed above, the Forest Service has actively worked with the City, County, State and others in an informal manner to address MPB risk and fuel hazard. Using the comments from the public, other government agencies, groups, and tribal representatives the interdisciplinary team (IDT) identified issues that warranted further design criteria and determined whether additional alternatives or measures were needed. Issues Comments received during the scoping process are used to help define issues, determine whether additional action alternatives or mitigation measures are necessary, and frame the analysis of environmental issues. A total of 27 parties provided feedback via letters, fax, public meeting transcripts, hand delivery, or email during the formal scoping process. Comments received and the agency ‘response to comments’ are summarized in the Vestal project record located at the Hell Canyon Ranger District office, Custer, SD. The majority of the concerns raised during the scoping period were relatively minor issues that would be addressed through the application of Forest Plan standards and guidelines or other design criteria. None of the issues raised merited the development of additional action alternatives. A description of the two key issues, with measurement indicators, follows below: 1. Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic Some commentors are concerned that the risk of MPB caused mortality will continue to be too high in the project area after proposed treatments are completed, either because some sites would be deferred or because the proposed treatments are not aggressive enough. Other commentors question whether an epidemic is occurring throughout the project area and suggest that proposed treatments are too aggressive and unnecessary. Measurement indicators: • Acres of Low MPB Risk • Acres of High MPB Risk 2. Wildfires and Fire Hazard There is internal and external concern that the current MPB epidemic is creating and increasing fuel loadings in the project area. Fire hazard is high or very high
Vestal Final Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 1 over a substantially large portion of the project area (84%). The City of Custer is entirely within the project area boundary and would be threatened if a wildfire were to occur under such fire hazard conditions. Measurement indicators: • Acres of Fire Hazard Rating • Mechanical Treatments • Fuel break Construction • Natural fuel break maintenance or enhancement (aspen and meadow) • Acres of Prescribed burning These issues lead the IDT to clarify components of the proposed action that were not made explicit during the scoping phase of the project. No issues raised merited the development of additional action alternatives. Documentation of each comment received, the issues identified in the comments and the rationale for identifying them as nonsignificant are located in the Vestal project record. 15
Page 1 and 2: VESTAL PROJECT United States Depart
Page 3 and 4: Vestal Final Environmental Impact S
Page 17: OHV Off Highway Vehicle POL Product
Page 35: Vestal Final Environmental Impact S
Page 87 and 88:
Vestal Final Environmental Impact S
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
show all

Final Environmental Impact Statement

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?