Wallowa Whitman National Forest seeking feedback on Town Gulch timber salvage and Road Maintenance project

By Garrett Christensen on Monday, November 11th, 2024 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News

BAKER COUNTY – (Release from the U.S. Forest Service) The Whitman Ranger District on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest is asking for your input on the proposed Town Gulch Salvage and Road Maintenance Project. This notice will also be available on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/wallowa-whitman/?project=67261

Location:

The project area lies in Baker County, OR, on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Whitman Ranger District. It is located about eight miles North Northwest of Richland, OR. Access is by National Forest System Road (NFSR) 77 and Eagle Creek Road.

The proposed treatments are within the footprint of the Town Gulch Fire T8S R45E S4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 15, 14, 13 and T7S R45E S31, 32.

Purpose and Need:

A lightning caused wildfire, named the Town Gulch Fire, occurred in the Eagle Creek area about eight miles North Northwest of Richland, OR on August 5th, 2024. It was contained September 10th, 2024, and burned a total of 18,526 acres, of which 9,224 acres of National Forest System Lands.

The Wallowa Whitman National Forest proposes to remove approximately 250 acres of merchantable fire injured trees and trees that propose a hazard within 150 feet of an estimated 10.5 miles of road. The purpose of this project is to remove hazards to life and property and recover the value of fire-injured trees in a timely manner. These actions are needed to maintain the integrity of the Eagle Creek Rd, mitigate hazards, assure access for employees and the public, and make forest products available. Fire-killed trees deteriorate quickly, making timely salvage critical to both capturing wood in merchantable condition and reducing the chance for trees to fall within the road prism.

Proposed Action:

The Whitman District interdisciplinary team proposes salvage logging up to 250 acres of dead and/or dying trees and removing 10.5 miles of danger trees within 150 feet of the road in the Town Gulch Fire footprint. Designated riparian areas will only have the uphill hazard trees removed. See Figure 1. No more than 1/2 mile of road construction would be implemented. The interdisciplinary team is in the process of identifying Project Design Criteria and Best Management Practices for harvesting timber and protecting other resources.

The total number of acres will be determined by the amount of survey work that can be completed before winter weather closes access to the fire affected areas. The affected trees have a limited window to remain merchantable and we are compressing our timeline to implement the project in the early months of 2025.

Categorical Exclusion:

This project would utilize 36 CFR 220.6(e)(11) and 36 CFR 220.6(d)(4)

36 CFR 220.6(e)(13) Salvage of dead and/or dying trees not to exceed 250 acres, requiring no more than 1⁄2 mile of temporary road construction. The proposed action may include incidental removal of live or dead trees for landings, skid trails, and road clearing. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Harvest of a portion of a stand damaged by a wind or ice event and construction of a short temporary road to access the damaged trees, and
Harvest of fire-damaged trees.

36 CFR 220.6(d)(4) Repair and maintenance of roads, trails, and landline boundaries. Examples include but are not limited to:

Authorizing a user to grade, resurface, and clean the culverts of an established NFS road; (ii) Grading a road and clearing the roadside of brush without the use of herbicides;
Resurfacing a road to its original condition;
Pruning vegetation and cleaning culverts along a trail and grooming the surface of the trail; and (v) Surveying, painting, and posting landline boundaries.

At this time, it is anticipated that this project could be categorically excluded from documentation in an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement.

How to Comment:

Comments received, including the names and addresses of those who comment, will be considered part of the public record for this proposal and will be available for public inspection (Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; Forest Service Handbook 1909.15, Section 21). If you have any questions, additional information can be provided by contacting Joe Sciarrino, District Silviculturist, at 541-742-6714 or joseph.sciarrino2@usda.gov or Whitney Tayer, District NEPA Planner, at 541-519-3999 or whitney.tayer@usda.gov.

Written comments must be submitted by November 21, 2024, for consideration in our planning efforts. Specific written comments should be within the scope of the proposed action, have a relationship to the proposed action, and must include supporting reasons for the responsible official to consider. These comments will be used to resolve issues within our proposed action.

Hardcopy comments must be submitted to:

Whitney Tayer, NEPA Planner, Whitman Ranger District, 1550 Dewey Ave., Suite A, Baker City, OR 97814, or FAX 541-523-1965. The office business hours for those submitting hand-delivered comments are: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Please be sure to include Town Gulch Salvage as the subject for your written comments.

Electronic comments are preferred and can be submitted using the following link:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/wallowa-whitman/?project=67261. At the right side of the screen, select “comment/object” on project under the Get Connected section of the page.