Old Mammoth / Mill City Fuels Reduction Project

Old Mammoth / Mill City Fuels Reduction Project

The project analyzed in this Initial Study includes a portion of an effort to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire by improving fire resiliency through vegetation treatments within and adjacent to the community of Mammoth Lakes. The project is a cooperative effort with the Mammoth Lakes Fire Protection District (MLFPD), Inyo National Forest, Mammoth Lakes Community Water District, Mono County, Town of Mammoth Lakes, Mammoth Lakes Trails-Public Access and University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Valentine Reserve. The project is associated with a larger effort which would perform fuels reduction treatments on approximately 140 acres, including 125 acres of National Forest lands and 15 acres of lands owned by the Town of Mammoth Lakes and UCSB Valentine Reserve. The proposed activities on Federal lands owned by the USFS are being reviewed under a separate NEPA document, and so this Initial Study analyzes only those activities that would be performed by the MLFPD within Town limits. Within the Town of Mammoth Lakes, the MLFPD would perform fuels reduction and removal on one Town owned parcel, known as the Bell-shaped parcel, located southwest of the Meridian Boulevard and Minaret Road intersection. The MLFPD would perform site inspections and provide guidance to private property owners (over 800 parcels in the Bluffs area and in the western part of the town), and would assist property owners with slash disposal through providing chipping and disposal services, although would not perform tree or fuels removal on such parcels. All three removal would be subject to review and approval of a tree removal permit, per Town of Mammoth Lakes regulations. California Department of Forestry guidelines would be employed as the primary framework for proposed practices for fuel reduction activities undertaken by the MLFPD.

Mammoth Lakes

Mono