Cohasset Forest Resilience Project – SNC 1378
Summary
SCH Number
2022060103
Public Agency
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Document Title
Cohasset Forest Resilience Project – SNC 1378
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
6/6/2022
Document Description
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy will provide funding to implement forest resilience thinning for watershed health and community safety on approximately 741 acres of fuels within the community of Cohasset and adjacent Musty Buck Ridge. The project will implement forest resilience thinning on overstocked stands to achieve 70 percent canopy cover. Mastication, hand cutting, and chipping would be the primary vegetation treatment and biomass disposal methods that would be used to implement the project. Woody biomass that is hand cut and chipped would be returned to the forest floor to benefit carbon sequestration and soil productivity. Hand cutting and pile burning would be utilized on approximately 32 acres where mastication and chipping would not be feasible. Grazing (i.e., prescribed herbivory) and prescribed fire (i.e., broadcast burning) would be used as a maintenance tool in limited and strategic locations where initial forest thinning work has already been completed. Grazing would occur on approximately 16 acres and broadcast burning would be used on approximately 28 acres of the project area. Project implementation is anticipated to begin in January 2023 and be complete by December 2025.
Contact Information
Name
Shannon Ciotti
Agency Name
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Job Title
Grants & Reimbursements Manager
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Cities
17 miles from Chico
Counties
Butte
Regions
Northern California
Other Location Info
Cohasset and Musty Buck Ridges in the northeastern part of Butte County within the Mud Creek, Butte Creek, and Rock Creek watersheds.
Other Information
17 miles from Chico, CA. Nearby communities include Campbellville, Richardson Springs, and Forest Ranch.
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
State CEQA Guidelines Section 15304 (Class 4)
Reasons for Exemption
The Cohasset Forest Resilience Project is categorically exempt from the provisions of CEQA pursuant to State CEQA Guidelines Section 15304 (Class 4). Class 4 is applicable to projects which consists of minor public or private alterations in the condition of land, water, and/or vegetation which do not involve removal of mature, scenic trees except for forestry and agricultural purposes. The minor alterations to vegetation proposed by the project involve forest resilience thinning through mastication, hand cutting, grazing, and prescribed broadcast burning. Although tree removal would occur, it would be for forestry purposes to reduce wildfire risk. In addition, tree removal would be limited to trees less than 10 inches diameter-at-breast height and none of the exceptions to the Class 4 categorical exemption apply to the project.
County Clerk
Butte
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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