McKays Strategic Fuelbreak (SNC1514)
Summary
SCH Number
2023030180
Public Agency
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Document Title
McKays Strategic Fuelbreak (SNC1514)
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
3/6/2023
Document Description
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy would provide funding for the Calaveras County Office of Emergency Services to partner with Stanislaus National Forest (STF) to treat 957 acres of mixed conifer forest within the STF. The Project will reduce hazardous fuel loading and refresh an old Forest Service fuelbreak that no longer provides protection to the Highway 4 corridor from wildfires traveling out of the Stanislaus River Canyon. Treatments may include mastication, fell and remove hazard trees, piling and burning, and biomass removal. Long term benefits from this treatment will be a working and defendable fuelbreak protecting the communities of Camp Connell, Dorrington, Arnold, and Douds Landing as well as the Calaveras Big Trees State Park and industrial timberlands; as well as restored forest conditions that promote growth of overstory dominant and codominant trees.
Contact Information
Name
Mary Akens
Agency Name
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Job Title
Legal Counsel
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Cities
Approx. 3 mi east of Arnold
Counties
Calaveras
Regions
Northern California
Other Location Info
Stanislaus National Forest land in southern Calaveras County near the community of Arnold, Highway 4, and on the north rim of the North Fork of the Stanislaus River. Project center at approximately 38.237407, -120.305571.
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Statutory Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Public Resources Code Section 4799.05, subd. (d)(1)
Reasons for Exemption
CEQA does not apply to prescribed fire, reforestation, habitat restoration, thinning, or fuel reduction projects, or to related activities included in the project description, undertaken, in whole or in part, on federal lands to reduce the risk of high-severity wildfire that have been reviewed under the federal National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 if the primary role of a state or local agency is providing funding or staffing for
those projects. The Sierra Nevada Conservancy would provide funding to conduct fuel reduction activities on federal lands in Stanislaus National Forest. The proposed activities were reviewed in their entirety under NEPA by Stanislaus National Forest, with a Decision Memo signed on July 7, 2022 approving a Categorical Exclusion under Section 605 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (16 U.S.C.6591d).
County Clerk
Calaveras
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
Disclaimer: The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) accepts no responsibility for the content or accessibility of these documents. To obtain an attachment in a different format, please contact the lead agency at the contact information listed above. You may also contact the OPR via email at state.clearinghouse@opr.ca.gov or via phone at (916) 445-0613. For more information, please visit OPR’s Accessibility Site.