Medicine Lake Volcano Forest and Fire Restoration (SNC1536)

Summary

SCH Number
2023030183
Public Agency
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Document Title
Medicine Lake Volcano Forest and Fire Restoration (SNC1536)
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
3/6/2023
Document Description
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy would provide funding for the Pit Resource Conservation District to partner with Modoc National Forest (MNF) to improve forest resilience by increasing spatial and age-class heterogeneity within and among lodgepole pine-dominated stands. Most of the lodgepole pine stands within the Project are overly dense and highly susceptible to mountain pine beetle (MPB). The overall Project goal is to reduce the likelihood of a widespread MPB outbreak and tree mortality that could lead to a stand-replacing fire. The Project will mechanically thin approximately 4,100 acres. Within these acres of thinning, fuelbreaks will be developed on approximately 350 acres, and surface fuels will be reduced on approximately 200 acres. The Project will protect the entire Medicine Lake caldera, a culturally important landscape to the Pit River Tribes, Klamath Tribes and Modoc Nation, as well as Forest Service recreational infrastructure.

Contact Information

Name
Mary Akens
Agency Name
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Job Title
Legal Counsel
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency

Location

Cities
35 mi east of McCloud
Counties
Siskiyou
Regions
Northern California
Other Location Info
Medicine Lake on Modoc National Forest, approximately 35 miles northeast of McCloud and 38 miles northwest of Canby. Primary campground in Project area is at 41.58584, -121.58557.

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 Modoc National Forest. The proposed activities were reviewed in their entirety under NEPA by Modoc National Forest. All Project activities were analyzed in the Medicine Lake Caldera Vegetation Treatment Project Environmental Assessment; the Final Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact was signed on January 29, 2019.
County Clerk
Siskiyou

Attachments

Notice of Exemption

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