Improving Landscape and Watershed Health through Restoring Fire Regimes in Lassen Volcanic National Park: Phase Three (SNC1551)
Summary
SCH Number
2023030185
Public Agency
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Document Title
Improving Landscape and Watershed Health through Restoring Fire Regimes in Lassen Volcanic National Park: Phase Three (SNC1551)
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
3/6/2023
Document Description
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy would provide funding for the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment to partner with Lassen Volcanic National Park (LVNP) to complete approximately 600 acres of forest thinning and construct about five miles of fire line in wilderness lands to enable reintroduction of prescribed fire to approximately 1,800 acres. All work will be done by hand, with a wilderness sawyer crew equipped with traditional non-mechanized tools. The Project is in the wilderness headwaters of Battle Creek and the Pit River and is the next phase in a strategic landscape-scale fuels management strategy to restore low- to moderate-severity fire regimes throughout LVNP. Preparation of these fire management units in the Project area, and the following introduction of fire, will provide park managers with a critical buffer around Manzanita Lake and park infrastructure in one of the highest visitor use areas, and increase the resilience of California Spotted Owl habitat. The project will also reduce the risk of wildfire spreading from the wilderness to adjacent rural communities of Shasta County, including Shingletown, Old Station, and others along the Highway 44 corridor.
Contact Information
Name
Mary Akens
Agency Name
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Job Title
Legal Counsel
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Cities
14 mi SW of Old Station; 8 mi E of Viola
Counties
Shasta
Regions
Northern California
Other Location Info
Two sites in the northwest section of Lassen Volcanic National Park, near the intersection of highways 44 and 89. One site on the southeast side of Manzanita Lake, the other along Hwy 89 around Lost Creek Campground. Site centers at approximately 40.52357, -121.55531 and 40.56207, -121.51769.
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 LVNP to enable the reintroduction of prescribed fire to protect infrastructure, water sources, and habitat from severe wildfire. The proposed activities were reviewed in their entirety under NEPA by LVNP. The Project is part of the May 2022 Lassen Volcanic National Park Wildland Fire Management Plan, accompanied by the Fire Management Plan – Environmental Assessment. In 2022, LVNP conducted a NEPA review and confirmed that the current NEPA was adequate for the Project’s preparation for future prescribed fire.
County Clerk
Shasta
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.