Sarah Priest Fuels Reduction Project (SNC #1544)
Summary
SCH Number
2023060180
Public Agency
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Document Title
Sarah Priest Fuels Reduction Project (SNC #1544)
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
6/6/2023
Document Description
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy would provide funding for the American Indian Council of Mariposa County to partner with the US Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to treat 160 acres of forestland and chapparal to reduce fire risk and intensity across the Sarah Priest Tribal Allotment. The Allotment is owned and managed by the BIA. Treatments will consist of hand thinning, pruning, brushing, mechanical mastication, and dead/dying and hazard-tree felling. Hand thinning will occur throughout most of the project boundary and will significantly reduce ladder fuels and open the overstory canopy to approximately 50%. Most dead and dying trees will be felled, with some snags remaining for wildlife habitat. All hazard trees hanging over roadways or homes will be removed by professional arborists, where necessary to ensure public safety. Trees will be bucked and left for residents to use for firewood. All slash will be chipped and spread or piled and burned. This project will help protect the residents of the Sarah Priest Allotment from catastrophic wildfires and will improve firefighter access and resident evacuation.
Contact Information
Name
Mary Akens
Agency Name
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Job Title
Legal Counsel
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Cities
Midpines
Counties
Mariposa
Regions
Southern California
Other Location Info
Sarah Priest Tribal Allotment, No. 50H SAC118, near the intersection of Colorado Road and Hwy 140, two miles north of the community of Midpines, Mariposa County.
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Statutory Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Public Resources Code Section 4799.05(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 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 within the Sarah Priest Tribal Allotment, which is owned and managed by the BIA. The proposed activities were reviewed in their entirety under NEPA by the BIA in the Categorical Exclusion TR-4400-P5-J51 532T SARA Priest Allotment HRC Free Use Cutting Permit, which was approved on April 18, 2023.
County Clerk
Mariposa
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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