Bungalow Resilience and Fuels Reduction Planning Project (SNC 1679)
Summary
SCH Number
2024030324
Public Agency
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Document Title
Bungalow Resilience and Fuels Reduction Planning Project (SNC 1679)
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
3/11/2024
Document Description
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) will provide funding to the National Forest Foundation (NFF) for the #1679 Bungalow Resilience and Fuels Reduction Planning Project. In partnership with Sierra National Forest (SNF), NFF will draft a proposed action for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis on roughly 44,000 acres of Forest Service land. The project will plan potential future implementation for fuel and vegetation management practices to reduce the risk of wildfire and protect forest resources and neighboring communities. The project is led by the NFF and will occur entirely on SNF lands within Fresno County, near the communities of Shaver Lake and Dinkey Creek, east of Pine Flat Lake and west of Wishon Reservoir. The NFF, partnering with a 3rd-party NEPA consultant, will complete surveys for cultural resources, biology, wildlife, and botany, complete data analyses, and draft a NEPA proposed action for the planning area, enabling the SNF to move forward with additional analysis and NEPA activities towards a potential future NEPA decision and forest health and resilience treatments. The project activities include only the planning, resource surveys, and environmental analysis to develop draft NEPA documents for potential future projects. There will be no ground or resource disturbance as part of this project. None of the planning or analysis activities to be conducted under this proposed project will have a legally binding effect on future activities or are for a possible future project, which an agency has already approved, adopted, or funded.
Contact Information
Name
Mary Akens
Agency Name
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Job Title
Legal Counsel
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Cities
near Balch Camp and Shaver Lake
Counties
Fresno
Regions
Southern California
Other Location Info
Southern project boundary by the community of Balch Camp, northern boundary approximately seven miles southwest of Shaver Lake.
Other Information
Approximately 44,000-acre landscape planning project located in Sierra National Forest in Fresno County, east of Pine Flat Lake and west of Wishon Reservoir, in the area of Patterson Mountain. Project center approximately at -19.084 and 36.981 degrees.
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Statutory Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Pub. Resources Code, Section 21150; CEQA Guidelines, Section 15262, Feasibility and Planning Studies
Reasons for Exemption
The planning activities under this project are resource surveys, data analysis, and planning and design towards the development of draft NEPA documents considering potential future forest and watershed-health projects, which have not yet been approved, adopted, or funded. The planning and due diligence activities to be carried out as part of the project involve no ground or resource disturbance. The project is Statutorily Exempt under CEQA Guidelines, Section 15262 Feasibility and Planning Studies as the project only involves planning studies for possible future actions, which the Sierra Nevada Conservancy Governing Board has not approved, adopted, or funded; there is no legally binding effect on later activities. The project is also Categorically Exempt under CEQA Guidelines, Section 15306 Information Collection because it consists of basic data collection and resource evaluation activities, which do not result in a disturbance to environmental resources. The proposed activities are for information gathering purposes and are part of a study leading to an action, which a public agency has not yet approved, adopted, or funded.
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
CEQA Guidelines, Section 15306, Information Collection
Reasons for Exemption
The planning activities under this project are resource surveys, data analysis, and planning and design towards the development of draft NEPA documents considering potential future forest and watershed-health projects, which have not yet been approved, adopted, or funded. The planning and due diligence activities to be carried out as part of the project involve no ground or resource disturbance. The project is Statutorily Exempt under CEQA Guidelines, Section 15262 Feasibility and Planning Studies as the project only involves planning studies for possible future actions, which the Sierra Nevada Conservancy Governing Board has not approved, adopted, or funded; there is no legally binding effect on later activities. The project is also Categorically Exempt under CEQA Guidelines, Section 15306 Information Collection because it consists of basic data collection and resource evaluation activities, which do not result in a disturbance to environmental resources. The proposed activities are for information gathering purposes and are part of a study leading to an action, which a public agency has not yet approved, adopted, or funded.
County Clerk
Fresno
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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