Parker Peak Forest Restoration and Resilience Project (SNC 1639)
Summary
SCH Number
2024030334
Public Agency
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Document Title
Parker Peak Forest Restoration and Resilience Project (SNC 1639)
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
3/11/2024
Document Description
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) would provide funding to the Tule River Indian Tribe to work in partnership with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to implement project #1639 Parker Peak Forest Restoration and Resilience Project (Project). The Project is an approximately 1,500-acre hazardous fuel reduction and wildfire-recovery project on the Tule River Indian Reservation in Tulare County. The Project is planned entirely on tribal trust lands administered by the Tule River Tribal Council through the Tribal Natural Resources Department, with oversight provided by the BIA. The Project focuses on improving forest health and hydrologic function by reducing hazardous fuels, conducting restoration, and stabilizing burn scars caused by the 2021 Windy Fire. The 2021 Windy Fire burned over 97,000 acres, including over 19,000 acres of the Tule River Indian Reservation, resulting in widespread tree mortality and erosion. The Project is aimed at restoring areas that burned, and treating areas that burned at low intensity so they will be more resilient to future fires. Activities under the Project include, but are not limited to: pre-implementation surveys and delineation; manual and mechanical thinning/mastication; and off-hauling of biomass, as feasible.
Contact Information
Name
Mary Akens
Agency Name
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Job Title
Legal Counsel
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Cities
near Porterville, near Springville, near Camp Nelson
Counties
Tulare
Regions
Southern California
Other Location Info
20 miles east/southeast of Porterville, 12 miles south/southeast of Springville, 10 miles south of Camp Nelson
Other Information
Southwest corner of the Tule River Indian Reservation in the South Fork Tule River watershed. Project center at approximately -118.651, 35.984 degrees.
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Statutory Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Pub. Resources Code, section 4799.05, subd. (d)(1)
Reasons for Exemption
Public Resources Code, section 4799.05 statutorily exempts from CEQA projects for 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 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 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 the Tule River Indian Tribe to conduct fuels reduction, wildfire recovery, and forest-health treatments on the Tule River Indian Reservation, tribal trust lands held by and with oversight provided by the BIA. The Project was reviewed in its entirety under NEPA in the Windy Fire Emergency Stabilization and Salvage Sale Projects Environmental Assessment (EA) and the Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) determination signed on June 13, 2023.
County Clerk
Tulare
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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