Miller Mountain Fuel Reduction Project

Miller Mountain Fuel Reduction Project

The project area is characterized by mixed conifer stands, plantations composed of ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir ranging from 3 to 41 years old and isolated brush patches and rock outcroppings. The native mixed conifer stands are composed of ponderosa pine, sugar pine, white fir, Douglas-fir, and incense cedar. Elevations range from 4,290 to 6,420 feet with side slopes of 0-50%. The portion of the project covered by this document is entirely on Acer Klamath Forests property. Water sources are few as the project area is generally on the east and north sides of Goosenest Peak, although there are a few seeps in the lower portion of the project area near the south end of Grass Lake. The north part of the project area contains a portion of Bull Meadows and a tributary to the Little Shasta River; however, these areas will be excluded from treatment. Wildlife is abundant and includes fisher, deer, elk, black bear, squirrels, and numerous birds. There are no known occurrences of Rare, Threatened, or Endangered plant or animal species within the treatment areas. Gray wolves are known to travel within the project vicinity and much of the project area is within the hoine range of the Whaleback Pack. There is one bald eagle occurrence (occupied nest) between 0.5 and 0.6 miles from the project treatment areas and the southern portion of the project is within the USGS quadrangle where there is an occurrence of prairie falcon. Bald eagles are listed as Endangered under CESA. Prairie falcons are on the CDFW watch list but are otherwise not a listed species. The project intends to 1) improve forest health and resilience to severe wildfire, drought, disease, and pests, 2) reduce wildfire risk for nearby communities and infrastructure, 3) facilitate fire suppression operations, 4) increase long-term carbon capture and storage to ensure treated and adjacent forested areas remain net sinks of carbon and continue to provide an abundance of ecosystem and societal benefits. Miller Mountain Fuel Reduction Project treatments include prescribed fire, mastication, thinning, pruning, and biomass removal. The treatment prescriptions will reduce hazardous fuel loads and horizontal and vertical fuel connectivity within the project footprint and facilitate future maintenance of these treatments. Fuel treatment width and prescriptions are designed to promote surface fire, limiting crown fires and spotting. Treatments will reduce fire behavior along main USFS roads to support future wildfire defense and prescribed fire opportunities. Understory surface fuels will be treated with the objective to limit surface fire with flame lengths to four feet or less in order to facilitate direct suppression operations and reduce the risk of crown fire initiation. This will be done by reducing surface fuels to less than five tons per acre in the treatment areas. The objective of ladder fuel treatments is to increase canopy base heights, creating a separation between surface fuels and canopy fuels of no less than six-feet and up ten-feet, dependent on-site specific conditions. Treatments will focus on the removal of young and/or suppressed advanced regeneration tree species less than 12-inch diameter at breast height, removing slash and jackpot accumulations, removing medium and large shrubs where they contribute to vertical and horizontal fuel continuity and removing lower branches from residual trees. The objective of our canopy and mid-canopy fuel treatments is to increase horizontal spacing between the outer extents of live crowns (i.e., drip line) of residual trees to a distance of 28-32 feet. This treatment is expected to favorably alter fire behavior in a way that will reduce the likelihood of a running or active crown fire and limit aerial fuel ignitions to isolated torching.

Unincorporated Area

Siskiyou

Northern California

Siskiyou