Defensible Space for Homes and Access Routes Mowing and Maintenance
Summary
SCH Number
2024110188
Public Agency
Mendocino County
Document Title
Defensible Space for Homes and Access Routes Mowing and Maintenance
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
11/6/2024
Document Description
The project will maintain defensible space around homes and along access routes through the strategic treatment of hazardous vegetation and long-term maintenance of fuel loading and hazard tree removal as necessary. The project is intended to reduce the likelihood that life or property will be lost in the case of wildfire, both because homes and roadsides will be less likely to ignite and because firefighters will have more opportunity to safely deploy and stage their resources. Treatments will involve fire abatement mowing with an industrial mower and limited use of an excavator, or skid steer, with a masticator head attachment (swing-boom mechanics) which will remain on the existing roadway and reach in to treat above-ground vegetation. The masticator head will avoid direct contact with the ground to eliminate ground disturbance. Vegetation will be left to decompose onsite or chipped and broadcast onsite. Chippers will not leave the roadway. Roadside treatments will generally occur 30’ from either side of the road.
The project may involve limited removal of dead, diseased or hazardous trees greater than 10’’ in diameter determined to be in danger of falling along access routes or within a structure’s’ defensible space.
The project will involve conducting seasonal bird-nesting surveys and identifying any sensitive areas to avoid with mechanical treatments. Work will not be done within 30' away from any potentially fish-bearing stream or 15' of any other potential waterways.
No more than 1,000 acres will be treated countywide annually under this project.
Contact Information
Name
Julia Krog
Agency Name
Mendocino County PBS
Job Title
Director
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Counties
Mendocino
Regions
Countywide, Northern California, Unincorporated
Other Location Info
Various communities
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Section 15301(a) Existing Facilities and Section 15304(i) Minor Alterations to Land
Reasons for Exemption
This project fits under portions of two Categorical Exemptions to CEQA:
Class 1-Existing Facilities. This includes treatment areas where vegetation removal will be conducted to maintain fuel breaks, fire roads, and road corridors.
Class 4 -Minor Alterations to Land. This includes treatment areas where vegetation treatment does not involve the removal of mature, healthy, or scenic trees. These treatments have negligible or no permanent effects on the landscape and will not result in the taking of rare, endangered, or threatened species of plants or animals. No exceptions apply that would preclude the use of a notice of exemption for this project. The County has concluded that no significant environmental impact would occur to aesthetics, agriculture and forestland or timberland, air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, energy, geology and soils, greenhouse gas emissions, hazards and hazardous materials, hydrology and water quality, land use planning, mineral resources, noise, population and housing, public services, recreation, transportation or traffic, tribal cultural resources, utilities, and service system.
County Clerk
Mendocino
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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