USFS seeks public comments on planned fuels reduction plan for Lake Tahoe neighborhoods

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is seeking comments on a proposal to reduce excess vegetation and improve forest health on approximately 4,000 acres of National Forest System lands within and adjacent to sub-divisions and communities around the Tahoe Basin.

Comments will be accepted for 30-days beginning Aug. 6, 2021. Comments are most useful if submitted by the end of the day on Sept. 6, 2021.

The Urban Forest Defense Zone Fuels Reduction Project proposed action, maps of all areas, and scoping letter with instructions on how to comment are available at https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=48788. For more information on the project, contact Brian Garrett at 530-543-2617.

The proposed project is located in El Dorado and Placer counties in California, and in Douglas and Washoe counties and Carson City rural area in Nevada (see separate map). The project area includes treatments on
approximately 1,800 acres of undeveloped LTBMU managed lands intermixed with developed neighborhoods, plus approximately 2,300 acres within the WUI Defense Zone (buffer approximately 200 feet from private property). The project includes approximately 90 acres in Inventoried Roadless Areas or IRAs (Lincoln, Dardanelles, and Pyramid).

The proposed action would include the following vegetation and soil treatments to reduce fuel loads and
improve forest health within the project area:

• Vegetation Management
o Thinning to create and maintain healthy forests that increase the resilience to insect, disease,
climate change, and drought
o Hazardous fuel management
o Removal of forest products generated from thinning operations
o Conifer removal to promote aspen forests, meadows, and riparian habitats
o Hazard tree removal
• Reforestation may be used to increase the diversity of tree species, age, and size.
• Restoration of compacted and disturbed soils to reduce erosion risk and discourage unauthorized vehicle use and land encroachments.
• Prescribed burning to remove slash piles created from thinning treatments and reduce fuels.

Thinning treatments would include use of mechanical ground-based harvesting equipment and use of hand crews. Residual post-thinning conditions would generally range between 80-120 Basal Area. Use of ground-based harvesting equipment would be limited to slopes less than 30 percent. Treatments in stream environment zones may be implemented with ground-based equipment when soil conditions are operable. Cut material may be removed offsite for utilization of forest biomass (such as saw timber, fuelwood, woodchip, or
other products), chipped or masticated on site, and/or piled and later burned. Winching and/or cable yarding with partial or full suspension may be utilized to remove forest biomass. Ground-based mechanical treatments
would generally be limited to the dry season (May 1 – October 15) in the Lake Tahoe Basin; however, exceptions may be granted, and winter operations may occur based on operable conditions.

In portions of the project area that are within 100 feet of a structure on private property, the project would allow for homeowners to perform defensible space treatments under the Forest Service’s Homeowner Agreement and Guidelines for Defensible Space/Fuels Reduction for annual management of defensible space.

The results of this stage of public comment and next steps - the NEPA or Forest Plan Amendment Decision document - should be available by December, 2021.