Decision for June Lake Loop Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project

Decision for June Lake Loop Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project
Release Date: Aug 17, 2011 Bishop, CA
Contact(s): Nancy Upham

Jon Regelbrugge, District Ranger for the Mammoth and Mono Lake Ranger Districts of the Inyo National Forest, has made a decision to implement Alternative 2 (the Proposed Action) for the June Lake Loop Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project, as described in the Environmental Assessment (EA). Fuels reduction work will occur in close proximity to communities in the June Lake Loop area. These communities include June Lake, Clark Tract, Silver Lake, Dream Mountain, and others. The project was planned under the authorities outlined in the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003.

The project will implement fuels reduction treatments on approximately 4,578 acres managed by the Inyo National Forest. The fuels reduction work will include tree thinning, tree pruning, shrub cutting or mowing, slash piling and burning, and prescribed burning. The purpose of this project is to manage vegetation so the potential for a high severity wildfire is reduced and wildfire defensible space is created around recreation developments and communities.

Implementation of the project will begin as soon as practical, likely during the fall of 2011. Fuels reduction work will continue over the next several years, until the project is completed. U.S. Forest Service employees will notify the recreation residence associations, permittees, and concessionaires/hosts of the campgrounds before implementing treatments adjacent to their homes or facilities, and will work with them to coordinate as much as possible and keep disruption to a minimum. Please contact the project leader listed below for more information about implementation.

Electronic copies of the Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact (DN/FONSI), as well as the EA, are available at the following internet site: http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/project_content.php?project=34649. Copies of the DN/FONSI and other information regarding this project may also be obtained from: Sue Farley, Project Leader, Mammoth Ranger Station, 2500 Hwy. 203, P.O. Box 148, Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546; phone 760-924-5535; or email sfarley@fs.fed.us.