The Inyo National Forest announces that the Decision Notice (DN) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Wilderness Unauthorized Route Restoration Project Environmental Assessment (EA) were signed on July 29, 2013. Inyo National Forest prepared the EA for a proposed restoration project on unauthorized routes in a project area that includes the White Mountains Wilderness, John Muir Wilderness, and adjacent non-wilderness lands. These unauthorized routes were fully or partially within wilderness areas designated by Congress in 2009, and were not added to the Forest Transportation System in the 2009 Travel Management Record of Decision.

The Modified Proposed Action is the selected alternative for implementation. The forest will conduct restoration activities on fifty-eight unauthorized routes in the project area. The restoration activities include six types of treatments: de-compact surface soils on routes, reestablish natural contours on route surfaces, install native vertical mulch, spread native mulch, install water bars or similar water diversion structures, and transplant/seed with native plants on the non-wilderness portion of routes. All activities within wilderness will be conducted by hand, using non-mechanized tools or transportation. The selected alternative will enable the forest to best meet the purposes to prevent illegal vehicle trespass in wilderness and promote natural revegetation processes on the routes.

The legal notice of decision was published in The Inyo Register on August, 1, 2013. The Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact are available in hard copy format or can be viewed on the Inyo National Forest website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/inyo/landmanagement/projects/?cid=stelprdb5407462

To obtain a copy of the Decision Notice or if you have questions, please contact project leader Jeff Novak at 760-876-6231 or jnovak@fs.fed.usor PO Box 8, Lone Pine, CA, 93545.

Curious how long the FONSI status has been around...wondering if the Happy Days character was named for the status or vice-versa?

I think you're confusing FONSI (Finding of No Significant Impact) with FONZIE (Finding of No Zorilla in Environment).

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