Description of Proposed Amendment on E. Fork Scott River Forest Health Implementation Project

This amendment proposes a single change: an increase in the project's treatment acreage. No change to watercourse buffer treatment standards, treatment methods, or any other element of the originally adopted IS/ND is proposed — all BMPs, mitigation measures, and findings in the original IS/ND apply to the expansion area unchanged.

Existing (previously approved) treatment area: 263 acres

Updated (new) treatment area: 134 acres

Total treatment area following amendment: 397 acres

Landowner: The Wildlands Conservancy — same as original project

Treatment types: Same techniques as the original project — non-commercial manual thinning/pruning, mastication and chipping, hand piling, and pile burning — applying the same Best Management Practices as the original IS/ND, unchanged

Vegetation/site conditions: Expansion area is described as similar forest vegetation type to the original project area

Per the treatment unit map provided (Figure 1), the project consists of six treatment units, of which four fall within the previously-approved Existing Project Area (263 acres) — the long unit along Hayden Ridge, a unit near the Noyes Valley Creek/Gazelle-Callahan Road corridor, and a cluster of units near the East Fork Scott River southeast of Callahan. 30-acres of the proposed expansion area adjust the boundaries of these original units to expand boundaries to defendable features for maintenance of the treatment areas using prescribed fire. Two fall within the newly proposed Updated Project Area (104 acres): a 67-acre manual treatment unit on the eastern edge of Noyes Valley at the base of Hayden Ridge, and 37-acre mastication unit located at the southern end of Hayden Ridge. Both units border Klamath National Forest.