United States Department of the Interior
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Coos Bay District Office
1300 Airport Lane, North Bend, OR 97459
Web Address: http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/coosbay
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: (541) 756-0100 Toll Free: (888) 809-0839 Fax: (541) 751-4303
IN REPLY REFER TO
1792/5400 (ORC040)
DOI-BLM-OR-C040-2013-0003-EA
Six Twigs Environmental Assessment
September 15, 2014
Dear Concerned Citizen:
The Coos Bay District Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Myrtlewood Field Office has prepared a scoping
document for the Six Twigs Environmental Assessment. The scoping document and associated maps are now
posted on the Coos Bay District website at the following
address: http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/coosbay/plans/index.php.
The BLM proposes to implement regeneration harvests on forest stands within the New River Frontal and Sixes
River watersheds. The proposed action includes the management of approximately 250 acres of timber through
regeneration harvest treatments within the General Forest Management Area (GFMA) portion of the Matrix Land
Use Allocation (LUA) as defined in the District’s ROD/RMP. Stands proposed for treatment are approximately
50-72 years old. The harvested areas would be prepared for replanting by removing most of the residual logging
slash through broadcast or pile burning. Approximately 4 miles of new roads would be constructed to access units
identified for treatment. The BLM would renovate or improve existing roads to meet transportation needs over
approximately 15 miles of haul routes crossing BLM and private lands.
You are invited to submit written comments on any issues or concerns that you may have regarding this proposal
by October 31, 2014. Comments which are helpful to the analysis process are those which identify new scientific
or technical information, determine the scope of issues to be addressed, and express concerns related to the
proposed action. Opinions agreeing or disagreeing with established laws and policies are not helpful in refining
the proposed action.
Please direct questions to Racheal Jones at (541) 756-0100. You may send your comments to the Bureau of Land
Management, Myrtlewood Field Office, 1300 Airport Lane, North Bend, OR 97459, Attn: Racheal Jones.
Comments may be submitted electronically to [email protected], Attn: Racheal Jones.
Sincerely,
/s/ Kathy Hoffine
Kathy Hoffine
Myrtlewood Field Manager
United States Department of the Interior
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Coos Bay District Office
1300 Airport Lane, North Bend, OR 97459
Web Address: http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/coosbay
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: (541) 756-0100 Toll Free: (888) 809-0839 Fax: (541) 751-4303
IN REPLY REFER TO
1792/5400 (ORC040)
DOI-BLM-OR-C040-2013-0003-EA
Six Twigs Environmental Assessment
Scoping Document
Dear Citizen:
The Coos Bay District Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Myrtlewood Field Office is preparing the Six Twigs
Environmental Assessment (EA No.: DOI-BLM-OR-C040-2013-0003-EA) to analyze the impacts of
implementing regeneration harvest on stands within the New River Frontal and Sixes River watersheds. This
project would incorporate data and recommendations from the Watershed Analysis of the Sixes and New River
Area (USDI 2008) and the management direction and objectives of 1995 Coos Bay District Record of Decision
and Resource Management Plan (ROD/RMP). The following information briefly describes the BLM’s proposed
action. The BLM seeks written comments on any issues or concerns.
Project Summary
The proposed action includes the management of approximately 250 acres of timber through regeneration
treatments within the General Forest Management Area (GFMA) portion of the Matrix Land Use Allocation
(LUA) as defined in the District’s ROD/RMP. Stands proposed for treatment are approximately 50-72 years old.
The harvested areas would be prepared for replanting by removing most of the residual logging slash through
broadcast or pile burning. Approximately 4 miles of new roads would be constructed to access units identified for
treatment (Maps 1-3). The BLM would renovate or improve existing roads to meet transportation needs over
approximately 15 miles of haul routes crossing BLM and private lands. Certain roads may be proposed for
decommissioning through the interdisciplinary process.
The proposed action is located within the New River Frontal and Sixes River Analytical (5th field) Watersheds.
The BLM manages 3.5 percent or 6,461 acres of the land within the New River Frontal (99,371 acres) and Sixes
River (85,832 acres) watersheds. The U.S. Forest Service manages 11.7 percent or 21,692 acres and the remaining
84 percent of the land is managed by private land owners. Table 1 shows a breakdown of land ownership within
this analysis area (New River Frontal and Sixes River watersheds).
Table 1. Land ownership by acres located within the analysis area.
Total Acres
Private
185,203
156,118
U.S. Forest
Service
21,692
State &
County
932
BLM
6,461
BLM Proposed
Action
250
Some of the proposed treatment units contain or are adjacent to suitable habitat for the marbled murrelet (MM)
and northern spotted owl (NSO), birds protected under the Endangered Species Act. Surveys to determine
occupancy for MM and NSO started in spring 2014. Some units may also contain suitable habitat for the red tree
vole, which is a Survey and Manage species.
2
Pre-disturbance surveys to determine red tree vole occupancy would be conducted in suitable habitat prior to
implementing proposed treatments.
Treatments would be implemented through multiple timber sales expected to be sold in 2016. The proposed
action would contribute approximately 11 million-board feet (MMBF) of timber to the decadal Allowable Sale
Quantity (ASQ) for the Coos Bay District.
Project Location
All of the units proposed for treatment are located about 3-7 miles southeast of Langlois, Oregon, behind locked
gates controlled by private land owners. The BLM has acquired access from the landowners through reciprocal
right-of-way agreements subject to the Oregon and California Revested Lands Act (O&C Act) Right-of-Way
Regulations (43 CFR 2812). Table 2 lists the proposed treatment locations for the Six Twigs project.
Table 2. Township, Range and Sections of proposed treatments in the Six Twigs EA.
Township & Range
31 S., 14 W.
Sections
7, 14, 15, 18, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30, 32
Under these regulations, the BLM obtains rights over private roads and lands to reach public lands for the
purposes of forest management and removal of forest products. These rights apply to roads owned or controlled
by the permittee and roads constructed by the BLM on permittee lands. These rights are available for use by the
Federal government and its licensees but are not available for use by the general public.
Need for the Project
The BLM has a statutory obligation under the O&C Act to manage suitable commercial forest lands revested by
the government from the Oregon and California Railroad grant (O&C lands) for permanent forest production in
accordance with the sustained yield principle. The Coos Bay District’s ROD/RMP directs that suitable lands in
the General Forest Management Area (GFMA) are managed to provide permanent forest production in
conformity with the principles of sustained yield, consistent with the O&C Act (ROD/RMP p. 2). In response to
providing permanent forest production, the RMP further directs the Coos Bay District to declare an annual
Allowable Sale Quantity (ASQ) from the Matrix lands in the GFMA 1. Regeneration harvests are the most
efficient way to meet the ASQ.
One of the objectives of Matrix is to “produce a sustainable supply of timber and other forest commodities to
provide jobs and contribute to community stability” (ROD/RMP p. 22). Optimal productivity for a patch of
ground through multiple rotations is achieved when the stand is harvested at the culmination age. Culmination of
mean annual increment (CMAI) in the Coos Bay District varies from 60- to 100-year-old stands (ROD/RMP p. E1). In recent years, the BLM has inventoried these proposed units and assessed the timber productivity. All of the
proposed units either are near or have achieved CMAI, or they are overstocked in a way that negatively affects
productivity. Current overstocked stand conditions (resulting in small crown/root biomass) and high wind throw
potential make those stands prime candidates for regeneration harvest. The timber volume associated with
regeneration harvest is expected to make the proposed treatments viable and would contribute to the District’s
ASQ.
Project Objectives (Purpose)
Any action alternative the BLM implements in the planning area must meet the objectives provided in the
District’s ROD/RMP and applicable statutes. The proposed action would carry out timber management activities
in the planning area, as directed by the ROD/RMP, to accomplish the following objectives.
1
The ASQ represents neither a minimum or maximum level, rather the ASQ represents the BLMS’s best assessment of the
average amount of timber likely to be awarded annually in within the planning area (ROD/RMP p.52).
3
1. Provide a sustainable supply of timber and other forest commodities to provide jobs and contribute to
community stability (p.22) by:
• Conducting timber harvest and other silvicultural activities in suitable forest lands within the Matrix
(p.22).
• Planning and designing forest management activities to produce a sustained yield of products to support
local and regional economic activity (p.45).
• Maintaining a well-distributed pattern of early and mid-seral forest across the Matrix (p.53).
• Scheduling regeneration harvests to ensure that harvest occurs in stands at or above the age of
culmination (p.53).
2. Manage developing stands on available lands to promote tree survival and growth and to achieve a balance
between wood volume production, quality of wood, and timber value at harvest (p.52) by:
• Applying silvicultural systems that are planned to produce, over time, forests with desired species
composition, structure characteristics, and distribution of serial or age classes (p.53).
• Selecting logging systems based on the suitability and economic efficiency of each system for the
successful implementation of the silvicultural prescription, for protection of soil and water quality, and for
meeting other land use objectives (p.53).
3. Provide for important ecological functions such as dispersal of organisms, carryover of some species from
one stand to the next, and maintenance of ecologically valuable structural components such as down logs,
snags, and large trees (p.22) by:
• Providing a renewable supply of large down logs well distributed across the Matrix landscape in a manner
that meets the needs of species and provides for ecological functions (p.53).
• Retaining 6-8 green conifer trees per acre after regeneration harvest to provide a source of snag
recruitment and a legacy for bridging past and future forests. Retained trees would be well distributed in
variable patterns (e.g., single trees, clumps, and stringers) to contribute to stand diversity (p.53).
• Retaining snags within a timber harvest unit at levels sufficient to support species of cavity-nesting birds
at 40 percent of potential population levels (p.53).
Public Input
The Coos Bay District invites you to submit written comments on any issues or concerns you may have regarding
the proposed timber harvest by October 31, 2014. The areas proposed for treatment are enclosed by private land
with locked gates and therefore not accessible by the general public. Two field tours to examine representative
sites proposed for treatment will be held, the first on October 6 and the second on October 14. Those wishing to
join a field tour should respond to [email protected] or call (541) 756-0100 by 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday,
September 30 and provide the following information:
• Name
• Physical address
• Email address
• Phone number
As there is no legal public access, participants will be shuttled from a central Coos Bay and Bandon location to
proposed treatment sites in BLM vehicles. Interested parties will be contacted by Thursday, October 2 with the
specific details (e.g., time, meeting location).
Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will be available for public review at the address
listed below during regular business hours (8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays, and
may be published as part of the EA document or other related documents. Before including your address, phone
number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your
entire comment – including your personal identifying information – may be made publically available at any
time.
4
While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Please direct questions to Racheal Jones at (541) 756-0100. You may send your comments to the Bureau of Land
Management, Myrtlewood Field Office, 1300 Airport Lane, North Bend, OR 97459, Attn: Racheal Jones.
Comments may be submitted electronically to [email protected], Attn: Racheal Jones.
/s/ Kathy Hoffine
September 15, 2014
Kathy Hoffine
Myrtlewood Field Manager
Date
Six Twigs DOI-BLM-OR-C040-2013-0003-EA
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US DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
Coos Bay District Office
Myrtlewood Field Office
1300 Airport Lane
North Bend, OR 97459
No warranty is made by the Bureau of Land Management
as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these
data for individual or aggregate use with other data.
Six Twigs DOI-BLM-OR-C040-2013-0003-EA
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as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these
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Six Twigs DOI-BLM-OR-C040-2013-0003-EA
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