L ANDSCAPE S CALE V ISION AND NEPA Payette National Forest, USFS R4 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Payette National Forest, USFS R4 Intermountain Region

LANDSCAPE SCALE VISION

AND NEPA

NEW VISION FOR NEPA – LANDSCAPE SCALE

 Establishing a sense of urgency (PRIORITY)  Creating the guiding coalition (COLLABORATIVES)  Developing a vision and strategy  Communicating the change vision and new reality  Assessing what’s working (and what’s not) and

developing improvement

 Successes integrate change in the culture

Leading Change – John P. Kotter

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Weiser – Little Salmon Headwaters Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project

 Landscape scale approach to managing

970,000 acres

 One of 10 nationally selected

Collaborative Forest Restoration Programs in 2012 – receive annual funding

 Collaborative effort working with the

Payette Forest Coalition (PFC)

 Provides opportunities for the Payette NF

to leverage funding to increase the rate

• f restoration and to contribute to local

job retention and creation

URGENCY/PRIORITY

Weiser – Little Salmon Headwaters Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project

 Purpose:

 Restore a significant portion of ponderosa pine dominated forests to historic

stand structure and function

 Restore habitat connectivity and quality for aquatic species and improve

water quality;

 Restore a more natural fire interval on the landscape  Increase economic activity in Adams and Valley counties through forestry

biomass utilization, and natural resource jobs.

CLEAR VISION

Lost Creek Boulder Creek Landscape Restoration Project

 Project area - 80,000 acres  Multiple Listed species – required

consultation with USFWS and NOAA fisheries

 Tribal Consultation - 3 separate tribes  Implementation of this project will result

in landscape restoration through a combination of timber harvest, prescribed fire, and recreation improvement activities that will improve watershed conditions, wildlife habitat and contribute to economy and jobs.

VISION/STRATEGY

NEPA and NFMA

The Forest Committed to a very aggressive timeline:

 1 year NFMA - data gathering, developing a proposal, working with

the public, partners, and PFC

Targeted field work Utilized research and models to focus needs Focused entire program of work for the District  1 year NEPA Programmatic NEPA (Conceptual) approach Project design features for implementation Transparency in process steps – many public meetings and field trips Worked collaboratively with the Payette Forest Coalition

ENABLE ACTION

Vegetation Management

• Commercial Thin - 12,200 acres
• Commercial Thin/Mature Plantations - 8,100 acres
• Patch Cut -1,800 acres
• Total Commercial Vegetation Treatments - 22,100 acres

Riparian Conservation Areas -1,530 acres Total Non-commercial Thinning Treatments - 17,700 acres Prescribed fire treatments - 45,000 acres

Lost Creek Boulder Creek Landscape Restoration Project

Recreation Management and Travel Management

• Improved dispersed campsites, vault toilet installations, major recreation

improvements, OHV trail creation, 35 miles of trail maintenance, trailhead improvement

Road Management, Watershed Restoration, Fisheries Habitat Improvements

• Road graveling - 34 miles, Roads converted to long term closure status - 61 miles
• System road decommissioning - 68 miles, Unauthorized route treatment - 117 miles
• Fish passage improvements (Total) - 36

ENABLE ACTION

Success Strategies

 Invested time up front to explain the Forest

Plan - standards, guidelines, requirements, restrictions, limitations

 Monthly meetings with the Payette Forest

Coalition – open to the public for real time updates, presentations, field trips

 Explain the rationale-In presentations,

meetings, documents, and decisions

 Subcommittees - Vegetation subcommittee

met between monthly meetings to discuss desired outcomes, non-negotiables

WHAT WORKED

Success Strategies

 Engaged Regulatory Agencies and Tribes

(USFWS, NMFS) very early and throughout the process

 Engaged Technical Teams for threatened

species to understand and propose restoration and vegetation treatment needs

 Stewardship Proposals - Proposals approved

by the Region to include a variety of treatment and work

WHAT WORKED

Challenges/Opportunities

 “Implementation Wedge” - project design

and mitigation workload

 Working Together - Looking at using Good

NA to use Idaho Department of Lands staff for prep and layout

 Retained Receipts – opportunity for

additional contract work for restoration

 Litigation – LCBC was litigated –Judge

denied temporary restraining order

 PFC and Adams County were interveners on

the Litigation

BUILD ON CHANGE

 Continue Landscape Level Projects -

50,000 acre Middle Fork Weiser River, 75,000 acre Huckleberry, 45,000 acre proposed Meadows Valley

 Analysis Area – identify opportunities

upfront, draw project boundary after NFMA data collected, limit NEPA boundary to those areas where proposed activities would actually

• ccur

INTEGRATE CHANGE

Anchoring new approaches