Medicine Bow National Forest Landscape Vegetation Analysis Draft EIS released for public comment

Media Contact: Aaron Voos, (307) 745-2323

News Release (PDF)

Draft EIS (PDF)

(LARAMIE, Wyo.) July 5, 2018 – Another opportunity for the public to provide input on the Medicine Bow National Forest Landscape Vegetation Analysis will take place over the next month and a half. A Modified Proposed Action for the project has been documented in a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) and is now available for public review. The DEIS documents analysis of both beneficial and/or adverse effects on a variety of resources due to the proposed action.

The pending project decision will provide the environmental foundation for Forest treatments during a 15-year time frame, beginning in 2019. The Landscape Vegetation Analysis project (LaVA) is intended to authorize flexible management of forest vegetation in a timely manner. LaVA is an effort to remove and utilize beetle-killed timber while it is still marketable and to reduce the risk of wildfire near communities.

“LaVA is a win for everything from forest health to community protection,” said Laramie District Ranger Frank Romero. “I look forward to once again interacting with our community during this comment period and hearing the ideas that come from public input.”

Broadly, the DEIS results show mostly benefits from the proposal, such as forest regeneration and removal of dead fuels, and negligible adverse effects, such as short-term displacement of forest visitors.

The comment period will run from July 6 - Aug. 20, 2018. During that time, three open houses will be held to provide information, answer questions, and encourage public input into this planning process. Open houses are planned in Laramie, Cheyenne, and Saratoga, on July 30, Aug. 1-2, respectively. All three events will run from 4 – 7 p.m. and will be hosted at cooperating agency locations:

• July 30, Laramie - Wyoming Game and Fish Department, 1212 S. Adams St.
• Aug. 1, Cheyenne - Board of Public Utilities, 2416 Snyder Ave.
• Aug. 2, Saratoga - Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District, 101 Cypress St.

The open-house format of the events is meant to encourage one-on-one interactions between Forest Service staff, project cooperating agencies, and the public.

The DEIS uses best available information to describe conditions and locations that would benefit from treatment. During project implementation, specific treatment locations and methods would be determined based on mandatory field reviews, application of appropriate project guidelines, and continued collaboration with cooperating agencies and the public. Following implementation, individual treatments would be monitored to determine responsiveness to resource objectives, effectiveness of project guidelines, and compliance with regulatory requirements; annual monitoring results would be published on the forest’s project webpage.

The Proposed Action was presented to the public in July of 2017 and an initial public comment period was held, along with open houses in Saratoga and Laramie. Public check-in sessions were held in Jan. 2018, also in Saratoga and Laramie.

The Forest has worked with cooperating agencies to modify the Proposed Action in response to comments and constraints. A Modified Proposed Action was developed with comments and feedback from cooperating agencies and the public. Changes include new maps to explain the project, trigger points for adaptive management, development of post-decision implementation review process, removal of permanent road construction associated with the project, as well as future public input mechanisms to track project progress.

A Final Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Record of Decision is anticipated in December, 2018. Public input and feedback is welcomed at any stage of this and any other projects.

Project information, including the DEIS, is available on the Forest web site at www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=51255.

For more information please contact District Ranger Frank Romero at (307) 745-2337 or feromero@fs.fed.us.

About the Medicine Bow National Forest Landscape Vegetation Analysis project (LaVA):

Along with multiple cooperating agencies, the U.S. Forest Service has developed a landscape-scale proposal to accelerate the pace and scale of active forest restoration using a wide range of tools. Those tools include tree thinning, harvest, and hazard tree removal, as well as prescribed burning in the Sierra Madre and Snowy Ranges of the Medicine Bow National Forest (MBNF).

This is a broad, integrated project with net benefits in multiple resource areas, including, but not limited to timber and fuels management. Additional benefits for wildlife habitat, municipal water supply, road maintenance, viewsheds, recreation opportunities, and public safety will result from the project due to a more mosaic, diverse, and resilient landscape. A good example of recreation benefit will be seen in improved hunting access and big game wildlife habitat due to the removal of accumulated dead timber, both standing and downed.

This large-scale analysis will provide the environmental foundation for 10-15 years’ worth of projects in one decision. It is a different kind of analysis which is based on rapidly changing environmental conditions and is responsive to actual on-the-ground conditions. Analysis will occur using existing data and a narrow range of options, as well as engagement with stakeholders and the public. Field analysis of specific sites will take place after the NEPA decision but before individual projects occur.

Across the MBNF, 360,000 acres have been identified in the Modified Proposed Action that could benefit from some type of treatment over the next 10-15 years. Not all of those acres would be treated, as some acres will be eliminated due to on-the-ground conditions and operational feasibility. Treatments would include mechanical, prescribed fire, or hand treatments to reduce hazardous fuels, salvage marketable products, and restore forest and rangeland resiliency.

As with many vegetation projects that occur each year on the Medicine Bow National Forest, some temporary road construction would be necessary to reach areas where vegetation could be treated by machinery, prescribed fire, or hand tools. Temporary roads would be decommissioned following treatment activities to preclude future motorized use and to restore ecological function.

Strong partnerships and cooperative working relationships are necessary to advance forest resiliency and health at a landscape scale. As such, the Forest Service has been working with numerous cooperating agencies since March of 2017 to develop this project. Cooperating Agencies, consisting of State, local, and Federal officials, have been instrumental in helping to frame the Modified Proposed Action, refine the project purpose and need for action, and to identify values at risk in need of protection.

Project key facts:

• The Landscape Vegetation Analysis project (LaVA) is consistent with resource management standards, as outlined in the Medicine Bow National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (2003).
• This project is not the same project (s) as the hazard tree clearing that has been taking place along area highways and Forest roads over the past few years. IE: Hazard tree removal with WYDOT and Carbon Power & Light, which occurred along Wyoming Highway 130.
• Most activities on the MBNF have historically been planned on a smaller scale, with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis for individual projects. This project is different due to rapidly changing conditions.
• LaVA is intended to authorize flexible management of forest vegetation using tree cutting and/or prescribed burning in the Sierra Madre and Snowy Ranges.
  • Those two ranges, which comprise the LaVA analysis area, include roughly 850,000 acres of National Forest System lands.
• Within those ranges, 613,118 acres have been identified as Treatment Opportunity Areas. Treatment Opportunity Areas represent the land base wherein the LaVA Proposed Action could be implemented and exclude certain areas, such as Wilderness. The Proposed Action acreage below is an even further condensed subset of the Treatment Opportunity Areas.
• The Proposed Action being analyzed is:
  • Stand initiating or even-aged treatment methods (such as clear-cutting) that would not exceed 95,000 acres.
  • Uneven-aged or intermediate treatments (such as commercial thinning or selective harvesting some trees and leaving others) that would not exceed 165,000 acres.
  • Other vegetation treatments including prescribed fire, mastication, hand thinning that would not exceed 100,000 acres.
  • For a total that would not exceed 360,000 acres over the next 10-15 years.
    • This total equates to roughly 30% of the Medicine Bow National Forest.
      • It is within the larger 1.2 million total acres on the Forest, within the 850,000 acres of the two mountain ranges, and within the 613,118 acre area that has the opportunity to be treated.
• Temporary road construction of approximately 600 miles, none in Inventoried Roadless Area, would be necessary to reach areas where vegetation could be treated by machinery, prescribed fire, or hand tools.
• The approach is consistent with goals outlined by the 2015 Governor’s Task Force on Forests, the 2011 Western Bark Beetle Strategy, and the 2010 Wyoming Statewide Forest Resource Strategy.
• On March 22, 2017, Forest Service Chief Thomas L. Tidwell designated the majority of the MBNF as a landscape-scale insect and disease area under Section 602(d) of the Healthy Forests Restoration Action of 2003 (HFRA), as amended by the Agricultural Act of 2014 (Farm Bill). LaVA will use options granted in the HFRA and the Farm Bill.
• Coarse filters have been used to define potential treatment areas at this time. Additional filters will refine and narrow in on those potential treatment areas for the analysis and during implementation.
• Filters used to date include: Forest Plan Direction; Law, Regulation, Policy; and Leader’s Intent.
• There has been a high level of participation in the process to date from formal Cooperating Agencies. Those groups include federal, state, and local agencies.