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Spruce Vegetation Management Project
Release Date: Feb 22, 2022
Contact(s): Scott Jacobson (605) 440-1409
Spruce Vegetation Management Project
Opportunity to Comment
Rapid City, SD; February 22, 2022 –The Black Hills National Forest will be preparing an environmental assessment for the Spruce Vegetation Management Project. The project proposes implementing treatments on up to 25,000 acres of spruce stands across the Black Hills National Forest. The Black Hills National Forest is inviting you to comment on this project.
“The purpose of the Spruce Vegetation Management Project is to reduce the number of acres dominated by white spruce (Picea glauca) and increase the number of acres of pine and aspen forest-wide with the objective of increasing overall forest resiliency,” said Jerry Krueger, Deputy Forest Supervisor for the Black Hills National Forest. “This project will also reduce undesirable future fire behavior across the Black Hills National Forest landscape.”
Proposed activities include regeneration harvests with reserve trees, overstory removal, group selection, machine piling, pile burning, and prescribed fire using a condition-based management approach. Follow up maintenance treatments are proposed to ensure regeneration requirements are met and to encourage pine and aspen seedlings and saplings over spruce.
Additional information is available in the scoping letter and supporting documents, which can be accessed on the project webpage: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=61599.
Comments can be submitted through the electronic comment form located on the project webpage. Comments may also be submitted by means of written comment via the U.S. Postal Service to: Jeff Underhill, 1019 N. 5th Street, Custer, SD 57730. Comments should include: 1) your name and postal address, 2) project title (Spruce Vegetation Management), and 3) signature or other verification of identity upon request (36 CFR 218.25(a)(3)).
Comments received in response to this initial request, including names, addresses, and any other information provided with the comments, will be considered a part of the public record. Please submit any comments by March 24, 2022.
For more information on the Black Hills National Forest, visit www.fs.usda.gov/blackhills.
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