2020 Fire Affected Road System Risk Reduction #61749

Commenting on This Project

The draft Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact and Environmental Assessment (EA) for the 2020 Fire Affected Road System Risk Reduction Project are now available for public review.

The project is intended to reduce the risks posed by fire-killed and injured trees that have fallen across or remain standing along important access routes of the 2020 fire-affected road system so that access to and through the burned area can be restored. To achieve this objective, the Forest Service proposes to fall fire-killed and injured trees along 253 miles of roads within the 2020 fire-affected road system where there is moderate, high, or mixed tree mortality. The proposed treatment area includes about 4,450 acres of lands adjacent to these roads where trees are expected to be fallen. The removal of some trees and small diameter fuels is proposed to reduce fuel loads within 100 feet of roads.

This project area encompasses the 176,000 acres of three fires that burned on the Detroit, McKenzie River, and Sweet Home Ranger Districts of the Willamette National Forest in 2020. The Holiday Farm Fire was located East of Eugene along Oregon Route 126. The Beachie Creek and Lionshead Fires were both located southeast of Salem along Oregon Route 22. The project area is within Oregon’s Lane, Linn, and Marion Counties.

The draft Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact and EA are available on the Willamette National Forest’s project webpage at www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=61749.

This proposed decision is subject to objection pursuant to 36 CFR 218, subparts A and B. The responsible official for the project is the Willamette National Forest’s Acting Forest Supervisor, Duane Bishop. Objections will only be accepted from those who submitted project-specific written comments during scoping or another designated comment period. Issues raised in objections must be based on previously submitted comments unless based on new information arising after the designated comment period(s).

Written objections must be submitted within 45 days following the publication of this legal notice. The date of this legal notice is the exclusive means for calculating the time to file an objection. Those wishing to object should not rely upon dates or timeframes provided by any other source. It is the objector’s responsibility to ensure evidence of timely receipt (36 CFR 218.9).

Objections must be submitted to the reviewing officer Glenn Casamassa, Pacific Northwest Regional Forester. Objections may be submitted through the project website (www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=61749) by selecting the “Comment/Object on Project” link in the “Get Connected” group at the right-hand side of the webpage, by email (debra.anderson@usda.gov), mail or hand-delivery (Forest Service Region 6, 1220 SW Third Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97204). The Regional Office is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm. Electronically filed objections may be submitted in the following formats: plain text (.txt), rich text format (.rtf), Word (.doc, .docx), or portable document format (.pdf).

Objections must include: 1) objector’s name, address and telephone; 2) signature or other verification of authorship; 3) identification of a single lead objector when applicable; 4) project name, Responsible Official name and title, and name of affected National Forest or Ranger District; 5) reasons for, and suggested remedies to resolve, your objections; and, 6) description of the connection between your objections and your prior comments (36 CFR 218.8(d)). Incorporate documents by reference only as provided for at 36 CFR 218.8(b).

For further information concerning the 2020 Fire Affected Road System Risk Reduction Project, please contact Elspeth Gustavson, Forest Environmental Coordinator at elspeth.gustavson@usda.gov, 541-225-6436.

Published in the Eugene Register-Guard on Thursday, September 1, 2022.

Questions?

If you have a question about this project, please send it to:

Elspeth Gustavson

Willamette National Forest All Units
3106 Pierce Parkway Suite D, Springfield, OR, 97477
elspeth.gustavson@usda.gov