Crow project objection period open

Published 2:44 pm Monday, March 29, 2021

The Emigrant Creek Ranger District has announced the 30-day objection period for the Crow Hazardous Fuel Reduction Project Environmental Assessment.

The project area is Emigrant Creek watershed, Crowsfoot Creek-Emigrant Creek, Whiskey Creek-Emigrant Creek and Bear Canyon Creek subwatersheds, within Harney County. The project is identified in the Harney County Community Wildfire Protection Plan as a Wildland Urban Interface. The objectives are to (1) reduce hazardous fuel loadings to alter fire behavior and move the area towards conditions that will allow fire to play a more frequent and natural role on the landscape while exhibiting historical fire effects from burning at low to moderate intensities during planned and unplanned ignitions, and (2) salvage harvest recently killed trees that are surplus to other resource needs in order to reduce hazardous fuels and capture the economic value of those dead trees.

Alternative 3 has been identified as the Preferred Alternative. Alternative 3 would reduce hazardous fuels on up to 28,000 acres of forested stands in the project area with the use of commercial and non-commercial treatment activities. Prescribed fire would also be utilized on up to 31,060 acres to remove excess fuel accumulations and reduce the risk of large stand-replacement fires. Forest road activities are proposed as connected actions and include road maintenance and use, temporary road construction, and confirmation of previous administratively closed roads.

This proposed hazardous fuels reduction project is subject to the objection process pursuant to 36 CFR 218, subpart A and C.

Objections, including attachments, may be filed with the Reviewing Officer (Malheur National Forest, Forest Supervisor, Craig Trulock), Attn: 1570 Appeals and Objections, by regular mail at P.O. Box 909, John Day, OR 97845, by fax to 541-575-3001, or by hand-delivery, to Malheur National Forest Supervisor’s Office, 431 Patterson Bridge Road, John Day.

Electronic objections, in acceptable formats, may be submitted electronically to objections-pnw-malheur@usda.gov with Subject: OBJECTION: Crow Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project.

For further information contact Joshua Giles, the responsible official, at the Emigrant Creek Ranger District Office, 265 Highway 20 South, Hines, or at 541-573-4300.