Opportunity to Comment on the Yellow Creek Watershed Restoration Project Draft EA, Almanor Ranger District, Lassen National Forest

The Almanor Ranger District of the Lassen National Forest is inviting your comments on the environmental assessment for the Yellow Creek Watershed Restoration Project. The environmental assessment presents environmental consequences of the Proposed Action and No Action alternatives. This posting begins a 30-day comment period which is intended to provide those interested or affected by this project an opportunity to share concerns prior to a decision by the Responsible Official. An electronic version of the EA document and maps can be found at the Lassen National Forest website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=57968

The Yellow Creek Project is located on the Lassen National Forest on the Almanor Ranger District. The project encompasses approximately four miles of Yellow Creek within the Upper Feather River Watershed in Plumas County, CA and falls within Township 27 North, Range 6 East, Sections 27, 34, and 35 Mount Diablo Base Meridian (MDBM). The largest meadow complex within the Yellow Creek sub-watershed is Humbug Valley, which is owned by both private and federal stakeholders. This project encompasses 450 acres of federal land and includes six meadow segments, all of which drain into Humbug Valley. Humbug Valley is the ancestral land of the Mountain Maidu who refer to the valley as Tásmam Koyóm.

Treatments are proposed on approximately 324 acres of National Forest System (NFS) lands. Proposed treatment activities include both vegetation treatments such as; thinning, pile burning and hydrologic treatments as well as road maintenance and decommissioning of unauthorized non-system roads.

Submit electronic comments to: comments-pacificsouthwest-lassen-almanor@fs.fed.us

Comments submitted electronically must be in plain text (.txt), rich format (.rtf), Word (.doc or .docx), portable document format (.pdf), or an email message. Please include “Yellow Creek Watershed Project” in the subject line.

Written comments may be mailed to: Russell Nickerson, District Ranger, c/o Coye Burnett, Project Leader, Almanor Ranger District, P.O. Box 767, 900 E. Hwy 36, Chester, CA 96020 or faxed to 530-258-5194, or delivered in person Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding holidays.

The Forest Service will consider your comments to help identify issues associated with the project. Written, facsimile, hand-delivered and electronic comments concerning this action will be accepted for 30 calendar days following publication of opportunity to comment notice on the Plumas News website, the newspaper of record. The publication date in the newspaper of record is the exclusive means for calculating the comment period for this proposal. Those wishing to comment should not rely upon dates or timeframe information provided by any other source (36 CFR 218.25(a)(1)(iv)). Individuals and organizations wishing to be eligible to object must meet the information requirements of 36 CFR 218.25(a), including specific written comments as defined in 218.2 regarding the proposed project, along with supporting reasons (218.25 (a)(30(iii)). The commenter is responsible to provide the literature cited in their comment, as well as the full citation and explanation of how each piece of literature cited applies to the environmental analysis. Each individual or representative from each entity submitting timely and specific written comments regarding this project must either sign the comments or verify upon request (218.24(b)(8)). All written comments received by the responsible official become a matter of public record (218.35(b)(2)). A decision regarding this proposal is expected in May of 2021. Thank you for your interest and participation in the environmental analysis process.

Additional information regarding this project and field trip may be obtained by contacting Coye Burnett Project Leader, at coy.burnett@usda.gov.