The U.S. Forest Service is accepting public comment on a draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Trout Creek Project, which will impact 1,670 acres in the Willamette National Forest approximately 22 miles east of Sweet Home.
The document is available at http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=46279. A 45-day public comment period began Dec. 29.
The DEIS contains the Sweet Home Ranger District’s proposal to promote forest health, species diversity and complexity, provide a sustainable supply of timber products, mimic historic mixed severity fire at a landscape scale, improve fire resiliency and manage hazardous fuels and enhance hardwood habitat and diversity on 1,670 acres in the Willamette National Forest.
Four alternatives are analyzed in this DEIS: a no action alternative (Alternative 1) and three action alternatives (Alternatives 2, 3 and 4). Alternative 2 proposes 1,670 acres of treatment (including skips); Alternative 3 proposes 1,016 acres of treatment (including skips). Alternative 4 proposes 1,670 acres of treatment, but a greater volume of harvest than Alternative 2. Alternative 2 is the Forest Service preferred alternative.
According to District Ranger Nicola Swanson, proposed treatments would include commercial thinning, variable forest thinning, fuels reduction treatments and early seral creation through gaps and aggregate retention harvest. Road work would be part of the actions associated with the proposed activities and would include road maintenance/reconstruction on approximately 48 miles of forest roads and seven miles of road would be decommissioned.
Comments received in response to the proposal, including names and address of those who comment, will be considered part of the public record for the project, available for public inspection, and released if requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
Electronic, written, and oral comments will be accepted. Electronic comments will only be accepted through the Forest Service online comment system available at https://cara.ecosystem- management.org/Public//CommentInput?Project=46279. Written comments must be submitted to: Joanie Schmidgall, Sweet Home District Planner, 4431 Highway 20, Sweet Home, OR, 97386.
Comments may also be dropped off at the Sweet Home Ranger District Office, 4431 Highway 20 in Sweet Home. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. Comments can be faxed to (541) 367-2367.
For more information concerning the project, contact Joanie Schmidgall at (541) 367-3809 or District Ranger Nicola Swanson at (541) 367-3145 or visit http://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=46279.