Quintette Fuel Reduction Project

The Quintette Fuel Reduction Project proposes to commercially thin 3,494 acres, and conduct other fuels treatment activities on another 1,070 acres of Eldorado National Forest. The Forest Service decided to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) for this project, which is puzzling and a serious concern since projects of this scope and size, which is a timber sale which will cover several thousand acres and result in the production of over 10 million board feet of timber, typically have an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prepared for them. The EIS allows for a more detailed analysis of the environmental impacts and is required when a project reaches the magnitude of the Quintette Project.

Just a sample of the many objections and concerns that were raised upon review of the completely inadequate analysis of the EA are:

  • The Forest Service failed to disclose the existing canopy cover and the canopy cover that will remain if the project is implemented.
  • The Forest Service did not provide detailed maps that identify unit locations and the types of treatment in relation to ecologically important features and land allocations including California spotted owl protected activity centers,, owl home range core areas, owl areas of concern, areas of late successional emphasis, threat and defense zone of the wildland urban intermix, forest carnivore sightings, and the forest carnivore network.
  • The Forest Service did not identify the maximum tree diameter that will be removed within each treatment unit,
  • The Forest Service failed to explain if trees in excess of 30 inches in diameter for hazard or operability would be removed, and if so what the basis for such logging is.
  • The Forest Service did not identify the snag and down wood retention levels that would be prescribed by the project.
  • The Forest Service did not disclose the acreage and location of planned treatments by treatment type or by land allocation.
  • The Forest Service failed to disclose the amount of planned road construction and reconstruction or analyze the impacts of these actions on habitat fragmentation and connectivity, weed invasion, increased predation, and poaching.
  • Given the risks to the California spotted owl, Pacific fisher, American marten, and Northern goshawk of implementing the 2004 Record of Decision of the Sierra Nevada Framework revisions, the Forest Service failed to take a detailed and careful look at the likely impacts on these species and their habitat due to the implementation of the project.
  • The Forest Service failed to obtain and analyze all of the required monitoring data for Sierra Nevada management indicator species and species-at-risk.
  • The Forest Service did not quantify the amount and intensity of timber harvest proposed in Riparian Conservation Areas, and Critical Aquatic Refuges.