[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 84 (Friday, April 30, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23813-23814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-9797]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Final Environmental Impact Statement Fire Management Plan; 
Yosemite National Park; Madera, Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties, CA; 
Notice of Availbility

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (Pub. L. 91-190, as amended), and the Council on 
Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR part 1500-1508), the National 
Park Service, Department of the Interior, has prepared a Final 
Environmental Impact Statement identifying and evaluating four 
alternatives for a Fire Management Plan for Yosemite National Park. 
Potential impacts, and appropriate mitigations, are assessed for each 
alternative. When approved, the plan will guide all future fire 
management actions in Yosemite National Park. The Yosemite Fire 
Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement (YFMP/FEIS) 
documents the analyses of three action alternatives, and a ``no 
action'' alternative.
    An updated fire management program is needed to meet public safety, 
natural and cultural resource management, and wildland/urban interface 
protection objectives, in Yosemite National Park and the El Portal 
Administrative Site. The action alternatives vary in their schedule for 
completing ecosystem restoration and wildland/urban interface community 
protection work, and in their mix of treatments available for 
completing work. The ``no action'' alternative describes the existing 
fire management program, which has been locally effective but unable to 
restore large areas of the park and administrative site to natural 
conditions or to keep more areas from progressing to the point of 
needing restoration. As a result, incidence of catastrophic fire has 
increased in recent decades.
    Proposed Fire Management Plan: Under Alternative D, the Multiple 
Action Alternative, aggressive treatment strategies would be used in 
and near wildland/urban interface communities (homes, businesses, and 
administrative buildings) if needed, while achieving ecosystem 
restoration goals in other areas by using prescribed fire and wildland 
fire. The Multiple Action Alternative would decrease fuels in wildland/
urban interface areas over a period of 6-8 years and restore fire to 
park ecosystems in 15-20 years; and would reduce fuels an average of 
1,095 acres per year in the wildland/urban interface (6,425 acres 
total) and would restore the natural fire regime by treating between 
1,817 and 9,194 acres per year (31,503 to 160,894 acres total). The 
diameter limit for thinning of live trees has been reduced from 31.5''; 
(in the draft EIS) to 20'' in the final EIS, based on public responses 
received during the comment period. The area within which mechanical 
thinning would occur to reduce the threat of wildland fire and to 
restore more natural forest conditions was clarified in the final EIS 
to exclude Wilderness and to be limited to a \1/4\ mile wide zone 
around six wildland urban interface communities. This alternative would 
require more time to accomplish wildland/urban interface protection and 
ecosystem restoration than under Alternative B, Aggressive Action 
Alternative, but less than under Alternative A, No Action, and C, 
Passive Action Alternative. It would accomplish the work with a 
combination of NPS and other agency fire crews, the park forestry crew, 
and contract labor. As documented in the final EIS, this was also 
deemed to be the ``Environmentally Preferred'' Alternative.
    Alternatives: Under the ``no action'' alternative (Alternative A), 
the existing direction and level of accomplishment in Yosemite's fire 
management program would continue. This alternative would use the 
strategies of the existing Fire Management Plan, written in 1990. These 
strategies include prescribed fire, management of natural ignitions 
(wildland fire used for resource benefits), fire suppression, and hand 
cutting followed by pile burning and prescribed fire. This program does 
not place emphasis on wildland/urban interface communities. The Fire 
Management Units for this alternative are the same as the ``zones'' 
used in the 1990 plan: Zone I--Prescribed Natural Fire Zone; Zone II--
Conditional Fire Zone; and Zone III--Suppression Zone. Under this 
program the park has averaged 1,472 acres of prescribed burning and 
2,567 acres of managed wildland fire each year. This does not approach 
the annual target of 16,000 acres that would need to burn annually to 
simulate natural conditions. While over the last decade the park has 
reduced hazardous fuel levels near developed areas, the goal of 
providing an open defensible forest in and around every community may 
not ever be met at the current rate of work, using the current 
techniques.
    Under Alternative B, aggressive efforts would be taken to reduce 
fuels in and near developed areas (wildland/urban interface 
communities) within a period of five years and accomplish fire-related 
ecosystem restoration goals within 10-15 years. This alternative would 
reduce fuels on an average of 1,285 acres per year in the wildland/
urban interface over five years (6,425 acres total) and restore the 
natural fire regime to between 2,520 and 12,872 acres per year, for a 
total of between 31,503 and 160,894 acres over the next 10-15 years. 
Prescribed burning would be increased dramatically over present levels 
and lightning fires would be managed where practicable. Smoke emissions 
would be the greatest among the four alternatives. Work under this 
alternative would apply aggressive fuel reduction treatments to 
wildland/urban interface areas and accomplish park restoration goals in 
the least amount of time compared to the other alternatives. Median and 
maximum fire return interval departure analyses were used to determine 
locations and set annual goals (range of acres) for treatments, using 
the various restoration, maintenance, and fuel reduction strategies.
    Under Alternative C, the Passive Action Alternative, efforts would 
be taken to decrease fuels in wildland/urban interface areas within a 
period of 10 years, and accomplish ecosystem restoration goals in 25 
years. Alternative C would reduce fuels in wildland/urban interface 
areas by an average of 766 acres per year (6,425 acres total over 10 
years), and the fire regime would be restored in areas having missed 
three or more fire return intervals by treating between 1,260 and 6,436 
acres per year (31,503 to 160,894 acres over 25 years). Prescribed 
burning would be increased over what the current program accomplished 
but not as much as under Alternative B and D. Fuel reduction work under 
this alternative would apply less aggressive treatments to wildland/
urban interface areas. Under this alternative, it would take more time 
than under Alternative B and the proposed action, but less than would 
be needed under Alternative A to accomplish the park's minimum goals. 
By the time all areas were treated, however, many areas would have 
missed more fire return intervals; thus, the risk of stand replacement 
fire would remain high in some areas for a longer period. The basis for 
the difference in annual accomplishment, when comparing alternatives, 
is the time frame proposed for reaching the restoration targets and the 
type of treatments allowed. Because of this time frame, the number of 
acres to be treated each year under Alternative C would be the least 
among the action alternatives.
    Planning Background: Early preliminary scoping for the YFMP/FEIS 
was initiated in April 1999. A Notice of

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Intent was published in the Federal Register on March 20, 2001; public 
scoping comments were accepted until April 30, 2001. One planning 
meeting was held in Yosemite Valley. During this scoping period, the 
NPS held discussions and briefings with: Local communities; local 
residents and home owners associations (Forest, Wawona, Yosemite West, 
and El Portal); local, regional and state fire organizations; air 
quality regulators; other agency representatives; park staff, elected 
officials; public service organizations; and other interested members 
of the public. The major issues raised during this period are 
summarized in Chapter 1, Purpose of and Need for the Action.
    The distribution of draft EIS and YFMP began during May, 2002. A 
notice of availability of the draft document was published in the 
Federal Register on June 18, 2002; it was available for public review 
and comment through August 27, 2002. In order to facilitate public 
review and understanding of the proposed plan, public open houses were 
held during July, 2002 in Oakhurst, Mariposa, Sonora, and Mammoth 
Lakes, and on three occasions (in June, July and August) in Yosemite 
Valley. The NPS received approximately 143 written responses. All of 
these comments were duly considered in preparing the YFMP/FEIS. All 
comments obtained are preserved in the administrative record.
    The main issues and concerns expressed by the respondents included: 
the thinning of trees up to 31.5'' in diameter should not occur; 
mechanical thinning of trees to reduce wildland fire hazard and to 
restore more natural stand densities should only occur near wildland 
urban interface communities; no roads be constructed to remove 
mechanically thinned trees; that mechanical removal of trees should not 
occur in Wilderness; and that the park should not try to recreate 
forest stand compositions or densities to match a specific point in the 
past.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the YFMP/FEIS may be obtained from the 
Superintendent, Yosemite National Park, P.O. Box 577, Yosemite, CA 
95389, Attn: Fire Management Plan, or by email request to: [email protected] (in the subject line, type: Fire Management Plan). The 
YFMP/FEIS will be sent directly to those who have requested it. In 
addition, the document is to be posted on the Internet at the park's 
Web page (http://www.nps.gov/yose/planning), and it will also be 
available at local and regional libraries.
    Decision: As a delegated EIS, the official responsible for the 
final decision is the Regional Director, Pacific West Region; a Record 
of Decision may be approved by the Regional Director not sooner than 30 
days after EPA's publication of the notice of filing of the Final FMP/
EIS in the Federal Register. Notice of the final decision will be also 
posted in the Federal Register. Following approval of the Fire 
Management Plan, the official responsible for implementation will be 
the Superintendent, Yosemite National Park.

    Dated: March 26, 2004.
Jonathan B. Jarvis,
Regional Director, Pacific West Region.
[FR Doc. 04-9797 Filed 4-29-04; 8:45 am]
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