Butte Creek-Buck Mountain Project

Butte Creek-Buck Mountain Project

The Humboldt County Resource Conservation District (HCRCD) has prepared a Project-Specific Analysis and Addendum (PSA/Addendum) for the project as a later activity covered by the California Vegetation Treatment Project (CalVTP) Program Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The Butte Creek-Buck Mountain Project (project or proposed project) consists of vegetation treatments for wildfire risk reduction and forest health improvement on approximately 6,414 acres on land owned by Cottrell Ranch, LLC in Humboldt County, near Dinsmore and Bridgeville, two communities along Highway 36 in eastern Humboldt County, California. The project area consists of privately owned commercial forest and rangeland. The CalVTP treatment types that would be implemented are shaded fuel breaks, ecological restoration, and wildland-urban interface (WUI) fuel reduction. The proposed CalVTP treatment activities are mechanical vegetation treatment, manual vegetation treatment, prescribed fire, and targeted herbicide application. Biomass would be processed on-site in the form of pile burning or broadcast burning or vegetation that would be cut and piled, chipped, or lopped and scattered. Additionally, an air curtain burner may be utilized to incinerate biomass. Equipment used to implement fuel breaks, ecological restoration, and WUI fuel reduction would consist of: - Mechanical Treatments: tracked feller-bunchers, log loaders (shovels), log trucks, dump trucks, forwarders, skidders, loaders, tractors, skid steers, excavators, bulldozers, track or wheel mounted chippers, and/or track mounted masticators. - Manual Treatments: chainsaws, hand saws, brush cutters, string trimmers, chippers, and loppers. - Herbicide Application: batch truck, passenger vehicle, back-pack spray equipment, and all-terrain vehicles. - Prescribed Fire: water tender, fire truck, passenger vehicles, ATVs, drip torch or propane torch, leaf blowers, skidgine, fire hoses, bulldozers, skid steers and track mounted equipment to create fire line and other equipment suitable for fire suppression. Treatment activities would range from 3 days to 6 months for mechanical and manual treatments, 1 week to 6 months for herbicide application, and 1 day to 7 days for prescribed burns. Retreatment for maintenance of desired vegetation conditions in the areas initially treated for the proposed project would be ongoing and continuous in the treatment area, as funding and land management authorizations allow.

unincorporated area

Humboldt

Countywide, Northern California, Unincorporated

Humboldt