McKays Strategic Fuelbreak Amendment (SNC1514.1) (SCH2023030180)
2 Documents in Project
Summary
SCH Number
2023030180
Public Agency
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Document Title
McKays Strategic Fuelbreak Amendment (SNC1514.1) (SCH2023030180)
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
4/27/2026
Document Description
Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) is amending grant agreement 1514 with the County of Calaveras to authorize the use of grant funds towards fuels reduction activities on the Calaveras Ranger District of the Stanislaus National Forest, in the wildland urban interface near the communities of Avery and Hathaway Pines. The County of Calaveras, in partnership with Stanislaus National Forest, will implement fuels reduction treatments on 230, up to 347, acres. Treatments include mastication to thin small trees and decadent brush (1-10” dbh) to increase the spacing between conifer trees, shred competing vegetation, and maintain tree diversity. Overstocked areas would be thinned to approximately 16’- 22’ spacing, leaving the most dominant and vigorously growing conifers and oak trees. Healthy sugar pine, Douglas-fir, oaks, and incense Cedar would not be removed, they would be left where their growth could be protected. Trees greater than 10” DBH will be mechanically thinned or thinned by hand to approximately 16’ to 22’ spacing, retaining the best dominant trees. Thinned trees may be chipped for biomass fuel for electric cogeneration plants, removed as sawlogs, or decked and left on site for future burning or public firewood cutting. The project is one treatment area within the Stanislaus National Forest’s larger Arnold-Avery Healthy Forest Restoration project, reviewed and authorized in 2018 per the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). All Management Requirements identified in the 2018 Arnold-Avery Healthy Forest Restoration Decision Memo will be followed.
Contact Information
Name
Andy Fristensky
Agency Name
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Job Title
Field Operations & Grants Division Chief
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Name
Jamie Andriola
Agency Name
County of Calaveras
Job Title
Deputy CEO
Contact Types
Project Applicant / Parties Undertaking Project
Phone
Location
Cities
Avery
Counties
Calaveras
Regions
Northern California
Other Location Info
In the wildland urban interface on the Calaveras Ranger District of the Stanislaus National Forest, directly adjacent to the west of the communities of Avery and Hathaway Pines, along Highway 4. Project center at approximately -120.380, 39.199 degrees.
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Statutory Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Pub. Resources Code, section 4799.05, subd. (d)(1)
Reasons for Exemption
Public Resources Code, section 4799.05 statutorily exempts from CEQA projects for prescribed fire, reforestation, habitat restoration, thinning, or fuel-reduction projects, or to related activities included in the project description, undertaken, in whole or in part, on federal lands to reduce the risk of high-severity wildfire that have been reviewed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) if the primary role of a state or local agency is providing funding or staffing for those projects. The SNC has authorized/approved the use of the funding for the County of Calaveras to work in partnership with the Stanislaus National Forest to conduct fuels-reduction treatments on national forest lands. The project was reviewed in its entirety under NEPA by the Stanislaus National Forest and authorized in the Arnold-Avery Healthy Forest Restoration Decision Memo signed on October 1, 2018.
County Clerk
Calaveras
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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