Nevada and Placer County Cooperative Landscape Resilience Project (SPI Mastication)
Summary
SCH Number
2025100631
Public Agency
Truckee Fire Protection District
Document Title
Nevada and Placer County Cooperative Landscape Resilience Project (SPI Mastication)
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
10/15/2025
Document Description
The project consists of herbicide application with follow-up mechanical mastication of shrubs and small-diameter conifers less than 10 inches DBH across approximately 571 acres of SPI-managed timberlands. The primary objective is to eliminate the continuity of surface and ladder fuels, reduce the risk of crown fire, and create a more resilient, fire-adapted forest condition. Mastication will target brush and sub-canopy conifers to break vertical fuel continuity and raise canopy base height, which will reduce potential fire intensity and severity. Retention of healthy, dominant overstory trees will be prioritized to maintain canopy cover and stand vigor. Select dead or dying trees that present a hazard to operations or public safety will be removed regardless of size, while snags suitable for wildlife habitat will be retained wherever safe to do so.
The project area consists of actively managed commercial forestlands and represents a critical component of the Truckee Fire Protection District’s landscape-scale strategy to restore forest health and reduce the risk of high-severity wildfire within the Truckee–Tahoe Wildland Urban Interface. Treatments are designed to improve stand structure, reduce excessive surface and ladder fuels, release crop trees, and enhance long-term forest productivity and carbon sequestration. The project is strategically located adjacent to large-scale federal forest management projects, ensuring landscape-level connectivity of fuel reduction treatments. This placement will help slow the spread of wildfire, provide safer access for suppression resources, and improve protection of life, property, and infrastructure for nearby communities.
Contact Information
Name
Dillon Sheedy
Agency Name
Truckee Fire Protection District
Job Title
Forester
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency / Project Applicant
Address
Phone
Name
Joseph King
Agency Name
Sierra Pacific Industries
Job Title
Tahoe District Manager
Contact Types
Parties Undertaking Project
Phone
Email
Location
Coordinates
Cities
Unincorporated Area
Counties
Placer
Regions
Northern California
Total Acres
571
State Highways
SR 89
Railways
Union Pacific Railroad
Airports
Truckee Tahoe Airport District
Schools
Truckee High School / Truckee Elementary
Waterways
Truckee River
Base
MDBM
Other Location Info
T17N, R16E Section 30,31; T17N, R15E Section 36; T16N, R16E Section 5,6
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Class 4: CCR, Title 14, Section 15304
Reasons for Exemption
The proposed project qualifies for a Categorical Exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15304, Class 4 – Minor Alterations to Land. This exemption applies to minor alterations in the condition of land, water, and vegetation that do not involve the removal of healthy, mature, or scenic trees.
The project includes selective removal of suppressed and small-diameter understory trees and brush species through hand thinning, mastication, chipping, and limited mechanical tree removal, along with targeted herbicide application to control woody brush resprouting in specific areas. Herbicide treatments are limited in scope, will be applied by licensed applicators in strict accordance with all state and federal regulations, and are necessary to ensure long-term treatment effectiveness, forest health improvement, and reduced maintenance disturbance. These actions are designed to reduce vertical and horizontal fuel continuity adjacent to developed communities, thereby significantly lowering wildfire risk and improving forest resilience.
All vegetation management activities will retain the site’s natural ability for regeneration, and the project will not result in the conversion of forestland to non-forest use. A field review was conducted by the Truckee Fire Protection District Forester, who confirmed that vegetation targeted for treatment is composed of suppressed, diseased, or overstocked understory trees and shrubs. No healthy, mature, or scenic trees will be removed. The review further determined that fuel reduction in this area is both necessary and consistent with community wildfire protection objectives. The proposed activities will not involve the taking or disturbance of any endangered, rare, or threatened species; sedimentation or adverse impacts to surface waters; or any other action that would trigger an exception to the use of a categorical exemption under CEQA Guidelines Section 15300.2. Additionally, Truckee Fire Protection District Forester has evaluated the project and determined that it will not result in significant impacts to any environmental resource area, including but not limited to aesthetics, agricultural or forestland resources, air quality, biological and cultural resources, geology and soils, greenhouse gas emissions, hydrology and water quality, land use, noise, public services, recreation, transportation, utilities, or wildfire risk.
All project documentation and environmental review records are maintained on file at Truckee Fire Protection District Station 91, 10049 Donner Pass Road, Truckee, California.
County Clerk
Placer
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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