Lime Gulch Fuel Reduction Project
Summary
SCH Number
2025101181
Public Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
(CAL FIRE)
Document Title
Lime Gulch Fuel Reduction Project
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
10/24/2025
Document Description
The project includes fuel reduction activities on 400 acres southwest of the City of Yreka in Siskiyou County, California. Project activities will reduce hazardous fuel loads by removing over-dense, dead, dying, and diseased vegetation, including shrubs and small-diameter trees. The project will decrease the risk of catastrophic wildfire by reducing horizontal and vertical fuel continuity and will connect to an adjacent community fuel break and fuel reduction project, thereby enhancing landscape-scale wildfire resilience. Treatments will be conducted by hand crews and will include manual limbing and cutting of select shrubs and trees. Vegetation targeted for removal primarily consists of dense buckbrush (Ceanothus cuneatus), Mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus betuloides), Whiteleaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos viscida), and Greenleaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos patula). Trees less than 8 inches diameter at breast height (dbh), snags which do not contain cavities, and dying or diseased trees may also be removed. Tree species within the project area consist primarily of Oregon White oak (Quercus garryana), Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), Jeffery pine (Pinus jeffreyi) and scattered Western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis). Biomass generated from treatment activities will be piled and burned or chipped. Following initial treatments, ongoing maintenance will be conducted through prescribed broadcast burns to sustain desired vegetation conditions within the site.
Contact Information
Name
Kristine Cloward
Agency Name
CAL FIRE
Job Title
Environmental Scientist
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Cities
Yreka
Counties
Siskiyou
Regions
Northern California
Total Acres
400
Township
44N
Range
07W
Section
4,5,9
Base
MDBM
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Class 4/15304 Minor Alterations to Land
Reasons for Exemption
This project fits under Class 4, §15304, Minor Alterations of Land, Categorical Exemption to CEQA. Field review by CAL FIRE staff confirmed that no exceptions apply that would preclude the use of a notice of exemption for this project. The Department has concluded that no significant environmental impact would occur to aesthetics, agriculture and forestland/timberland, air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, energy, geology and soils, greenhouse gas emissions, hazards and hazardous materials, hydrology and water quality, land use planning, mineral resources, noise, populations and housing, public services, recreation, transportation/ traffic, utilities and service systems, or to wildfire. Documentation of the environmental review completed by the Department is kept on file at CAL FIRE Siskiyou Unit Headquarters located at 1809 Fairlane Road in Yreka, CA 96097
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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