White Fir Ridge Fuels Reduction and Forest Health (SNC1823)
Summary
SCH Number
2025120573
Public Agency
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Document Title
White Fir Ridge Fuels Reduction and Forest Health (SNC1823)
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
12/12/2025
Document Description
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) would provide funding for the California Deer Association to partner with the United States Forest Service, Inyo National Forest, to implement fuels-reduction activities on Inyo National Forest lands, adjacent to the Town of Mammoth Lakes. Current conditions of the project area include high tree density, tree mortality, and surface fuel loads, which in the event of an ignition would likely result in high-severity wildfire that would threaten the safety of the community and the stability of forest ecosystems. This project will treat at least 412 acres via conifer and understory thinning, which will reduce hazardous fuel loads, protect local communities and critical infrastructure, and establish the conditions necessary for the safe reintroduction of prescribed fire to restore natural fire regimes. These outcomes will be achieved by implementing approximately 91 acres of conifer thinning using mechanical treatments and 321 acres of understory thinning using hand-crew treatments.
Contact Information
Name
Mary Akens
Agency Name
Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Job Title
General Counsel
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Name
Lauren Archer
Agency Name
California Deer Association
Job Title
Habitat Program Manager
Contact Types
Project Applicant / Parties Undertaking Project
Phone
Email
Location
Cities
Mammoth Lakes
Counties
Mono
Regions
Northern California
Other Location Info
Directly northeast of the municipal boundary of Mammoth Lakes, between the town and Highway 395, and is located entirely within the Mammoth Ranger District on the Inyo National Forest. Project center at approximately 37.664822, -118.936900.
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 California Deer Association to work in partnership with the Inyo National Forest to conduct fuels-reduction treatments on National Forest lands. The project was reviewed in its entirety under NEPA by the Inyo National Forest in the Three Creeks Forest Health and Restoration Project Revised Environmental Assessment, with a Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact signed on January 25, 2018, as well as in the Eastern Sierra Climate and Communities Resilience Project Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact with Decision Notice signed on September 19, 2024.
County Clerk
Mono
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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