Designated Federal Officer

enclosures

Cc:

Dick Smith, Boise NF

Suzanne Rainville, Boise NF

Mark Madrid, Payette NF

Andy Brunelle, Capitol City Coord - Idaho

Dave Olson, Boise NF

Linda Steinhaus, Boise NF

Boyd Hartwig, Payette NF

Leadership Team, Boise NF

Idaho Congressional Delegations

County Commissioners and Clerks

Maggie Mahoney, IAC

Meeting location: Idaho Counties Risk Management Program Building

3100 South Vista Avenue, Boise

10:30 AM Welcome, Meeting Objectives, and Agenda Review

(Phil Davis, RAC Chairperson)

1. Church Camp Hazardous Fuels Reduction (#04002) – Ronn Julian, Cascade Ranger District

2:45 PM Decisions to Recommend Projects (DR)

(Phil Davis, RAC Chairperson)

3:15 PM Future Meeting Dates and Location

(Phil Davis, RAC Chairperson; Randy Swick, DFO)

3:45 PM Meeting Adjourned

11. Project Description: The project would include the following treatments:

1. On Unit one (11 acres), immediately south of the Conservative Baptist Camp, the thinning of all trees 8" DBH and under to a 12 foot spacing would occur. Created slash would be limbed and bucked and left on site. Hand firelines would be constructed after the thinning activities were completed. During the fall season of that same year, using hand ignition only, this eleven acre unit would be broadcast burned.
2. Units 2 & 3 (15 total acres): All trees eight inches and less would be thinned to a crown spacing of 10 to 12 feet. The remaining trees would be pruned to a height of 5 feet. The resulting slash, as well as the existing dead and downed woody material would be piled in open areas, away from improvements and green trees, covered with plastic or other water proof material and burned in late fall or early winter.
3. Unit 4 (41 acres): No thinning of any trees greater than six feet in height would occur, due to visual constraints identified in the NEPA process. Any snags up to 8 inches would be felled, with all trees 6 foot high and less being cut. The remaining trees would be pruned to a five foot height. The created slash, as well as all existing dead and downed woody material would be hand piled, covered with plastic or other water proof material and burned in late fall or early spring.

The Payette National Forest would be a host site for two, five person Youth Conservation Corp (YCC) crews. One crew would be based out of McCall (Krassel RD) and the other operated out of Council, Idaho (Council RD). Each crew would be supervised by a skilled/experienced capable crew leader for the eight week program duration. YCC is a work/earn/learn program for locally recruited and randomly selected 15-18 year old youth (including both girls and boys). The YCC program has three primary objectives: (1) provide gainful employment for participating youth, (2) complete needed resource conservation projects on public lands, and (3) develop, in participating youth, an understanding and appreciation of the nation’s natural environment and heritage. Additional and personal objectives I intend to focus on include: (1) nurture and develop a positive work ethic in these developing youth, (2) complete resource projects safely, and (3) attain purposeful environmental education, increasing their awareness of local and national environmental issues and the interrelationships of a forest ecosystem. Key expected outcomes are multiple resource project accomplishment. Project solicitation and selection emphasizes "start to finish" projects for YCC participants. The participating youth will benefit by a broader understanding and appreciation of their National Forest management, including: forest resources, current issues, the laws, relative values and management level involved. It will provide gainful employment for locally recruited youth in economically stressed communities in rural Idaho. All projects will help attain Payette National Forest resource objectives and will have tangible resource outputs.

11. Project Description: Each YCC crew would be exposed to a variety of different resource conservation projects. Anticipated projects include: fence construction (e-wire, buck and pole, log and block, barbed wire let down), recreation facility maintenance (painting, cleanup, etc.), trail maintenance, roadside borrow ditch cleanout and litter pickup, noxious weed control (awareness, training and pulling (non-herbicide)), fuel loading surveys, Northern Idaho ground squirrel habitat enhancement (an endangered species), fishery related work (bull trout and salmon surveys, habitat parameter measurements, salmon redd counts, assisting IDFG with fish capture and tagging, core sampling, etc.), timber sale tree marking, old growth surveys, etc.

Each week long project will be led by a knowledgeable, skilled professional resource project sponsor who will emphasize the environmental management purpose and importance of the project. In addition, the YCC crews will participate in structured environmental education committed days. These will likely include scheduled and arranged interpretive educational tours of forest management facilities, environmental resource facilities, local forest resource based industries, etc. These will likely include Evergreen Forest Products lumber mill, Hells Canyon hydro-electric facilities, forest fire lookout(s), smokejumper base, fish hatcheries, etc.