SNFPA Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement

January 2004

Record of Decision

II. Rationale For Decision

I want to ensure a better future for the forests in the Sierra Nevada. The Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment of 2001 is a good plan, except that its methods and standards cannot reverse the damage, and growing threat, of catastrophic fires quickly enough. Large, old trees, wildlife habitat, homes and local communities will be increasingly destroyed unless the Plan is improved.

"We have dropped the proposed thinning activity, since under the current standards, no project can achieve conscientious forest management objectives," reported one District Ranger two years ago. Other Rangers concurred, they could not perform their duty.

The 2001 Plan prescribed technical solutions that do not produce needed results, or offered methods we often dare not attempt in the current Sierra Nevada. In particular, the directive of using fire itself to thin the forest is too risky to attempt many cases. The thinning guidelines were too meager. Forest protection against devastating fires in the time frame needed would not and could not occur.

Old forests, wildlife and people living in and around these forests need results. Our District Rangers in the field need results. In forest time, good results or tragic consequences are measured in decades. We must take a first step now.

I recognize that there is a broad base of support within the Forest Service, among the public, scientific community, and among regulatory agencies for the vision and goals established by the SNFPA 2001 ROD. I believe that Alternative S2 will best achieve those goals. A year-long management review, as well as the insight gained from nearly three years of implementing the ROD, including input from stakeholders, highlighted the need for refining the existing management direction for 1) old forest ecosystems; 2) aquatic, riparian, and meadow ecosystems; 3) and fire, fuels and forest health. Alternative S2 allows for full implementation of the HFQLG Forest Recovery Act and allows knowledge to be gained from moving forward with the pilot project, as it was originally envisioned. The following sections describe my rationale for selecting Alternative S2 for each of these subject areas.