Decision Issued on Jack Smith – Schulz Forest Health Project

For Immediate Release

Date: August 26, 2008

Contact: Supervisor's Office (928) 527-3600

Flagstaff, AZ — The Coconino National Forest issued the Environmental Assessment (EA) and Decision Notice last week approving the Jack Smith/Schultz Fuels Reduction and Forest Health Project. This EA and Decision are the result of months of collaboration with Greater Flagstaff Forests Partnership (GFFP), a diverse, community-based group dedicated to reducing the risk of wildfire to communities and restoring ecosystem health to the ponderosa pine forests surrounding Flagstaff.  The 11,827-acre project area is north of Flagstaff, east of the San Francisco Peaks, including Schultz Pass.    

The selected alternative addresses hazardous fuel reduction to reduce flame lengths, fuel loads, and crown fire potential, and allow low to moderate surface fires to take place. In addition, it would reduce canopy cover and stand densities while restoring a diverse, uneven-age forest structure that is essential for understory diversity and wildlife habitat. To accomplish these goals, approximately 9,660 acres will be thinned and/or prescribed burned. The project also includes fencing to protect aspen regeneration on 150 acres and obliteration of 38 miles of roads which are damaging natural resources.

“This EA and Decision are the culmination of over a year of meetings, field trips, and passionate discussions over forest management in the area.  The partners who have worked together to find innovative and common solutions to forest health and fire risk concerns have added tremendous value to the project.  I am confident that this alternative will best meet the needs of the public and the forests surrounding the greater Flagstaff community, while complying with forest plan direction”, affirmed Joe Stringer, Coconino National Forest Deputy Supervisor.

The Jack Smith/Schultz Project will reduce wildfire threat to the community of Flagstaff and several adjacent urban interface areas such as Doney Park and Timberline, as well as to the Kachina Peaks Wilderness Area. It will result in a forest where low intensity fire is more likely to occur, eventually allowing for a return of fire’s natural role across the landscape. Implementation of the project will begin in spring, 2009 on approximately 1500 acres.

With this decision, environmental planning has been completed on all of the landscape scale projects within the GFFP area.  This planning includes six larger "landscape" scale projects: Fort Valley, Kachina, Woody, Mountainaire, Eastside and Jack Smith/Shultz; as well as four smaller projects: Airport, Elden, Arboretum, and Railroad.  The area under Decision now exceeds 80,000 acres surrounding Flagstaff.  With the first phase of Jack Smith/Schutlz implementation will be on-going in every GFFP project, totaling over 45,000 acres.  This planning completes the Forest Service/GFFP 10-year goals initiated in 1998 to treat forest fuels to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire and restore the natural ecosystem functions of the ponderosa pine forests within the Urban Wildland Interface surrounding Flagstaff.

This project was planned and analyzed under authorization of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA), which was designed to expedite the preparation and implementation of hazardous fuels reduction projects on federal lands.  Use of this authority helps streamline the planning process and allows implementation of the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) for the greater Flagstaff area that was developed by numerous local and state organizations and agencies. 
The Final EA, Decision Notice/FONSI, and additional information regarding this project can be found on the Coconino National Forest website at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/nepa/index.shtml.