United States Department of Agriculture

Sage Hen Integrated Restoration Project

Environmental Assessment and

Finding of No Significant Impact

Forest Service Boise National Forest Emmett Ranger District November 2020
For More Information Contact: 

Katherine Wood, District Ranger

Emmett Ranger District, Boise National Forest 

1857 Highway 16, Suite A

Emmett, ID 83617

Phone: 208-365-7000

Project webpage: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=56701 

Cover photos: Photo collage depicting current conditions in the Sage Hen project area.

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Sage Hen Integrated Restoration Project Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

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Contents 

Chapter 1. Need for the Proposal.....................................................................................................ii

Project Overview......................................................................................................................... 1

Where is the project located?..................................................................................................... 3

How was land management plan direction considered?............................................................ 3

Incorporation of Wildlife Conservation Principles.................................................................. 7

Why are management activities needed? ................................................................................ 10

Existing Conditions and the Need for Management Activities................................................. 11

Vegetation Composition and Structure................................................................................. 11

Transportation System Management ................................................................................... 19

Recreation Use ...................................................................................................................... 22

Social and Economic Conditions............................................................................................ 24

How would the objectives be accomplished?........................................................................... 25

Chapter 2. Proposed Action .......................................................................................................... 26

Proposed Management Activities............................................................................................. 27

Vegetation Management Activities....................................................................................... 27

Riparian Conservation Area Management Activities ............................................................ 36

Roads and Trails Management Activities.............................................................................. 37

Recreation Management Activities....................................................................................... 43

Implementation of Project Activities........................................................................................ 45

Chapter 3. Environmental Consequences..................................................................................... 45

Environmental Consequences of the Proposed Action ............................................................ 45

Issues Related to the Proposed Action.................................................................................. 45

Environmental Consequences of Taking No Action.................................................................. 49

Consistency with Applicable Laws, Regulations, and Policies................................................... 50

National Forest Management Act – Land Management Plan Consistency........................... 50

Endangered Species Act ........................................................................................................ 50

Sensitive Species.................................................................................................................... 50

National Historic Preservation Act – Section 106 Review..................................................... 51

Tribal Consultation ................................................................................................................ 52

Special Management Areas (Wilderness, Roadless, etc.) ..................................................... 52

Clean Air Act.......................................................................................................................... 53

Clean Water Act..................................................................................................................... 53

Pertinent Executive Orders ................................................................................................... 53

National Environmental Policy Act........................................................................................ 54

Finding of No Significant Impact............................................................................................ 55

Chapter 4. Agencies and Persons Consulted................................................................................. 59

Who was consulted during development of this project?........................................................ 59

Agencies, Organizations, and Individuals Contacted or Consulted during the Planning 

Process................................................................................................................................... 59

Appendices.................................................................................................................................... 60
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List of Tables

Table 1: Miles of roads and trails in the project area......................................................................... 19

Table 2. Riparian conversation area (RCA) zones and associated activities....................................... 37

Table 3: Summary of transportation system proposed actions......................................................... 38

Table 4: Implementation of remaining transportation system actions from the Third Pole project 

decision (2007)............................................................................................................................ 41

Table 5: Current and proposed amenities by campground................................................................ 44

Table 6: Effect determinations for Endangered Species Act species and habitat.............................. 50

Table 7: Sensitive species impact determinations.............................................................................. 51

Table 8: Special Management Area Compliance Determinations...................................................... 52

List of Figures

Figure 1. Project vicinity map ............................................................................................................... 4

Figure 2. Project area map.................................................................................................................... 5

Figure 3. Employees from the Boise National Forest and members of the Boise Forest Coalition 

discuss A) recreation use (August 2012) and B) impacts of the tussock moth defoliation to 

forest health and public safety at Sage Hen Reservoir (September 2018). Note the lack of 

orange/defoliated trees in the background in photo A on the left............................................ 10

Figure 4. Examples of lower-elevation ponderosa pine habitat that is departed from historical and 

desired conditions for early seral tree species composition, density, and tree size class due to 

high densities of Douglas and grand fir regeneration (November 2019)................................... 11

Figure 5. Young, densely spaced ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir stands in the nonlethal fire regime 

create high fire hazard conditions (November 2019)................................................................. 12

Figure 6. A) Legacy Douglas-fir tree with heavy defoliation by Douglas-fir tussock moth being used 

by cavity nesters. B) If the Douglas-fir in figure 6A does not survive, it would become a snag 

like this one, which is desirable for wildlife habitat. (November 2019)..................................... 12

Figure 7. Approximately 25 year old ponderosa pine plantation depicting homogenous conditions. 

(October 2019)............................................................................................................................ 13

Figure 8. A legacy ponderosa pine in the mixed 1 fire regime competes with dense growth of grand 

fir pole size trees (hardhat for scale). (November 2019)............................................................ 13

Figure 9. Landscape view from National Forest System road 625 showing extent of Douglas-fir 

tussock moth defoliation; filter applied to better contrast colors. (July 2019).......................... 14

Figure 10. A) Whitebark pine regeneration in the foreground, with dead whitebark pine in the 

background (July 2013). B) Healthy mature whitebark pine with adjacent Douglas-fir, heavily 

defoliated by Douglas-fir tussock moth (November 2019). (Snowbank Inventoried Roadless 

Area) ........................................................................................................................................... 15

Figure 11. Ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir are establishing and expanding into meadow areas in the 

nonlethal fire regime. Fire and grass/forb competition would have historically restricted 

conifer succession. (November 2019) ........................................................................................ 15

Figure 12. Landscape view of aspen stand (post-leaf fall) intermixed with conifers in the Snowbank 

Inventoried Roadless Area. (November 2019) ........................................................................... 16

Figure 13. Aspen (post-leaf fall) in the foreground is growing vigorously next to adjacent meadow 

while aspen in the background are competing with conifers. (November 2019)...................... 16

Figure 14. Unauthorized route leading into the Snowbank roadless area; route crosses Renwyck 

Creek off of National Forest System road 609G. (September 2019).......................................... 20

Figure 15. Example of impacts to riparian vegetation from dispersed camping occurring adjacent to 

an existing travel route. (Summer 2019).................................................................................... 21
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Figure 16. Boise National Forest employees and members of the Boise Forest Coalition hold 

discussions next to an undersized aquatic organism passage where Cold Springs creek crosses 

National Forest System road 625. (September 2014) ................................................................ 22

Figure 17. Shore of Sage Hen Reservoir showing the defoliation of trees from the Douglas-fir 

tussock moth outbreak; filter applied to better contrast colors. (September 2019)................. 23

Figure 18. Employees from the Boise National Forest discuss options for accommodating motorized 

use while ensuring resource protection (September 2019)....................................................... 24

Figure 19. Private inholding off National Forest System road 618 that is surrounded by Forest 

Service lands and shows high fire hazard in the nonlethal fire regime. (November 2019) ....... 24

Figure 20: Dispersed camping in the project area (photo A, July 2019; photo B, November 2019).. 25

Figure 21. Anticipated temporal sequencing of timber sale areas within the project area............... 30

Figure 22. Anticipated spatial sequencing of timber sale areas within the project area................... 30

Figure 23. A decision process to determine if other alternatives should be implemented to minimize 

mortality in legacy ponderosa pine (Jain et al. 2012)................................................................. 34

Figure 24. Members of the local community visit with a transportation engineer from the Boise 

National Forest about proposed changes to the project area transportation system............... 38

Figure 25. View of western portion of the project area..................................................................... 59
Boise National Forest

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Chapter 1. Need for the Proposal

The U.S. Forest Service proposes to implement the Sage Hen Integrated Restoration Project

(project) on the Emmett Ranger District of the Boise National Forest. The project proposes to meet 

natural resource management objectives with a variety of activities. These objectives are based on 

multiple-use management in compliance with the Boise National Forest Land and Resource 

Management Plan (forest plan, as amended in 2010).

This environmental assessment was prepared to determine whether implementation of the project

may significantly affect the quality of the human environment and thereby require the preparation 

of an environmental impact statement. The preparation of this environmental assessment fulfills 

agency policy and direction to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The 

project is subject to the provisions of Subparts A and B of 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 218.

Project Overview 

The project was developed at a landscape scale. Managing at the landscape scale (the Upper Squaw 

Creek watershed) provides the opportunity to consider all elements of the ecosystem to ensure 

optimal biodiversity and maintain resilience and integrity, while increasing the options for 

management and allowing for endemic levels of disturbance. Restoring desired conditions within 

the historical range of variability and emulating natural disturbance processes within individual 

forested stands and across landscapes contributes to species conservation and recovery. 

Implementation of the project is in the public interest to address critical health and safety needs, 

including reduction of hazardous fuels and removal of hazard trees to reduce risks to firefighter and 

public safety and allow for continued access on the forest. If the Forest Service does not address 

these needs soon it will affect the Boise National Forest’s ability to treat these areas economically

and removal of fuels could become cost-prohibitive, resulting in further build-up of hazardous fuels 

and area closures on the national forest. 

Sustainable timber harvest keeps local workers employed and mills operating, and the project would 

support these livelihoods and economies. The project area also provides numerous year-round 

recreation opportunities for local communities and the rapidly growing Boise metropolitan area. 

Managing vegetative communities for forest plan desired conditions supports wildlife species that 

co-evolved with these communities ensuring hunting, fishing, trapping and wildlife watching 

opportunities persist and supports services provided by outfitters and guides and concessionaires.

As such, the Forest Service is proposing activities in the project area to:

• Manage and restore vegetation conditions to improve landscape resiliency and resistance to 

natural disturbances (insects and diseases, wildfire, etc.) occurring at uncharacteristic scope 

and scale. 

• Conserve or restore habitat for wildlife species that depend on low-elevation, old forest 

habitats within the nonlethal and mixed 1 fire regimes (see descriptions in the Existing 

Conditions and the Need for Management Activities section below). 

• Maintain or improve aquatic habitat and watershed conditions. 

• Improve and manage recreation opportunities. 

• Support local and regional economies and livelihoods. 
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Given the large project area and ongoing disturbance agent activity (see Vegetation Composition 

and Structure discussion under the Existing Conditions and the Need for Management Activities 

section), the Boise National Forest is using a condition-based management approach on this project 

to provide flexibility to address changing conditions on the ground over the project’s approximate 

20-year implementation timeframe. The condition-based management approach also allows 

resources (for example, personnel and budget) to be used more efficiently at the landscape scale. 

Considering the time that could elapse between the decision and implementation, outlining how 

treatments would occur across the landscape, while providing flexibility to use the most current 

site-specific information, would result in a more efficient and effective approach to achieving 

desired outcomes. For example, if additional survey data identifies a commercial harvest unit meets 

conditions for old forest habitat, that stand would be dropped from commercial harvest to align 

with restoration objectives. Surveys would be completed post-decision and closer to when actual 

implementation would occur, thereby reducing the need for additional surveys to capture changes 

that could occur between pre-decision surveys and post-decision implementation.

The existing conditions, the needs for management action, and the effects analysis for this project 

are based on a mixture of mid- and fine-scale data obtained from robust forest data sources such as

INFRA, FSVEG, corporate databases (federal and state), GIS data, and resource surveys. This data 

was and will continue to be complemented with location-specific data obtained through resource 

surveys. Resource specialist reports and other documentation in the project record further describe 

these data sources and how data was utilized.

The proposed action, which is described in chapter 2, identifies the management actions (also see 

Appendix A: Activity Cards) that would be taken to meet project objectives and the design features 

(see Appendix B: Design Features) that would be implemented when certain on-the-ground 

conditions are present (see Appendix C: Vegetation Condition-Based Management Guide). The steps 

by which conditions would be validated prior to implementation is described in the project 

implementation guide (see Appendix E: Implementation Guide). Using this approach satisfies NEPA 

because there is validation of data and assumptions relied upon in the analysis prior to 

implementation. The Forest Service will follow direction in its NEPA Handbook (FSH 1909.15)

regarding evaluation of new information and changed circumstances and requirements that could 

trigger correction, supplementation or revision to this environmental assessment. 

The activities that would be undertaken in this project are the same activities that have been 

carried out on the Boise National Forest and other national forests for many years and for which the 

effects of those activities are well understood. As project activities would be accomplished over a 

landscape scale, resource specialists completed their analysis using a conservative approach, 

analyzing all project acres deemed feasible and appropriate for treatment. The range of anticipated 

treatment acres below this maximum threshold is discussed further in chapter 2. Project effects are 

summarized in chapter 3 of this environmental assessment and additional details of the analyses 

are provided in resource specialist reports (available on the project webpage at 

https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=56701).

Implementation of the project would address the social, economic and environmental needs 

described in this environmental assessment, such as restoration of patch size and pattern of 

departed low-elevation, late-seral landscapes to connect and restore wildlife habitat, reduction of 

hazardous fuels buildup that increases fire severity, smoke impacts to communities, risk to public 

and firefighter safety and sediment delivery to fish-bearing streams, and ensure the forest can 
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continue to provide the multiple uses and benefits for which it was designated. The ultimate 

objective of the project is to provide a forest that is resilient to a changing climate, increased use 

and associated disturbances, and a safer forest for the public to enjoy while protecting resources, 

supporting rural communities and local and regional economies and restoring habitat for those 

species who depend upon it.

Where is the project located? 

As depicted in figure 1, the project is located along the northwestern boundary of the Boise 

National Forest and is about 50 miles north of Boise, Idaho. Figure 2 shows a more detailed 

overview of the project area, which is located on the west side of the Emmett Ranger District, 

within Gem and Valley counties, and is part of the Sage Hen Reservoir Management Area 16, as 

described in the forest plan (pages III-309 to III-321). The project boundary is consistent with the 

ridgeline of the Upper Squaw Creek watershed—an ecological boundary that allows for a more 

complete approach to restoration—and totals nearly 67,800 acres. The west side of the project area 

incorporates private lands, with Bureau of Land Management, state and private lands also adjacent 

to the project area boundary. The east side of the project area encompasses a portion of the 

Snowbank Inventoried Roadless Area. 

How was land management plan direction considered? 

In addition to applicable forestwide standards and guidelines in the forest plan, the management 

prescription categories and resource area standards and guidelines for Management Area 16 also 

apply. Management Area 16 and forestwide standards and guidelines have been considered during 

the development of this project as follows:

• informed areas that were/would be considered for certain management activities;

• informed areas that have been/would be eliminated from certain management activities; 

and/or 

• informed types of management activities proposed and/or were incorporated as design 

criteria to guide implementation of applicable management activities (see Appendix B: Design 

Features).
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Figure 1. Project vicinity map
Sage Hen Integrated Restoration Project Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

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Figure 2. Project area map
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The proposed management activities would accomplish or move toward accomplishing the 

following goals and objectives for the Sage Hen Reservoir Management Area 16: 

Soil, Water, Riparian, and Aquatic Resources

• Maintain or restore bull trout habitat in Third Fork and Squaw-Pole subwatersheds. (Goal 

1608)

• Initiate restoration of watershed conditions and fish habitat in the Squaw-Pole subwatershed 

to help strengthen the local bull trout population. (Objective 1609)

Wildlife

• Focus source habitat restoration activities within the Upper Squaw Creek1 (5th level hydrologic 

unit code (HUC) 1705012203) watershed in areas field-verified to have good-to-excellent 

conditions for restoration of old forest pine stands. A primary objective of treatment should 

be to expand the overall patch size of old forest habitat. (Refer to Conservation Principles 2 

and 3 in appendix E of the forest plan.) (Objective 1672). 

• Reduce open road densities within the Upper Squaw Creek (5th level HUC 1705012203) 

watershed where it is determined that they limit use of source habitats by wildlife identified 

as threatened, endangered, proposed or candidate species or Region 4 Sensitive species. 

(Refer to Conservation Principles 5 and 6 in appendix E of the forest plan.) (Objective 1673)

Vegetation, Timberland, and Fire

• Restore and maintain western larch as an early seral species component in potential 

vegetation group (PVG) 6 (Cool Moist Grand Fir) vegetation group, as described in appendix A 

[of the forest plan] in all the watersheds in the management area. (Objective 1621)

• Restore PVG 2 (Warm Dry Douglas-fir/Moist Ponderosa Pine), PVG 5 (Dry Grand Fir) and PVG

6 (Cool Moist Grand Fir) vegetation groups as described in appendix A [of the forest plan] 

emphasizing the large tree size class in all the watersheds in the management area. (Objective 

1622)

• Manage vegetation in riparian areas to reduce the threat of uncharacteristic wildfire. 

(Objective 1624)

• Manage suited timberlands for a sustained yield, even flow of forest products, while reducing 

sediment delivery and moving toward desired vegetation conditions. (Objective 1646)

• Reduce the hazard from uncharacteristic wildfire and insect epidemics, with primary 

emphasis on forestland supporting ponderosa pine. (Objective 1647)

• Initiate prescribed fire and mechanical treatments within wildland- urban interface areas to 

reduce fuels and wildfire hazards. Coordinate with local and tribal governments, agencies, 

and landowners in the development of County Wildfire Protection Plans that identify and 

prioritize hazardous fuels treatments within wildland-urban interface to manage fuel loadings 

to reduce wildfire hazards. (Objective 1655)

1 The Little Squaw (5th level HUC 1705012214) and Lower North Fork Payette (5th level HUC 1705012301) watersheds 

described in the forest plan have since been combined into the Upper Squaw Creek (5th level HUC 1705012203) watershed.
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• Coordinate with adjacent land managers (Bureau of Land Management, State of Idaho, 

Payette National Forest) to develop compatible wildland fire suppression strategies. 

(Objective 1657)

• Evaluate and incorporate methods to help prevent weed establishment and spread from road 

management activities in the Kennedy Creek, Cottonwood-Pine, Sage Hen, Third Fork Squaw 

Creek, and High Valley subwatersheds. Methods to consider include:

♦ When decommissioning roads, treat weeds before roads are made impassable.

♦ Schedule road maintenance activities when weeds are least likely to be viable or spread.

♦ Blade from least to most infested sites.

♦ Consult or coordinate with the district noxious weed coordinator when scheduling road 

maintenance activities.

♦ Periodically inspect road systems and rights of way.

♦ Avoid accessing water for dust abatement through weed-infested sites or utilize 

mitigation to minimize weed seed transport. (Objective 1664)

Recreation and Transportation

• Assess impacts from dispersed recreation sites and off-road motorized use to soil and water 

resources throughout the management area. Reduce identified impacts through site 

hardening, relocation, decommissioning, travel management, or other appropriate means. 

(Objective 1632)

• Continue use and maintenance of gravel pit sites and evaluate and locate new sources of 

gravel. (Objective 1662)

Incorporation of Wildlife Conservation Principles 

Forest vegetation treatments focus on restoration of desired structure and composition, which 

often necessitates tree density reduction, impacting wildlife species that prefer closed-canopied 

conditions, while favoring those that prefer open-canopied conditions (Jain et al. 2012). The tradeoff from decreasing closed-canopy habitats in order to create open canopied habitats for wildlife 

species was acknowledged and analyzed in the forest plan (as amended in 2010). It is expected that 

projects with a large proportion of their area in a nonlethal or mixed 1 fire regime could have a 

larger impact to wildlife species that use closed-canopied conditions since those types of stands are 

targeted for restoration. While some of these tradeoffs are moderated with Design Features, an

approach that integrates wildlife considerations can (1) restore open-canopied desired structure 

and composition in patch sizes and locations sufficient to support reproduction and interaction of 

reproducing individuals; and (2) provide for habitat patches for species that prefer closed-canopied 

conditions, where it is most appropriate to do so on the landscape.

In terms of the proposed vegetation treatments, important habitat elements include sensitivity of 

habitat, tree or cover type, density, diameter of the trees, canopy cover, patch size, fragmentation 

and edge effects, snags, down wood, and connectivity. Incorporating these wildlife habitat elements 

and their importance will help to improve integrated restoration treatments. Understanding these 

elements in space and through time provides the basis for treatment proposals that can integrate 

forest composition and structure (in other words, desired conditions) at multiple scales to meet 

multiple resource management objectives.
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Additionally, the spatial relationship of habitat patches has bearing on ecological functions and 

processes. Blocks of habitat that are close together, interconnected with other blocks across a 

landscape (not fragmented), and away from anthropogenic disturbances (for example, the 

Snowbank Inventoried Roadless Area) provide the best habitat in the short and long-term. Habitat is 

functionally enhanced by larger patch sizes, patches closer together rather than further apart, and 

higher connectivity between patches.

Connectivity generally refers to movement among animal populations in vegetation corridors, with 

more precise terms such as emigration and immigration used to describe the nature of the 

movement. Providing for habitat connectivity can stabilize local wildlife populations, facilitate 

interactions between individuals and decrease the likelihood of extirpation (no longer exists in a 

specific area), and maintains genetic variation.

Connectivity can be accomplished in multiple ways: proximity of habitat patches to each other, by 

using vegetative corridors, and/or by terrain features (such as ridgelines and waterways). Vegetative 

corridors can be particularly important as dispersal routes for mammals, reptiles, and amphibians to 

recolonize habitat following disturbance or to establish new territories and/or to reproduce. Wildlife 

species tend to not live in corridors but primarily use them as an avenue for movement. Corridors 

are dynamic and can be created or removed over time and space, a change that is often dependent 

on wildlife needs. In some cases, such as in riparian areas, which have many unique attributes that 

favor multiple species, corridors may be present and protected for long periods of time. Corridors 

can complement restoration treatments since they can contribute to creating heterogeneity in 

fuels, altering fire behavior and effects, and providing a diverse spatial patch and pattern. It is 

important to understand the historical role fire played in shaping vegetation corridors to help 

determine current desired conditions (Quigley et al. 1997a). Definitions of connectivity in terms of 

the seral stages of vegetation and what constitutes a corridor for a specific wildlife species are a 

scale-dependent issue.

To help address the afore mentioned habitat needs for the Sage Hen project, three species are 

identified to represent broad landscape habitat requirements: white-headed woodpecker, 

flammulated owl, and northern goshawk. Treatment considerations for wildlife habitat are 

categorized into two categories: restoration of relatively open-canopied conditions that include 

structurally diverse late-seral, mid seral and young forest patches for nesting, roosting and foraging 

habitat and conservation of closed-canopied late seral and old forest patches.

Desired Closed-Canopied Wildlife Habitat

Compared to historical conditions, source habitats—including old-forest habitats and late seral, 

mostly closed-canopy habitats—in the low- and mid-elevation ponderosa pine forests have 

experienced the greatest change and have become much smaller in patch size, simplified in 

structure, homogenized within these patches, and increasingly fragmented. These habitats are 

particularly important for flammulated owl, northern goshawk and Townsend’s warbler nesting 

habitat. White-headed woodpeckers may also use this habitat when canopies are below 50 percent.

Appendix E of the forest plan estimates 19 to 35 percent of potential vegetation group (PVG) 6 

(which dominates the landscape) was historically old forest habitat on the Forest. This range 

provides a scientifically informed ecological target for the landscape. Historically, the large tree size 

class dominated the landscape, comprising 40 to 69 percent of acres (table A-5 in the forest plan), 

which is inclusive of old forest habitat. While few stands meet all the desired metrics of old forest 
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habitat, conserving source habitat components and relatively closed-canopy conditions (equal to or 

greater than 40 percent canopy cover) is an important element of landscape ecology. Closed-canopy 

conditions can still be resilient, especially when fire is managed to increase canopy base height and 

overstory shading reduces the growth rate of understory fuels (Jain et al. 2007).

Considerations for managing desired closed-canopied wildlife habitat

Using occurrence data for northern goshawks, flammulated owls, and even white-headed 

woodpeckers can help prioritize optimal locations to use as a foundation for managing a patch of 

this habitat. Optimal locations can then be built upon to increase the patch size, if needed, to 

provide an area large enough to support reproducing individuals. Defining conditions such as 

focusing on PVGs 1 through 6 and stands with remnant old forest attributes such as legacy trees, 

large diameter live and dead trees, large downed logs, large patches with limited or no motorized 

road influence, etc. can be used as screens. Stands identified for dense-canopied wildlife habitat 

management should be prescribed a conservation treatment, as defined in the Vegetation 

Condition-Based Management Guide (appendix C of this environmental assessment). While 

prescribed fire is an ideal restoration treatment within these fire-driven disturbance habitat blocks, 

no treatment is also an acceptable option. An effort should be made to designate 19 to 35 percent 

of the PVGs 1 through 6 landscape to be retained in a closed-canopied condition, with ideal block 

sizes ranging from 500 to 900 acres in size.

Habitat types vary according to microsites across the landscape and within stands, implying that 

species composition should be adjusted accordingly for any species considered more seral within a 

stand. For example, if a stand is typed as PVG 4, but has pockets of PVG 5 (upper ridge), the 

ponderosa pine within the stand should count towards desired compositions.

Stands with an abundance of legacy trees (equal to or greater than 8 per acre) that are not of seral 

species and do not meet the desired species composition described in table E-2 of the forest plan, 

but meet the desired large tree canopy cover for old forest habitat and are adjacent to similar 

closed-canopy wildlife habitat blocks should be managed with a conservation prescription. Due to 

the lack of old forest habitat across the landscape, metrics in table E-2 of the plan should be viewed 

as a goal, providing flexibility to conserve stands that have a large component of old forest habitat, 

even when they do not meet all of the identified metrics.

Desired Open-Canopied Wildlife Habitat

Restoration treatments designed to promote resilient landscapes and desired conditions for 

vegetation typically result in more open-canopied conditions following treatment. For this reason, 

open-canopied habitat is identified as a post treatment condition, following identification of closedcanopied wildlife habitat blocks.

Considerations for managing desired open-canopied wildlife habitat

Large tree, open canopied conditions historically dominated the lower elevation nonlethal and 

mixed 1 fire regimes, but canopy and tree densities within and among stands were heterogenous, 

occurring in groups and clumps with patches of higher densities and scattered openings. Stands 

were uneven-aged and dominated by early seral species. Treatments identified for the Sage Hen 

project are designed to foster similarly resilient, ecologically diverse conditions that support wildlife 

habitat through the planning cycle.
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Blocks of open-canopied wildlife habitat should be large and somewhat contiguous. Using whiteheaded woodpecker occurrence data to target habitat blocks at least 800 to 900 acres in size would 

help to ensure blocks are functional and sufficient to support a pair of white-headed woodpeckers.

Characteristics such as the number of large diameter trees per acre, presence of legacy trees, and 

areas with minimal or no motorized road or trail access could be used to build a network of quality, 

functioning habitat across the landscape.

Why are management activities needed? 

Since 2012, the Boise National Forest has been discussing the need for management actions on the 

west side of the Emmett Ranger District with the Boise Forest Coalition (see figure 3). Those 

discussions, along with goals and objectives outlined in the forest plan and current conditions on 

the ground, have informed management objectives for the project area. The following discusses in 

detail the existing conditions in the project area and the need for management activities to achieve 

desired conditions.

Figure 3. Employees from the Boise National Forest and members of the Boise Forest Coalition discuss 

A) recreation use (August 2012) and B) impacts of the tussock moth defoliation to forest health and 

public safety at Sage Hen Reservoir (September 2018). Note the lack of orange/defoliated trees in the 

background in photo A on the left. 
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Existing Conditions and the Need for Management Activities

Vegetation Composition and Structure

Objective 1:

Manage forest structure and species composition to develop and maintain a resilient landscape. 

Emulate disturbance processes to trend forested and non-forested vegetative communities toward 

desired amounts, patch sizes and patterns as described in the forest plan.

Existing Condition

Surface fuel loads and ladder fuels have increased and species composition has been altered due to 

multiple missed fire cycles, particularly in nonlethal and mixed 1 fire regimes. This has created 

conditions that would contribute to a heightened risk of habitat loss and threats to public health 

and firefighter safety if uncharacteristic fire events were to occur. The exclusion of fire has also 

decreased biotic diversity, patch size, nutrient cycling, biochemical processes and habitat for cavity 

nesting wildlife, in particular white-headed woodpecker and flammulated owl. (see figure 4 and 

figure 5).

General Conditions in Nonlethal and Mixed 1 Fire Regimes

Nonlethal fire regimes have a fire return interval of 5 to 25 years, with fire intensity resulting in 

equal to or less than 10 percent mortality. The resulting vegetation patterns are relatively 

homogenous with small patches generally less than 1 acre of different seral stages, densities and 

compositions creation from mortality.

Mixed 1 fire regimes have a fire return interval of 5 to 70 years, with fire intensity resulting in 

greater than 10 to 50 percent mortality. The resulting vegetation patterns are relatively 

homogenous with patches created from mortality ranging in size from less than 1 to 600 acres of 

different seral stages, densities and compositions (forest plan, page A-3). 

Figure 4. Examples of lower-elevation ponderosa pine habitat that is departed from historical and 

desired conditions for early seral tree species composition, density, and tree size class due to high 

densities of Douglas and grand fir regeneration (November 2019)
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Figure 5. Young, densely spaced ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir stands in 

the nonlethal fire regime create high fire hazard conditions (November 2019)

Many legacy trees (ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, grand fir, and Engelmann spruce; see figure 6A) 

were removed during past timber management that used high grading, which is the practice of 

removing the most merchantable trees. This removed the more resilient specimens of desired seral 

tree species and disrupted patch sizes and distributions within forest stands and across the 

landscape. Removal of old forest habitat components (legacy trees, snags, and large coarse woody 

debris) has reduced functional habitat and extended timeframes needed to create desired old 

forest habitat patch sizes and connectivity across the landscape.

Figure 6. A) Legacy Douglas-fir tree with heavy defoliation by Douglas-fir 

tussock moth being used by cavity nesters. B) If the Douglas-fir in figure 6A 

does not survive, it would become a snag like this one, which is desirable for 

wildlife habitat. (November 2019)
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Due to fire exclusion and past management practices, many managed forested areas within the 

project area are uniform (or homogenous) in their composition and structure. Within stand 

structure is evenly spaced, generally of uniform height, and there is often a lack of large diameter 

standing dead (snags) and downed wood. A dominance of late-successional, shade tolerant tree 

species also exists across the landscape. Increased density from missed disturbance cycles (such as

wildfire) has created stress as trees compete for limited nutrients and resources (see figure 7 and 

figure 8). 

Figure 7. Approximately 25 year old ponderosa pine plantation depicting 

homogenous conditions. (October 2019)

Figure 8. A legacy ponderosa pine in the mixed 1 fire regime competes with 

dense growth of grand fir pole size trees (hardhat for scale). (November 2019)
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Altogether, these conditions have made forests more susceptible to epidemic insect outbreaks, as 

both bark beetles and defoliators can take advantage of decreased resiliency to mount a successful 

attack. Disturbance agents (such as insects, diseases, and drought) often interact and can 

compound stress on forest communities, which respond differently depending on their composition 

and structure. For example, defoliation from Douglas-fir tussock moth, when combined with 

drought, increases the likelihood for bark beetle populations to build and results in elevated levels 

of tree mortality. The effect of these disturbance agents is amplified when stands are dominated by 

more susceptible tree species (including Douglas-fir and grand fir) and composition, as observed 

throughout the project area (see figure 9).

Figure 9. Landscape view from National Forest System road 625 showing extent of Douglas-fir 

tussock moth defoliation; filter applied to better contrast colors. (July 2019)

General Conditions in Mixed 2 and Lethal Fire Regimes

Mixed 2 fire regimes have a fire return interval of 70 to 300 years, with fire intensity resulting in 

greater than 50 to 90 percent mortality. The resulting vegetation patterns are relatively diverse with 

patches created by mixes of mortality and unburned or underburned areas ranging in size from less 

than 1 to 25,000 acres of different seral stages, densities and compositions.

Lethal fire regimes have a fire return interval of 100 to 400 years, with fire intensity resulting in 

greater than 90 percent mortality. The resulting vegetation patterns are relatively homogenous with 

patches sometimes greater than 25,000 acres of similar seral stages, densities and compositions. 

Small inclusions of different seral stages, densities and compositions often result from unburned or 

underburned areas (forest plan, page A-3). 

Whitebark pine ecosystems were historically maintained by periodic fire that reduced competition 

with other conifer species and created small openings preferred by Clark’s nutcrackers for caching 

whitebark pine seed. Lack of fire in the Snowbank Inventoried Roadless Area has increased 

competition to whitebark pine tree from subalpine fir and other conifer species. This has 

accelerated successional replacement of whitebark pine by shade-tolerant conifer species (see 

figure 10). 
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Figure 10. A) Whitebark pine regeneration in the foreground, with dead whitebark pine in the 

background (July 2013). B) Healthy mature whitebark pine with adjacent Douglas-fir, heavily defoliated 

by Douglas-fir tussock moth (November 2019). (Snowbank Inventoried Roadless Area)

Conifer succession and fire suppression in non-forested communities, such as grasslands and 

meadows, has reduced species diversity and desired composition. In addition, early-seral (or preforest) communities lack structural diversity, primarily from harvest practices which have reduced 

snag and large woody debris components. Aggressive reforestation strategies and high-density 

planting have further limited the duration the early succession stages would have persisted on the 

landscape and reduced opportunities for multi-cohort (uneven-aged) establishment.

Meadows are the result of historical and ongoing geomorphic, hydrologic, and biological processes. 

The processes that produce and maintain meadow systems vary through the project area. Conifer 

encroachment into meadows is common throughout the project area, which changes the processes 

(hydrology, wildfire, grazing, etc.) that maintain meadows and reduces biological diversity at the 

meadow and landscape levels (see figure 11). 

Figure 11. Ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir are establishing and expanding into 

meadow areas in the nonlethal fire regime. Fire and grass/forb competition 

would have historically restricted conifer succession. (November 2019)
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General Conditions for Aspen (found in all fire regimes)

Past disturbance from timber harvest and fuels treatments have resulted in aspen regenerating in 

old plantations. Conifer trees are interspersed in the aspen clumps in many of these stands and will 

eventually compete with the aspen. Elsewhere in the project, fire suppression has interrupted 

natural disturbance patterns on the landscape and aging aspen clones are not reproducing due to 

the absence of disturbance (see figure 12 and figure 13). 

Figure 12. Landscape view of aspen stand (post-leaf fall) intermixed with 

conifers in the Snowbank Inventoried Roadless Area. (November 2019)

Figure 13. Aspen (post-leaf fall) in the foreground is growing vigorously next 

to adjacent meadow while aspen in the background are competing with 

conifers. (November 2019)
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Need for Management Activities

There is a need to implement vegetation treatments and reintroduce fire into the landscape to 

restore ecosystem processes and function that foster landscape diversity and achieve desired 

vegetation conditions within fire regimes.

Landscape diversity allows for historical disturbance processes to occur at moderate levels within 

the various vegetation types with low risks for uncharacteristic disturbance. A naturally patchy 

landscape is desired as this would separate susceptible stands from each other, preventing insect 

populations from reaching epidemic proportions (Van Pelt 2008). Conditions that emulate historical 

levels of disturbance result in the highest level of ecosystem functionality and species diversity, 

which is important to overall landscape resiliency (Huston 1979, Biswas and Mallik 2010, White and 

Jentsch 2001, Petraitis et al. 1989). 

For stands within the nonlethal or mixed 1 fire regimes, it is desirable to build upon existing 

structure and species composition components to move towards the following types of conditions

in the future: 

• Have a broken-to-continuous canopy cover of large, single or multi-aged trees in the same 

stand. 

• Patchy understory with heterogeneous inclusions of seedlings and saplings. The understory 

could be absent on dry sites with more frequent fire return intervals. 

• Generally have greater than 30 percent canopy cover in the large tree size class with species 

composition that is greater than 60 percent ponderosa pine. 

• Uneven aged-stand with more diversity in age classes than size classes (for example, the large 

tree size class can span hundreds of years with numerous age classes).

• Have a presence of remnant legacy ponderosa pine trees, along with remnant legacy trees of 

other species (for example, Douglas-fir, grand fir, western larch, Engelmann spruce) and stand 

conditions are conducive to fostering large diameter snags. 

• Have large downed logs in stands at amounts within desired ranges for their potential 

vegetation groups. Recruitment of large logs occurs through natural creation and decay of 

large diameter snags.

While some stands may not require a great deal of management to develop these desired 

conditions, others could require multiple management actions over a longer period of time 

(perhaps more than 100 years). At any point in time, stands across the project area will be in various 

stages of development, with some areas meeting desired conditions (including old forest habitat) 

and others trending toward this condition. Given the dominance of mixed fire regimes in this 

landscape, a diversity of structural conditions in numerous small to large patches should exist. 

Although proposed activities in the project would incrementally increase the representation of 

acres in early seral conditions, approaching more desired amounts, late seral species would still 

exist within a mosaic of different age classes or seral stages across the project area and over time, 

consistent with the spatial pattern of a mixed fire regime.
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To achieve the desired landscape diversity and vegetation conditions, there are more specific needs 

to accomplish the following when implementing vegetation management activities and 

reintroducing fire:

• Manage for characteristic landscape diversity in all structural and successional stages and 

create and maintain stand diversity, from old forest habitat to structurally complex earlyseral (or pre-forest) and non-forest communities. This includes reducing homogeneity in 

structure, increasing the composition of shade intolerant early seral species (for example,

ponderosa pine, western larch, aspen, and whitebark pine) and increasing the proportion of 

large and old trees. 

• Reduce conifer encroachment to allow for desirable wet and dry meadow function and 

species diversity. Reduced conifer encroachment would promote diverse natural communities 

by maintaining unique plant assemblages and providing habitat and forage for birds, small 

mammals and other wildlife species. 

• Manage conifer succession within aspen clones to improve the extent and diversity of aspen 

for wildlife species, such as cavity nesting birds, elk or ruffed grouse that feed on bark, suckers 

or buds for winter forage. Multi-aged stands of aspen with few conifers (exception being 

existing legacy trees of any species) and vigorous understory, mid-story, and over-story 

growth are desirable. It is preferred that aspen stands include both living and dead (snags) 

structure in the clones and have a diverse vegetative understory. Restored aspen stands are a 

biodiverse hotspot for fungi, flowering plants, insects and small mammals—all of which drive 

multiple food webs for other wildlife species. 

• Manage vegetation conditions (species composition and structure) in riparian areas and 

adjacent areas to maintain and improve riparian function and ecological processes. Properly 

functioning riparian areas provide for water quality, sediment filtration, stream channel 

stability, floodplain maintenance and healthy riparian and aquatic habitats as identified in the 

forest plan desired condition for soil, water and aquatic resources. 

• Maintain old forest2 habitat components where present and promote achievement of old 

forest habitat conditions in low- to mid-elevation forests for the medium and the large tree 

size classes. Accelerate development of the large tree size class to achieve desired 

percentages (forest plan tables A-5 and E-3).

• Facilitate characteristic high elevation disturbances to improve whitebark pine resiliency by 

incrementally and strategically reducing hazardous fuels and the risk of undesirable wildfire 

effects. There is also a need to create or maintain openings to promote seed germination 

and regeneration of whitebark pine, which would attract Clark’s nutcracker. 

For additional discussion on existing and desired conditions, see the Vegetation Condition-Based 

Management Guide (appendix C). 

2 Old forest components are described in appendix E of the forest plan (page E-25) and include tree size class, canopy cover, species 

composition, snags, and coarse woody debris desired conditions by potential vegetation group. Other stand structural components are 

also important (forest plan, pages E-23 through E-30) but are not easily derived from data, including within-stand patchiness, canopy 

gaps, and decadence.
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Transportation System Management

Objective 2a: 

Manage towards a minimum road system that takes into consideration future management needs, 

impacts to aquatic and terrestrial habitat, and current and anticipated multiple uses.

Objective 2b: 

Restore unneeded roads to a more natural state to reduce fragmentation of landscapes and improve 

habitat quality for wildlife species.

Objective 2c: 

Improve access to habitat for bull trout in the Squaw Creek watershed. 

Existing Condition

The existing transportation system, including the authorized system (see table 1) and the 

establishment of unauthorized routes, was primarily developed over the last 50 years from past 

management activities and other uses (such as recreation) occurring in the project area. The system 

evolved in the 1990s to include an extensive motorized trail system co-located on authorized system 

roads.

Table 1: Miles of roads and trails in the project area

Description*

Total 

(miles)

County Roads 15.6

National Forest System Road Maintenance Level* 3 – Suitable for Passenger Cars 70.6

National Forest System Road Maintenance Level 2 – High Clearance Vehicles 34.4 

National Forest System Road Maintenance Level 2 – High Clearance Vehicles (administrative 

use only) 2.4

National Forest System Road Maintenance Level 1 – Basic Custodial Care (closed to all 

motorized uses/state of storage) 111.7

National Forest System Motorized Trail 50.0

National Forest System Non-Motorized Trail 23.4

*All road maintenance levels listed are Operational Maintenance Levels as defined in Forest Service Handbook 7709.58, 

10, 12.3 and described in the Guidelines for Road Maintenance Levels (USDA Forest Service 2005). 

The motor vehicle use map is updated on a regular basis to reflect the current transportation 

system as it changes due to physical closures, environmental and naturally occurring events, 

authorized management activities (such as grazing and special use permits) and dispersed 

recreation. There are some National Forest System routes in the project area that had 

transportation management activities authorized as part of the 2007 decision for the Third Pole 

project. Some of these routes would be used to implement project activities. Upon completion of 

activities associated with the project, the Third Pole transportation management decisions would

be implemented (see further explanation in the proposed action discussion in chapter 2). 

To better understand and address these inconsistencies and opportunities to align transportation 

management actions with decisions made as part of the Third Pole project, a Travel Analysis 

Process was completed for the project. The purpose of the Travel Analysis Process was to identify 

opportunities for the Boise National Forest transportation system to meet current or future 

management objectives and provide information that allows integrating ecological, social and 
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economic concerns into future decisions. The outcome of the Travel Analysis Process is a set of 

recommendations for the forest transportation system documented in the Travel Analysis Report (a 

copy of the Travel Analysis Report is posted to the project webpage under the Analysis tab). These 

recommendations inform future management actions and decisions, including those proposed for 

this project, and incrementally improve the current situation in the project area as it relates to 

wildlife and aquatic habitat quality. The Travel Analysis Process also took into consideration the 

following existing conditions.

The current authorized National Forest System road density is approximately 2.1 miles per square 

mile in the project area (Upper Squaw Creek Watershed). In addition, there is an unknown quantity 

of abandoned road templates and unauthorized routes. Current road densities suggest impaired 

hydrologic function, decreased soil quality, and potential threats to water quality and aquatic 

habitat; however, there are no 303d listed streams, which indicates full support of beneficial uses 

(State of Idaho 2016 Integrated Report). Unauthorized use on system and user-created routes is 

also impacting aquatic and terrestrial habitat and wildlife vulnerability.

Unauthorized motorized use is occurring on roads managed as seasonally closed or with year-long 

closures and user-created motorized trails have been developed throughout the project area. This 

is negatively affecting areas within and between habitat patches for wildlife. Species sensitive to 

motorized vehicle disturbance or vulnerable to road-associated mortality are most impacted, 

although impacts from the spread of noxious weeds along these corridors and erosion on bare 

ground are other consequences of unauthorized use (see figure 14). 

Figure 14. Unauthorized route leading into the 

Snowbank roadless area; route crosses Renwyck 

Creek off of National Forest System road 609G. 

(September 2019)
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Travel routes provide a nexus for other human disturbances, such as motorized recreation and

dispersed camping, and other disturbances such as those caused by livestock grazing, all of which 

further influence riparian conditions (see figure 15). Riparian vegetation is dominated by a variety 

of species that include deciduous trees, willows, alders, sedges and hydric grasses. Riparian 

vegetation and conditions are dynamic and continually readjusting based on natural disturbance 

processes and human influence. Natural disturbances influence ecological processes such as stream 

substrate, gradient, elevation and soil hydrology that are inherent to the geomorphic setting. 

Because site conditions create high variability in extent of riparian communities and their 

conditions, resilience and functionality of riparian conditions from natural disturbances varies 

greatly depending on the intensity of impacts from human disturbances. Where human influence is 

relatively absent, current conditions for riparian vegetation are functioning appropriately. 

Functionality of riparian processes is decreased in localized areas where travel routes run adjacent 

to streams. 

Figure 15. Example of impacts to riparian vegetation from dispersed camping 

occurring adjacent to an existing travel route. (Summer 2019)

Bull trout are currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The Upper Squaw 

subwatershed, including Pole Creek, provides spawning and rearing habitat for bull trout. The 

Squaw Creek watershed has several stream segments that are designated bull trout critical habitat, 

which includes portions of Upper Squaw, Third Fork, Rammage and Renwyck creeks. Bull trout are 

known to spawn in the upper reaches of Squaw and Third Fork Creeks; however, limited data exist 

on the population size and behavior of resident bull trout in the Squaw Creek subwatershed. 

Crossings are creating known barriers to fish migration (see figure 16).
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Figure 16. Boise National Forest employees and members of the Boise Forest 

Coalition hold discussions next to an undersized aquatic organism passage 

where Cold Springs creek crosses National Forest System road 625. 

(September 2014)

Need for Management Activities

There is a need to modify the transportation system (as identified in the project Travel Analysis 

Report)—and manage unauthorized motorized use—in order to reduce impacts to water quality 

and wildlife and aquatic habitat; provide a safe and efficient transportation system; and reduce road 

maintenance costs.

There is also a need to expand and develop existing aggregate source to economically support the 

road surfacing and maintenance activities on project roads. These road surface improvements 

would not only reduce sediment delivery to adjacent waterways, but also provide improved road 

surface protection and enhance public safety.

Another need is to replace culverts on National Forest System roads 609 and 625 to provide fish 

passage in Antelope Creek, Cold Springs Creek, and Pole Creek and increase habitat access for bull 

trout populations in the Squaw Creek watershed. Additionally, there is a need to remove culverts 

on Maintenance Level 1 road crossings (National Forest System roads 618A, 699, 699A) within 

Cold Springs Creek after implementation of vegetation management activities and when these 

roads are returned to a state of storage.

Recreation Use

Objective 3a:

Enhance recreational experiences while reducing potential for resource degradation.

Objective 3b:

Manage dispersed and motorized recreation to reduce user conflicts.

Existing Condition

The project area is one of the more popular recreation destinations on the Emmett Ranger District. 

In the 1960s the original recreation facilities around the Sage Hen Reservoir were developed for 

uses at that time. In the decades since the original construction, use within the campgrounds has 
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evolved to include significantly larger modern recreation vehicles. Other types of recreational use 

include both motorized and non-motorized trails. 

Additional campgrounds and trailheads were developed over the following decades as the need for 

expanded capacity was realized. As the population in the greater Treasure Valley has increased, the 

recreation facilities around the Sage Hen Reservoir are often at capacity. Currently six campgrounds, 

two boat ramps, one day use site and a nature trail are concentrated around the Sage Hen 

Reservoir. Some dispersed camp sites along National Forest System road 614 have been encroaching 

into designated campground developed sites around Sage Hen Reservoir, which has been causing 

conflicts between users. Although the area is popular with recreationists, it does not adequately 

accommodate (where desired and appropriate) the diversity of recreational uses. 

The most recent Douglas-fir tussock moth outbreak has defoliated many of the trees around the 

Sage Hen Reservoir (see figure 17; filter applied to show better contrast of colors). Due to the 

amount of tree mortality (based on annual monitoring findings), there is a concentration of hazard 

trees in and around the developed campgrounds and main travel routes to these areas. In the fall of 

2019, the Boise National Forest authorized and began work to remove these hazard trees as part of 

the Sage Hen Recreation Area Hazard Tree Mitigation project.

Figure 17. Shore of Sage Hen Reservoir showing the defoliation of trees from 

the Douglas-fir tussock moth outbreak; filter applied to better contrast colors. 

(September 2019)

Need for Management Activities

To contribute to the accomplishment of these objectives, as informed by the forest plan (pages III318, III-319), there is a need to enhance existing trails and reduce impacts to other resources 

through re-routes and to provide safe trailhead locations for the trail system (see figure 18). 
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Figure 18. Employees from the Boise National Forest discuss options for 

accommodating motorized use while ensuring resource protection 

(September 2019)

There is also a need to reconstruct campgrounds to meet current standards, accommodate newer 

recreation equipment and provide expanded recreation opportunities. Finally, there is a need to 

change dispersed camping designations between Hollywood Campground and Antelope 

Campground on the Motor Vehicle Use Map to reduce user conflicts. 

Social and Economic Conditions

Objective 4a:

Reduce hazardous fuel loads and potential for undesirable wildfire effects.

Objective 4b:

Utilize wood products from the suited timber base and invest in multiple-use opportunities to 

support local and regional economies, industries and livelihoods.

Existing Condition

The wildland-urban interface in the project area is in the nonlethal fire regime and has missed 

multiple fire cycles. There are increased surface fuel loadings, ladder fuels and denser canopies than 

desired for wildland-urban interface and the nonlethal fire regime (an example of these conditions 

is shown in figure 19). This increases the risk of high severity/intensity fire behavior around homes.

Figure 19. Private inholding off National Forest System road 618 that is surrounded by Forest Service 

lands and shows high fire hazard in the nonlethal fire regime. (November 2019)
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The surrounding communities near the project area have social and economic ties to National 

Forest System lands. Management decisions made by the Forest Service can impact the economies 

of smaller, resource-based communities. Economic effects can include changes in local employment 

and income, as well as changes in local services and community infrastructure.

Forest products resulting from restoration and management activities on National Forest System 

lands contribute to the local economy and to the sustainability of the local forest products industry. 

Forested lands within management prescription category 5.1 in the project area are part of the 

suited timber base under the forest plan. 

Need for Management Activities

To support the development of fire-adapted rural communities, there is a need to modify fuel 

conditions to:

• Provide firefighters a higher probability of success in suppressing potential wildfire in the 

wildland urban interface, near values at risk and along primary routes essential to firefighter 

and public ingress/egress; and

• Reduce ground, ladder and canopy fuels that are in closer proximity to values at risk so local 

landowners are potentially less reliant on suppression forces.

To achieve the proposed vegetation management and multiple use objectives outlined in the forest 

plan and discussed above, there is a need to promote sustainable use of renewable natural 

resources that contribute to the social and economic well-being of local communities. 

Improved recreation opportunities and conservation and restoration of aquatic and terrestrial 

habitats also sustain livelihoods and provide economic benefits to businesses and industries 

supporting recreation, hunting, fishing and other such uses on public lands.

Figure 20: Dispersed camping in the project area (photo A, July 2019; photo B, November 2019)

How would the objectives be accomplished? 

Because of the size of the project area and recognition that ecosystems are dynamic and changing 

in response to natural and human-caused events, for some of the proposed activities such as 

vegetation management and managing unauthorized motorized routes, the Boise National Forest is 

utilizing a system of management activities that vary according to a range of on-the-ground 

conditions in order to meet desired conditions and objectives (see Appendix C: Vegetation 

Condition-Based Management Guide and Appendix E: Implementation Guide). 
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For other management activities—such as decommissioning of National Forest System roads, 

permanent road construction, and facility improvement—the Boise National Forest has identified 

specific locations where such activities would occur.

Chapter 2. Proposed Action

Based on feedback received during the scoping and comment period, as well as further 

interdisciplinary team and Boise Forest Coalition discussions, modifications were made to the 

proposed action following the scoping and comment period for the preliminary purpose and need 

and proposed action. Modifications to the proposed action include the following changes to project 

area roads and commercial timber harvest: 

• 2.5 miles of temporary roads within riparian conservation areas adjacent to bull trout critical 

habitat were eliminated to reduce impacts to bull trout and water quality. The current 

mileage of temporary road within riparian conservation areas adjacent to bull trout critical 

habitat is 0.1 mile of which 100 percent is located on existing road prisms.

• An additional 7.2 miles of temporary roads within riparian conservation areas outside of bull 

trout critical habitat were eliminated to further reduce impacts to riparian resources and 

water quality. The current mileage of temporary road within riparian conservation areas 

outside of bull trout critical habitat is 2.6 miles of which 46 percent are located on existing 

road prisms.

• A total of 20.3 miles of aggregate resurfacing would occur within the project area. 

Approximately 6.1 miles of the 625 road adjacent to bull trout critical habitat would be 

resurfaced with new aggregate to reduce fugitive dust and sediment delivery to streams, 5.4 

miles of the 653 road would be resurfaced, of which 2.8 miles are located within riparian 

conservation areas along this road system and approximately 8.8 miles of the 626 road would 

be resurfaced to improve the road for recreational access. 

• Additionally, a total of 8.1 miles of new aggregate surface would be placed on the 607D road, 

609G road, 622 road and 653D road.

• 981 acres of commercial harvest and 34.2 miles of associated temporary roads were 

eliminated based on economic and resource considerations. These acres could be treated 

with prescribed burning and hazardous fuels reduction activities.

The proposed action includes activities to manage ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir forests at lower 

elevations for white-headed woodpecker and flammulated owl habitat and winter range for deer 

and elk. Higher elevation forests would be managed to provide habitat for Region 4 sensitive 

species such as the northern goshawk, boreal owl, great gray owl, and summer range for mammals 

such as deer, elk, black bear, wolves and mountain lion. The Upper Squaw Creek watershed would 

be managed for recovery of Forest sensitive species and other native wildlife using early-seral forest 

with open canopy conditions, and the project includes restoration and recruitment of old forest 

habitat within the watershed. All habitats would continue to provide nesting and forage for 

migratory landbirds. 
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Proposed Management Activities

The following describes the types of management activities that would be conducted to accomplish 

the objectives of the project, as well as the conditions and/or locations where these activities could 

occur. These management activities would be accomplished incrementally.

Vegetation Management Activities

The following vegetation treatment types are proposed to accomplish the previously described 

vegetation management objectives:

• Meadow restoration

• Conservation

• Improvement cut

• Large tree improvement cut

• Group selection with reserves

• Variable density thin from below

• Understory removal

• Prescribed fire only

• Salvage cutting

• Aspen enhancement

• Whitebark pine restoration

• Hazardous fuels reduction (hand and machine pile, lop and scatter, jackpot burn, mastication 

and chipping, and pruning)

No even-aged management (including clear cuts, patch cuts, seed tree cuts) is proposed as part of 

vegetation treatments. For additional information, see Appendix C: Vegetation Condition-Based 

Management Guide.

Tools that would be used to implement the vegetation treatments are:

• Timber harvest

• Prescribed burning

• Hazardous fuel reduction (non-mechanical and mechanical) 

• Non-commercial thinning

• Reforestation

Timber Harvest

Areas Where Timber Harvest Would Not Occur

Some portions of the project area would not be treated with commercial harvest based on the 

following criteria:

• Landslide prone areas
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• Non-forested areas or acres with low timber volume and where commercial harvest would 

not be economically feasible

• Old forest habitat when commercial harvesting cannot be implemented without precluding3

the restoration of old forest habitat

• Areas where the existing transportation system does not provide adequate access and 

temporary roads could not be feasibly constructed

• Riparian conservation areas where commercial harvest is restricted (see discussion below 

regarding “Management Activities in Riparian Conservation Areas”)

• Idaho Roadless Rule “primitive” management area theme (Snowbank Inventoried Roadless 

Area) 

• Areas outside of National Forest System lands

Areas Where Timber Harvest May Occur Based on Existing and Desired Conditions

Timber harvest is likely to occur in:

• Medium and large tree size class stands where timber harvest is determined to be the 

appropriate tool for achieving desired conditions. 

• Stands identified to be potential vegetation groups (PVGs) 1 through 6 (as described in the 

forest plan, page A-8, table A-5). 

• Where commercial removal is desired to address other resource concerns, such as hazardous 

fuels reduction.

A maximum of 20,700 acres would be treated with commercial timber harvest. Approximately 3,000 

to 5,400 acres of commercial harvest could be implemented annually. The Forest Service anticipates 

awarding 13 to 18 timber sale contracts within the project area. A total of 13 sale areas were 

identified for effects analysis and modeling within the project area. The 13 sale areas provided a 

basis to apply anticipated temporal and spatial implementation sequencing across a large diverse 

landscape and watershed. These 13 sale areas have been delineated based on the existing 

transportation system and primary haul route locations. Other considerations include species 

composition, logging system and type of vegetation management activity deemed appropriate 

during development of silvicultural prescriptions. Based on these site-specific conditions and 

market situation at time of implementation, some larger sale areas may be split into smaller sale 

areas. These 13 sale areas have been identified by use of a specific name during the initial planning 

process and carried forward into project analysis. These sale area names (identifiers) may change or 

remain the same during implementation and are based on geographic features or locations within 

the project area. Also see Appendix D: Maps.

Award of the timber sales contracts would occur over a 6-year timeframe, from 2021 through 2026, 

with the possibility of the sale schedule extending further into 2027 and 2028 based on market 

conditions, funding and workforce levels along with Forest prioritization of other ongoing and 

planned projects across the Boise National Forest. The average contract would be 5 years in length, 

with some smaller sales having a 3-year contract length or less. Contract length is dependent on the 

timeframe needed to complete road management activities, harvest, and finalize sale closure 

3 Preclude: To put a barrier before; hence, to shut out; to hinder; to stop; to impede (The Collaborative International Dictionary 

of English v. 0.44).
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activities (erosion control and brush disposal). Other considerations affecting contract length 

include the need to minimize conflicts with other management activities (such as recreation or fuels 

treatments) occurring in the same vicinity to address immediate needs related to insects and 

diseases, or due to the need for larger-scale road improvement actions. 

The first timber sale contracts would likely be awarded in 2021, with some roadwork and harvest 

beginning in late spring/summer/fall of 2021. Implementation of timber sale activities (such as road 

maintenance, harvest, temporary road construction and decommissioning) on awarded timber sale 

contracts or stewardship projects would occur over a 10 to 15-year timeframe, with the majority 

anticipated to occur from 2021 through 2031 (see figure 21). The sequential award of individual 

timber sales and harvest operations commencing in 2021 means that by 2024, for example, 

approximately eight sales could be active at the same time; most actions would be completed by 

2031. The spatial sequencing and likely footprint of timber sale contracts or stewardship projects is 

displayed in figure 22 by year.

While there could be changes to temporal sequencing, with timber sales being moved up or back a 

year, or changes to sale configuration or spatial sequencing by dropping, modifying, or splitting sale 

areas or creating smaller sale areas, the overall temporal and spatial sequence across the project 

area is not anticipated to change much. Sale configurations based on changing conditions could be 

adjusted to address technical feasibility or economic viability, insects and diseases related mortality 

or damages, temporary road location viability, implementation of the Vegetation Condition-Based 

Management Guide (appendix C), and silvicultural prescriptions or application of Design Features

(appendix B). The majority of hazard trees surrounding recreation sites and open roads and trails 

would be a portion of larger timber sale cutting units (activity areas). However, hazard trees would 

be continually assessed for public health and safety. If insect and disease damage results in units no 

longer being economically viable or additional hazard tree locations are identified, harvest units 

could be consolidated to focus on hazard tree reduction where economically feasible and consistent 

with Design Features and project objectives; otherwise proceeds from timber harvesting could be 

used to offset the cost for hazard tree fell and leave. Needs would be assessed by an 

interdisciplinary team during pre-implementation coordination to ensure activities are consistent 

with this environmental assessment and the range of effects analyzed for the project. As directed by 

the forest plan, the activity area for snags is the specific site affected by actions, such as timber 

harvest, site-preparation, reforestation, timber stand improvement and prescribed fire. Where 

snags are not retained for safety concerns (such as along road/trail corridors), sufficient snag 

densities would be retained through the remainder of the activity area to average desired snag 

densities and achieve compliance with applicable Design Features.

For additional information about timber harvest, see Appendix A: Activity Cards, Appendix B: 

Design Features and Appendix D: Maps (Timber Sale Areas by Sale Name and Sequence map).
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Figure 21. Anticipated temporal sequencing of timber sale areas within the project area

Figure 22. Anticipated spatial sequencing of timber sale areas within 

the project area
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Temporary Road Construction

A maximum of 92.4 miles of temporary roads could be needed to implement timber harvest 

activities. This maximum was determined based on GIS data, to include LiDAR imaging, GRAIP Lite 

modeling information and current road system locations. Approximately 27 percent of temporary 

roads miles would be located on an existing prism (existing routes not managed as part of the 

National Forest transportation system). If changing conditions preclude timber harvest on some 

acres within the project area, then the temporary roads associated with accessing those acres 

would not be constructed, nor would construction occur when temporary roads or segments are 

determined to be no longer economically viable or resource concerns are identified with temporary 

road location. While specific locations of temporary roads may be adjusted based on further 

ground-truthing, the miles of temporary road constructed for the project would not exceed the 

maximum identified. These miles of temporary road would not all be constructed and in use at one 

time as timber sales would be staggered (as previously described). Temporary roads for one harvest 

area could be in use for up to 3 to 5 years. Motorized public use is prohibited on temporary roads, 

with only administrative motorized use occurring as needed to implement management activities. 

These roads, to include those utilizing existing prisms, would be obliterated4 upon completion of 

management activities in a timber sale area.

For additional information about temporary roads, see Appendix A: Activity Cards, Appendix B: 

Design Features, and Appendix D: Maps (Existing Transportation System with Proposed Temporary 

Roads map set; Timber Sale Areas and Haul Routes map).

Prescribed Fire

Approximately 35,000 to 45,000 acres of National Forest System lands could be treated with 

prescribed fire over the next 20 years to restore vegetation and fuel conditions, improve wildlife 

habitat and promote the development of fire-adapted ecosystem communities. Nearly half or 

more of these acres would overlap with timber harvest areas. 

Approximately 500 to 10,000 acres of fire would be applied annually depending on seasonality, 

resource availability, capacity and funding; therefore, the maximum acres treated with prescribed 

fire could be less based on these considerations. Prescribed fire treatments would need to be 

sequenced around other management activities, such as timber harvest or following mechanical 

hazardous fuel reduction. Prescribed fire only treatment areas, such as in the Snowbank Roadless 

Area, could be prioritized while other management activities are being accomplished outside of the 

roadless area.

Burn blocks are identified on the Prescribed Burning and Hazardous Fuels Reduction map (appendix 

D) and align with the timber harvest areas to the extent practicable. Burn blocks are prescribed fire 

planning areas that are further refined down to units during the implementation phase. Not every 

acre in a burn block would be burned or treated due to a variety of factors including, but not limited 

to containment issues (ability to control the burn), resource concerns that drive no treatment 

buffers, seasonal availability of fuels, air quality/smoke considerations and capacity (budget and 

personnel). These limiting factors mean prescribed fire treatments would be implemented in a 

4 Obliterate: To unbuild, decommission, deactivate, or dismantle a road; the denial of use, elimination of travelway 

functionality, and removal of the road from the forest development road system; return of the road corridor to resource 

production by natural or designed means. Moll, J.E. A Guide for Road Closure and Obliteration in the Forest Service. June 

1996.
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manner that creates a mosaic of untreated and treated acres, which helps achieve desired diversity 

in vegetation conditions across the landscape.

Primary target acres include stands with historically high fire frequencies and lower severities, such 

as the nonlethal and mixed 1 fire regimes (grasslands and lower elevation stands dominated by 

seral species such as ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir and western larch (potential vegetation groups 1

through 6). Secondary target acres include stands with historically longer fire frequency and mixed 

to high severities stands, such as the mixed 2 and lethal fire regimes (potential vegetation groups 7 

through 11). A mosaic application of fire would be re-introduced to approximately 50 to 75 percent 

of primary and secondary target acres.

Maintenance burning (burning after initial application of fire) would occur in potential vegetation 

groups 1 through 6 as necessary (as often as every 5 to 20 years in fire regimes with historically 

frequent fire return intervals) to maintain desired conditions. Prescribed burning operations 

typically occur in spring (April, May, June) and fall (August, September, October).

Prescribed burning operations would be closely coordinated with other resource groups, such as 

silviculture, where prescribed burning operations provide critical site preparation for reforestation, 

which often must be planned multiple years in advance. Prescribed burning within whitebark pine 

habitat (potential vegetation group 11) located within the Snowbank Inventoried Roadless Area is a 

restoration focus of the project and could also be followed with planting rust-resistant whitebark 

pine seedlings.

Burn Plans and Sensitive Areas

The prescribed fire plan (burn plan) is the site-specific implementation document providing the 

agency administrator the information needed to approve the plan and the prescribed fire burn boss 

with the information needed to implement the prescribed fire. The Interagency Prescribed Fire 

Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide outlines 21 elements for developing and 

implementing a burn plan. The development of clear and concise objectives that are measurable 

and quantifiable and tie back to spatial and temporal objectives outlined in the project is critical to 

achieving successful post-burn outcomes. The ignition plan (firing methods, devices, techniques and 

sequences within individual units or between multiple units, and patterns) should be selected 

based on careful consideration of project objectives relative to topographic, fuels and weather 

factors. Some prescribed burns within the project area could require multiple prescriptions and 

ignition operations (blackline, primary, aerial, etc.) to achieve desired conditions. Complex burning 

operations require a comprehensive understanding of fuel amounts and continuity, topography, 

duff and fuel moisture, relative air humidity, weather conditions and anticipated fire behavior, 

including flame length, consumption, spotting potential and burn patterns. 

A silvicultural prescription is required to accompany all prescribed fire treatments (Forest Service 

Manual 2400, chapter 2470, section 2478.3) and burn plans would be developed with 

interdisciplinary input on desirable and acceptable fire effects.

Important ecological considerations for the Sage Hen project area that would be factored into the 

complexity analysis and ignition plan include but are not limited to the following “sensitive areas.”
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Old Forest Habitat

Consistent with Design Feature VM-5, old forest habitat and stands with desired quantities of old 

forest habitat components (for example, legacy trees, early seral large trees, snags, and large coarse 

woody debris) are uncommon on the Boise National Forest and require special attention for 

conservation. Historically, fire shaped and played a critical role in the development of old forest 

habitat on the national forest, particularly within lower elevation stands (potential vegetation groups

1 through 6). Landscape burning operations that include patches of lethal or mixed 2 fire regimes 

need to exercise additional precautions to ensure conservation of these locations (see Inventoried 

Roadless Area discussion below). Retention of large coarse woody debris can be achieved by paying 

close attention to percent fuel moisture in 1,000-hour fuels and greater and taking into account how 

ignition tactics combined with fuel loads affect residence time, which helps to ensure provisions 

addressed with Design Feature VM-2 are successful.

Special care would be exercised to ensure retention of legacy trees, which are further described in 

the Boise National Forest legacy tree guide, and desired large tree species (see forest plan appendix

E, table E-2). Prolonged consumption of accumulated duff around the base of old trees is a primary 

contributor to mortality, with the lower duff layer having the greater significance. Lower duff layers 

rarely burn above a moisture content of 120 percent but targeting an average of 85 to 130 percent 

moisture content can achieve successful results, even when fine roots are present. If other burning 

objectives cannot be achieved with a high level of moisture in the lower duff layer, tree-well 

burning, raking, or other protective measures should be implemented (figure 23). For large burn 

areas where conducting treatments around individual trees is impractical, tree mortality can be 

minimized with multiple entries. The initial entry should be used to blacken the surface to enhance 

decomposition and to only remove a portion of the duff. High levels of moisture in the duff will 

minimize smoldering potential. Smoldering is minimal when the lower duff holds greater than 100 

percent moisture content (up to 130 percent) in protected areas. The deep duff layers may have as 

low as 90 percent moisture content on more exposed locations. It may take up to three burns (three 

consecutive years) to prepare the site for a fall or late-summer prescribed fire.

Riparian Conservation Areas

Direct ignition is not allowed within the first two riparian conservation area zones (0 to 130 feet), 

unless a site-specific exemption identifies a need based on riparian functions and ecologic 

processes. The topographic context of riparian conservation areas lends to successful backing fires, 

which reduce heat transfer to the overstory, resulting in stream shade retention required for Design 

Feature SW-10. Considering the lower portions of riparian conservation areas typically hold more 

moisture than the uplands, a backing fire is less likely to produce heat in the lower duff, minimizing 

undesirable effects to tree roots, soil and potential for sedimentation. Soil moisture is another 

indicator that can be used for predetermining potential effects within riparian conservation areas. 

While soil moisture is generally higher in the spring, this is not always the case (such as following a

dry winter). To achieve objectives for fuel consumption with limited damage to soils or roots, 

burning should be done when fuel moisture is low, but soil moisture is high (for example, above 100 

percent moisture content within 0 to 130 feet).

Plantations

There is often a desire to raise the crown-base height in plantations, which can often be 

accomplished with strategic strip fires, set progressively upwind of a fire break. Adjusting the 

number of lines and strip width will calibrate the desired flame length. The most successful 
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prescribed burns in plantations on the Boise National Forest have occurred when the burn boss 

waits until all prescription parameters are met and ignition crews take their time, not allowing strips 

to get too wide, and in some cases letting one strip die down before starting another, paying close 

attention to fire behavior. Strip fires are not appropriate for all plantations.

Figure 23. A decision process to determine if other alternatives should be implemented to minimize 

mortality in legacy ponderosa pine (Jain et al. 2012).

Inventoried Roadless Area

Because the inventoried roadless area would not be pretreated with thinning, special consideration 

needs to account for pockets of heavy fuels, as well as isolated locations of potential vegetation 

groups 8 and 9 (lethal fire regime). While a stand replacing fire is the historical disturbance pattern 

within lethal fire regimes, that is not the desired outcome for treatment. Generally, these areas are 

located in microsite patches that hold cooler air and more moisture, allowing prescribed fire on the 

surrounding landscape, while conserving these sites. Live fuel moisture readings within these sites 

can be an invaluable tool for achieving success. Prescribed burning in the inventoried roadless area

should result in a heterogeneous landscape patch and pattern of burned and unburned areas. 

Locations higher on the ridge host whitebark pine habitat, where fire historically burned more 

frequently in open grass dominated communities with patches dominated by aspen, lodgepole, 

subalpine fir species and the occasional Engelmann spruce (mixed 2 fire regime). Higher burn 

severity within subalpine fir patches is desirable to promote regeneration opportunities for 

whitebark pine and aspen. Conservation of whitebark pine snags (which are abundant in some 

locations) should be considered where practicable.
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Multiple Entries and Seasonality

Two prescribed fire treatments were analyzed for the Sage Hen project; the first burn is focused on 

fuel abatement, designed to reduce surface fuels generated by thinning activities and to lower 

uncharacteristically high surface fuels resulting from years of fire suppression. The second 

prescribed burn would focus on restoration, following the first treatment that reduced surface fuels 

to allow for a safe and effective burn designed to bring vegetative and surface fuel/coarse woody 

debris levels to within desired ranges. In some cases, such as burning in old forest habitat or areas 

with a large amount of legacy trees, additional prescribed fire treatments are needed to achieve 

restoration objectives.

Historically, the majority of fires in dry mixed conifer forests on the Boise National Forest occurred 

in late August to October (late in the growing season). This historical fire season corresponded to a 

time when air temperatures were high, live and dead fuel moistures were low and soils were dry. 

These conditions favored fire-adapted vegetation, such as thick bark ponderosa pine, variability in 

tree size that includes old, large trees with signs of decadence (such as legacy trees), increasing 

numbers of snags and coarse woody debris (with a relatively high portion of large coarse woody 

debris), canopy gaps and understory patchiness. From an ecological point of view, there is concern 

that burning outside of the historical range of variation would result in a disruption of ecological 

processes and, in some cases, have negative impacts on plant and wildlife species.

First entries in areas that have missed historical fire cycles should consider burning when there is 

less risk of escape or unintended outcomes, such as in the spring or late fall. However, the 

intensity generated during the prescribed burns may be similar to or exceed historical fires due to 

the heavy amounts of fuels that have accumulated through the many years of fire exclusion. In dry 

mixed conifer forests, this similarity in fuel consumption and fire intensity between the historical

fire season and the current prescribed burn season is thought to override the importance of 

organism phenology. This is especially relevant when comparing the differences of not burning to 

burning in different seasons. However, this is not to state that phenology does not matter. In fact, 

understanding changes in plant susceptibility throughout the different seasons can help in 

developing burn plans that meet specific objectives, especially for reentry burns when fuel loads 

are lower.

For additional information about prescribed fire, see Appendix A: Activity Cards, Appendix B: 

Design Features, and Appendix D: Maps (Prescribed Burn Areas and Hazardous Fuels Reduction 

map).

Hazardous Fuels Reduction and Noncommercial Thinning

Mechanical/nonmechanical hazardous fuels reduction and noncommercial thinning could be used 

on approximately 11,200 acres. The number of acres treated for hazardous fuels reduction could 

increase if areas considered for timber harvest are dropped based on changing conditions or 

feasibility issues, meaning the number of timber harvest acres would be reduced.

Hazardous fuels reduction and noncommercial thinning treatments would be used strategically as 

needed along travel corridors and control lines to maintain or improve desired composition and 

structure conditions and to ensure firefighter safety in preparation for prescribed fire treatments. 

These treatments would reduce stand densities and ladder fuels in mature stands, plantations and 

dense understories. Approximately 500 to 3,000 acres could be treated annually. These management 

activities would be coordinated to occur simultaneously with timber sale contracts to the extent 
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practicable. Hazardous fuels reduction should be completed to achieve multiple resource objectives 

for restoration of vegetation structure and composition, as well as creating suitable conditions for 

effective fire management.

For additional information about mechanical and non-mechanical hazardous fuels reduction and 

non-commercial thinning, see Appendix A: Activity Cards; Appendix B: Design Features, and 

Appendix D: Maps (Prescribed Burn Areas and Hazardous Fuels Reduction map).

Reforestation

Opportunities to augment species composition by planting tree seedlings would be evaluated for all 

prescription types, though planting is most likely to occur in group selection with reserves 

treatment units.

Silvicultural prescriptions, particularly group selection with reserves, are designed to optimize the 

likelihood for natural regeneration. When natural regeneration of the desired species is not possible 

(for example, lack of viable ponderosa pine in the overstory), and a need for additional trees has 

been identified by a silviculturist, artificial regeneration would be implemented. Reforestation 

practices would differ from historical practices in several important ways. When a need for artificial 

regeneration is identified, target planting densities would be designed to achieve the desired 

condition without the need for multiple mechanical thinning activities. Target seedling densities 

would account for existing tree densities and anticipated mortality. Additionally, seedlings would be 

planted with variable spacing, using strategies such as only planting in locations with existing shade 

(such as stumps and downed logs). These types of methods would utilize the existing heterogeneity 

on the landscape to promote variability while planting and encourage long-term development of 

forest structure reflective of historical conditions. As a result of these practices and the variable tree 

densities retained following harvest, artificially reforested locations would have a dissimilar look 

and function from the existing “plantations” within the project area.

For additional information about reforestation, see Appendix A: Activity Cards and Appendix B: 

Design Features. 

Riparian Conservation Area Management Activities

Riparian conversation areas are delineated buffer zones designed to protect and maintain the 

integrity of riparian functions, such as soil processes, plant communities, and aquatic ecosystems. 

Appropriate buffer widths surrounding the riparian communities ensure riparian function and 

ecological processes are maintained or restored to fully support aquatic beneficial uses and native 

and desired non-native fish species and their habitats, as well as terrestrial habitat needs and 

desired vegetation conditions in the riparian conservation area. 

The forest plan outlines three options for delineating riparian conservation areas (pages B-34 to B35). Most of the project would utilize option 2. Riparian conservation area delineations in table 2 

apply to all vegetation treatments in the project area, with the option for site-specific exceptions 

(an example of one such exception is outlined below). Riparian conservation area zones in option 2 

are stratified based on stream type (perennial or intermittent), while the buffer distances are 

defined by potential vegetation group using site potential tree height(s). Project-level riparian 

conservation areas allow for a more straightforward distribution of activities and effects analysis 

over a large area. Activities within riparian conservation area zones are described in table 2. 
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Table 2. Riparian conversation area (RCA) zones and associated activities

RCA 

Zone

Distance 

in Feet [1]

Intermittent or 

Perennial 

Stream Thinning Treatment Fuels/Slash Treatment

1 0–30 Both None Backing fire only

2 30–130 Both Noncommercial thin Lop and scatter, hand pile and 

burn, backing fire

3 130–260 Perennial Commercial and

submerchantable thin – no 

equipment entry [2]

Whole tree yard,

 [3] lop and

scatter, hand pile and burn, 

active ignition

[1] Proposed treatment distances from stream channels, ponds, lakes, reservoirs, and wetlands.

[2] Equipment entry may be considered on a case-by-case basis and only as agreed upon with Forest Service sale 

administration.

[3] Where commercial harvest is proposed, cables from equipment such as an off-road jammer would be allowed to extract 

timber, but the equipment’s tracks would not be allowed within riparian conservation area zone 3.

In a project area as large as this, not every inch of riparian area can be investigated in detail; 

however, there is a need to retain the option to utilize option 3 (site-specific riparian conservation 

area delineation) in areas where conditions warrant. Option 3 uses location-specific analysis based 

on riparian functions and ecologic processes to define the riparian conservation area. For example, 

in wet meadows with conifer encroachment, hand thinning of those encroaching trees may be 

necessary to meet desired conditions, such as increasing the long-term resiliency of the area or to 

prevent irrecoverable changes in the water table. In a case like this, a site-specific riparian 

conservation area prescription makes sense because the short-term loss of shade from encroaching 

conifers, for example, can help to protect long-term ground water levels which can ultimately 

sustain the meadow area.

When applying option 3, on-the-ground mapping would occur to validate stream types and riparian 

widths. Relative stocking for riparian areas used in the Idaho Forest Practices Act Streamside Tree 

Retention Rule would be maintained to protect water quality and to be consistent with forest plan

standard SWST01.

Roads and Trails Management Activities

The following management activities are proposed to accomplish the previously described 

transportation management objectives:

• Road reconstruction (aggregate surfacing and road realignments)

• Addition of unauthorized routes to the Boise National Forest transportation system

• Decommissioning of National Forest System roads and motorized trails

• Removal of unauthorized routes

• Changes to the Motor Vehicle Use Map (placing existing National Forest System roads into 

storage or converting to administrative use only)

• Road maintenance

• Snowplowing

• Aquatic organism passage (culvert) improvement

• Development of aggregate sources
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NOTE: Some proposed transportation management activities have been modified in response to 

feedback received at the public meeting (figure 24) held in Emmett, Idaho in February 2020 for the

project. The following reflects the modified proposed action. 

Figure 24. Members of the local community visit with a transportation 

engineer from the Boise National Forest about proposed changes to the 

project area transportation system

Road Reconstruction (Realignments and Aggregate Surfacing)

As shown in table 3 (under “Road Reconstruction – Realignment” and “Road Reconstruction – 

Aggregate Surfacing”), approximately 10.2 miles of road reconstruction through realignments and 

placing new aggregate surfacing would be needed as part of implementing management activities 

and improving existing road conditions. The new road locations of the realignments would be 

located on a combination of new road prisms and existing or abandoned road prisms. The 

realignments would also include restoring the original road templates.

For additional information about road reconstruction, see Appendix A: Activity Cards, Appendix B: 

Design Features, and Appendix D: Maps (Existing Transportation System and Recommended 

Changes map set).

Table 3: Summary of transportation system proposed actions

Activity Description Road Description

Total 

(miles)

Road Reconstruction – Realignment

New road template/alignment of NFS* road ML** 3 625 road realignment 0.1

Add unauthorized route to the transportation system as ML 3 road 625 road realignment 0.3

New road template/alignment of NFS road ML 2 – administrative 

use only 

653D2/D8 road 

realignment 0.6

Add unauthorized route to the transportation system as ML 2 – 

administrative use only

653D2/D8 road 

realignment 0.6

Add unauthorized route to the transportation system as ML 1 road 653D2/D8 road 

realignment 0.3

Add decommissioned route to the transportation system as ML 1

road 653D6 road realignment 0.2
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Activity Description Road Description

Total 

(miles)

Road Reconstruction – Aggregate Surfacing

New roads to be surfaced with aggregate 607D, 609G, 622, 653D 8.1

Add Unauthorized Route to the Transportation System

Add unauthorized route to the transportation system as ML 2 road Referred to as road 625I 0.3

Public Travel Management Changes to Motorized Use

NFS roads changed from ML 2 (open year-round) to ML 1 (closed 

to all motorized use/state of storage)

614J, 614K1, 614K2, 

614L, 626T, 626T1, 

626Y, 626Y1 roads

5.3

NFS roads changed from ML 2 (open seasonally) to ML 1 (closed 

to all motorized use/state of storage) 653C road 2.9

Administrative Changes to NFS Roads

NFS roads changed from ML 2 – administrative use only to ML 1

(closed to all motorized use/state of storage) Segment of 653D6 road 0.6

NFS roads changed from ML 1 (closed to all motorized use/state 

of storage) to ML 2 (administrative use only)

Segments of 607D, 

653A, 653B roads 2.6

Road Decommissioning

Decommissioning of NFS roads ML 1 (closed to all motorized 

use/state of storage)

See map for road 

segments 14.2

Restore/recontour old template of NFS road ML 2 – administrative 

use only 653D6 road realignment 0.9

Restore/recontour old template/alignment of NFS road ML 3 625 road realignment 0.4

Restore/recontour old template/alignment of NFS road ML 1 653D2/D8 road 

realignment 0.5

Trail Decommissioning

Decommissioning of NFS trail (Trail Class 3 – Developed) 389 trail 1.0

*NFS = National Forest System; **ML = maintenance level

Addition of Unauthorized Routes

As shown in table 3 (under “Add Unauthorized Route to the Transportation System”), approximately 

0.3 miles of unauthorized routes would be added to the Boise National Forest transportation system 

to implement management activities and increase dispersed recreational opportunities. The 

addition of other unauthorized routes is associated with other proposed road realignments.

For additional information about National Forest System road construction, see Appendix A: Activity 

Cards, Appendix B: Design Features, and Appendix D: Maps (Existing Transportation System and 

Recommended Changes map set).

Decommissioning of National Forest System Roads and Motorized Trails

As shown in table 3 (under “Road Decommissioning” and “Trail Decommissioning”), 14.2 miles of 

existing National Forest System roads and 1.0 mile of motorized trail are proposed for 

decommissioning. All 14.2 miles of roads proposed for decommissioning are currently maintenance 

level 1 (closed) roads. An additional 1.8 miles of existing National Forest System roads would be 

restored or reclaimed to a natural state as part of the proposed road realignments and ultimately 

decommissioned.
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A number of National Forest System roads are dual designated as motorized trails. These roads are 

not displayed as roads on the Motor Vehicle Use Map but are displayed as trails. Roads 609F, 622M, 

and 622T would be decommissioned as a road but retained as a motorized trail (these segments fall 

under the “Decommissioning of NFS Roads ML 1 (closed to all motorized use/state of storage)” 

category of proposed road decommissioning in table 3 and can be viewed on the Existing 

Transportation System and Recommended Changes map set in appendix D). If roads or trails are 

needed to implement timber harvest and related activities (as listed in the Timber Harvest Activity 

Card in appendix A), decommissioning would occur after these other activities are completed.

For additional information about road and trail decommissioning, see Appendix A: Activity Cards, 

Appendix B: Design Features, and Appendix D: Maps (Existing Transportation System and 

Recommended Changes map set).

Removal of Unauthorized Routes

Prioritization for addressing unauthorized roads and trails and/or abandoned templates in the 

project area would be:

• Routes contributing sediment to aquatic habitat or disrupting key wildlife habitat components 

(for example, elk calving areas). 

• Routes in or adjacent to the Snowbank Inventoried Roadless Area. 

Unauthorized routes discovered during preparation/layout of timber sales would be obliterated

during timber sale implementation when necessary equipment is already in the area. Some 

unauthorized routes may be used as temporary roads during timber harvest implementation and 

then decommissioned. For unauthorized routes not associated with a timber sale area (for example, 

routes in the Snowbank Inventoried Roadless Area), activities to obliterate these routes would be 

coordinated with other management activities to the extent practicable, such as when crews are in 

the area to conduct prescribed burning.

For additional information about road and trail decommissioning, see Appendix A: Activity Cards, 

Appendix B: Design Features, and Appendix D: Maps (Existing Transportation System and 

Recommended Changes map set). 

Changes to the Motor Vehicle Use Map and Administrative Changes

As shown in table 3 (under “Public Travel Management Changes to Motorized Use”), 8.2 miles of 

existing National Forest System roads are proposed to be placed into road storage as part of 

implementing management activities and protecting resources. These roads are currently open to 

public motorized use. If roads are needed to implement timber harvest and related activities (as 

listed in the Timber Harvest Activity Card in appendix A), placement into road storage would occur 

after these activities are completed.

As shown in table 3 (under “Administrative Changes to NFS Roads”), 2.6 miles of existing National 

Forest System roads, currently in road storage, are proposed to be changed to administrative use 

only for long-term management activities. These roads are needed frequently for range 

management and administrative use. Additionally, 0.6 miles of existing National Forest System

roads, currently open to administrative use only, would be placed into road storage.

For additional information about road storage, see Appendix A: Activity Cards and Appendix D: 

Maps (Existing Transportation System and Recommended Changes map set).
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Implementation of Road Management Activities Associated with the Third Pole 

Decision

The decision for the Third Pole project was signed in August 2007. The project’s objectives were to 

improve watershed conditions in the Third Pole and Squaw Pole sub-watersheds. As shown in table 4, 

approximately 3.7 miles of maintenance level 1 or closed roads would be decommissioned, 2.8 miles 

of maintenance level 1 or closed roads would be restored or reclaimed as part of road realignments, 

1.7 miles of road would be realigned, and 5.6 miles of National Forest System road (624 road) would 

be changed to seasonal use. If roads are needed to implement timber harvest associated with the 

project or other related activities (as listed in the Timber Harvest Activity Card in appendix A), 

decommissioning would occur after these other activities are completed. Road realignments would 

not occur until implementation of project timber harvest activity. The use on the 624 road would not 

change until the 625 road is realigned.

Table 4: Implementation of remaining transportation system actions from the Third Pole project 

decision (2007)

Activity Description Road Description

Total 

(miles)

Road Reconstruction – Realignment

New road template/alignment of NFS* road ML** 1 646D1, 653P, 699C road 

realignments 1.7

Public Travel Management Changes to Motorized Use

NFS roads changed from ML 2 (open year-round) to ML 2 

(open seasonally) 624 road 5.6

Road Decommissioning

Decommissioning of NFS roads ML 1 (closed to all motorized 

use/state of storage)

See map for road 

segments 3.7

Recontour old template/alignment of NFS road ML 1 Segments of 646D1, 

653P, 699B, 699C roads 2.8

*NFS = National Forest System; **ML = maintenance level

Road Maintenance

Roads would be maintained as part of implementing management activities or improving existing 

road conditions. Road maintenance includes road prism blading and shaping, roadway vegetation 

clearing, roadway ditch and culvert cleaning, drainage culvert replacement and installation, water 

bar removal and installation, road aggregate resurfacing, dust abatement and surface repair 

including spot aggregate placement. Commercial users would maintain the roads commensurate 

with use.

For additional information about road maintenance associated with timber harvest, see Appendix 

A: Activity Cards and Appendix B: Design Features.

Snowplowing

Harvest activities could affect snow grooming routes both inside and outside the project area.

Winter logging operations could proceed throughout the winter season in low elevations within the 

project area or during years of low snowpack. Snow plowing for logging operations would typically 

occur from December 1 through April 15. Snow plowing is highly dependent on individual sale area 

and manufacturing facility (wood product mills) locations, both of which determine primary haul 

routes. Primary haul routes leaving the project area are southerly towards Emmett, Idaho and 
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easterly towards Smiths Ferry, Idaho. Snow plowing could occur on some groomed routes within 

the project area, including National Forest System roads 618, 625, 653, 607, 609, 614, 626 and 644.

The maximum total miles where snowplowing affects groomed routes is not expected to be greater 

than 67.1 miles. Unless conditions require closure of multiple route areas at the same time to 

protect public safety, winter logging would be implemented such that some routes would be 

accessible during each winter recreation season for snow grooming and snowmobile use. See 

previous discussion on potential timber sale areas and duration of harvest activities.

Spring reforestation activities could affect snow grooming routes both inside and outside the 

project area if snowplowing is required to access units for spring planting. However, snowplowing 

for reforestation typically does not start until March 15, which is often the time when snow 

conditions begin to be unfavorable for snowmobile recreation. Snowplowing can be avoided with 

fall planting, but fall planting tends to have less predictable moisture, which is critical for seedling 

establishment and survival.

As indicated in the design features for Recreation, prior to implementing project activities that

would require snowplowing on groomed snowmobile routes, the Forest Service would coordinate 

with Gem and Valley County commissioners, the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation and 

snowmobile user groups before closing any routes. Route closure orders would be posted on the 

Boise National Forest public webpage.

For additional information about snowplowing, see Appendix A: Activity Cards, Appendix B: Design 

Features, and Appendix D: Maps (Existing Transportation System and Recommended Changes map 

set).

Aquatic Organism Passage Improvement

The existing culverts located at Pole Creek/road 625, Cold Springs Creek/road 625, Antelope 

Creek/road 609 and the 2nd Fork/road 609 would be removed and replaced with structures and/or 

culverts that allow and restore aquatic organism passage. The culverts on Pole Creek and Cold 

Springs Creek are immediately adjacent to bull trout occupied habitat and all four culverts are in or 

immediately adjacent to bull trout critical habitat and are therefore a priority for improvement. 

Other barriers, such as the culverts on Sage Hen Creek and Joe’s Creek or others identified during 

implementation, would be evaluated for aquatic organism passage replacement or modification as 

funding and capacity allows.

For additional information about aquatic organism passage improvement, see Appendix A: Activity 

Cards, Appendix B: Design Features, and Appendix D: Maps (Existing Transportation System and 

Recommended Changes map set).

Expansion and Development of Aggregate Sources

The existing Sage Hen (adjacent to National Forest System road 626), Mill Creek Summit (adjacent 

to National Forest System roads 618/699) and Mesa (adjacent to National Forest System road 625) 

mineral material sources would be expanded and developed to economically support the road 

surfacing and maintenance activities on project roads. All of these mineral material sources have 

been used in the past to support roadwork and currently have enough area to accommodate the 

heavy construction equipment needed to develop additional aggregate. Expansion would occur into 

the existing slopes to generate additional raw material for development or producing aggregate. 
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For additional information about road reconstruction, see Appendix A: Activity Cards, Appendix B: 

Design Features, and Appendix D: Maps (Existing Transportation System and Recommended 

Changes map set).

Recreation Management Activities

The following management activities are proposed to accomplish the previously described 

recreation objectives.

Campground Improvements

Reconstruction is proposed to bring Antelope Annex and Cartwright Ridge campgrounds in line with 

current Forest Service standards and the recreational needs of the Sage Hen Reservoir area. The 

proposed changes are intended to reduce resource damage in the Sage Hen Reservoir recreating 

area while improving public access and use opportunities. Some site numbers, spur lengths and site 

locations may change due to unforeseen conditions on the ground.

These campgrounds are accessible for a season that varies usually from May 15 to October 20 due 

to snow levels. There are no proposed changes to the seasons of use currently identified for each 

campground. Campgrounds, or portions of campgrounds, may need to be closed during the 

recreation season to allow for reconstruction to occur; however, the campgrounds would not be 

closed for reconstruction at the same time. 

For additional information, see Appendix B: Design Features and Appendix D: Maps (Existing 

Transportation System and Recommended Changes map set).

Table 5 shows the anticipated changes by campground. The proposed amenities are based upon 

preliminary designs and slight changes or modifications are anticipated as final designs are 

completed. The campground reconstruction would primarily entail: 

• Widening and lengthening road and parking spurs where required. 

• Converting lengthened parking spurs from asphalt to gravel. 

• Replacing or installing additional vault toilets per new capacity requirements. 

• Replacing or installing gates at entrances where required. 

• Replacing or installing kiosks and pay stations as required. 

• Replacing fee tubes. 

• Establishing new single and double campsites with new accessible site furniture and tent 

pads. 

• Installing barrier rock along roadways and spurs. 

• Placing of material and compaction of surfaces at all campsites for family units, tent pads and 

associated pathways. 

• Installing new group site facilities, including shelter structures. 
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Table 5: Current and proposed amenities by campground

Campground

Number of 

Single 

Sites 

Number of 

Double 

Sites 

Number of 

Boat 

Ramps

Number of 

Water 

Systems

Number of 

Covered 

Picnic 

Areas

Number of 

Toilets

Antelope Annex 

(Current) 

6 0 0 0 0 1 

Antelope Annex 

(Proposed)

8 0 0 0 0 1 

Cartwright Ridge

(Current) 

6 0 0 0 0 1 

Cartwright

Ridge (Proposed) 

5 3 0 0 0 2 

Trailhead Improvements

Renwyck Creek Trailhead

The trailhead reconstruction would primarily entail: 

• Reconstructing trailhead locations to meet current standards. 

• Replacing or installing kiosks. 

• Installing barrier rock around the trailhead parking area. 

• Placing of material and compaction of surfaces throughout the trailhead parking area.

The Renwyck Creek Trailhead is off the 609G road, adjacent to the 609 road. Due to the lack of 

defined trailhead (barrier rock, cut/fill of earthwork, aggregate, etc.), unauthorized use and/or 

encroachment into the Snowbank Inventoried Roadless Area is occurring. The proposed trailhead 

location would be near the 609 road and outside the inventoried roadless area. All work activity 

would occur within the new parking area, which is about 100 yards off the National Forest System 

road 609.

Vault Toilet Installation

At the public meeting held in Emmett, Idaho on February 20, 2020, a need was identified for a vault 

toilet at the Renwyck trailhead. This area is seeing increased use and not all users are responsibly 

managing and disposing of human waste. To address this issue a vault toilet would be installed at 

the Renwyck trailhead. 

For additional information, see Appendix B: Design Features and Appendix D: Maps (Existing 

Transportation System and Recommended Changes map set). 

Motorized Recreational Use Information Kiosk Installation

Kiosks could be installed at select trailheads and access points to provide information on motorized 

use opportunities and responsible recreational vehicle use.

Dispersed Camping Changes

The dispersed camping authorization would be removed on National Forest System road 614 only 

on the portion of the road adjacent to and between the Hollywood Campground and Antelope 

Campground. As previously discussed under the need for management activities, conflicts are 
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occurring between developed and dispersed campers along this section of road. The Motor Vehicle 

Use Map for the Emmett Ranger District would be updated to reflect cross country travel no longer 

being permitted and a long-term closure order eliminating dispersed camping would be established 

for this section of National Forest System road 614. 

For additional information, see Appendix B: Design Features and Appendix D: Maps (Existing 

Transportation System and Recommended Changes map set).

Implementation of Project Activities

The Implementation Guide (see appendix E) includes the framework which would be used to define 

treatment locations and design and evaluate the effectiveness of monitoring strategies used to 

assess whether treatments are moving the project area towards desired conditions as identified in 

the Vegetation Condition-Based Management Guide (see appendix C) and the forest plan. It 

describes communication and coordination protocols and lays out how the environmental 

assessment appendices would be used in implementation. Additionally, the guide includes the

project monitoring plan. 

Chapter 3. Environmental Consequences

This chapter describes the environmental consequences that could result from implementation of 

the proposed action described in chapter 2. It also describes the consequences of taking no action. 

Further analysis and conclusions about potential effects are available in resource specialist reports 

and other supporting documentation located in the project record.

Environmental Consequences of the Proposed Action 

Issues Related to the Proposed Action

Comments received during the scoping and comment period were used to determine the scope of 

issues to be addressed and for identifying issues related to the proposed action (40 CFR 1501.7)

along with review and input from the interdisciplinary team of resource specialists. The information 

presented here summarizes and cites the resource specialist reports. The effects disclosed have 

considered the effectiveness of the project design features (see appendix B). 

Issue—Project activities could result in the spread of noxious weeds

The proposed action includes design features to minimize the potential for the introduction and 

spread of noxious weeds. While the risk of exposure to noxious and non-native invasive species is 

high given existing conditions in the project area and the temporal and spatial scale of proposed 

ground disturbing activities, project design features would reduce the risks of noxious and nonnative invasive species to manageable levels. Successful implementation of project design features 

would ensure project activities implement the intent of forest plan direction for the management of 

noxious and non-native invasive species and comply with relevant laws, regulations and 

policies. The Emmett Ranger District would continue to carry out its noxious weed and non-native 

plant treatment program as described in the Boise National Forest Weed Management Strategy and 

authorized under the 2019 Record of Decision for the Boise National Forest Invasive Species Project.

In the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the 2019 Sawtooth and Boise National Forests 

Invasive Species Project, the Boise National Forest addressed potential health risks of the 

authorized pesticides and the mitigations the Forest Service employs to reduce risks to employees 
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and visitors. See the Invasive Species specialist report and additional discussion in this 

environmental assessment in the Pertinent Executive Orders section, under Executive Orders 

13112, Invasive Species on page 54. 

Issue—Project activities could affect botanical resources

In the short term, project activities may impact potential habitats or individuals and seed banks for 

Region 4 Sensitive and Forest Watch plant species. Design features BT-1 and BT-2 require 

implementation surveys and development of mitigation measures to protect Region 4 Sensitive 

plant species when found, and the proposed action includes coordinating implementation of 

project activities with resource specialists to identify needs and watch out situations. Project 

activities may temporarily impact riparian systems; however, project activities would be limited in 

riparian habitats within riparian conservation areas and in the long-term would maintain or improve 

the long-term functionality of riparian systems. Similarly, project activities may impact aspen stands 

and understory species and their pollinators in the short-term but may maintain or improve the 

long-term presence and ecological function of aspen stands through targeted removal of conifers. 

For all habitats, the improvement of forest health and reduction of fuels would in the long-term 

reduce the possibility of uncharacteristic fires that may lead to long-term degradation or loss of 

suitable habitats.

In the short term, the proposed action may impact some individuals of whitebark pine but maintain 

the viability and persistence of the stands as a whole. In the long-term, the proposed action would 

improve the health and viability of whitebark pine stands by reducing competition, improving seed 

beds for natural regeneration, and improving the stands’ long-term resilience by improving the 

stands’ genetic resistance to white pine blister rust. Effects determinations for sensitive plant 

species that occur or have the potential to occur in the project area are provided in this 

environmental assessment in the Sensitive Species section on page 50. Also see the Vegetation, Fire 

and Fuels specialist report for additional effects analysis related to whitebark pine.

The Botanical Resources specialist report provides additional details on threatened, endangered

and proposed and Regional Forester’s (Region 4) Sensitive plant species and Boise National Forest’s 

Forest Watch plant species that occur or have the potential to occur within the project area. It 

details the methods and data sources used in the analysis, assumptions for the analysis, a summary 

of past field visits and surveys, affected analysis area and resource condition indicators and 

measures for assessing potential effects. Discussions on non-native plant species (also see Invasive 

Species specialist report) and pollinators are provided. The report provides further discussion of 

potential effects to botanical resources and the biological evaluation and determinations for 

sensitive species as required by Forest Service policy (Forest Service Manual 2670), as well as 

determinations for Forest Watch species.

Issue—The project could affect carbon sequestration and be affected by climate 

change

The project would affect a relatively small amount of forest land and carbon on the Boise National 

Forest and might temporarily contribute an extremely small quantity of greenhouse gas emissions 

relative to national and global emissions. The proposed action would not convert forest land to 

other non-forest uses, thus allowing any carbon initially emitted from the proposed action to have a 

temporary influence on atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, because carbon would be 

removed from the atmosphere over time as the forest regrows. Furthermore, the project would 

transfer carbon in the harvested wood to the wood product sector, where it may be stored for up to 
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several decades and substitute for more emission intensive materials or fuels. A complete and 

quantitative assessment of forest carbon stocks and the factors that influence carbon trends 

(management activities, disturbances and environmental factors) for the Boise National Forest is 

available in the project record (McKinley et al. 2020). This carbon assessment contains additional 

supporting information and references supporting this analysis. The proposed action is consistent 

with internationally recognized climate change adaptation and mitigation practices.

Issue—Project activities could affect grazing operations

Grazing administration is addressed through annual operating instructions with the permittee. 

There would be no change to existing term grazing permits from implementation of the proposed 

action. The project could temporarily affect livestock distribution or rotations, and there is the 

potential for gates to be left open or fences and livestock developments to be damaged. Project 

design features ensure coordination would occur with permittees to notify them of upcoming 

project activities that could potentially affect grazing operations. Overall, while there could be short 

term effects to grazing, long term effects from the proposed treatments and burning would be 

positive for rangeland resources in the increased vigor and amount of future available forage. See 

the Range specialist report for additional information.

Issue—Project activities could affect recreation access and opportunities

The proposed action was modified in response to recreation-related comments received during the 

scoping and comment period. Modifications include the addition of a vault at the Renwyck trailhead

and phased campground reconstruction. Dispersed camping changes would be minor. Road and trail 

decommissioning and administrative changes would be implemented to improve watershed 

conditions and wildlife habitat. After these changes there would still be over 96 miles of authorized 

maintenance level 2 and maintenance level 3 roads open either seasonally or year-round and 49 

miles of authorized motorized trail within the project area available for motorized use. Winter 

logging would be implemented such that some routes would be accessible during each winter 

recreation season for snow grooming and snowmobile use, unless conditions require closure of 

multiple route areas at the same time to protect public safety. The Forest Service would post 

closure orders along all trails, roads and staging areas where operations are visible to the public, or 

any route that might be affected by proposed action activities and would notify applicable county 

commissioners, Idaho Parks and Recreation and pertinent user groups before any closures take 

place. These closures would also be posted on the Forest Service webpage prior to beginning 

activities. See the Recreation specialist report for additional information.

Issue—How will the Forest Service address unauthorized motorized use within the 

project area? 

Unauthorized road and trail decommissioning would remove roads and trails that were illegally 

created by users or abandoned from previous management activities with the objective of 

eliminating motorized use, restoring these areas to a more natural state and stabilizing them to 

minimize sedimentation and impacts to natural resources. The Forest Service would decommission 

temporary roads to reduce the likelihood of these becoming unauthorized motorized trails or other 

unauthorized recreation uses by following the design parameters of the project. All temporary 

roads created for this project would be fully obliterated (see Appendix B: Design Features). The 

Forest Service would strive to obtain local all-terrain vehicle club support for and sponsorship of 

kiosks at essential trailheads and motorized trail access points. Collaboratively the Forest Service 

and local all-terrain vehicle clubs would identify locations where the kiosks should be installed to 
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maximize public contact with information and education on motorized use opportunities and 

responsible recreation vehicle use. See the Recreation specialist report for additional information.

Issue—How would proposed vegetation treatments be effective and lead to forest 

recovery? 

The proposed action would result in improved desired conditions for species composition, stand 

density, and increase the proportion of future old forest habitat. Commercial harvest would retain 

desired quantities and distributions of snags for wildlife habitat and coarse woody debris for 

nutrient cycling. Hazard trees would be reduced, while maintaining the desired range of snags per 

acre, retaining a higher proportion of large snags for wildlife habitat. The total surface fuel tons per 

acre would be reduced to fall within desired conditions, while increasing the percentage of large 

coarse woody debris. Wildfire hazard would be reduced to desired ranges, allowing unplanned 

ignitions to result in more desirable effects, while creating more favorable conditions for safe and 

effective fire management. The spatial patch and pattern of vegetative structural conditions would 

be diverse and reflective of a resilient landscape.

Hazardous fuels reduction activities and prescribed burning would lessen the potential for 

undesirable wildfire effects, including uncharacteristic crown fire and impacts to soils and water 

quality, by reducing surface fuel loading, ladder fuels and adverse fire behavior. Prescribed fire 

would also foster ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling and would favor early seral species 

composition, regulate succession, maintain diversity, improve cavity creation potential, prepare 

sites for regeneration and facilitate important biogeochemical processes. Processes facilitated by 

fire help to create and maintain a forest structure that can drive functional wildlife habitat.

See the Vegetation, Fires and Fuels specialist report, Appendix A: Activity Cards, Appendix C: 

Vegetation Condition-Based Management Guide and Appendix E: Implementation Guide. 

Issue—Project activities could affect wildlife and its habitat

The Wildlife Technical Report includes a description of the existing habitat in the project area, along 

with information on data sources, analysis tools, species considered and screening process for 

species analyzed in detail. Species life history and habitat characteristics (model parameters) are 

described in appendices B and C of the report. Section 3 of the report provides details regarding 

effects of proposed activities on wildlife. Survey data sheets, survey methodologies used or that 

would be used, numeric calculations, habitat modelling papers, forest plan monitoring results, and 

steps followed to conduct analyses are located in the project record. Compliance with forest plan 

wildlife standards and guidelines is documented in the Forest Plan Consistency Checklist located in 

the project record. Effects determinations for threatened, proposed threatened, and sensitive 

wildlife species that occur or have the potential to occur in the project area are provided in this 

environmental assessment in the Endangered Species Act section on page 50 and the Sensitive 

Species section on page 50. 

Issue—Project activities could increase sedimentation and affect water quality

There are no waterbodies within the sixth hydrologic units intersected by the project area which are 

water quality limited. All beneficial uses are being fully supported. The project would comply with 

Section 319 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act as documented in the Clean Water Act 

checklist located in the project record. There would be temporary impacts from increased 

sedimentation due to project activities; however, in the long-term beneficial uses and the 

sediment/turbidity water quality indicator would be improved over the current condition. 
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Staggered actions and design features specific to reducing sediment delivery would keep annual 

water quality impacts low. The actions would produce a long-term trend towards less sediment 

input than the existing condition. The project would comply with forest plan soil and water 

standards and guidelines and beneficial uses would be maintained or improved in the short- and 

long-term.

The Hydrology specialist report provides additional discussion on the effects of proposed activities 

on water quality. It describes the mechanisms of potential effects, analysis bounds, methods used in 

the data analysis and current beneficial use status of waterbodies located within the project area. 

The report also details how sediment impacts were modeled and the assumptions used in the 

modeling, how stream temperature was considered in the analysis, how road density was 

calculated, and how changes in peak and base flows and disturbance regime were analyzed. Also 

see the Clean Water Act section on page 53 of this environmental assessment. 

Issue—Project activities could affect bull trout and its critical habitat

There would be temporary effects to bull trout during installation of aquatic organism passage

structures and project-related sediment in streams. Implementation of project design features (see 

appendix B) would reduce the potential for injury or mortality during fish handling and would limit 

the amount of project sediment that could reach streams. In the short- and long-term, habitat 

connectivity and diversity would be improved with the removal of barriers, and the spawning and 

rearing population would no longer be isolated and would have the potential for improved genetic 

diversity from migratory fish. The Fisheries specialist report provides additional details regarding 

bull trout and its critical habitat and potential project effects. Effects determinations for bull trout 

and bull trout critical habitat are provided in the Endangered Species Act section on page 50 of this 

environmental assessment. 

Issue—Project activities could affect historic properties

The Boise National Forest would use a phased approach to complete the identification and 

evaluation of historic properties in the project area and to assess the potential for adverse effects to 

these properties from proposed management activities. See the National Historic Preservation Act 

– Section 106 Review on page 51 of this environmental assessment. 

Environmental Consequences of Taking No Action 

Under a “no-action alternative” the Boise National Forest would not implement management 

activities described in the proposed action alternative. All other ongoing authorized activities would 

continue. Existing vegetation conditions would continue to trend away from desired conditions and 

hazardous fuels would continue to build up. The current motorized trail opportunities, and the 

condition of authorized motorized trails and trailheads would continue to degrade unless 

maintenance of authorized trails is increased, commensurate with use, as popularity of this activity 

continues to grow. With local metro growth occurring in nearby communities, the demand for 

additional recreation opportunities will continue to grow as well. Indirect impacts of no action could 

result in further resource damage and degradation to the current authorized trail system due to 

increased unauthorized use, particularly in sensitive areas such as riparian corridors or areas with 

high erosion potential.
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Consistency with Applicable Laws, Regulations, and Policies

National Forest Management Act – Land Management Plan 

Consistency

This project is consistent with the forest plan as documented in the Forest Plan Consistency 

Checklist located in the project record. No forest plan amendment would be required.

Endangered Species Act

Boise National Forest specialists reviewed the proposal and made the following determinations for 

threatened and proposed species and critical habitat that occur or have the potential to occur

within the project area (table 6). The rationale for the determinations is provided in the Wildlife 

Technical Report, Fisheries specialist report, and Botany specialist report. At present no endangered 

species are known to occur within the project area. The Forest Service would reinitiate consultation 

with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service per 50 CFR 402.16 if such a need is identified at any point in 

the project. 

Table 6: Effect determinations for Endangered Species Act species and habitat

Species/Habitat Status Determination*

Bull trout Threatened LAA 

Bull trout critical habitat Designated LAA 

Canada lynx Threatened NLAA

Northern Idaho ground squirrel Threatened NE

Slickspot peppergrass Threatened NE

Slickspot peppergrass critical habitat Proposed Designated NE

*NE – No Effect; NLAA – May Affect, Not Likely to Adversely Affect; LAA – May Affect, Likely to Adversely Affect

Supporting Project Documentation

Applicable project file documentation to support Endangered Species Act compliance

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ECOS-IPaC online species list

• Wildlife Technical Report

• Fisheries Specialist Report

• Biological Assessment

• Letters from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Sensitive Species

Boise National Forest specialists reviewed the proposal and made the following determinations 

(table 7)for Forest Service Region 4 Sensitive Species (Forest Service Manual 2670) that occur or 

have the potential to occur or for which there is source habitat within the analysis area. The 

rationale for the determinations is provided in the Wildlife Technical Report and Botany specialist 

report.
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Table 7: Sensitive species impact determinations

Species Determination*

White-headed woodpecker May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

American three-toed woodpecker May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Boreal owl May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Fisher May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Flammulated owl May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Great gray owl May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Northern goshawk May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Mountain quail May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Gray wolf May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Bald eagle May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Columbia spotted frog May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Common loon May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Wolverine May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Whitebark pine May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Seven devil’s onion May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Sacajawea’s bitterroot May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Bryum moss May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

Least phacelia May Impact Individuals or Habitat (MIIH)

MIIH- May Impact Individuals or Habitat, but Will Not Likely Contribute To A Trend Towards Federal Listing Or Loss Of 

Viability To The Population Or Species

Supporting Project Documentation

Applicable project file documentation to support agency sensitive species compliance

• Wildlife Technical Report

• Botany Specialist Report

National Historic Preservation Act – Section 106 Review

The Boise National Forest would use a phased approach to complete the identification and 

evaluation of historic properties in the project area, and to assess the potential for adverse effects 

to these properties from proposed management activities. Phasing is consistent with the federal 

regulations, “Protection of Historic Properties” (36 CFR Part 800), implementing Section 106 of the 

National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 470), as amended. Historic properties are any 

prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object included in or eligible for inclusion 

in the National Register of Historic Places.

Consulting parties in the Section 106 process include but are not limited to the Advisory Council on 

Historic Preservation, Idaho State Historic Preservation Officer, and potentially affected Indian 

tribes. Under the phased approach, the Boise National Forest would complete additional 

consultation with the appropriate parties on the results of its identification, evaluation, and 

assessment of effects to historic properties in the project area. Consultation would be completed 

prior to implementation of proposed management activities.
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Historical and ethnographic research and previous and ongoing fieldwork have identified historic 

properties in the project area. Important cultural and historical uses of the area include those 

associated with Native Americans, ranchers, loggers, and the Forest Service and Civilian 

Conservation Corps. Boise National Forest policy is to avoid and protect historic properties and 

other important cultural resources during project implementation activities. The Boise National 

Forest anticipates that this project would have No Effect or No Adverse Effect on historic 

properties. In the unlikely event that adverse effects cannot be avoided, the Boise National Forest

would follow the process in 36 CFR 800 for resolving the adverse effects.

Supporting Project Documentation

Applicable project file documentation to support National Historic Preservation Act

compliance

• Letter to Idaho State Historic Preservation Office

• Letters to potentially affected Indian tribes (see Tribal Consultation below)

• Cultural Resources Report BS-18-3329: Sage Hen Integrated Restoration Project

Tribal Consultation

The project was introduced to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes in a Wings and Roots meeting on 

November 19, 2019, and an update on the project was provided at an April 9, 2020 meeting. Letters 

soliciting comments on the project were sent to the Nez Perce and Shoshone-Bannock Tribes on 

April 15, 2020. Government to Government consultation with potentially affected and interested 

tribes will continue to be conducted through established processes and protocols.

Supporting Project Documentation

Applicable project file documentation to support tribal consultation compliance

• Letter to Shoshone Bannock Tribes

• Letter to Nez Perce Tribe

• Wings and Roots Meeting Agendas

Special Management Areas (Wilderness, Roadless, etc.)

A portion of the Snowbank Inventoried Roadless Area is located within the project area. The project 

was presented to the Idaho Roadless Commission on May 29, 2019 and October 2, 2019. The 

Commission indicated no concerns with the proposed actions. No other special management areas are

present within or adjacent to the project area. Boise National Forest specialists reviewed the proposal 

and made the following determinations based on special management area presence (table 8). 

Table 8: Special Management Area Compliance Determinations

Management 

Area Type

Applicable Law and 

Regulation to Demonstrate 

Compliance With Rationale for Compliance 

Inventoried 

Roadless Area

Idaho Roadless Rule – 

Compliant

Project was designed to be consistent with the 

unroaded landscape. Proposed activities would be 

limited to prescribed burning and rehabilitating and 

blocking access to unauthorized routes. Trees may be 

cut for firelines or to block access; there would be no 

commercial tree removal. No road construction or 

reconstruction is proposed in the roadless area.
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Supporting Project Documentation

Applicable project file documentation to support special management area compliance

• Sage Hen Inventoried Roadless Area Map

• Roadless Briefing Papers

Clean Air Act

The project is not located in a nonattainment area. To ensure that air quality meets Federal and 

State standards during prescribed burning, the Boise National Forest is part of a partnership known 

as the Montana/Idaho State Airshed Group. Before prescribed fires are ignited, fire managers are 

required to submit their plans to the Montana/Idaho State Airshed Group monitoring unit, which 

reviews existing air quality levels and weather conditions to determine which prescribed fires can 

be ignited and which, if any, must be delayed to ensure that air quality meets Federal and State 

standards.

Supporting Project Documentation

Applicable project file documentation to support Clean Air Act compliance

• Vegetation, Fire and Fuels Effects Analysis

Clean Water Act

Forest plan guideline SWGU09 states that project proposals that may affect water quality should 

answer the questions outlined in the Idaho Nonpoint Source Management Plan to achieve federal 

consistency with the Clean Water Act as implemented by the State. The project would comply with 

the Clean Water Act as documented in the responses to these questions in the Clean Water Act 

checklist located in the project record. Design features and riparian conservation area buffers 

would protect wetlands and floodplains. The functions and values of wetlands in the area would be 

maintained or improved. 

Supporting Project Documentation

Applicable project file documentation to support Clean Water Act compliance

• Hydrology Specialist Report

• Clean Water Act Checklist

Pertinent Executive Orders

The responsible official and/or applicable specialist(s) have determined the proposal complies with 

the following executive orders, which were deemed relevant based on the nature of the proposal.

Executive Order 11988, Floodplain Management and Executive Order 11990, 

Protection of Wetlands

The activities proposed are not expected to result in modifications of wetlands or floodplains which 

would negatively affect the ability of the watershed to moderate flood flows. The function and 

value of wetlands and floodplains in the area would be maintained or improved. See the Hydrology 

specialist report.
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Executive Order 12898, Environmental Justice

Based on Boise National Forest knowledge of local communities and experience on similar projects, 

the proposed action is not expected to disproportionately affect minority or low-income individuals, 

Native American Indians, women, or civil rights.

Executive Order 13112, Invasive Species

While there is risk of exposure to noxious and non-native invasive species from proposed ground 

disturbing activities, project design features would reduce the risks of noxious and non-native 

invasive species to manageable levels. The overall benefits of the proposed action clearly outweigh 

the potential harm caused by invasive species, and all feasible and prudent measures to minimize 

risk of harm would be taken in conjunction with the actions. Successful implementation of project 

design features would ensure project activities comply with this executive order. See the Invasive 

Species specialist report.

Executive Order 13175, Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal 

Governments

Government to Government consultation with potentially affected and interested tribes is ongoing 

and will continue to be conducted through established processes and protocols. 

Executive Order 13186, Migratory Birds

Migratory bird species on the Boise National Forest are varied and occur on other federal, state or 

private ownerships where similar habitat exists. There are no known migratory bird species that 

have a range that is limited to the Boise National Forest so any temporary reduction in reproduction 

on a project on the Boise National Forest would not have species-level impacts. Project design 

features would protect some individuals and reduce negative impacts to their reproduction. See the 

Wildlife Technical Report.

Executive Order 13443, Facilitation of Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation

The proposed action would maintain hunting and trapping opportunities within the project area. 

There could be temporary restrictions on access in locations where project activities such as 

commercial harvest and prescribed burning could pose a safety concern; however, access would 

remain high. There would be a temporary and short-term decrease in security and hiding habitat, 

and vegetation would change structurally in treated areas but for many big and small game species 

this would just be a re-arrangement of forage opportunities on the landscape. See the Wildlife 

Technical Report.

National Environmental Policy Act

Council on Environmental Quality Regulations

The Council on Environmental Quality issued revised regulations for implementing the procedural 

provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, effective September 14, 2020. The revised 

regulations provide the responsible official the option of conducting an environmental analysis 

under the 1978 regulations if the process was initiated prior to September 14, 2020 (40 CFR 

§1506.13, 85 FR 137, p. 43373, July 16, 2020). This environmental analysis was conducted according 

to the Council on Environmental Quality’s 1978 regulations for implementing the procedural 

provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508, as amended).
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Finding of No Significant Impact

Context

The project was evaluated with respect to local, regional and short and long-term contexts. For the

proposed action, the context of the environmental effects is based on the environmental analysis 

documented in this environmental assessment and project specialist reports. The project area 

encompasses approximately 68,000 acres of National Forest lands, which is around 6.6 percent of 

the Boise National Forest. Commercial harvest could occur on up to 20,700 acres, which is about 

30.4 percent of the project area; prescribed burning could occur on up to 45,000 acres, which is 

around 66 percent of the project area; and hazardous fuels reduction and non-commercial thinning 

could occur on up to 11,200 acres, which is around 16.5 percent of the project area. Effects from 

the proposed treatments are well known, as these types of proposed activities have all previously 

been implemented on the Boise National Forest. The potential environmental effects would be 

localized to the project area and would not be measurable at a regional or larger scale. The 

proposed action would be consistent with the management area prescriptions and forest plan 

standards and guidelines applicable to the project area.

Intensity

Intensity is a measure of the severity, extent, or quantity of effects, and is based on information 

from the effects analysis of this environmental assessment and the references in the project record. 

The effects of this project have been appropriately and thoroughly considered with an analysis that 

is responsive to concerns and issues raised by the public. The agency has taken a hard look at the 

environmental effects using relevant scientific information and knowledge of site-specific conditions 

gained from field visits. The Responsible Official’s finding of no significant impact is based on the 

context of the project and intensity of effects using the ten factors identified in 40 CFR 1508.27(b).

1) Impacts may be both beneficial and adverse. A significant effect may exist even if the Federal 

agency believes that on the balance the effects will be beneficial.

Based on the evidence contained in this environmental assessment and the project record, 

implementation of the proposed action would not have any significant adverse or beneficial impacts 

to any resource (40 CFR 1508.27(b)(1)). While the vegetation treatments would help move the 

project towards desired conditions as described in the forest plan, it is not anticipated that the 

project would result in significant beneficial or adverse effects (see the Vegetation, Fire and Fuels 

specialist report). The beneficial effects of the proposed activities would be similar to those 

analyzed under other environmental assessments the Boise National Forest has prepared. Although 

the scale and timeframe of this project are different from those projects, the activities would occur 

over several years and are expected to have results similar to those on other Boise National Forest

projects. To disclose the maximum extent of likely impacts, resource specialists completed their 

analysis using a conservative approach, analyzing all project acres that filtered to be feasible and 

appropriate for treatment. The results of this analysis show that even if all acres that could feasibly 

be treated are treated, there still would not be significant environmental effects from 

implementation of project activities. 

Implementation of the proposed action would not result in significant resource commitments or 

any significant irretrievable losses of vegetation, soils, water, heritage resources, botanical 

resources, scenic resources, or wildlife and fish habitats (see chapter 3 of this environmental 

assessment and the resource specialist reports). 
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2) The degree to which the proposed action affects public health or safety.

The proposed action would not have significant effects on public health and safety. Hazardous fuels 

reduction activities and prescribed burning would lessen the potential for undesirable wildfire 

effects, including smoke impacts to communities, by reducing surface fuel loading, ladder fuels and 

potential fire behavior. These actions would reduce risks to public and firefighter safety with 

conditions where unplanned ignitions result in more desirable effects, while creating more 

favorable conditions for safe and effective fire management. 

Project safety on Forest Service managed lands is guided by Forest Service Handbook 6709.11 

(Health and Safety Code Handbook), and work activities would be conducted in accordance with 

OSHA requirements. With implementation of these measures and design features identified in 

appendix B, the activities would not significantly affect public health or safety (40 CFR 

1508.27(b)(2)). 

3) Unique characteristics of the geographic area such as proximity to historic or cultural resources, 

park lands, prime farmlands, wetlands, wild and scenic rivers, or ecologically critical areas.

Project activities would not have a significant effect on any unique characteristics of the geographic 

area (such as proximity to historic or cultural resources, park lands, prime farmlands, wetlands, wild 

and scenic rivers, or ecologically critical areas). No prime farmlands are located on the Forest (USDA 

Forest Service 2003, page 3-979). There are no park lands, wilderness, wild and scenic rivers, or 

ecologically critical areas within or adjacent to the treatment areas that may be impacted by the 

proposed action. There would be no significant impacts to wetlands within the project area (see 

Hydrology specialist report). Vegetation treatments in the Snowbank Inventoried Roadless Area are 

limited to prescribed burning and would maintain the primitive theme. There would be no road 

construction or reconstruction or commercial harvest within the inventoried roadless area. Boise 

National Forest policy is to avoid and protect historic properties and other important cultural 

resources during project implementation activities. The Boise National Forest anticipates that this 

project would have No Effect or No Adverse Effect on historic properties. In the unlikely event that 

adverse effects cannot be avoided, the Boise National Forest would follow the process in 36 CFR 

800 for resolving the adverse effects. See National Historic Preservation Act – Section 106 Review

on page 51 of this environmental assessment. 

4) The degree to which the effects on the quality of the human environment are likely to be 

highly controversial.

The effects of this action on the quality of the human environment are not highly controversial. The 

activities that would be undertaken are the same activities that have been carried out on the Boise 

National Forest since the forest plan was amended in 2010 and for which the nature and effects of 

those activities are well understood. Although this project would be larger in scale than previous 

Boise National Forest projects, there is no scientific dispute over the size of the action on any 

human environmental factors. No public comments received for this project provided site specific or 

local evidence showing that significant site quality impairment or other highly undesirable impacts 

have resulted from similar work on the Boise National Forest. 

During the scoping and comment period comments were provided that presented other scientific 

views on various aspects of the project. This literature was reviewed by resource specialists and 

considered in the content of the project location and proposed activities. While some individuals 
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may oppose parts of the project, no evidence was provided that would indicate the size, nature or

effects of the project were incorrectly considered in the analysis.

5) The degree to which the possible effects on the human environment are highly uncertain or 

involve unique or unknown risks.

The potential effects of the proposed activities analyzed in the environmental assessment are not 

highly uncertain and do not involve unique or unknown risks. The Boise National Forest has 

extensive past experience with forest restoration treatments, hazardous fuels reduction and road 

and recreation infrastructure management and connected actions, and with the environmental 

effects associated with these actions.

6) The degree to which the action may establish a precedent for future actions with significant 

effects or represents a decision in principle about a future consideration.

The action would not set precedence for future actions with significant effects, nor would it

represent a decision in principle about a future consideration. The effects of the proposed action 

are well understood and are not anticipated to result in significant effects; similar future actions 

would be evaluated through a separate NEPA process and the results of the effects analysis would 

be considered in a future decision that would stand on its own. 

7) Whether the action is related to other actions with individually insignificant but cumulatively 

significant impacts.

There would be no known significant cumulative effects from this action. All known actions, which 

have occurred or are likely to occur in the reasonably foreseeable future, were considered in the 

analysis. These are documented in supporting specialist reports in the project record and in the 

environmental assessment. Analyses considered direct, indirect, and cumulative effects of the 

proposal. These actions are not related to other actions that, when combined, would have 

significant impacts.

8) The degree to which the action may adversely affect districts, sites, highways, structures, or 

objects listed in the National Register of Historic Places or may cause loss or destruction of 

significant cultural or historical resources.

The Boise National Forest would use a phased approach to complete the identification and 

evaluation of historic properties in the project area, and to assess the potential for adverse effects

to these properties from proposed management activities. Under the phased approach, the Boise 

National Forest would complete additional consultation with the appropriate parties on the results 

of its identification, evaluation, and assessment of effects to historic properties in the project area. 

Consultation would be completed prior to implementation of proposed management activities. 

Boise National Forest policy is to avoid and protect historic properties and other important cultural 

resources during project implementation activities. The Boise National Forest anticipates that this 

project would have No Effect or No Adverse Effect on historic properties. In the unlikely event that 

adverse effects cannot be avoided, the Boise National Forest would follow the process in 36 CFR 

800 for resolving the adverse effects. 
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9) The degree to which the action may adversely affect an endangered or threatened species or 

its habitat that has been determined to be critical under the Endangered Species Act.

Possible effects to federally listed and sensitive terrestrial, aquatic and plant species were analyzed 

in the Botanical Resources, Fisheries, and Wildlife specialist reports. Determinations are 

summarized in chapter 3 of the environmental assessment. The proposed action could cause some 

short-term adverse effects to bull trout and its critical habitat; however, the overall effect of the 

proposed action would be beneficial in the long-term to this species and its critical habitat. These 

short-term impacts are not expected to rise to the level of significance, as supported by discussions 

in the Fisheries specialist report. Implementation of the proposed action would result in a long-term 

reduction in sediment delivery, which would lead to decreased substrate embeddedness, increased 

pool quality and frequency, increased prey base and ultimately increased survivorship for bull trout. 

Installation of aquatic organism passages would expand bull trout habitat by several stream miles.

10) Whether the action threatens a violation of Federal, State, or local law or requirements 

imposed for the protection of the environment.

This action would not threaten a violation of Federal, State, or local laws or other legal 

requirements imposed for the protection of the environment, as supported by information in the 

environmental assessment and project record. Consultation requirements would be met for the 

Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and tribal governments. The proposed 

action meets requirements under forest plan direction, the National Forest Management Act and 

implementing regulations in 36 CFR 219 and 16 USC 1604, the National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 and Council on Environmental Quality implementing regulations under 40 CFR 1500-1508, the 

National Historic Preservation Act and implementing regulations under 36 CFR 800, the Clean Water 

Act (Federal Water Pollution Control Act) together with implementing regulations under 40 CFR 

130, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (P.L. 96-159 1531(c)) and implementing 

regulations pursuant to 50 CFR 402.06 and 40 CFR 1502.25, and the Clean Air Act and implementing 

regulations in 40 CFR 50. The project is consistent with relevant executive orders as described in the 

Pertinent Executive Orders section on page 53 of this environmental assessment. The project also 

complies with the Idaho Forest Practices Act (see the Vegetation, Fire and Fuels specialist report) 

and is consistent with the Idaho Roadless Rule. 

Conclusion

After considering the environmental effects described in the Sage Hen Integrated Restoration 

Project Environmental Assessment and specialist reports, the Responsible Official has determined 

that the proposed action would not have significant effects on the quality of the human 

environment considering the context and intensity of impacts (40 CFR 1508.27); therefore, an 

environmental impact statement will not be prepared.
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Figure 25. View of western portion of the project area

Chapter 4. Agencies and Persons Consulted

Who was consulted during development of this project? 

The Forest Service consulted the following Federal, State, tribal and local agencies and organizations 

during the development of this project. Additionally, numerous individuals with potential to be 

impacted by the proposed actions were consulted for input, either through formal scoping or 

informal contacts with specific resource specialists. A complete list of agencies and persons 

consulted is available in the project record.

Agencies, Organizations, and Individuals Contacted or Consulted 

during the Planning Process

Native American Tribes

Nez Perce Tribe

Shoshone-Paiute Tribe

Shoshone-Bannock Tribe

Collaborative Groups

Boise Forest Coalition

Agencies and Governments

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Bureau of Land Management

Idaho Department of Fish and Game

Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation

Idaho Department of Lands

Idaho State Historic Preservation Office

Gem and Valley County Commissioners

Organizations, Businesses, and 

Permittees

Grazing permittees

Campground concessionaire
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Appendices

The Sage Hen Integrated Restoration Project Environmental Assessment includes the following 

appendices:

Appendix A. Activity Cards

Appendix B. Design Features

Appendix C. Vegetation Condition-Based Management Guide

Appendix D. Maps (maps are 11 by 17 inches and located in a separate folder)

Appendix E. Implementation Guide

Appendices A through E are stand-alone documents posted on the project website under the 

“Analysis” tab: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=56701.