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Vestal Project 

Proposed Action 

Hell Canyon Ranger District 

Black Hills National Forest 

April 2011

Introduction: 

The Vestal Project area is located surrounding the city of Custer, South Dakota within Custer County

(see attached vicinity map). The project area includes approximately 43,516 acres; 25,726 (60%) of 

which are National Forest System lands and 17,790 (40%) which are private lands (including City or 

County properties). Given the project location around the City of Custer, there are extensive private 

dwellings, businesses, and government offices in this project area. The Hell Canyon Ranger District 

office and shop, as well as the Black Hills National Forest Supervisor’s Office, are also located 

within the project area. 

High use developed recreation sites occur on private, State and Federal lands within or adjacent to 

the project area. Sites within the project boundary include; approximately 8 miles of the Mickelson 

trail, Bismarck Lake campground, Bob Marshall Camp, and Crazy Horse Mountain. Recreation 

areas adjacent to the project area include Custer State Park. 

All State and County roads which access the City of Custer are within the project area for at least a 

portion of their length. Therefore, all visitors to Custer will travel through the project area. 

Existing Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) Epidemic 

The Black Hills National Forest, Forest Supervisor, Craig Bobzien, has determined that a mountain 

pine beetle epidemic is occurring in the project area. Over the past 3-4 years there has been a 

rapidly growing amount of beetle caused mortality in the southern Black Hills around the City of 

Custer. The Vestal planning area is within this expanding mountain pine beetle epidemic. All 

measures of beetle activity indicate a rapidly growing beetle epidemic with a substantial increase 

in tree mortality over the past 3 years. Approximately 86% of ponderosa pine stands in the

project area are at medium or high risk for mountain pine beetle caused mortality. 

At this time, there are larger pockets of beetle activity in the northern and western parts of the 

project area and beetle activity has been occurring in these areas for 4-5 years. The southern 

parts of the project are less impacted at this time, but beetle activity is occurring there at a 

rapidly growing rate. 

Planning Direction: 

The 1997 Black Hills National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, as amended, (Forest 

Plan) provides direction for the management of resources contained within the Black Hills National 

Forest. The Forest Plan contains management Goals and Objectives, Management Area direction, 

and identifies desired future conditions for the forest. Specific direction is provided for management 

of mountain pine beetle outbreaks and fuels. 
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Table 1: Management Area Direction in the Vestal Project Area – On National Forest System 

Lands Only (60% of total lands within the project boundary)

Management 

Area

Acres in 

Project Area

Percent of 

Project Area

Management Emphasis and Management Theme

5.4 10,723 42% Big Game Winter Range: These areas are managed to provide high-quality 

winter and transitional habitat for deer and elk, high-quality turkey 

habitat, habitat for other species, and a variety of multiple uses. 

5.1 10,325 40% Resource Production: These areas are managed for wood products, water 

yield, and forage production, while providing other commercial products, 

visual quality, diversity of wildlife and a variety of other goods and 

services. 

4.1 4,375 17% Limited Motorized Use and Forest Products (Buckhorn Mountain): These 

areas are managed for non-motorized recreation, while providing for 

timber production, forage production, visual quality and a diversity of 

wildlife. Roads provide intermittent commercial access, but are normally 

closed to other than administrative use. 

8.2 303 1% Developed Recreation Complex (Bismarck Lake): These areas are 

managed for recreational opportunities and visual qualities adjacent to 

developed recreation sites and bodies of water. 

Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA) 

The HFRA was signed by President Bush in 2003 for the purpose of expediting hazardous fuels 

reduction and forest restoration projects on Federal lands at risk of wildland fire or insect and 

disease epidemics. The Vestal project area meets the insect and disease criteria set forth by 

HFRA in that there is a mountain pine beetle epidemic occurring within the project area. The 

Vestal project will be analyzed under the provisions of the HFRA, Section 102(a)(4). 

Purpose of and Need for Action

The primary purpose for action in the Vestal project area is to reduce the threat to forest 

resources from the existing mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic. This action is needed 

because there is a rapidly increasing MPB outbreak occurring within the project area which is 

resulting in substantial levels of pine mortality. Existing stand conditions across the project area 

are largely at medium to high risk for MPB caused mortality. 

A secondary purpose of this project is to protect local communities and watersheds from largescale, high intensity wildfire. This action is needed because the project area is located within and 

surrounding the City of Custer, SD and approximately 84% of the project area has a fire hazard 

rating of high to very high due to dense stand conditions and dead, dry fuels resulting from MPB 

caused mortality. Approximately 40 percent of lands in the project area are privately owned, 

with an estimated 3,194 private structures. 

Proposed Action

The proposed action is designed to address the purpose of and need for action described above. 

All proposed activities would occur on National Forest lands. Refer to attached proposed action 

maps for both vegetation treatments and fuels treatments, as well as the transportation map noting 
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proposed adjustments to the transportation system. This information is also available on the Black 

Hills National Forest website at: http://go.usa.gov/Toa .

Strategies proposed to reduce mountain pine beetle caused mortality include, mechanical 

thinning to reduce basal area, and sanitation which removes green trees that have live beetle

brood in them. It is recommended that treatments be implemented as soon as possible to be most 

effective. In the Black Hills, stands that are less than 80 ft2/acre basal area, are at a reduced risk. 

Therefore, reducing stand basal area is a preventative treatment. Sanitation is considered a 

suppression strategy because it directly removes beetle larvae from the forest, directly reducing 

beetle populations.

Table 2 - Proposed Vegetation Treatments

Treatment Acres Definition

CT – Commercial 

Thinning 

CT50

3,626

1,831

Thinning of immature trees generally 5-15” dbh. The objective is to reduce susceptibility to 

mountain pine beetle (MPB) infestation by reducing basal area within sites. The thinning will 

reduce MPB risk in these stands to Low and will also reduce fire hazard, improve health, tree 

vigor, and future growth capacity of the site. Sites would be thinned from below, which 

means that trees would, in general, be removed from the lower crown classes. Typical target 

basal area (BA) is 60 ft2/ac. However, some sites would be thinned to a BA of 50 ft2/acre to 

further reduce fire hazard adjacent to private lands, and are noted as CT50. 

FS – Free Selection 1,054 This treatment will reduce susceptibility of stands to mountain pine beetle (MPB) infestation 

by reducing overall basal area within sites. The thinning will reduce MPB risk in these stands 

to medium and will also reduce fire hazard. This treatment reduces overall density of the site 

to average 80 ft2/ac basal area by interspersing dense groups with interlocking crowns of 3 

trees up to 2 acres with openings, hardwoods and thinned areas. Within stand densities will 

vary from 0 to 120 ft2/ac basal area.

GSH-Group 

Shelterwood

10,044 This treatment will reduce susceptibility of stands to mountain pine beetle (MPB) infestation 

by reducing overall basal area within sites. The thinning will reduce overall MPB risk in these 

stands to Low and will also reduce fire hazard and maintain stand diversity. This is a 

shelterwood system treatment that is applied within pine sites which are not homogenous, 

but rather have patches or groups of trees of various age classes throughout the stand. A GSH 

prescription may include all phases of a shelterwood system such as a commercial thin, 

seedcut or overstory removal and includes POL. The overall density of these stands would not 

exceed 60 ft2/acre basal area. 

HC – Hardwood 

Conversion

126 The objective of this treatment is to increase natural fuelbreaks by converting mixed 

conifer/hardwood stands to hardwood cover type. It is accomplished by removing all conifers 

from the stand. Hinging of non-commercial-sized conifers would follow commercial removal.

HR – Hardwood 

Release

431 The objective of this treatment is to maintain natural fuelbreaks by removing all conifers from 

existing hardwood habitat. Hinging of non-commercial-sized conifers would follow 

commercial removal.

OR – Overstory 

Removal

1,255 This treatment results in MPB risk of stands to low and reduces fire hazard by removal of 

mature to over-mature trees in the overstory of sites which have successfully regenerated. 

This releases the established regeneration, which will also be thinned in a POL or PCT, unless 

deferred for wildlife cover.

PCT Precommercial 

Thinning

*54 Understory thinning of trees that are less than 5” dbh to a spacing of 12x12 feet. 

PE – Pine 

Encroachment

1,458 The objective of this treatment is to maintain natural fuelbreaks by removing all conifers from 

existing meadows. 
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Treatment Acres Definition

POL – Products 

Other Than Logs 

Thinning

*617 A commercial thinning of pine sites to reduce MPB risk and fire hazard by reducing stand 

density. This treatment is proposed in sites generally made up of trees 1-9” dbh that do not 

contain enough 9” + trees to make sawtimber removal economically viable, or as a follow-up 

treatment to commercial thinning, variable density thinning, free selection, or the commercial 

thinning component group shelterwood, when the target basal area cannot be obtained by 

removal of sawtimber only. Overall stand density will not exceed 60 ft2/acre except in the VDT 

and FS sites where density will not exceed 80 ft2/acre basal area. 

The target residual tree spacing varies as follows: 

POL only – 18x18 feet

CT60 - 20x20 feet

CT50 - 22x22 feet

VDT and FS - variable spacing 

Sani - Sanitation **3,65

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Removal of green trees currently infested with mountain pine beetle. This is a suppression 

method which directly removes mountain pine beetles from the forest. 

SWSC –

Shelterwood 

Seedcut

226 This treatment will reduce MPB risk in these stands to Low and will also reduce fire hazard, by 

reducing stand density to a basal area of 30-50 ft2/ac. This is an even-aged regeneration 

harvest used in mature sites, in which the most desirable seed trees are retained. 

VDT – Variable 

Density Thinning

1,072 This treatment will reduce overall MPB risk in stands to Low-Medium and will also reduce fire 

hazard, by reducing overall stand density to a basal area of 60-80 ft2/ac. This thinning 

maintains or creates diversity within the stand by varying residual density from 30-90 ft2/acre 

to avoid even residual tree spacing. Sites would be thinned from below, which means that 

trees would, in general, be removed from the lower crown classes.

*Acres shown in Table 2 are those where PCT or POL are proposed as individual treatments. Both PCT and POL would also occur following 

other treatments as noted in Table 2. 

**The acres shown for sanitation treatment reflect where sanitation is the only treatment proposed. However, sanitation is included as a 

companion treatment on all pine sites in the project area. 

The vegetation treatments in Table 2 contribute to reducing fire hazard within the project area. 

Additional treatments focus specifically on reducing fuels are also proposed, as noted in Table 3. 

Table 3: Proposed Fuels Treatments

Treatment Acres Definition

DF – Dead Fall 24,110 Mechanical treatment of existing slash, resulting from mountain pine beetle caused mortality, to a 

target height of ≤ 24 inches from the ground. May include various methods but not limited to 

lopping, chipping, crushing, piling and burning, or mastication. No standing dead would be cut as 

part of this treatment. The objective of this treatment is to reduce the dead ladder fuels within 

these stands, thus reducing the potential for a wildfire to move into the crowns. 

FB - Fuelbreak 180 Thinning of pine sites to reduce fire hazard adjacent to private lands by reducing stand density. 

Fuelbreak treatment would occur up to 300 feet from private land boundaries. Trees up to 9” dbh 

would be cut to a residual tree spacing of 24’ x 24’. Residual slash will either be piled for burning, 

or include mastication of slash rather than piling and burning. This treatment is utilized in areas 

where no other treatment is proposed, or when proposed treatment does not sufficiently reduce 

fire hazard adjacent to private lands. 

RX – Prescribed 

Burning

1,761 Controlled application of fire to wildland fuels in either their natural or modified state under 

specific environmental conditions. Fire is confined to a predetermined area and produces the fire 

behavior required to achieve planned resource management objectives. Prescribed Burning would 

establish and maintain a mosaic of vegetation conditions to reduce occurrences of catastrophic 

fire, and facilitate firefighting capability. Objective of this treatment is to reduce fire hazard by 

reducing surface fuels. 
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Proposed Transportation System

There are approximately 125 miles of Forest Service system roads in the project area. Of these 

roads, 48 miles are closed yearlong, 35 miles are open seasonally (May 15 to December 15), and 

42 miles are open yearlong. In addition to Forest Service system roads, there are approximately

33 and 28 miles of State Highway and County roads, respectively. The 2010 Forest Travel 

Management decision and associated Motorized Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) closed all 

unauthorized roads in the project area (approximately 39 miles). 

The proposed action includes the following modifications to the transportation system in the 

project area: 0.6 miles of unauthorized road is needed for access and would be converted to 

system road then closed following use; and 0.9 miles of system road would be closed to protect 

resources either with physical closures or gates (see attached Transportation System Map). 

Request for Comments on the Proposed Action: 

We would appreciate any comments you may have on the Vestal project proposed action 

described in this document. Your input will assist in identifying issues and developing 

alternatives to the proposed action. Please submit comments by May 31, 2011. Scoping

comments may be submitted by mail, phone, fax, or email. Written comments should be 

submitted to: Hell Canyon Ranger District, Black Hills National Forest, Attn: Kelly Honors, 330 

Mount Rushmore Road, Custer, SD 57730. Telephone number: (605) 673-4853, fax number:

(605) 673-5461. Electronic comments must be provided in Word or Rich Text format and have 

“Vestal” in the subject line. Electronic comments may be sent to comments-rocky-mountainblack-hills-hell-canyon@fs.fed.us .

Public Meeting: 

The Hell Canyon Ranger District invites you to a public meeting to discuss the Vestal project, on 

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 from 5:00-7:00pm at the Custer High School, 1645 Wildcat Lane, 

Custer, SD . Forest Service personnel will be on hand to help answer questions you might have 

or to accept comments on the proposed action. 

The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis 

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Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large 

print, audio tape, etc.) should contact the USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, 

S.W., Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal 

opportunity provider and employer.