Opinion ID: 4541138
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Hyde Park and Pacheco Canyon Projects

Text: The Forest Service approved the two projects at issue here—the Hyde Park Wildland Urban Interface Project and the Pacheco Canyon Forest Resiliency Project—pursuant to the authority granted by the Insect and Disease exclusion. App. at 45, 55 (citing 16 U.S.C. § 6591b). The details of the projects are similar. The Hyde Park project covers 1,840 acres approximately ten miles northeast of Santa Fe. The Pacheco Canyon project covers 2,042 acres three miles farther north. The forest in each project area comprises mostly ponderosa pine with some Douglas fir, pinon juniper, and mixed conifer stands. Due in part to years of fire suppression, the trees in the project areas have grown unnaturally dense. Specifically, young and smaller trees make up a high percentage of the forest. Because of this density, many of the small trees cannot access sufficient water and sunlight. This stunts the trees and renders them vulnerable to insect and disease outbreaks. The combination of dense growth and disease risk has made the forest susceptible to a particularly intense type of fire—a crown fire—which -7- not only burns through the understory as a lower intensity fire might, but also reaches the larger trees in the overstory. Due to these risks, the Forest Service proposed thinning the forest and applying prescribed burns in the project areas to “combat insect and disease, restore natural fire regimes, improve wildlife habitat, and reduce the risk of uncharacteristic fire effects.” App. at 53. Not every acre will be thinned or burned. Thus, after the treatments, a mix of tree densities will remain. The thinning would target trees less than 16 inches in diameter. 4 Trees larger than 16 inches in diameter would not be thinned except where disease or other unusual circumstances warrant it. The felled trees would then be piled. Subsequent prescribed burns would be utilized to reduce the thinned and piled material and otherwise treat the understory. These burns roughly approximate the effects of naturally occurring fires, which historically occurred every five to ten years, “clearing out the understory while the thick-barked, fire resistant over-story survived.” App. at 54. Although not designed to affect the larger trees in the overstory, approximately 10 to 30 percent of the trees larger than 16 inches in diameter may succumb to the controlled burns. According to the Forest Service, similar procedures would need to be repeated every 10 to 15 years to continue replicating naturally occurring wildfire patterns. 4 The 16-inch limit appears to stem from recommendations contained in scientific literature consulted by the Forest Service. -8- For both projects, considerable acreage is located within various inventoried roadless areas. But no new roads would be needed to complete either project, and the Forest Service has not planned any new road construction in association with these projects. The projects were not conceived in isolation. Instead, both projects are part of a larger initiative in the Santa Fe region conducted by the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition. 5 As part of this endeavor, the Forest Service works with state, local, tribal, and environmental organizations to address the risk of wildfire in the lands around Sante Fe, which cover more than 100,000 acres and are referred to as the Santa Fe Fireshed. The Coalition’s primary goal is to “identify and implement high priority on-the-ground projects that make the Fireshed and its communities more resilient to wildfire, while maintaining and restoring resilient landscapes.” App. at 33. The Hyde Park and Pacheco Canyon projects represent the Forest Service’s first efforts to contribute to the Coalition’s goal. 6 5 The Coalition’s members include the Forest Service, the City of Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, the Tesuque Pueblo, the Nature Conservancy, the Santa Fe Watershed Association, the Santa Fe Fat Tire Society, and the U.S.G.S. Jemez Field Station. 6 The Hyde Park project was initially considered in 2005—prior to the formation of the Coalition—but it was set aside for further analysis. It was then reconsidered as part of the Forest Service’s contribution towards the Coalition’s goal. -9- On February 14, 2017, the Forest Service issued a single scoping letter covering both projects. The letter asked for public comment on the projects and noted that they are “part of a larger effort sponsored by the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition.” App. at 37. After comments were received, the Forest Service approved the Hyde Park and Pacheco Canyon projects through decision memos issued on March 21, 2018 and June 1, 2018 respectively.