The interagency Late-Successional Reserve (LSR) Work Group reviewed Alternative C of the Gotchen Risk Reduction and Restoration Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement (herein referred to as the Gotchen Project). The REO concurs with the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the interagency LSR Work Group. The Gotchen Project, with the assumptions noted below, meets both the objectives and the Standards and Guidelines (S&Gs) for LSR management under the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP).

The purpose of the Gotchen Project is to reduce fire risk and improve late-successional forest function and resiliency by directly treating fuels and reducing understory density (mainly grand fir) on 2,200 acres within high risk areas.

Under the S&Gs for the NWFP, silviculture activities that are beneficial to the creation of late-successional forest conditions, and other activities that reduce the risk of large-scale disturbances can occur in LSRs. These activities require review by the REO (S&G, pp. C-12, C-13). Many activities within the Gotchen LSR are exempted from REO review if they follow criteria described in the 1997 Gifford Pinchot National Forest Late-Successional Reserve Assessment (LSRA) and its 1999 update. However, some activities proposed in the Gotchen Project were not described in the LSRA sufficient to gain exemption from REO review. Those activities are addressed as part of this project-specific review of the Gotchen Project.

The Gotchen Project occurs within the Gotchen planning area, a 19,700 acre portion of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest on the east slope of the Cascade Range. The planning area generally comprises much of the Gotchen LSR and some of the adjacent matrix land allocation.

Major plant association groups (PAGs) in the Gotchen planning area include: Douglas-fir, Dry Grand Fir, Wet Grand Fir, and Mountain Hemlock-Subalpine Fir. Approximately 90 percent of the treated acres will occur in the Douglas-fir and Dry Grand Fir PAGs, which are associated with low intensity fires and frequent fire return intervals (generally less than 20 years).

Through timber harvest and fire exclusion, much of the historic overstory of early seral tree species, such as ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir, have transitioned to vast stretches of grand fir. This has resulted in a decrease of tree species diversity and an increase in susceptibility to spruce budworm outbreaks. High mortality from spruce budworm and competition from high tree densities have resulted in patches of heavy mortality in portions of the Gotchen planning area.

The LSR Work Group focused on Alternative C of the Gotchen Risk Reduction and Restoration Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement along with the DecAID Analysis (Gotchen Risk Reduction and Restoration Project) of proposed levels of snag and coarse wood retention. Treatments in the LSR portion of the Gotchen Project are designed to reduce fuels in a contiguous area and tie treatment units into areas with existing low fuel loadings (e.g. the Aiken Lava Bed). Such areas are intended to provide anchor points for coordinating fire suppression efforts. Treatment units are focused in the area of highest mortality and fire risk, and in areas that, once treated, would strategically compartmentalize the LSR when employing fire suppression tactics. In addition to reducing fuels, most treatments are also designed to reduce the likelihood of future spruce budworm outbreaks by thinning grand fir understories and promoting the development of early seral species such as ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir. In most areas, multi-storied structures would still be retained to provide for short-term needs of late-successional wildlife species.

Information was lacking in the Draft EIS regarding snag and down wood retention levels sufficient to meet late-successional species needs in the project area. Additional supplementary information was submitted by the Forest addressing this concern ("DecAID Analysis, Gotchen Risk Reduction and Restoration Project"). This documentation indicates that retention levels of snags and down wood for the Gotchen Project would be consistent with retention levels suggested by the data in the DecAID advisory tool at the scale of the planning area. This information will be incorporated into the final EIS. Our finding of consistency is based on the assumption that the snag and down wood levels recommended for future management are consistent with the data indicated in the DecAID decayed wood advisor.

Based upon a review of the Forest documentation and discussions with the Forest staff, the interagency LSR Work Group concluded that silviculture and risk reduction activities described in the Gotchen Project, with the assumptions noted above for meeting snag and down wood needs, meet both the objectives and Standards and Guidelines in the Northwest Forest Plan for managing LSRs. The REO concurs with the findings and conclusions of the interagency LSR Work Group.

cc: REO Reps
Nancy Ryke, Mt. Adams Acting District Ranger, Gifford Pinchot National Forest
LSR Work Group
Lisa Freedman, Director, Resource Planning and Monitoring