Johnny O'Neil Late Successional Reserve Habitat Restoration and ...

the low intensity wildfire that is a common attribute of the Klamath physiographic province.
Individual salamanders may be impacted but, due to the mosaic effects of underburning, the
effects are not likely to be significant to salamander populations that could occur in the
Horse Creek 6 th field watershed. Due to project design standards, and the temporal and
spatial distribution of both mechanical and prescribed fire treatments, potential impacts will
be limited or short in duration. The combination of proposed thinning and other fuels
treatments is expected to provide long term benefits by modifying fire behavior over time,
resulting in wildfires of less intensity, and reducing the proportion of high intensity wildfire
that would occur across this landscape.
Cumulative Effects
Proposed activities in the reasonably foreseeable future that could affect suitable habitat include
the Checkerboard Hazard project, which may result in ground disturbing activities on or adjacent
to talus patches that could kill or injure individuals, but it is likely this represents a small
proportion of suitable salamander habitat in this landscape. Given the scope of this analysis and
the availability of habitat occurring in this landscape, overall, cumulative effects from the
Checkerboard or other actions are not expected to be measurable. There are no other known
ongoing or proposed non-federal actions that would combine with the action alternatives to cause
cumulative effects to Siskiyou Mountain/Scott Bar salamander or their habitat, beyond the
project’s direct and indirect effects.
Determination – With the factors above, the Johnny O’Neil Project may affect
individual Siskiyou Mountain/Scott Bar salamander but is not expected to result
in a trend toward federal listing or loss of viability.
Southern Torrent Salamander (Rhyacotriton variegatus)
Environmental Baseline
The southern torrent salamander is a small salamander occurring from northwestern
California (Mendocino County) northward through the Coast Range of Oregon (Polk,
Tillamook, and Yamhill Counties) in mid- to low elevations (Blaustein et. al. 1995).
Southern torrent salamanders can be found in and near cold mountain streams, springs, and
seepages that are well shaded (Stebbins 2003). Distribution is somewhat patchy
throughout northwestern California, showing a strict association with headwaters and low
order tributaries in mature and old growth mixed conifer forests (Welsh and Lind 1992, in
Welsh and Lind 1996). They require water for all stages of their life cycle and are seldom
more than one meter from free-running water (Nussbaum and Tait 1977). Suitable habitat
can be found throughout the KNF, particularly on the west side. The project area is located
east of most known southern torrent salamander sites; however, several populations have
been located in areas outside of the established rangeline including Seiad Valley and
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