San Bernardino National Forest Land Management Plan - Part 2

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Land Management Plan Part 2 San Bernardino National Forest Strategy September 2005 wildlife habitat, increasing vegetation cover to reduce post-fire soil erosion, maintaining mixed conifer forests in a condition less susceptible to stand replacement fire, or maintaining reduced fuel loads adjacent to communities to decrease the threat of losing homes in wildland fires. The Vegetation Management Program emphasizes restoring forest health and community protection, (FH 2 - Prevent Type Conversion), (FH 3 - Restoration of Forest Health), and (Fire 2 - Direct Community Protection). Other forest restoration projects will be located further into the national forest, away from structures, but they will still have the goal of community protection (Fire 5 - Fuelbreaks and Indirect Community Protection). Over the next three to five years, these vegetation treatments will be strategically integrated to maximize community protection efforts and minimize wildland fire size, while considering habitat needs. Mortality removal will be integrated with thinning within community defense and threat zones. Program goals include completing approximately 20 percent of identified treatment needs. Plans are expected to include strategically locating fuels treatments in order to take advantage of burned areas. The mix of these activities will vary through time and across sites, but the national forest anticipates an average annual need of 10,000 acres of fuels and vegetation reduction activities, and up to 1,000 acres per year of reforestation activities (FH 1 - Vegetation Restoration). The location and prioritization will be determined using site-specific prescriptions developed to guide appropriate implementation for the various objectives described above. • Mortality Removal - Annual Need: Included below. This includes the removal of dead vegetation to reduce fire hazard. This category includes the use of timber sales to remove merchantable trees, and the contract removal of non-merchantable trees and shrubs. These projects include treatment of all slash and are expected to move forested areas from Condition Class 3 towards Condition Class 1. In chaparral areas, mortality removal is planned in order to reduce the fire hazard from high to low. • Thinning - Annual Need: Included below. This includes the removal of living trees from overstocked stands, in most cases trees Barton Flats, using a helicopter to remove dead trees of 24 inches in diameter or less. These projects include the treatment of all slash and are expected to move forested areas from Condition Class 2 or 3 toward Condition Class 1. Thinning is required prior to the reintroduction of fire in most cases. • Reforestation And Restoration Of Forest Vegetation - Annual Need: 1,000 acres. Restoration projects are either designed to facilitate natural recovery following disturbance (fire, drought related mortality, insect and disease) or to implement planting projects as needed when natural processes are not likely to achieve desired results. • Fuelbreak Maintenance - Annual Need: 1,000 acres. Existing fuelbreaks are generally maintained using prescribed fire or mechanical treatments, such as the use of chainsaws or masticators. Most of the fuelbreaks are in high hazard chaparral areas and are designed to limit wildland fire size by providing for firefighter access and improved firefighter safety. A few of the fuelbreaks are in coniferous forest and serve to limit fire spread from or towards communities or timber stands in poor condition. Most of the existing fuelbreaks are on ridgetops or along roads. Page 26
September 2005 Land Management Plan Part 2 San Bernardino National Forest Strategy • Fuelbreak Construction - Annual Need: 500 acres. Most of the planned fuelbreaks are also along roads and ridgetops and are proposed for limiting wildland fire patch size. Most fuelbreaks are constructed with machinery. Some are built by hand or by using prescribed fire. Herbicides may be needed to kill re-sprouting chaparral and then fire is used to maintain the fuelbreak over time. Fuelbreaks are sometimes constructed near communities to provide some level of future protection in cases where land ownership patterns or topography limit the applicability of the defensible space concept. • Wildland/Urban Interface (WUI) Defense and Threat Zones - Annual Need: 6,500 acres (Defense 3,500, Threat 3,000). A WUI Defense Zone is a relatively narrow area in width (see standards S7 and S8 in Part 3 of the forest plan) and directly adjoining structures. The vegetation in the Defense Zone is managed in a manner to produce low rates of fire spread, low intensity heat, and short flame lengths in order to increase defensible space and firefighter safety. A secondary zone (the WUI threat zone, see standard S7) is an additional strip of vegetation modified to reduce flame heights and radiant heat. The two zones together are designed to make most structures defensible. These zones are applicable to national forest land and all structures upon them. In addition, they apply where national forest boundaries are directly adjacent to communities on private lands. Techniques in the WUI Defense Zone may include hand or machine removal of vegetation with possible follow-up treatments to include herbicides, in addition to hand and machine removal of resprouting plants. Treatments in the WUI Threat Zone are less intensive and can generally be maintained with prescribed fire over the long-term. In forested areas, extensive tree thinning may occur in WUI threat zones. • Prescribed (Rx) Fire - Annual Need: 2,000 acres. Projects in this category are generally large burns in chaparral to reduce fire hazard near communities or adjacent conifer stands. Prescribed fire is also used to help restore and maintain lands in the coniferous forest areas, currently categorized as Condition Class 1 or 2. Some prescribed burns are conducted for the purpose of enhancement of wildlife browse conditions. Projects often incorporate a combination of these activities to most effectively meet site-specific objectives. Physical Resources (Soil, Geology, Water and Air) The San Bernardino National Forest was established to protect the watersheds that influence runoff and supply water to local communities and municipalities. Activities include management of lands and water quality, water supply, soil quality and productivity, and water rights. The Soil and Watershed Program cooperates with various water agencies and other national forest functional areas to reduce erosion and maintain high quality water for the various users and natural resources through application of Best Management Practices in all Forest Service activities (WAT 1 - Watershed Function). The program also involves restoration of damaged lands through soil and watershed improvement projects (WAT 2 - Water Management, and WAT 3 - Hazardous Materials). Maintaining public water rights on the national forest through the State Water Rights Process is another important activity (WAT 2 - Water Management). The Geology Program identifies measures to reduce geologic hazards for fuels projects, infrastructure developments, burned area rehabilitation, and watershed management. Earth science principles are applied to protect and interpret geologic resources. The Geology Program emphasis is to identify and mitigate landslide and other geologic hazards (AM 2 - Forest-wide Page 27
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San Bernardino National Forest Land Management Plan - Part 2

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