Environmental Assessment

AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT & ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES CHAPTER 3
From 1990 to 1999, a total of 4,992 acres were either mowed or underburned in the planning area. This
includes approximately 1,803 acres of mowing and approximately 3,189 acres of underburning. No
treatments have been implemented in the planning area since 2000.
Wildfire has also contributed to the current age class/structure condition in the planning area. The
largest fires to impact portions of the planning area include the 8,022 acre Pine Mountain Fire of 1914
and the 15,577 acre Aspen Flat Fire in 1959. Because of the time since these fires occurred, shrub
conditions in those areas were not independently assessed.
Table 3-7 summarizes the existing condition, specifically age class and structure, for bitterbrush.
Conditions resulting from past wildfires such as the Aspen Flats and Pine Mountain fires are reflected
in the table. Effects of timber sale and natural fuel reduction activities which occurred prior to 1990 are
also assumed to be represented in the existing conditions displayed in the table. Areas which had
management activities implemented since 1990 were considered to have moved age class/structure into
the early seral category.
Table 3-7 Bitterbrush Age Class/Structure Distribution, Opine Planning Area
Winter Range Age Class / Structure (acres / % of Shrub Acreage)
Habitat Unit or
LRMP
allocation
Early 35 No
Bitterbrush
Mid Late Decadent
(acres/% of
gross
acreage) 34
Total Ac
/% of
Project
Area
General Forest 464 / 48% 150 / 16% 130 / 13% 223 / 23% 5 /