State and federal agencies responsible for the Headwaters Forest Reserve on California’s north coast have agreed on a plan to broaden management options for restoration in forest stands that have been previously harvested.
Officials from the Bureau of Land Management and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife have signed an amendment to the reserve’s resource management plan that will allow forest thinning, use of prescribed fire and multiple forest improvement treatments in individual forest stands. The actions are designed to accelerate the pace toward old-growth conditions in previously harvested areas.
“In this amendment we aim to restore natural ecological functions of old growth forests, stream corridors and stream habitats," said Molly Brown, manager of the BLM’s Arcata Field Office. “This restoration work will focus on about 2,900 acres that were logged prior to Headwaters being acquired into public ownership."
The BLM and CDFW analyzed the environmental impacts of the proposed actions in a joint environmental environmental assessment/mitigated negative declaration that was open to public review and comment.
The BLM and state of California acquired the 7,500-acre reserve in Humboldt County through congressional and state appropriations totaling $380 million in 1999.
The agencies manage these public lands to protect 3,000 acres of old-growth redwoods, 4,500 acres of previously logged forest, and the headwaters of two major stream systems. The reserve provides critical habitat for fish and wildlife species including five federally listed as threatened: coho salmon, Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, marbled murrelet (a seabird), and the northern spotted owl. The reserve also provides important public recreational access and educational opportunities.
The reserve is part of BLM’s system of National Conservation Lands.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management
