The National Park Service (NPS) and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (CDPR) are holding two public meetings to gather input on a proposal to continue restoration efforts in the Mill Creek area in Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park unit of Redwood National and State Parks near Crescent City in Del Norte County. The Greater Mill Creek Ecosystem Restoration Project would involve vegetation management, aquatic restoration, and road removal activities over 30,350 acres primarily in the state park with a portion of the project in adjacent Redwood National Park.
The purpose of the project is to rehabilitate lands and restore ecosystem processes that have been damaged by historical land use activities. Rehabilitation would be accomplished through reducing forest stand density and shifting species composition to promote growth of remaining trees and understory vegetation and development of a multi-storied canopy; reintroducing fire as an ecological process; maintaining sensitive plant communities; managing invasive plant species and pathogens; reducing erosion and sedimentation into streams; restoring in-stream habitat complexity; and managing vegetation within riparian corridors.
Vegetation management techniques currently proposed include forest thinning; prescribed fire; snag creation; crown manipulation; tree planting; manual and mechanical vegetation removal; flaming and torching; mowing, solarization, and covering to manage invasive plants; girdling; and fuels reduction. Abandoned roads and related infrastructure that threaten aquatic resources would be removed; other roads would be retained and maintained. Temporary roads may need to be constructed to access restoration areas and would be removed as soon as possible after restoration is completed. Proposed aquatic restoration would include placement of large wood in streams to enhance habitat and stream function.
The parks are partnering with Save the Redwoods League (SRL), under the umbrella of Redwoods Rising, to begin planning for this project. Redwoods Rising is collaborative partnership between the NPS, CDPR, and SRL created to assist RNSP with planning, funding, and implementing landscape-scale restoration within the parks. The partnership builds upon past park efforts to protect and improve the health of redwood ecosystems and seeks to work in tandem with stakeholder groups and community members to meet the partnership’s restoration goals.
The parks are preparing environmental documents to satisfy both the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Members of the public are invited to attend one or both meetings to provide comments on the full spectrum of issues and concerns to be addressed in the draft environmental documents; to assist with defining a suitable range of alternatives; to advise on the nature and extent of potential environmental impacts; and to suggest possible protection measures that could reduce project impacts.
Two meetings in an open house format will be held:
Wednesday, August 22: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Crescent Fire Protection District
255 W Washington Blvd
Crescent City CA 95531
Thursday, August 23: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Arcata Community Center
Arts and Crafts Room
321 Dr. M. L. King Jr. Parkway
Arcata CA 95521
If you cannot attend a meeting, we still want to hear from you. Comments can be submitted online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/GreaterMillCreekor mailed by September 7, 2018, to:
National Park Service
South Operations Center
Attn.: Leonel Arguello
PO Box 7
Orick CA 95555.
Tags: redwood national and state parks redwoods rising mill city
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
