Comment Period Open: August Complex Restoration Project
Press release from Six Rivers National Forest Service:
![A doe and fawn were spotted near the northwestern flank of the August Complex. [Photo from Mike McMillan/USFS]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Ei3ctymUMAAfWIS.jpg)
A doe and fawn spotted on the August Complex. [Photo from Mike McMillan/USFS]
The Six Rivers National Forest has opened the public comment period for the Mad River August Complex Restoration Project.
The August Complex Restoration Project consists of post-fire fuels management, native plant and habitat restoration, economic recovery of dead timber and the installation of a new radio repeater and antenna monopole on Grizzly Peak. More specifically, this project will treat about 12,400 acres of high fire-severity areas of ground-based commercial salvage timber harvest and roadside fuels reduction, followed by oak and native plant restoration, and hazard tree felling near work areas, campgrounds, trailheads, and motorized trails.
“Since the 2020 August Complex fire, we have worked closely with our partners on all types of emergency recovery work,” says Mad River District Ranger Kristen Lark. “This project will allow us to leverage the additional Disaster Relief funding we received in order to continue roadside hazard tree removal, decrease fuel loading and plant trees in strategic areas, including the Upper Mad River watershed above Ruth Lake, North Fork Eel River and Upper Van Duzen River watersheds.”
The August Complex started in August 2020, when lightning ignited numerous fires across Northern California. These fires burned together and became collectively known as the August Complex, burning over one million acres across the Six Rivers, Shasta-Trinity and Mendocino national forests. In fighting to control what is now referred to as one of the largest 2020 fires on record—the August Complex—fire-suppression personnel encountered extremely dangerous weather conditions, especially unusual wind events that rapidly carried the fire great distances across inaccessible mountainous terrain.
Six Rivers National Forest is now accepting written comments on the environmental assessment of the August Complex Restoration Project through June 20th, 2022.
The public can learn more about the project by visiting the preliminary EA and supporting documents available on the project website at: www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=60286.
Written comments can be submitted via one of the following three methods:
- Mail to or hand delivered between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. weekdays to the Mad River Ranger District, 741 Highway 36, Bridgeville, CA 95526
- Fax comments to (707) 574-6273
- E-mail comments to [email protected]. Please make sure that August Complex Restoration Project is in the subject line of your email.
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
The first comment I need to make, is maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to have an Alaskan fire fighting team manage the fire fighting. From what I have heard from many in the Ruth area and beyond, the USFS did what amounted to nothing to fight this fire, in fact there were stories where they told local volunteer fire fighting teams to leave. In addition, back fires were set in poor areas and were not monitored during the night. Apparently the USFS does not fight fire at night (the time when temperature and humidity conditions are prime for fire fighting).
The environmental destruction would not have occurred at the level it did if the USFS had been more aggressive fire fighting and were doing their job in the field by managing the timber resources in the first place! Those stands of timber will not be replaced at the same level until long after we are all gone.
Now, we as the taxpayers will be paying for the rehabilitation, in addition to the salaries we are already paying the USFS personnel.
It’s easy to see the USFS has no clue of what their up to.
We should have burns all winter long instead of massive conflagrations in summer.
If it’s to dry to burn in the winter then think of how bad it will burn in the summer.