DR-4382-CA Public Notice 003

INITIAL PUBLIC NOTICE: Carr Fire Post Wildfire Mitigation Project, Shasta County, CA │ HMGP-4382-178-008

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) intends to provide federal financial assistance under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to Shasta County, CA, to provide wildfire hazard mitigation. The project is comprised of 11 project activity areas (PAAs) within five wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas: Bear Mountain, O’Brien Mountain, Ridgeline Landscape, Shingletown, and West Redding South. The proposed action would mitigate impacts from wildfire hazards by reducing hazardous fuels along critical transportation corridors and ridgeline areas within the defined WUI area, thereby reducing high intensity wildfire behavior. Pursuant to Executive Order 11988 (Floodplain Management) and Executive Order 11990 (Wetlands Management) and FEMA’s implementing regulations at Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 9, FEMA hereby provides interested parties with a notice of its intent to carry out an action affecting floodplains and wetlands.

The purpose of the proposed action is to reduce wildfire hazards. The proposed action consists of 1) removing ground and ladder fuels within approximately up to 400 feet from each side of the PAA roadways; 2) pre-treating most or all PAAs with herbicide in advance of vegetation removal activities; 3) removing dead and dying trees within 100 to 200 feet of serviceable roadways; and 4) after removal activities, applying herbicide at regular intervals to control the future regrowth of unwanted vegetation and maintain an understory canopy without fire-prone fuels. Both mechanized and manual techniques would be deployed for the removal of fuels. Areas that are sensitive to erosion or that would be heavily disturbed by equipment use or stacked logs would be reseeded with sterile cover crops or mulched with certified weed-free rice straw or wheat straw.

Portions of the project areas are in the 100-year floodplain of a creek or river as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) Numbers 06089C1235G, 06089C1245G, and 06089C1625G, effective date March 17, 2011. The FIRMs show that portions of the project areas lie within Zone A, an area that has a 1-percent probability of flooding every year and where predicted flood elevations have not been established.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory map shows freshwater emergent wetlands, freshwater/shrub wetlands, and freshwater ponds within portions of the project areas.

Additional information about FEMA’s proposed action, including maps showing the potential impacts on floodplains and wetlands, may be obtained by writing the FEMA Region IX Environmental Officer at FEMA, 1111 Broadway, Suite 1200, Oakland, California 94607, or fema-rix-ehp-documents@fema.dhs.gov, or calling (510) 627-7027. All requests should be received within 15 days after publication of this notice.