DR-4407-CA Public Notice 004

INITIAL PUBLIC NOTICE: Defensible Space Creation for Healdsburg Water Infrastructure, Sonoma County, California | HMGP-4407-054-164

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 the City of Healdsburg in Sonoma County, California, to create defensible space and reduce hazardous fuels around critical water infrastructure facilities, power lines, and access roads. The proposed action would mitigate impacts from wildfires by reducing the amount of vegetation that represents a high wildfire danger to nearby infrastructure. Pursuant to Executive Order 11988 (Floodplain 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 a floodplain.

The purpose of the proposed action is to reduce wildfire hazards. The proposed action consists of creating defensible space around 11 critical water infrastructure facilities located at Iverson Reservoir, Cadoul Reservoir, Sunset Reservoir, Gauntlett Reservoir, the Gauntlett Control Building, and the Gauntlett Well Field. Defensible space will also be created at associated access roads and power lines. The proposed action would include the thinning and limbing of trees and bushes and the removal of small trees and plants. Brush and undergrowth would be removed with a masticator. Cut material would be chipped and spread on-site and larger material would be hauled off-site.  

Portions of the project area are in the 100-year floodplain as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) Panel Number 06097C0363E, effective date December 2, 2008. The FIRM shows that power lines and four wells lie within Zone AE, an area that has a one-percent probability of flooding every year and where predicted floodwater elevations have been established. Two of the four wells are also within a Floodway. The remaining project sites are located in areas of minimal flood hazard.

Additional information about FEMA’s proposed action, including maps showing the potential impacts on floodplains, 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.