DR-4558-CA Public Notice 002

INITIAL PUBLIC NOTICE: Wildfire Fuel Reduction Project, Sonoma County, California | HMGP-4558-363-054

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 Town of Windsor in Sonoma County, California, to provide fuels reduction on vegetated creek beds in the Town. The proposed action would mitigate impacts from wildfire by creating defensible space and carrying out hazardous fuels reduction adjacent to residential and commercial properties in the area. 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 a floodplain and wetland.

The purpose of the proposed action is to reduce wildfire hazards. The proposed action consists of the removal of all brush, ladder fuels, and trees up to 6 inches in diameter within 20 feet from residential and commercial property lines near the creek beds, and the limbing of larger trees to a height of 14 feet. Project activities would be separated into two zones: Zone 1 would include Foothill Park and along Windsor Creek (41 acres), and Zone 2 includes to the south and east of downtown along U.S. Highway 101 (5 acres).

The project area is in the 100-year floodplain as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) Numbers 06097C0566E and 06097C0568E, effective date December 2, 2008. The FIRM shows that, in Panel 06097C0566E, most of the project area lies within Special Flood Hazard Area Zone AE, Regulatory Floodway, which has a 1-percent probability of flooding every year and has predicted Base Flood Elevations (BFEs) ranging from 119 to 154 feet. Land adjacent to where project activities would take place is in Zone X, areas with 0.2-percent annual chance flood hazard or with 1-percent annual chance flood hazard with average depth less than one foot or with drainage areas of less than one square mile. Project activities taking place in FIRM Panel 06097C0568E are in Zone X, an Area of Minimal Flood Hazard.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory map shows freshwater ponds in proximity to the project activities and the staging area.

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. All requests should be received within 15 days after publication of this notice.