FM-5278-CA Public Notice 001

INITIAL PUBLIC NOTICE: Hazardous Tree Removal for Fire Prevention, San Mateo County, California │ HMGP 5278-186-8

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 Woodside in San Mateo County, California, to provide wildfire hazard mitigation. The proposed action would reduce wildfire hazards by removing hazardous trees and reducing hazardous fuels in open spaces in the Town of Woodside. 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 the removal of up to 60 hazardous trees within the Town of Woodside rights-of-way and hazardous fuels reduction work at the Joan Olson Preserve and the Junior Riders Facility. Trees in the rights-of-way would be cut by hand to ground level, lifted by crane, and trucked offsite. Any remaining vegetation would be chipped and hauled offsite. The hazardous fuels reduction work at the Joan Olson Preserve and the Junior Riders Facility would include ladder fuel reduction by limbing up to 10 feet from the ground surface, creating a 100-foot buffer along the property boundaries, and selective thinning of vegetation throughout the rest of the properties. Native vegetation that is not considered hazardous and all healthy trees would be retained. No tracked equipment or herbicides would be used and vegetation would be cut by hand. Cut vegetation that cannot be left onsite would be chipped and hauled offsite.

A portion of the project area, the Junior Riders Facility, is in the 100-year floodplain as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) Number 06081C0292E, effective date October 16, 2012. The FIRM shows that a portion of the project area lies within Zone AE, an area that has a 1-percent probability of flooding every year and where predicted floodwater elevations have been established.

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.