Black Hills National Forest, Northern Hills Ranger District; South Dakota; Steamboat Project

Streszczenie

The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact statement on a proposal to implement multiple resource management actions within the Steamboat Project Area to implement the amended Black Hills National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan. The Steamboat Project Area covers approximately 21,833 acres of National Forest System land and approximately 2,713 acres of interspersed private land northwest of Rapid City, South Dakota. Proposed actions include a combination of vegetation and fuels treatments to provide structural diversity in big game winter range, reduce the risk of mountain pine beetle infestations and reduce the risk of high severity wildfire. The proposed action includes approximately 4,665 acres of commercial thinning, 970 acres of overstory removal, 1,408 acres of non-commercial thinning, 1,379 acres of shelterwood cuts, 255 acres of group selection, 1,186 acres of individual tree selection, 636 acres of hardwood enhancement, 200 acres of meadow enhancement, 1,031 acres of product-other-than-log thinning, 460 acres of understory thinning, and 190 acres of patch clearcutting. In addition, approximately 10,608 acres will be analyzed for prescribed burning. Ap