specific herbicide spraying will occur prior to harvesting activity on 

 all haul roads. Monitoring will take place to provide for early 

 detection and treatment of noxious weed infestations. 



Hydrology - Proposed activities are expected to increase water yield in 

 the Dog Creek watershed by 2 . 9 percent, from 4.9 to 7.8, which is not 

 sufficient to create unstable stream channels and is well below the 

 allowable threshold level of 12 percent. Equivalent clearcut acres 

 (EGA) will increase by 701 from 1,037 to 1,738, which is well below the 

 allowable EGA of 2,838. Several stream crossings on Dog Greek will be 

 replaced and will contribute sediment during construction. However, 

 operational timing, use of sediment fences, and other mitigation 

 measures will substantially limit the amount of sediment. These 

 improvements will result in a long-term reduction in sediment delivery 

 at these sites. 



Wildlife - Approximately 93 9 acres of forest canopy will be opened to 

 varying degrees. However, patch sizes will increase, and connectivity 

 will be retained through buffer areas; those species that use edge and 

 open habitats will benefit, and those species associated with old stands 

 will have reduced habitat. No harvesting will occur within the nest or 

 primary use area for the Upper Stillwater Lake nesting eagle pair. 

 Although harvest activities will occur across Highway 93 from Dog Lake 

 (identified as foraging habitat) , this eagle pair is conditioned to 

 disturbance by living adjacent to an active railroad and a lake that 

 receives extensive recreational use. As such, I do not believe 

 har"/esting will limit their available forage. There will be temporary 

 disturbance that may impact grizzly bears. However, long-term open and 

 total-road density will not increase, and considerable hiding cover will 

 remain. No substantive change in wolf use is expected. Activities are 

 not proposed within areas of high hare use or potential lynx denning 

 habitat. Most harvesting avoids habitats typically preferred by fisher. 

 Only 4 acres of pileated woodpecker nesting habitat will be impacted by 

 harvest treatments, although recruitment of future nesting trees will be 

 reduced. Continued widespread use of the forest by pileated woodpeckers 

 is expected. Some thermal and hiding cover will be reduced for big 

 game, but the magnitude of these changes is expected to have negligible 

 impacts to big game survival. 



Economics - The proposed project will generate approximately $1,212,600 

 in net income for the associated trust beneficiaries and $1,675,000 in 

 total State net income. The level of harvesting represents support for 

 94 jobs for 1 year with an average estimated income of $3,016,500. 



S'oilS - Action Alternative B will impact less than 15 percent of the 

 harvested areas with these impacts, minimized by use of existing skid 

 trails and soil-moisture restrictions on timing of operations. 

 Prescribed mitigation measures will also provide sufficient downed woody 

 debris for nutrient needs and erosion control. Impacts to soil 

 resources are within DNRC standards in the SFLMP. 



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