Environmental Assessment (Final) Wildland Fire Use in the Wet Mountains, Sangre de CristonRange and Spanish Peaks: San Carlos and Salida Ranger Districts, San Isabel National ForestnCuster, Fremont, Huerfano, Las Animas, and Pueblo Counties, Colorado.

摘要

The San Carlos and Salida Ranger Districts of the San Isabel National Forest propose to manage lightning ignited fires to accomplish specific resource management objectives in pre-determined areas and under pre-approved conditions as outlined in a Fire Management Plan. This management concept is referred to as Wildland Fire Use (or WFU). The proposed WFU area encompasses National Forest lands in the Wet Mountains, along the east slope of the Sangre de Cristo Range, and in the Spanish Peaks. The purpose of this action is to reintroduce, where desirable and feasible, the natural role of fire in maintaining the proper functioning and health of natural communities, and to reduce the long-term threat of catastrophic wildfires. The proposed action may allow some naturally ignited fires to reduce fuel loading and reintroduce lower-intensity fires back into forest and grassland ecosystems. This action is needed, because the existing fuel loads within many areas of the National Forest are at levels that could devastate the existing forest if a wildfire started when conditions were hot and dry.