McCall and New Meadows Ranger Districts | Payette National Forest
View of Brundage Reservoir
Brundage Reservoir in the Project Area
The Payette National Forest invites you to review this story map for the Granite Goose Landscape Restoration Project located on New Meadows and McCall Ranger Districts.
The story map provides an interactive overview of the project and supplements the information provided in the draft Environmental Assessment. Please refer to the project’s webpage to view the draft Environmental Assessment.
The Granite Goose Landscape Restoration Project is a landscape scale effort to reduce hazardous fuels through commercial thinning (timber harvest) non-commercial thinning, and prescribed fire. The project also improves conditions for watersheds, roads, and recreation.
The project would implement fuels treatments to reduce the risk of wildfire. Commercial and non-commercial thinning and prescribed fire are proposed to respond to hazardous fuel loads, insect and disease outbreaks, and to promote whitebark pine, aspen, and meadow conservation in the project area.
Other proposed actions include stream and wetland restoration, recreation management, and travel management to enhance recreational opportunities, improve hydrological conditions, and to reduce negative watershed impacts of unneeded roads and routes.
Click on the tabs along the top of the page or scroll down to navigate through the Story Map.
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Project Area Description
Project Area Description & Management Direction
The Granite Goose Landscape Restoration Project is located on the McCall and New Meadows Ranger Districts. Project area is northeast of the city of New Meadows, Idaho and northwest of the city of McCall, Idaho. The project is located within Adams, Idaho, and Valley counties.
This map depicts the Granite Goose project area boundary and vicinity. The project area is 38,918 acres and contains 33,352 acres of National Forest System (NFS) lands, 5,371 acres of State of Idaho lands, and 1,195 acres of private lands.
This section will present interactive maps of the Management Areas (MA), Management Prescription Categories (MPC), Potential Vegetation Groups (PVG), subwatersheds, and the Idaho Roadless Areas (IRA).
Note: The Image below, shows how to use the Legend Icon (lower left corner of the map) to see the symbols used on the maps in this Story Map.
How to Use the Legend Icon
Click on the links below to read more about the different Forest Management Plan Directives.
The 2003 Payette Land and Resource Management Plan (“Forest Plan”; USDA 2003) provides management direction for resources on the Forest and assigns different components, such as desired conditions, standards, and guidelines, for management areas (MAs). The Forest Plan divides the Forest into 16 different MAs, based on administrative and watershed boundaries.
MAs that fall within the project area boundary are:
- Middle Little Salmon River (1,593 acres)
- Goose Creek/Hazard Creek (30,718 acres)
- Payette Lakes (3,287 acres)
Note: Any text with a plus (+) sign and a yellow underline throughout this application can be clicked to interact with the map.
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Management Prescription Categories (MPC)
Management prescription categories (MPCs) are broad categories of management prescriptions that indicate the general management emphasis for a given area.
The MPCs that fall within the project area boundary are:
- Passive Restoration Aquatic, Terrestrial, and Hydrological Resources (803 acres).
- Active Restoration Aquatic, Terrestrial, and Hydrological Resources (2,023 acres).
- Maintain Inventoried IRA Character (4,491 acres).
- Semi-primitive Recreation (5,152 acres).
- Roaded Recreation Emphasis (16,318 acres).
- Restoration and Maintenance Emphasis, Forested (4,970 acres)
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Potential Vegetation Groups (PVG)
Habitat types in the Forest have been classified into Potential Vegetation Groups (PVGs) that share similar environmental characteristics and disturbance regimes.
Idaho Roadless Areas (IRAs) were designated as part of the Idaho Roadless Rule to maintain sections of land with roadless character.
The Idaho Roadless Rule established five management classifications (also referred to as management themes) which represent a management continuum from less restrictive management direction in areas with lower quality roadless character to more restrictive management in lands with higher quality roadless character (73 FR 61455, 2008).
The project area contains two IRAs French Creek (Primitive and Backcountry Restoration) and Patrick Butte (Forest Plan Special Area and Primitive) totaling 11,828 acres of National Forest Service Land.
Idaho Roadless Areas located within the project area:
(1,385 acres).
(5,152 acres).
(4,495 acres).
(796 acres).
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Vegetation Management
Vegetation Management Proposed Activities Summary
The proposed vegetation treatments are based on differences between existing conditions and Forest Plan desired conditions. The objective is to improve stand characteristics and fire regime condition classes.
The vegetation treatments consist broadly of:
Shaded fuel breaks & infrastructure protection
Prescribed fire
Commercial timber harvest
Non-commercial thinning of all size classes
Sanitation and salvage
Regeneration treatments
Whitebark pine & aspen restoration treatments
Fire fighter Ignites fine fuels with a drip torch.
Hand thinning operations on the Payette National Forest
Mechanized treatments - backhoe delimber cleaning up trees and stacking them.
Examples of Vegetaion Management (Left to right): Prescribed Fire, Hand Thinning, Processor Delimbing and Cutting Trees to Length
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Vegetation Management
Timber removal in IRAs was added to the proposed action to maintain or restore the characteristics of ecosystem composition, structure, and processes by addressing the insect and disease outbreaks in the IRAs and to reduce the risk of wildland fire effects.
The timber cutting activities proposed within Idaho Roadless Areas in the project area have been reviewed to ensure consistency with the implementation of the 2008 Idaho Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
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Sanitation/Salvage Treatments
Sanitation/Salvage treatments are proposed to address balsam woolly adelgid infestations in the project area.
Sanitation is an intermediate harvest to remove trees to stop or reduce the actual or anticipated spread of insects and disease.
Salvage is an intermediate harvest removing trees which are dead or dying because of injurious agents other than competition and to recover economic value that would otherwise be lost.
These treatments would typically occur in PVG 7, 8, 9 and 10 where subalpine fir is dead and dying due to balsam woolly adelgid infestation. Treatments could also occur in PVG 6 or other stands where grand fir is also impacted. Residual canopy cover would be greater than 20%.
Balsam Wooly Adelgid damage
Balsam Wooly Adelgid Damage to Subalpine Fir on Granite Mountain
Whitebark pine treatments may be carried out with or without heavy machinery.
Thinning treatments with timber harvest or non-commercial thinning would reduce or remove competition and improve vigor and resilience. Heavy equipment would only be employed where road systems allow for road-based equipment to be used and would be done over-snow or when soils are frozen to minimize impacts to soils and whitebark pine seed caches and regeneration. All vegetation treatments may be followed by some level of prescribed fire (pile burning, jackpot burning and/or broadcast burning) to further reduce competing vegetation.
Thinning treatments would consist of cutting trees by hand with chainsaws and include hazardous fuel treatments, precommercial thinning treatments and whitebark pine restoration treatments, such as tree-level thinning and gridling.
Thinning treatments may be followed by some level of prescribed fire (pile burning, jackpot burning and/or broadcast burning) to further reduce competing vegetation.
Photo of a sawyer cleaning up trees in a hand treatment only area
Sawyer Hand-thinning Hazardous Fuels
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Prescribed Fire
Up to 36,000 acres would be treated with prescribed fire to restore vegetation and fuel conditions, improve wildlife habitat, and promote fire-adapted communities.
Maintenance burning (burning after reaching desired conditions) could also occur as necessary to maintain desired percentage of saplings, small and medium tree size classes and shrub canopy cover and as appropriate for the given fire regime.
Photo of a person using a driptorch during a prescribed fire.
Using a Driptorch during a Prescribed Fire
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Transportation
Road Management Summary
There are currently 283.5 miles of existing National Forest System roads (NFSR) and undetermined routes documented in the project area. The transportation analysis considered all National Forest System (NFS) roads as well as unauthorized routes in terms of whether they were needed for Forest management including recreation activities.
Needed roads were added to the NFS and assigned management objectives and travel management designations, and routes that were not needed were assigned a decommissioning treatment.
Forest Plan watershed condition indicators require total road densities to be less than 0.7 miles/square mile to be functioning appropriately. The proposed road system moves the total road density toward desired condition from 4.6 miles/square mile to 3.6 miles/square mile within the project area. The Interdisciplinary Team determined that:
19.4 miles of additional NFS Roads are needed.
10.1 miles of roads/routes should be converted to trails.
66.5 miles of routes should be decommissioned.
Forest Engineers discuss planned road work on the Payette National Forest
Photo of an Unpaved Road on a National Forest
Photo of an ATV on a Forest Road
(Left to Right) Payette Engineers Discuss Road Work Plans, Unpaved Forest Road, and an ATV on a Forest Trail.
Road & Travel Related Management Actions
Project Related Road Maintenance
There are approximately 94.1 miles of unauthorized routes in the project area. Undetermined routes are those that exist, but whose purpose and need has yet to be determined. In addition, past road decisions on the Forest are considered part of the current road management and include planned NFS roads, converted routes, and decommissioned routes and roads.
Needed routes may be considered for retention or as an addition to the NFS road network, conversion to other uses, or decommissioning when mitigations cannot offset the risk to resources. NFS Roads closed to public motorized use that have current unauthorized use may receive physical closure actions such as gates or earthen barriers.
There are a range of road and travel related actions that may occur.
Mineral Sites
There are two Forest Service developed minerals materials sites (rock pits) on NSF lands and one Department of Lands site on State land within the project area that would be utilized and may be expanded to provide mineral materials for project activities.
The Goose Lake Road site is located off NFSR 50273, and the current disturbance area is approximately 5.0 acres, with the proposed expansion to 10.0 acres.
The Ecks Flat site is located off NFSR 50307, and the current disturbance area is approximately 5.0 acres, with the proposed expansion to 7.0 acres.
Project Related Road Maintenance
NFS roads used as commercial timber haul routes may receive road maintenance more frequently than normally scheduled to provide for safe and efficient hauling.
Specific areas that may need additional maintenance may be determined during project development. Other roads in the area not used for project implementation would receive normal road maintenance as part of National Forest System management.
Note: The maps show Motor Vehicle Use Management roads and National Forest System roads Existing Conditions (Left map) and Motor Vehicle Use Management roads and National Forest System roads Proposed Actions (Right Map).
These maps are interactive and will move and zoom in together (if you move one map, the other will move to the same extent and area). To return to the full project view, click on the house symbol in the bottom left corner of the map.
The legends are different for each map. Click on the legend on the top right corner to see the symbols.
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Watershed Restoration
Watershed restoration actions would only occur on National Forest System lands within the project area.
Existing meadow and wetland sites with degraded conditions have been identified at Hartley Meadows and within Bear Basin. An unnamed tributary to Goose Creek where degraded conditions include damaged and unstable streambanks, erosion and sediment delivery, bare soil and impacted riparian vegetation has been identified for treatment.
If degraded conditions are identified in other portions of the project area, active meadow and wetland restoration treatments could be applied on an estimated maximum of 10 acres per year across the project area and up to 200 acres in total.
Replacement of two culverts with open-bottom structures are proposed to improve fish passage, fish habitat connectivity, and improve hydrologic connectivity at road-stream crossings. Stream crossings identified for replacement with this project are on NFS roads 50451 and 50281, on Brundage Creek upstream of Brundage Reservoir.
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Recreation
The project area has diverse and year-round opportunities including alpine skiing, snowmobiling, hiking, motorized recreation, mountain biking, hunting, fishing, camping, boating, mushroom hunting, shooting, and fuel wood gathering.
There are developed recreation sites including two developed campgrounds. In addition, there are 37 miles of non-motorized trails and 32 miles of groomed snowmobile trails.
There are five summer trailheads, with three trailheads also serving as popular motorized winter recreation parking areas. There are several recreational special use areas, including Brundage Mountain Resort, Little Ski Hill, and the Bear Basin Nordic Center.
The project area is highly popular and is one of the most visited portions of the forest, with about half (40%) of the use originating from local communities. Dispersed camping is impacting meadows and riparian areas, and some sites are expanding.
There are several winter oversnow vehicle closures in the project area, including Brundage Mountain Resort, Little Ski Hill, and a seasonal closure on Granite Mountain.
Snowmobiling on a groomed trail in the Payette National Forest.
Photo of Tents set up in a Forest Service Campground
Photo of a backcountry skier on a sunny day
Examples of Recreation in the Area (Left to Right): Snowmobiling, Camping and Skiing.
Summer Recreation
The proposed trail system and infrastructure improvements include:
Designate and construct the following motorized trails as open to motor vehicles 50” or less, with the goal of creating loop riding opportunities. These segments of existing or new routes may overlay existing NFSR or undetermined routes on NFS lands:
. Approximately 1.5 miles.
l. Approximately 2.1 miles
2. :
Establish approximately 4 miles of motorized trails in Ecks Flat through incorporation of existing routes to create a loop riding opportunity. These routes are currently closed to year-round motorized use and would be opened to ATV use only under the proposed action.
Provide closure mechanisms (signs, berms, fencing, and/or obliteration) on routes closed to motorized use.
Construct a trailhead on the north side of FS road 50307 near the intersection with FSR 51775 (for approximately 15 vehicles, or fewer with trailers). Install a kiosk and post information signs addressing Forest rules, regulations, and user safety.
3.:
Designate and construct up to 7 miles of new non-motorized, multi-user trails. New trails would not contradict avoidance areas identified in the Decision Memo for Bear Basin Area Trails (2022).
Approximate trail alignments are shown on map 18 (Appendix A). Constructed trails may shift 300 feet either side of the approximate trail alignment.
Improve the existing Too Short Connector trail (#411; up to 0.5 miles) by adding climbing turns for grade relief and sustainability.
Add a user-created trail that parallels NFS Road 50839 (1.1 miles) as a non-motorized single track system trail with hardening and/or rerouting to avoid wet sections.
The Bear Basin area may lend itself to adaptive user trail design (USDA 2012 - Accessibility Guidebook for Outdoor Recreation and Trails), where terrain allows. Adaptive trail opportunities may be considered on new trails or for trail improvement (up to 2.5 miles).
Construct a new Bear Basin East trailhead with restroom facility along Brundage Road (NFR #50451) up to 1.5 acres.
Close the existing Upper/Lower Drain trail (#403) to equestrian/stock use (1.1 miles).
Close NFS roads 50839, 50052, 50813, and 50841 to public motorized use for non-motorized recreation.
4. :
Reestablish and/or reroute the existing NFS Trail 353 (Goose Creek Trail), as needed, within the project area, including reconstruction of a new bridge on the upper end.
Expand the existing trailhead parking for NFS Trail 353 (Goose Creek) at its southern end along road 50453 for up to 10 vehicles, including grading, surfacing, and parking area delineation/vehicle barriers, and repair or replacement of any existing trailhead amenities in degraded condition.
Install a non-motorized bridge near Last Chance campground to allow access to the east side of Goose Creek for recreational access.
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Winter Recreation
An existing closure order for over-snow motorized use for the Granite Mountain area has been in place seasonally from January 15 – March 31 since 2012. An extension of the oversnow vehicle closure in the Granite Mountain Area is proposed.
The boundaries of the closure area would not change from the previous closure order, but the closure would remain in place year-round and would be included in the Forest Wide Winter Travel Restrictions Special Order and Winter Travel Map-Payette National Forest
A winter closure to over-snow vehicle use near the Bear Basin Nordic Ski area to include the Payette Lake Ski Club permit boundary (approximately 1,269 acres) is proposed. The closure would not affect over-snow use permitted for operation and maintenance of the nordic ski area.
This action would close the area to over-snow vehicle use to reduce user conflict, increase safety, and reduce impacts to permittee investments in Bear Basin. The proposed closure boundary would be offset from the NFS boundary on the south, and the highway on the west to allow for oversnow vehicle access to the groomed oversnow vehicle routes. There would be no changes to groomed oversnow vehicle routes under either proposed closure.
Note: The proposed Bear Basin winter motorized closure boundary would be offset from the NFS boundary on the south, and the highway on the west to allow for oversnow vehicle access to the groomed oversnow vehicle routes.
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Submitting Comments
Comments will help inform project development during the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. Public comments will be accepted for thirty days following publication of the legal notice in the newspaper of record, the Idaho Statesman (36 CFR § 218.25 (a)(1)(i)). For the project’s interdisciplinary team and responsible official to better understand and address your comments, please provide comments that: are within the scope of the project (e.g. related to the purpose of and need for action); and are directly related to the proposed action; articulate a specific concern or issue, with suggested solutions or improvements that may be made during project development, such as through project design features, changes to proposed activities, or the development of alternatives.
You may submit comments electronically through project's webpage, by clicking on “Comment/Object on Project”. If you are uploading comments, please do so in Word (.doc or .docx), pdf, or rich text (.rtf).
You may also mail or hand deliver comments to:
Attn: Granite Goose Landscape Restoration Project McCall Ranger District Office
102 W. Lake Street
McCall, Idaho 83638
Note that comments will be available to the public through the public comment/objection reading room on the project website and will be part of the project record.
Additional Information
On the webpage, you can also subscribe to project updates by clicking on “Subscribe to Email Updates”.
