2026 Addition to Mooretown Tribal Landscape Cultural Fire Project

The project area experienced 90-100% mortality during the 2020 North Complex Fire emergency, resulting in a landscape characterized by even-aged resprouting brush. To meet ecological and cultural objectives, the Tribe desires to reburn this landscape in different years in smaller sections, ranging from (approximately) 3 to 106 acres. (The subunits proposed in this 2026 addition range from 11 to 62 acres.) Activities would promote an uneven-aged mosaic of vegetation, benefiting oak woodlands, culturally important shrubs and geophytes, and wildlife habitat. This project would 1) create permanent fire control features between these beneficial fire subunits (where control features don’t already exist) and then 2) apply beneficial fire under prescription to one or more subunits at a time. To create the new fire control features, crews would scrape new lines down to bare mineral soil using either hand tools (3-foot wide handlines) or a mini-excavator or dozer (6-foot-wide machine lines). Only the handlines are considered new disturbance for the purposes of stormwater compliance, since the 6-foot-wode machine lines would re-utilize (but not re-grade) currently vegetated old road prisms. A total of about 1.1 new miles of handline would be cleared; at a 3-foot width, the total disturbance amounts to 0.41 acres. BMPs built into the project minimize water quality impacts. Subunits would be broadcast-burned in fall. Some burning of piles/invasive weeds could take place in spring, after visual bird checks. Work to be done on Federal lands would require separate NEPA clearance. Work to be done on adjacent private non-Tribal lands, if any, would require signed access/work agreements with those landowner(s). Broadcast burning would occur outside of nesting season (i.e. work would be conducted Aug 16-Jan 31) or pre-implementation nesting bird surveys would be done 1-3 days prior.