UPPER LAKE — The Mendocino National Forest is planning to kill or remove at least 54 acres of invasive broom species within the Ranch Fire burn scar, and is asking the public to submit comments on the project before it’s approved.
In 2018 the Ranch Fire burned 288,000 acres of the forest, killing most of the land’s mature invasive broom plants, but fostering new growth of some of these species in at least 15 locations across the burn area. To stop that growth, the federal agency is planning to use herbicides and some manual removal.
According to the forest service, treatment needs to happen soon to be most effective. “Brooms can reach reproductive maturity and begin producing seeds as early as two years old; the seedlings that germinated after the Ranch Fire will already be one year old by spring of 2020,” the agency wrote. By summer 2021, they will be dropping new seeds.
“Infestations are known from 15 sites covering 54 acres in various areas of Glenn, Colusa and Lake counties,” the forest service wrote last week. “Most of this treatment work will involve herbicide application on young plants, though mechanical removal of larger adult plants will also occur.”
The federal agency is targeting three species of broom, each of which is non-native and invasive: these are known as Scotch broom, French Broom and Spanish broom. Each has bright yellow flowers, small leaves and flattened, pea-pod-type fruits. The plants were brought to the United States as early as the late 1800s, but Scotch broom has been recognized as a nuisance in California since the 1930s. The forest service plans to use a herbicide mixture of triclopyr and aminopyralid—selective chemicals designed to treat broadleaf weeds in forests and rangeland—to kill the emerging broom, using “backpack sprayers.”
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, neither chemical proposed for use in the project is classified as a carcinogen in humans. Triclopyr acid “was found to be slightly toxic to birds and practically non-toxic to mammals, insects, freshwater fish and invertebrates,” an EPA report states. Aminopyralid has been classified as “not likely” to be carcinogenic to humans, the EPA stated in 2005.
The herbicides to be used by the MNF will not be applied via aircraft, the agency said, and will not be applied within the Snow Mountain Wilderness. In fact, none of the 15 proposed treatment sites are within the wilderness, said environmental management officer for the forest Lauren Johnson. “If we were to find that in the wilderness, we would do a separate (environmental review process) for that.”
A map of the proposed project sites shows they are scattered across the national forest, with several located near the northwest side of Lake Pillsbury, and one just outside the western edge of the Snow Mountain Wilderness.
According to MNF Public Affairs Officer Punky Moore, an environmental analysis of the project will be drafted following the public comment period, and is likely to be published in the spring. No public meetings are scheduled, she said, noting that “if it looks like there are a ton of questions about the project we will probably schedule a meeting.”
The Mendocino National Forest is seeking public input on the proposed project before Jan. 21. Comments may be submitted by email to: comments-pacificsouthwest-mendocino-upperlake@usda.gov.
Comments may also be mailed to Japhia Huhndorf, Project Leader, ATTN: Ranch Fire Broom Treatment, 10025 Elk Mountain Road, Upper Lake, CA 95485.
