KAMIAH, Idaho, February 6, 2025:—The Draft Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for a project designed to reduce hazardous fuels near the communities of Dixie and Comstock was released today by Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest Supervisor, Cheryl Probert.
The Dixie-Comstock Community Protection Project encompasses a 37,343-acre project area. It builds on the Dixie Defensible Space Project to further enhance community and firefighter safety. The project will accomplish these goals primarily by reducing hazardous fuels on the wildland-urban interface.
Several large wildfires have threatened these communities in the past decades. They include but are not limited to the 2007 Rattlesnake fire, 2012 McGuire Fire, 2015 Blue Fire and the 2021 Dixie Fire. The impacts from these fires (22,800 acres) within the project area amount to approximately 61% of disturbance within the past two decades. The areas that haven’t been treated were burned in previous decades dating back to 1870. The immediate area south and west of Dixie and Comstock haven’t been treated since at least 1919, and need treatment to lessen fire behavior affecting the communities when fire inevitably returns. “I have been present in these communities before, during and after wildfire events, witnessing the elevated risk our fire fighters take on and the destruction faced by townspeople,” stated Forest Supervisor Cheryl Probert. “This project is designed to change the nature and arrangement of fuels to moderate fire behavior in the vicinity of the communities, reducing risk to emergency responders, public and the natural resources.”
The 2021 Dixie Fire, which burned 12,613 acres in the project area demonstrated the ways in which fuel buildup presents a tremendous risk to the surrounding communities and to wildland firefighter safety. These factors are why the Project Area was designated part of the Lower Salmon River Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscape, a Forest Service designation which means that full spectrum approaches are being implemented to protect neighboring communities from catastrophic wildfire. This project was approved for an Emergency Action Determination under the Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscape, which means it will have a combined 30-day public scoping and comment period and there will be no objection period.
The project will consist of multiple methods of treatment selected to best suit conditions on the ground. 4,922 acres of harvest and treatment are planned, including 441 acres in the Gospel Hump Idaho Roadless Area, where timber harvesting will be accomplished through helicopter logging and 67 acres of aspen regeneration are planned. Roadside Fuel Breaks will be created for 13 miles of road. Hand and mechanical thinning will occur on 330 acres surrounding private property and 390 acres of hand thinning will occur in riparian areas. In the area around private property boundaries near Comstock, the project will conduct 330 acres of hand thinning and piling. In the Gospel Hump Idaho Roadless Area, 2,200 acres of prescribed fire are planned.
Temporary construction of approximately 15 miles of roads, including 1 mile in the Gospel Hump Idaho Roadless Area and the reconstruction, maintenance, and improvement of 45 miles of existing roads will occur in the project area. It will also include the installation of new culverts, which will improve road conditions over the long term in the area. Nine miles of aquatic habitat improvements are planned in parts of the project area that are identified as fish habitat. The project will also help enhance Aspen stands and meadows in the project area that will benefit from timber harvest and regenerative fire. The completed project will provide safety zones for the airstrip near the Dixie Work Center, create additional defensible space adjacent to private property, and provide for safe evacuation routes for residents of Dixie and Comstock.
Want to learn more about this project and provide your input? The environmental assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact along with the site specific amendment to the Nez Perce Forest Plan are available for public comment for 30 days after publication of the legal notice in the Lewiston Morning Tribune. Project information can be found at https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=52079 The legal notice also begins the 60-day public notice period that this project includes openings greater than 40 acres.
Mature Forest in the Dixie-Comstock Project Area
Community of Dixie during 2021 Dixie Fire
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
