Save Upper Echo Lake

In 2014, progress was made on a number of fronts with respect to protection of the Upper Echo Lake area: the Forest Service agreed not to engage in any activity in furtherance of the Upper Echo Lake Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project; the Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog as endangered; the Forest Service agreed to initiate consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the effects of the Upper Echo Lake Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project on the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog; and the Regional Water Quality Control Board reviewed Forest Service actions pursuant to the Upper Echo Lake Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project in 2013, determined that such actions were contrary to the Board's authorizing legislation, and required the Forest Service to take corrective action. Unfortunately, the Forest Service has yet to acknowledge its prior misconduct.  In addition, the agency has yet to abandon or reform the Project in order to protect ...

As already reported, in response to a request from the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, the Forest Service moved several slash piles placed in wetlands in violation of federal and state law.  Even as it did so, agency personnel continued to deny that the piles were improperly placed in Stream Environment Zones (or SEZs).  This e-mail (dated Oct. 20, 2014) from Forest Service employee Brian Garrett to Regional Board staff indicates that the areas where the slash piles were placed do not meet the definition of SEZs. The determination what areas qualify as SEZs is made on the basis of the Regional Board's Basin Plan. It provides that SEZs are generally synonymous with wetlands and riparian areas, and that any one of the following key indicators are sufficient to establish that an areas is an SEZ: evidence of surface water flow primary riparian vegetation near surface groundwater lakes or ponds beach soils soils classified as Elmira loamy coarse sand...

As we reported here , the Forest Service recently moved a number of slash piles created in the course of implementing the first phase of the Upper Echo Lake Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project.  Below is a picture of one of the piles. The dark stained area of granite above the pile indicates seasonal waters flow directly into the area where the pile is now located the pond before moving downstream into the Upper Echo Lake basin. This action by the Forest Service -- in violation of a stipulated order and without consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- is harmful to the local ecosystem.  Unfortunately, the Forest Service still intends to implement the second phase of the Project, which may actually increase rather than decrease local fire risk and which is certain to result in further environmental impacts that the agency did not disclose to the public or analyze under the National Environmental Policy Act.

On October 17, 2014, a Forest Service crew entered the Upper Echo Lake Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project site and moved numerous slash piles of tree limbs and brush placed in wetlands approximately one year ago.  Unfortunately, the action was bound to be a failure from its inception for a number of reasons. First, the agency has initiated consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act regarding the effects of the Project on the endangered Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog .   While consultation is pending, section 7(d) of the ESA prohibits the agency from implementing the Project.   Therefore, the October 17, 2014, activities were initiated in violation of federal law. Second, the agency entered into a court-ordered stipulation whereby it “resolved to take no further on-the-ground activities on the project until consultation is complete and, in any event, no on-the-ground activities in 2014.”  The Oct...

A report issued by the Endangered Species Coalition catalogs "ten species our children may never see," including the mountain yellow-legged frog.  In the report, the Coalition states "more than 95 percent of southern Sierra Nevada and Southern California populations have gone extinct, and remaining colonies have only about ten adults."  A number of news outlets covered the release of the report, including the Washington Post and Sierra Sun Times .

In a stipulation signed by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, the Forest Service committed to engage in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the effects of the Upper Echo Lake Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project on the endangered Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog.  The agency also agreed to halt all on-the-ground Project activity through 2014, and not resume any activity until consultation is completed.  The stiplation includes the following statement: "The Forest Service has ... determined that it will consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service regarding potential impacts to the frog, and has resolved to take no further on-the-ground activities on the project until consultation is complete and, in any event, no on-the-ground activities in 2014. In addition, the Forest Service is committed to taking no further activities without providing at least 35 days’ notice to Plaintiff." The Forest Service's decision c...

Previously, in a post located here , we explained that the Forest Service agreed not to implement phase two of the Upper Echo Lake Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project until September 1, 2014, at the earliest.  The agency has since agreed to further delay phase two to October 15, 2014, at the earliest.  The Forest Service may agree to further delays in order to address issues raised about the agency's compliance with federal law.