Booth Creek Fuels Environmental Assessment

Between March 2020 and July 2023, SE Group prepared the Booth Creek Fuels Environmental Assessment on behalf of the White River National Forest (Eagle-Holy Cross Ranger District) and the Town of Vail. The Town identified the 3,569-acre project area as wildland urban interface (WUI) in the 2020 Vail Community Wildfire Protection Plan and approached the Forest Service to propose fuels treatments on approximately 3,059 acres.

The purpose of the project is to reduce wildfire hazard to private property, community infrastructure, fire fighter safety, and Forest Service resources within the WUI. There is a need for the project to reduce hazardous fuels that have accumulated over the last 100 years. Treated areas proposed for action include Eagles Nest Wilderness, three Colorado Roadless areas (Spraddle Creek B, East Vail, and Corral Creek). The majority of treatments were proposed as broadcast burn, with limited areas of hand treatments with chainsaws and pile burning and only 148 acres of mechanical treatment and pile burning.

The extended NEPA process timeline was due to internal Forest Service staff turnover rather than regulatory complexity. Wilderness was a key resource challenge for the NEPA process. To comply with the Wilderness Act of 1965, the Forest Service completed a Minimum Requirement Design Guide and found the selected alternative met the minimum action necessary to meet the purpose and need for the project. SE Group assisted with extensive coordination with wilderness groups, including Wilderness Workshop and Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance, and this coordination resulted in zero objections received during the pre-decisional objection period.

In addition to not receiving any objections on the project, another NEPA process success was using a single comment period with a Notice of Proposed Action (NOPA). The NOPA was followed by the release of a single EA and draft Decision Notice. 

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