Forest Service · fuel breaks

What's the name of your fuel break?

Name your fuel break and answer four questions. Read a draft scoping letter and decision memo under the fuel-break CE (16 U.S.C. 6592b), free.

Free to read
No sign-up until the draft
Every fact cites its source

ePlan fills in

Forest and ranger district
Route length and width
Acres in the treatment unit
Wilderness and roadless overlap
Streams and wetlands on the route

How it works

Scoping letter, from one answer

Name the fuel breakOne answer starts the project. ePlan names it and looks up the place.
Answer four questions: route, crews, land3 more questions, each with a "not sure yet" way out.
Read the letter free; download it for $49The draft marks what to check (amber), what to pick (blue) and what to fill in (violet).

What you get

Scoping letter and 3 more documents

The first draft is free to read. Each document after it is drafted from the same confirmed facts.

The first draft

Scoping letter

Letterhead, file code and date
Project name, location and map
Purpose and need
Proposed action: route, width, acres and treatments
Design criteria
Anticipated NEPA path: fuel-break CE, 16 U.S.C. 6592b

Modeled on: P52 Fuel Break, Umatilla NF (FS project 64226)

Next · 2

Fuel-break CE decision memo

Decision and project description
Category: 16 U.S.C. 6592b (IIJA §40806) and why it applies
Width up to 1,000 ft along existing linear features; units up to 3,000 acres
Location: WUI, public drinking-water source area, or Condition Class 2 or 3
Not in wilderness, a WSA or restricted land; consistent with the forest plan
Extraordinary circumstances review (7 CFR 1b.3(f))

Modeled on: P52 Fuel Break decision memo, signed Dec 13, 2023

Next · 3

Design criteria table

Resource
Measure as written
Source: forest plan, prior decision or BMP
Segments it applies to

Next · 4

Landowner fuel break plan and map

Route and width on the parcel map
Treatments by segment
Equipment and season
Maintenance schedule
Neighbors and access

From public data

What ePlan fills in, and from where

Forest and ranger districtUSDA Forest Service Enterprise Data Warehouse
Wilderness and inventoried roadless areasUSDA Forest Service Enterprise Data Warehouse
Fuels along the routeLANDFIRE
Wildfire risk to nearby communitiesWildfire Risk to Communities (USDA Forest Service)
Slope by segmentUSGS 3D Elevation Program
Streams crossedUSGS National Hydrography Dataset
Listed species that may be presentUSFWS IPaC
Past fires on the routeMonitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS)
Wetlands on the routeUSFWS National Wetlands Inventory
Critical habitatUSFWS critical habitat
Wildland-urban interface (national 2020 map)USDA Forest Service Enterprise Data Warehouse, WUI 2020

1,000 ft

The widest fuel break the fuel-break CE allows, along a road, power line or pipeline of any length, in units up to 3,000 acres.
Source: 16 U.S.C. 6592b

Questions

Fuel break plan: what people ask

Does a fuel break on a national forest need an EA?

Often not. Congress created a categorical exclusion for linear fuel breaks up to 1,000 feet wide along roads, power lines or pipelines, with treatment units up to 3,000 acres. It still needs a supporting record, a decision memorandum, collaboration and an extraordinary-circumstances review.

Source: law.cornell.edu

Can the fuel-break CE include herbicide or burning?

Yes. The statute lists mowing, mastication, thinning, slash removal, product sales, targeted grazing, pesticide and herbicide, native seeding, broadcast burning and pile burning. It excludes wilderness, wilderness study areas, land where vegetation removal is restricted, and work inconsistent with the forest plan.

Source: law.cornell.edu

Where can the fuel-break CE be used?

On National Forest and BLM land, mostly in the wildland-urban interface or a public drinking-water source area. Elsewhere, the land must be Condition Class 2 or 3 in Fire Regime Groups I–III with very high wildfire hazard potential, or an insect and disease area designated by November 15, 2021.

Source: law.cornell.edu

Is a scoping letter required?

Not as such. The statute requires the agency to facilitate collaboration with state, local and tribal governments and participation by interested people while the project is prepared. A scoping letter is a common way to do that.

Source: law.cornell.edu

Has anyone used this CE?

Yes. The P52 Fuel Break on the Umatilla National Forest's North Fork John Day Ranger District used the 2021 infrastructure fuel-break CE; its decision memo was signed December 13, 2023.

Source: fs.usda.gov