Comments to SQF and other Agencies

Comments and Appeals to Sequoia National Forest and other Agencies about Projects that Affect the Southern Sierra Nevada

Sequoia ForestKeeper assures environmentally sound compliance with the laws through participation in project-level planning, commenting, appealing, and when necessary litigating proposed projects that could negatively affect the ecosystems of the southern Sierra Nevada, including the Giant Sequoia National Monument and Forest (GSNM). Comments specifically about GSNM projects are found here. http://www.sequoiaforestkeeper.org/comments_and_appeals.aspx

Click on any of the links below to view our latest comments and appeals about projects in Sequoia National Forest and Southern Sierra Nevada lands.

Comments and Appeals

23 March 2018

Comments regarding the Rosedale‐Rio Bravo Water Storage District (RRBWSD) Notice of Preparation of Draft Environmental Impact Report from Kern‐Kaweah Chapter of the Sierra Club, Sequoia ForestKeeper®, Western Watersheds Project, and the Center for Biological Diversity.

1 February 2018

Sequoia ForestKeeper comments to the U.S. Forest Service regarding the agency’s advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) regarding National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance, as generally outlined in 83 Fed. Reg. 302 (January 3, 2018).

Attachment A:The Contested Use of Collaboration & Litigation in National Forest Management.

26 January 2018

Sequoia ForestKeeper comment on the BLM 90-day scoping 211 mile Alaska Road EIS - Notice of Intent and Extension of Time To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Road, Alaska.

12 January 2018

Letter which SFK is a signatory from California Chaparral Institute to CalFire about their DEIR for fuel treatments for the state’s proposed Vegetation Treatment Program (VTP). With so much loss of life and property during the 2017 fire season, the prescriptions don't protect people and seriously rob wildlife habitat.

26 October 2017

Comments to the Bureau of Land Management from Sequoia Forest Keeper and the Kern-Kaweah Chapter Sierra Club regarding our opposition to a drilling project at Conglomerate Mesa. We asked them to protect the ecological and historical resources found in the area. We opposed the drilling project because of the presence of multiple special status and rare plant species, impacts to the historic Keeler-Death Valley trail, and to support local tribes in their opposition to this project because of the potential to limit and degrade their access to traditional gathering sites.

31 July 2017

Letter in response to the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s CalCannabis Cultivation Licensing Draft Program Environmental Impact Report (“PEIR”). Sequoia ForestKeeper® believes that that the waste and unreasonable use of water within forests and surrounding watersheds is critically important for retaining the native species in the forests and watersheds of California.

31 July 2017

Comment letter from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), Sequoia ForestKeeper, and Preserve Wild Santee response to the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s CalCannabis Cultivation Licensing Draft Program Environmental Impact Report (“PEIR”). The commenting organizations support the successful implementation of the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (“MCRSA”) and Proposition 64 (the Adult Use of Marijuana Act [“AUMA”]). Recognizing that other states will look to California to pave the way in marijuana legalization, this task, properly undertaken, is as complex as it is important. The goal is substantial—to bring a major industry out of the shadows into the scope of modern environmental practice, to address past damage, and to ensure that poor practices are not incorporated into the large and growing legal cannabis industry.

21 July 2017

Sequoia ForestKeeper’s comments on the Try Me Mining Project.

8 May 2017

Sequoia ForestKeeper along with seven other environmental justice and environmental organizations wrote in support of California State Senate Bill 100 which expands
California’s commitment to achieve the climate targets and ultimately the clean economy of 2050 if the author agrees to amendments to further restrict greenhouse gasses.

17 March 2017

Eleven science-based conservation groups including SFK, sent this comment letter regarding the 2017 Draft of the CalFire's California Forest Carbon Plan. The non-science base of the plan will likely cause substantial damage to forest ecosystems and habitats throughout California.

15 March 2017

Bull Run Roadside Hazard Tree Mitigation Project Scoping Comments (2nd) for Sequoia ForestKeeper & Kern-Kaweah Chapter of the Sierra Club

Ex. A - Draft Tobias Wildlife Report
Ex. B - Draft Tobias MYLF Condor BA
Ex. C - Draft Tobias Fisher Report
Ex. D - Summit CE BE Animals
Ex. E - Summit CE Fisher BE
Ex. F - Piute Roadside & Hazard EA
Ex. G - Bond et al. (2009)
Ex. H - Hanson and Odion (2016)
Ex. I - Beschta et al. 2004.ConBio 18.957-967
Ex. J - Piute fire restoration FEIS
Ex. K - Vista EA
Ex. L - CBI Fisher Suitability PCA update statement 1-31-17
Ex. M - CBI PowerPoint re Updated pca 2016eveg 2012gnn 1-31-2017

15 March 2017

Comments to CalFire about the California Forest Carbon Plan Draft by SFK and Conservation Congress. Our groups have major concerns that the draft plan relies heavily on false notions that carbon storage in harvested and manufactured wood products is equally valuable as carbon storage ongoing in green, living, trees that will continue to grow in our forests over time.

27 February 2017

SFK and others submitted a new comment letter to Supervisor Kevin Elliott regarding the significant new circumstances and information that we believe must be addressed in any supplemental analyses for various projects on the Sequoia National Forest.

Addendum with Information from Forest Service

Attachments:

1. Research and Development Newsletter

2. 2017 Pine Tree Mortality Forecast

14 February 2017 - updated and corrected submission

In the previous January 17, 2017 submission by Wasteful Unreasonable Methane Uprising, Sequoia ForestKeeper a spreadsheet set concerning global GHG emissions and global surface temperature change values was submitted. A few minor errors concerning notes on Sheet 1, lines 57, 58, and 70 have been corrected, as well as a few other changes have been incorporated.

1. Recalculated Anthropogenic GHG Emissions Global Surface Temperature Change 1950-2016

2. Global Temperature Change Chart

3. Summary of Global Surface Temperature Change Values Associated With Global CH4, CO2, and N20 Emissions As Well As Global Livestock-Related GHG Emissions. By Todd Shuman, Senior Analyst, WUMU-WURU, 02/14/17

4. New use of global warming potentials to compare cumulative and short-lived climate pollutants

5. excel file on determining GHG emissions from various sources.

17 January 2017
Comments on the Proposed Short-Lived Climate Pollutant Strategy and accompanying Revised Draft Environmental Analysis (“Draft EA”) prepared by the California Air Resources Board.

Attachments

1. Complaint to the SWRCB from Wasteful Unreasonable Use about excessive water use by Agribusiness to produce livestock feed and rice.

2. State-Level Carbon Taxes and the Dormant Commerce Clause: Can Formulary Apportionment Save the World? by Darien Shanske

3. Mitigation potential and global health impacts from emissions pricing of food commodities - supplement. From www.nature.com/natureclimatechange

4. Mitigation potential and global health impacts from emissions pricing of food commodities. from www.nature.com/natureclimatechange

5.Producción de energía a partir de los gases rúminales del bovino (Energy production from bovine ruminant gases.)