B.08.03_Tree Cutting Mitigation MSF Construction.pdf

FOR INFORMATION ONLY

Tree Cutting Mitigation Requirements

To mitigate for the loss of approximately 6.6 acres of forested land for the construction of the Maintenance and Supply Facility, the contractor is required to improve approximately 25 acres of forested land on HEC by removing invasive species, conducting selective thinning, and restocking of native species saplings. The contractor is also required to plant 60 trees in currently open areas on HEC.

1. New Tree Plantings in Open Areas

HEC has limited space for tree planting; there is space for approximately 63 individual new tree plantings. New tree plantings are considered more cost effective and more likely to be successful than transplanting trees from the project area. Locations suitable for new planting are shown in Figure 1 below, however HEC must approve the contractor’s proposed tree planting locations and species prior to planting. All plantings will be native species.

2. Forest Improvement Requirements to Existing Forest Stands

A Forest Stand Improvement Plan outlining how all below requirements will be executed will be developed in consultation with a Virginia licensed Professional Forester and approved by Humphreys Engineer Center prior to the start of Forest Improvement Work.

Invasive Species Removal

An initial treatment of non-native and invasive species including, but not limited to multiflora rose, Asiatic bittersweet, Japanese barberry, mile-a-minute vine, and Japanese honeysuckle is required in the identified forest improvement areas. Treatment may include chemical (herbicide) and mechanical treatments or a combination of the two methods. The methods may be classified as (a) Individual-stem treatments (with or without herbicides); (b) Foliar spraying; and (c) Soil applications of herbicides. Large stemmed plants, such as Asiatic bittersweet with 3in dbh or greater would be cut with the remaining stem sprayed with herbicide to prevent regrowth.

Appropriate chemicals registered and approved for use by EPA will be used and under the current Virginia Cooperative Extension Pest Management Guide for Horticultural and Forest Crops or the herbicide use sheets found in the Virginia Department of Forestry at www.dof.state.va.us. Chemicals will be applied following the label for each selected herbicide for optimum season for treatment, dosage and applications and applied according to label directions and safely precautions. Removal will be conducted by licensed personnel of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in the Forest Pest Control Category in accordance with Virginia’s pesticide laws and regulations. No herbicide will be sprayed in or near bodies of water. A maintenance plan will be developed and employed to prevent recruitment and re-establishment of invasive species.

Selective Thinning

Selective thinning is required in the identified forest improvement areas. . Diseased, dying, or other poor conditioned trees will be identified and targeted for removal. Creating canopy openings and clearings will encourage the growth of planted saplings and provide early successional habitat, increasing diversity of forest species and wildlife. Snags and brush from thinning operations will provide additional cover habitat for wildlife species.

Restocking of Native Species

The 2019 USACE Forest Stand Delineation Report suggested very little to no understory regeneration. Restocking of native species is necessary due to the current dominance of invasive and non-native species in the understory and lack of a native seedbank. Seedlings already identified during the FSD such as tulip poplar, red oak, red maple, sweetgum, American holly, and spicebush as well as other native and habitat appropriate species are required to be planted in the identified forest improvement areas.