On September 13, 2021, the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club withdrew its objection to the Angelina/Sabine Prescribed Fire Project after the U.S. Forest Service (FS) made changes to the proposal.

The Sierra Club submitted its’ objection on November 20, 2020, and almost 10 months later, after discussions and changes, the National Environmental Policy Act and FS objection processes are now finished.  The changes made include:

1. Implementation of a requirement that public input and participation will occur every 5 years to review the progress of the prescribed fire program.

2. The FS agreed to allow the Sierra Club to directly observe how the prescribed fire program is implemented.

3. The FS added language about the description of Alternative 1, the No Action Alternative, in the Environmental Assessment (EA), that more clearly explained the nature of this alternative.

4. The FS changed the EA to more fully discuss what Fire Regime Condition Classes are and provided maps that document where those Fire Regime Conditions Classes exist in the Angelina/Sabine National Forests.

5. The FS summarized how the Sierra Club comments were utilized in the analysis and provided mitigation measures to protect all trails, including the “Trail Between the Lakes”, that the Golden Triangle Regional Group has worked on for over 40 years.

The FS unfortunately refused to conduct a more rigorous environmental analysis about how the Angelina/Sabine Prescribed Fire Project will affect or be affected by climate change.  This was disappointing and documents the FS talks a good game about climate change but “on-the-ground” does not back this talk up with better planning and mitigation requirements to protect forest ecosystems.

The Sierra Club will work with the FS in the implementation of the prescribed fire project and monitor how it does.

Author: Brandt Mannchen