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Vantage to Pomona Heights Chapter 3 230 kV Transmission Line Project FEIS Affected Environment PAGE 3-261 3.12 WILDLAND FIRE ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT As was done in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS), this section describes the existing conditions (affected environment) and considers issues related to wildland fire ecology and management along all Action Alternatives presented in the DEIS and SDEIS, including those raised during scoping. This Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) section consolidates and builds on the information presented in the January 2013 DEIS as well as the January 2015 SDEIS and includes references to those documents throughout the text where appropriate. This FEIS identifies the New Northern Route (NNR) Alternative – Overhead Design Option as the Environmentally Preferred Alternative and has selected the NNR Alternative – Overhead Design Option as the Agency Preferred Alternative. This section describes the wildland fire ecology and management issues for the Project area. For the purposes of this analysis, the Project study area was defined as a two-mile wide corridor; one mile on either side of the route segment centerlines for each of the Action Alternatives. Note that the two-mile buffer around each route segment overlaps with the adjacent route segments. This was done to allow for a discrete discussion of the affected environment and comparison of each route segment. 3.12.1 Data Sources The wildland fire assessment was conducted using planning documents, digital data sources and previously conducted studies. Sources reviewed included: • Digital 2015 Fire History 1987-2015 from the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Yakima Training Center (JBLM YTC). • Digital Vegetation Data from the JBLM YTC. • Digital Fire Data from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and GeoMAC Spatial Mapping (2013), Wildland Fire Support. • Digital Fire Return Interval and Fire Regime Condition Class data from LANDFIRE. • Final Environmental Impact Statement for Fort Lewis Army Growth and Force Structure Realignment, July 2010 (U.S. Department of the Army [Army] 2010). • Spokane District 1985 Resource Management Plan (RMP) and 1987 Record of Decision (ROD) and the 1992 RMP amendment and ROD. • Sage-Grouse Habitat Assessment Survey Report (Appendix B-2). • Noxious Weed Survey Report (Appendix B-4). • JBLM YTC, Integrated Wildland Fire Management Plan, June 2004. • Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy, December 1995. • Review and Update of the 1995 Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy, January 2001. • Guidance for Implementation of Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy, February 2009. • Pacific Power Fire Outage History Data 1995-present for the Union Gap-Midway 230 kilovolt (kV) and Wanapum-Pomona Heights 230 kV lines, July 2011. • JBLM YTC, Cultural and Natural Resource Management Plan 2002-2006, January 2002. • Washington Gap Analysis Program (GAP) was obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program. 3.12.2 Current Conditions and Trends, Regional Overview 3.12.2.1 Fire History Fire is a natural disturbance in big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) communities; however, the invasion of exotic annual grasses, such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), has shortened fire cycles and decreased