This was my letter of comment on the vegetation management proposal send to me in the summer of 1994
Michael P. Hamilton, Ph.D.
PO Box 1807
Idyllwild, CA 92549
September 8, 1994
C. Douglas Pumphrey
District Ranger
San Jacinto Ranger District
PO Box 518
Idyllwild, CA 92549
Dear Doug,
Thanks for the opportunity to respond to your letter describing the proposed vegetation management projects for the district campgrounds. I offer my comments knowing that I'll probably never get a response from your office.
In general, I recommend that the following measures be followed for all the treatment areas:
1) Do not plant any non-native plant species, or seedlings from natives that were not originally collected from the location of the treatment.
2) Attempt to remove past plantings of non-native trees and shrubs. For example the Pyracantha and Sequoia at Lake Fulmor are non-natives and are reproducing at this site.
3) Do not poison or trap for pocket gophers. The latest Federal Register list of candidate threatened and endangered species includes a number of new candidate species found in our mountains. One of them, the San Diego pocket mouse, occurs in habitats where pocket gophers occur. Baiting and trapping of gophers extirpates heteromyid rodents such as Perognathus and Dipodomys.
4) Do not apply any herbicides.
5) Do not remove any snag or log habitats unless it is outside of the active breeding and brooding season (April-July).
6) Conduct botanical and zoological studies at all the campsites during a time of the year where sensitive species are easily observable and identifiable. A winter survey of the general habitats is not adequate.
7) Consider hiring a knowledgeable local expert to assess the sensitive species issues associated with this project. A wealth of site specific knowledge exists outside of your office.
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your proposal.
Sincerely,
Michael Hamilton
