FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT
City of San Diego
San Diego Vegetation Management Project
HMGP 1577-6-2, 1577-8-3, and 1585-9-1

The City of San Diego (City) has applied for funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
(FEMA), through the State of California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, to conduct vegetation 
management on City-owned lands within San Diego, San Diego County, California. FEMA is proposing to 
fund the project through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) under presidential disaster 
declarations (FEMA-1577-DR-CA and FEMA-1585-DR-CA) for the severe storms that occurred in Southern 
California between December 2004 and February 2005.

The City would create a wildfire buffer (or treatment area) in open-space lands adjacent to private property. 
This buffer would occur on approximately 687 acres of City-owned and -managed open-space areas, which 
would encompass approximately 89 noncontinuous linear miles. This treatment area would occur adjacent to 
approximately 6,480 homes. The treatment areas would be established in compliance with the City’s Land 
Development Code. The Proposed Action would consist of selectively thinning, trimming, and pruning 
approximately 50 percent of native vegetation within the action area. Nonnative vegetation would be cut at 6 
inches above the ground. No excavation, removal, or disturbance of existing plant root systems would occur. 
All vegetation would be treated using handheld tools such as machetes, weed-whackers, and, when necessary, 
chainsaws. Treatment activities would be completed based on areas prioritized by the City as high-risk areas. 
In addition, treatment activities would be sequenced based on the California coastal gnatcatcher breeding 
season. Areas containing suitable gnatcatcher habitat would be avoided between March 1 and August 15. The 
Proposed Action would occur over a 3-year timeframe. Staging areas would occur along paved roadways. All 
pruned vegetation would be bagged and hand carried off the site to staging areas to be delivered to Miramar 
Landfill for mulch recycling.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, FEMA has prepared a Supplemental 
Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the San Diego Vegetation Management Project (December 2007) to 
evaluate the impacts of the Proposed Action on the human environment. The SEA tiers from the Final 
Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for Typical Recurring Actions Flood, Earthquake, Fire, 
Rain, and Wind Disasters in California (December 2003) as Proposed by FEMA. The PEA and SEA are 
available online at http://www.fema.gov/ehp/docs.shtm.

Based upon the conditions and the information contained in the PEA and SEA, and in accordance with 
FEMA’s regulations in 44 CFR Part 10 (Environmental Considerations) and Executive Orders 11988 
(Floodplain Management), 11990 (Protection of Wetlands), and 12898 (Environmental Justice), the following 
is concluded:

A Finding of No Significant Impact. Therefore, an environmental impact statement will not be prepared, 
based on the fact that there will be no long-term adverse impacts to the natural environment resulting from the 
Proposed Action. For more information, contact the undersigned at (510) 627-7027. 



[Original signed]    11 December 2007
	
Alessandro Amaglio	Date
Region IX Environmental Officer