Comment Submitted by Mary McAllister

I am writing in support of FEMA’s requirement that an EIS be prepared for the four Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grants referenced in this docket in the East Bay hills of the San Francisco Bay Area. As this docket describes, these are large, destructive projects that will destroy tens of thousands of non-native trees, spray them repeatedly with toxic herbicides and cover the denuded hills in flammable wood chips. These and other methods used in this project will have a profound impact on the environment and the animals—including humans—who live in it. More importantly, these projects are in addition to similar projects already completed and even larger projects planned in the future for which FEMA grant applications have not been applied. The cumulative impact of all of these projects will have devastating effects on the environment and its inhabitants. I am planning to attend the scoping meetings for this EIS and hereby request that I be notified of the date, time, and place of these meetings. Thank you for this opportunity to comment on this issue. I have asked what comment is appropriate at this stage of the process, but have not received a reply to my question. Therefore I am making my best guess about what comment is appropriate at this time. I hope this will be adequate to inform you of my support for and my interest in the EIS for these projects.