[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 20, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2946-2947]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-1198]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Christy Basin Timber Sales, Willamette National Forest, Lane
County, Oregon
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service, will prepare an environmental impact
statement (EIS) on a Proposal Action to harvest and regenerate timber,
thin young stands created by past regeneration harvest. The proposal
also calls for the construction, reconstruction, and decommissioning of
roads, restoration of degraded stream channels, and improvement of big
game forage within the Christy Creek drainage of the North Fork of the
Middle Fork of the Willamette River watershed. The planning area is
bounded by the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River on
the south, Hiyu Ridge (the watershed boundary between the North Fork
and the McKenzie River) on the east, Sinker Mountain and Sardine Butte
on the northwest and north (the watershed boundary between the North
Fork and Fall Creek) and Alpine Ridge on the west. The area is
approximately 40 air miles east of the City of Eugene and 16 air miles
northeast of the City of Oakridge. The Forest Service proposal will be
in compliance with the 1990 Willamette National Forest Land and
Resource Management Plan as amended by the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan,
which provides the overall guidance for management of this area. These
proposals are tentatively planned for implementation in fiscal years
1999-2003.
The Willamette National Forest invites written comments and
suggestions on the scope of the analysis in addition to those comments
already received as a result of local public participation activities.
The agency will also give notice of the full environmental analysis and
decision-making process so that interested and affected people are made
aware as to how they may participate and contribute to the final
decision.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope and implementation of the analysis
should be received in writing by February 28, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments and suggestions concerning the
management of this area to Rick Scott, District Ranger, Rigdon Ranger
District, Willamette National Forest, P.O. Box 1410, Oakridge, Oregon
97463.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Direct questions about the proposed action and the scope of analysis to
Kristy Miller, Planning Resource Management Assistant or Tim Bailey,
Project Coordinator, Oakridge Ranger District, phone 541-782-2283.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Christy Basin Planning area is entirely
within the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River
watershed, which is designed as a Tier 2 Key watershed by the Northwest
Forest Plan (ROD, C-7). Tier 2 Key watersheds contain important sources
of high quality water. A Watershed Analysis was completed for the North
Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River in September, 1995.
The purpose of this project is to harvest timber in a manner that
implements the management objectives, and to implement various resource
restoration activities to meet Key Watershed objectives.
The proposal includes harvesting timber by thinning in nine
separate timber sales over the next five years, and regeneration
harvest methods in four separate timber sales over the next four years.
Both thinning and regeneration timber sale proposals would involve road
construction, reconstruction, and decommissioning. This analysis will
evaluate a range of alternatives addressing the Forest Service
proposals to harvest approximately 70.0 million board feet;
approximately 43.4 million board feet would be generated from thinning
some 3900 acres of young stands created by past clearout harvest, and
approximately 26.4 million board feet would be generated by
regeneration harvest on approximately 550 acres. All the above proposed
harvest would require a total of 8 miles of temporary road construction
and 21 miles of road reconstruction.
The Christy Basin planning area comprises about 34,000 acres, all
of which is federal land. Of the 34,000 acres about 18,500 acres (54%)
have been previously harvested and regenerated. Of the remaining acres,
approximately 5300 (15%) acres is in a mature stand condition, ranging
in ages from 90 to 170 years, and 10,000 acres is in an old-growth
stand condition, stand ages exceeding 200 years. The planning area
contains about 600 acres (1.7%) of non-forested vegetation types and
rock outcrops. Management areas that provide for programmed timber
harvest are Scenic (11c) and General Forest (14a). Other land
allocations in this planning area are Late-Successional Reserves,
Riparian Reserves, Wild and Scenic River Corridor, and Dispersed
Recreation--Semi-primitive Nonmotorized Use.
The project area includes a small portion (about 700 acres) of the
Chucksney Mountain inventoried roadless area, which was considered but
not selected for wilderness designation. Most of this inventoried
roadless area is included within the above Dispersed Recreation--Semi-
Primitive Nonmotorized Recreation Management Area.
Issues identified for this analysis are water and stream quality,
habitat fragmentation, economic benefit, old-growth habitat reduction,
big game habitat quality, biodiversity effects, road management, and
soil compaction.
Initial scoping for this analysis began in 1990 but the project was
put on hold due to a Federal Court injunction. Scoping was initiated
again in March of 1996. Alternatives were developed and
[[Page 2947]]
preliminary analysis was completed during the summer and fall of 1997.
The developed alternative consisted of: (A) low management intensity;
retention of more than the prescribed amount of standing green trees
and down logs (20-30% retention), (B) conventional management
intensity; retention of prescribed amounts of standing green trees and
down logs (15% retention), (C) No old-growth harvest, and (D) No
Action. All action alternatives were developed to avoid forest
fragmentation and system road construction. Results of the above
analysis indicated a potential for significant effects to the human
environment, hence the need for documentation with the Environmental
Impact Statement.
The Forest Service will be seeking additional information, comment
and assistance from Federal, State, local agencies, tribes, and other
individuals or organizations who may be interested or affected by the
proposed project. Additional input will be used to help verify the
existing analysis and determine if additional issues and alternatives
should be developed. This input will be used in preparation of the
draft EIS.
The scoping process will include the following:
Identification of potential additional issues;
Identification of issues to be analyzed in depth;
Elimination of insignificant issues or those which have
been covered by a relevant previous environmental process;
Exploration of potential additional alternatives based on
the issues identified during the scoping process; and
Verification of and potential addition to environmental
effects of the proposed action and alternatives (i.e. direct, indirect,
and cumulative effects and connected actions).
The draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and to be available for public review by
February 28, 1998. The comment period on the draft EIS will be 45 days
from the date the EPA publishes the notice of availability in the
Federal Register.
The Forest Service believes it is important to give reviewers
notice at this early stage of several court rulings related to public
participation in the environmental review process. First, a reviewer of
a draft EIS must structure their participation in the environmental
review of the proposal so that it is meaningful and alerts an agency to
the reviewer's position and contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power
Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978). Also, environmental objections
that could be raised at the draft EIS stage but that are not raised
until after completion of the final EIS may be waived or dismissed by
the courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 f. 2d 1016, 1022 (9th Cir.,
1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 F. Supp. 1334, 1338
(E.D. Wis. 1980). Because of these court rulings, it is very important
that those interested in this proposed action participate by the close
of the 45-day comment period so that substantive comments and
objections are made available to the Forest Service at a time when it
can meaningfully consider them and respond to them in the final EIS.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft EIS should
be as specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to
specific pages or chapters of the draft statement. Comments may also
address the adequacy of the draft EIS or the merits of the alternatives
formulated and discussed in the statement. (Reviewers may wish to refer
to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing
the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at
40 CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.)
The final EIS is scheduled to be completed in June, 1998. In the
final EIS, the Forest Service is required to respond to comments and
responses received during the comment period that pertain to the
environmental consequences discussed in the draft EIS and applicable
laws, regulations, and policies considered in making the decision
regarding this proposal. Rick Scott, District Ranger, is the
responsible official and as responsible official, he will document the
Christy Basin Timber Sales and restoration project decision and
rationale in a Record of Decision. That decision will be subject to
Forest Service Appeal Regulations (36 CFR Part 215).
Dated: January 5, 1998.
Rick Scott,
District Ranger.
[FR Doc. 98-1198 Filed 1-16-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M
