[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 215 (Monday, November 8, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60828-60829]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-29116]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Notice of Availability of a Final Environmental Impact Statement
for the Proposed Forest Management Plan for the Flathead Indian
Reservation, Pablo, MT
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: A Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed
Forest Management Plan for the trust forest lands of the Flathead
Indian Reservation, Pablo, Montana, is now available for public review
and comment. A description of the proposed action follows as
supplemental information.
DATES: Comments on the FEIS must arrive by December 6, 1999.
ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments by any
one of several methods. You may mail or hand carry written comments to
Mr. Ernest ``Bud'' Moran, Superintendent, Flathead Field Office, Bureau
of Indian Affairs, P.O. Box 40, Pablo, Montana 59855. You may also
comment via the Internet to BudMoran@bia.gov. Please submit Internet
comments as an ASCII file, avoiding the use of special characters and
any form of encryption. Include your name and return address in your
Internet message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the system
that we have received your Internet message, contact us directly at
(406) 675-0242.
Comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, will
be available for public review at the Flathead Field Office during
regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except holidays. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If
you wish to withhold your name and/or address from public review or
from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state
this prominently at the beginning of your written comment. Such
requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. We will not,
however, consider anonymous comments. All submissions from
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or
businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their
entirety.
Copies of the FEIS will be available at the public libraries in
Arlee, St. Ignatius, Ronan, Polson, and Hot Springs, Montana, and at
the Salish and Kootenai Cultural Centers in St. Ignatius and Elmo,
Montana. Comments, responses, and changes and additions to the DEIS
will be mailed out to all those who commented on the DEIS. Individuals
wishing copies of the FEIS may contact Mr. Ken Trickey, Tribal
Forestry, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, P.O. Box 278, Pablo,
Montana 59855, telephone (406) 676-3755.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ken Trickey, 406-676-3755.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: There are approximately 451,391 acres of
forest trust land on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The Forest
Management Plan (the proposed action) takes an interdisciplinary,
ecosystem approach to forest management and seeks to restore and
maintain the long-term ecological integrity of the reservation's
forests in a manner consistent with tribal values. The Plan describes
resource management practices and levels of production, establishes
management standards, allocates land, and prescribes management
practices to achieve balanced forest ecosystems. Its purpose is to
provide long-term direction for the tribes' forest resources. The Plan
is needed to: (1) Satisfy tribal goals and objectives; (2) Ensure that
management activities are compatible with sustainable forest
ecosystems; (3) Balance tribal cultural, social, economic and
environmental values; and (4) Establish a basis for an adaptive
management and monitoring process that incorporates tribal member
values.
The FEIS includes five alternatives, including a no action
alternative. Alternatives 1, 2 and 3 take an ecosystem approach to
management. They focus on the overall vegetative structure and
composition of the forest rather than on individual stands or on the
needs of individual species. They seek to restore, to varying degrees,
more natural structures, processes and functions to the forest in order
to achieve more sustainable conditions over the long term. Of the
three, Alternative 1 seeks the highest levels of
[[Page 60829]]
restoration, followed by Alternative 2 and then 3. Alternative 5 takes
a passive approach to management, in which timber harvesting would be
limited to salvage operations after fires, wind throw, or insect and
disease outbreaks. Alternative 4, no action, would continue the
management practices of the last forest management plan, which was
adopted in 1987.
Alternative 2, the 1996 Draft Forest Plan with updates and
revisions made in response to modeling refinements and new information,
is both the proposed action and the preferred alternative. It is
preferred because it best balances social, cultural, economic and
environmental concerns and best meets the stated purpose and need.
Changes between the DEIS and the FEIS include, but are not limited
to the following:
Under Alternatives 2 and 3, habitat effectiveness for elk
will be improved in the nonlethal and mixed fire regimes by reducing
the number of miles of open road per square mile from five to four.
Under Alternative 2, 100 percent rather than 80 percent of
the road sections that are severely degrading aquatics will be
abandoned.
The Water and Fish section of the Affected Environment
chapter has been expanded to include updated information on fluvial
geomorphology, water quality, wetlands, and monitoring.
A socio-economic section has been added to the Affected
Environment chapter.
The safe use of herbicides and the restoration and
maintenance of the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of
streams have been added as objectives of the Forest Management Plan.
This notice is furnished in accordance with Section 1503.1 of the
Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500 through
1508) implementing the procedural requirements of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.),
and the Department of the Interior Manual (516 DM 1-6), and is in the
exercise of authority delegated to the Assistant Secretary--Indian
Affairs by 209 DM 8.
Dated: October 29, 1999.
Kevin Gover,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 99-29116 Filed 11-5-99; 8:45 am]
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