[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 38 (Friday, February 26, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 9525]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-4641]
[[Page 9525]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement
(DEIS) for a Forest Management Plan for the Flathead Indian
Reservation, Pablo, Montana
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) 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. This notice also announces a public hearing
to receive public comments on the DEIS.
DATES: Written comments must be received by May 2, 1999. The public
hearing will be held on Wednesday, April 21, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Address written comments to Mr. Ernest ``Bud'' Moran,
Superintendent, Flathead Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, P.O. Box A,
Pablo, Montana 59855. The public hearing will take place in the Dan
Swaney Conference Room at the Mission Valley Power Headquarters, Pablo,
Montana. It will begin at 6 p.m.
To obtain a copy of this DEIS, please write or call Mr. Ralph
Goode, Tribal Forestry, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, P.O.
Box 278, Pablo, Montana 59855, Telephone (406) 676-3755. Copies of the
DEIS have been sent to all agencies and individuals who participated in
the scoping process or who have already requested copies of the
document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ralph Goode, 406-676-3755.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: There are approximately 451,391 acres of
forest trust land on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The Draft Forest
Management Plan (the proposed action) takes an interdisciplinary
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 resource production. It establishes management
standards, allocates land and prescribes management practices to
achieve balanced forest ecosystems. The plan is needed to: (1) Ensure
that management activities are compatible with sustainable forest
ecosystems; (2) balance tribal cultural, social, economic and
environmental values; and (3) establish a basis for adaptive management
and monitoring that incorporates tribal members' values.
The DEIS includes five alternatives, including a no action
alternative. Alternatives One, Two and Three take an ecosystem approach
to management. These 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 One seeks the highest level of restoration, followed
by Alternatives Two and Three. Alternative Five 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 Four, no action, would continue the management
practices of the last forest management plan, which was adopted in
1987.
Alternative Two, 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.
This notice is furnished in accordance with Sec. 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: February 19, 1999.
Kevin Gover,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 99-4641 Filed 2-25-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-02-P
