[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 39 (Thursday, February 27, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8924-8925]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-4839]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
South Quartzite Salvage Timber Sale Analysis, White River
National Forest; Garfield County, CO
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS).
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service will
prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to disclose effects of
alternative decisions it may make to harvest dead Engelmann spruce and
associated road construction within the South Quartzite Salvage Timber
Sale Planning area, on the Rifle Ranger District of the White River
National Forest.
DATES: Written comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be
received on or before April 14, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Veto J. LaSalle, Forest Supervisor,
White River National Forest, PO Box 948, 9th and Grand Ave., Glenwood
Springs, Colorado 81602. Mr. LaSalle is the Responsible Official for
this EIS.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Robert W. Currie, Project Coordinator, Holy Cross Ranger District,
24747 U.S. Highway 24, PO Box 190, Minturn, CO 81645, (970) 827-5715.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 16, 1996 the White River National
Forest released a Draft Environmental Assessment for the proposed
action and alternatives to that proposed action under Public Law 104-
19. Based on comments received from members of the public, the
Interdisciplinary Team has determined that the proposed action and
alternatives to that action represent an inventoried roadless area
entry. Therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement is required as per
Forest Service Handbook 1909.15, Section 20.6. The proposed action
proposes to harvest approximately 4.0 to 5.0 million board feet from
approximately 1,280 acres of dead Engelmann spruce using a combination
of ground-based (approximately 110 acres) and helicopter yarding
(approximately 1,180 acres) and to construct approximately 0.9 miles of
new specified road.
The proposed action is consistent with governing programmatic
management direction contained in the Rocky Mountain Regional Guide and
FEIS for Standards and Guidelines (1983) and in the Final EIS and Land
and Resource Management Plan for the White River National Forest (LMP,
1984). The LMP allocated the proposed timber sale area to semi-
primitive motorized and semi-primitive non-motorized use and allows for
timber harvest. The site-specific environmental analysis provided by
the EIS will assist the Responsible Official in determining which
improvements are needed to meet the following objectives: Reduce
natural fuel loadings and to provide wood products for the nation and
opportunities for timber related jobs. Alternative will be carefully
examined for their potential impacts on the physical, biological, and
social environments so that tradeoffs are apparent to the
decisionmaker.
Public participation will be fully incorporated into preparation of
the EIS. The first step is the scoping process, during which the Forest
Service will be seeking information, comments, and assistance from
Federal, State, and local agencies, and other individuals or groups who
may be interested in or affected by the proposed action. This
information will be used in preparing the EIS. No public meetings are
planned for this project. Public comments received during initial
scoping and those raised during public review of the Draft
Environmental Assessment for this project will be incorporated into
this EIS. Individuals who have provided comments during initial
scoping, on the Draft Environmental Assessment, and those who provide
comments on this EIS will receive copies of the Draft EIS for their
review.
Preliminary issues include the potential effects of proposed
actions on the following elements of the biological, physical, and
social environments: wildlife and wildlife habitat, recreation resource
values, roadless area resource values, and watershed health resources.
The direct, indirect, cumulative, short-term, and long-term aspects of
impacts on national forest lands and resources, and those of connected
or related effects off-site, will be fully disclosed.
Preliminary alteratives include the proposed action (described
above) and No Action, which in this case is deferring treatment of the
area until the future. A third preliminary alternative could be
analyzed which would harvest approximately 6.0 to 7.0 million board
feet of approximately 2,500 acres of dead Engelmann spruce using a
combination of ground-based and helicopter yarding and to construct
approximately 3.0 miles of new specified road. Additional alternatives
may be developed after the significant issues are clarified and
management objectives are fully defined. The Responsible Official will
be presented with a range of feasible and practical alternatives.
Permits and licenses required to implement the proposed action
will, or may, include the following: consultation with U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service for compliance with Section 7 of the Endangered
Species Act, review from the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and
clearance from the Colorado State Historic Preservation Office.
The Forest Service predicts the draft environmental impact
statement will be filed during the fall of 1997 and the final
environmental impact statement during the spring of 1998.
The Forest Service will seek comments on the draft environmental
impact statement for a period of 45 days after its publication in the
Federal Register. Comments will then be summarized and responded to in
the final environmental impact statement.
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, reviewers of
draft environmental impact statement 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 DEIS 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 they can meaningfully consider them and respond
to them in the final environmental impact statement.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft
environmental impact statement 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
environmental impact statement or the merits of the alternatives
formulated and discussed in
[[Page 8925]]
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.)
Dated: February 19, 1997.
Gregory A. Kuyumjian,
Acting Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 97-4839 Filed 2-26-97; 8:45 am]
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