[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 26 (Friday, February 7, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5794-5795]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-3023]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 26 / Friday, February 7, 1997 /
Notices
[[Page 5794]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Jericho Salvage Project; Helena National Forest, Powell County,
Montana
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare Environmental Impact Statement.
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SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service is gathering information and
preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Jericho
Salvage Project located approximately 18 air miles southwest of Helena,
Montana.
The Helena Ranger District of the Helena National Forest proposes
to salvage winter killed and severely damaged trees on approximately
200 acres in the Sally Ann Creek drainage. This area is located west of
the Continental Divide approximately eight miles southeast of Elliston,
Montana (Sections 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12 Township 8 North, Range 6 West).
The Proposed Action includes the construction of two temporary
roads to provide logging truck access to the log collection sites. The
total length of the temporary road construction is about two miles. No
permanent road construction is proposed.
The areas proposed for harvest are located within the Jericho
Mountain Roadless Area (1607) and are located in or immediately
adjacent to management areas designated by the Helena Forest Plan as
suitable for timber management.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be received
in writing on or before March 10, 1997.
ADDRESSES: The responsible official is Denis Hart, District Ranger,
Helena Ranger District, Helena National Forest, 2001 Poplar St.,
Helena, MT. 59601. Phone: (406) 449-5490.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Denis Hart, Helena District Ranger or Dan Mainwaring, Interdisciplinary
Team Leader, Helena Ranger District, Helena National Forest, 2001
Poplar Street, Helena, MT 59601. Phone: (406) 449-5490.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 200 acres of timber salvage and
associated two miles of temporary road construction would occur on
National Forest lands in portions of Sally Ann Creek drainage. Included
in the area being analyzed is all or portions of Sections, 1, 2, 3, 10,
11, 12 Township 8 North, Range 6 West, Montana Principle Meridian.
Most of the trees in the Sally Ann Creek drainage were killed
during the winter of 1989 from stress associated with a weather event
in which temperatures rose from well below freezing to the mid-60's and
then plunged to below the zero mark, all in the period of 24 hours.
The Proposed Action for this site includes the salvage of
approximately 1 million board feet of timber and the regeneration of a
new generation of trees. The District also proposes to construct 2
temporary access spurs to provide logging truck access from Forest Road
#495 to the log collection sites. The total length of temporary road
construction is approximately 2 miles. No new permanent road would be
constructed.
The proposed harvest is within the Jericho Mountain Roadless Area.
The treated sites will be planned for natural regeneration and/or
planting of conifers, if necessary, to meet required regeneration goals
and time frames. The proposed two miles of temporary, low standard road
construction will be returned to contour and seeded to native grass
species following harvest. Improvements will also be made to the main
log haul route along Forest Road #495 by improving drainage and
regarding the road surface.
The responsible official is the Helena District Ranger of the
Helena National Forest. This responsible official will decide (1)
whether dead and dying trees within the proposed project area should be
harvested and, if so, how much and by what methods, (2) what mitigation
measures will be needed under the selected alternative, (3) how much
temporary road will be constructed and how much road improvement will
be done on Forest Road #495 and, (4) how much of the temporary road
will be returned to contour and seeded to native grasses.
If the decision is to implement an action alternative, salvage
operations would begin as soon as the fall of 1997 and should be
completed by the end of 1998. Public firewood gathering, road
recontouring, and brush disposal work may extend into 1999. Other
resource objectives for this site are within Forest Plan standards. All
activities are designed to comply with the Forest Plan.
This EIS will tier to the Helena Forest Plan Final EIS of April
1986, that provides program goals, objectives and standards and
guidelines for conducting management activities in this area. All
activities associated with the proposal will be designed to maintain or
enhance the resource objectives identified in the Forest Plan and
further refined in the Divide Landscape Analysis.
The Forest Service is seeking information and comments from
Federal, State, local agencies and other organizations or individuals
who may be interested in or affected by the proposed action. The Forest
Service invites written comments and suggestions on the issues for the
proposal and the area being analyzed. Information received will be used
in preparation of the Draft EIS. Preparation of the EIS will include
(1) identification of potential issues, (2) identification of issues to
be analyzed in depth, (3) elimination of issues that have been covered
by a relevant previous environmental analysis, (4) identification of
reasonable alternatives to the Proposed Action and, (5) identification
of potential environmental effects of the alternatives.
The preliminary issues identified are (1) the effects on forest
health and sustaining ecosystems, (2) the effects on recreation and
scenic resources, (3) the effects on fish/wildlife and, (4) the effects
on the roadless and wilderness character of the Jericho Mountain
Roadless Areas.
The Forest Service will analyze and disclose in the DEIS and FEIS
the environmental effects of the proposed action and a reasonable range
of alternatives. The DEIS and FEIS will disclose the direct, indirect
and cumulative environmental effects of each alternative and its
associated site specific mitigation measures.
[[Page 5795]]
Public participation is especially important at several points of
the analysis. Interested parties may visit with the Forest Service
officials at any time during the analysis. However, two periods of time
are specifically identified for the receipt of comments. The first
comment period is during the scoping process when the public is invited
to give written comments to the Forest Service. The scoping period ends
on March 24, 1997. The second review period is during the 45 day review
of the DEIS when the public is invited to comment on the DEIS.
The DEIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and available for public review in May, 1997. At that
time, the EPA will publish a notice of availability of the DEIS in the
Federal Register.
The comment period on the DEIS will be 45 days from the date the
notice of availability is published in the Federal Register.
At this early stage in the scoping process, the Forest Service
believes it is important to give reviewers notice of several court
rulings related to public participation in the environmental review
process. First, reviews of DEIS 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). Secondly,
environmental objections that could be raided at the draft
environmental impact statement stage, but that are not raised until
after completion of the FEIS 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. 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 FEIS.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the DEIS 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 DEIS 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.)
After the comment period ends on the DEIS, the comments will be
analyzed and considered by the Forest Service in preparing the FEIS.
The FEIS is expected to be filed in August, 1997.
Dated: January 21, 1997.
Denis Hart,
District Ranger, Helena Ranger District, Helena National Forest.
[FR Doc. 97-3023 Filed 2-6-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M
