[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 67 (Friday, April 7, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17772-17773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-8530]
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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. 60, No. 67 / Friday, April 7, 1995 /
Notices
[[Page 17772]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
White Pine Creek EIS, Vegetation Management Analysis; Clearwater
National Forest, Benewah and Latah Counties, Idaho
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice; Intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Clearwater
National Forest, will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS)
to disclose effects of alternative decisions it may make to manage
vegetation, restore watersheds, and analyze access management in the
vicinity of White Pine, Blakes Fork and Meadow Creek drainages. The
area is located approximately 25 miles northeast of the town of
Potlatch Idaho, near North-South Ski Bowl. The purpose of the project
is to implement the Clearwater Forest Plan within the context of
ecosystem management principles; conserve biological diversity and
integrity; restore fire's role within fire dependent communities;
reduce the chance of spread of large fires; and, provide timber from
suitable lands in response to human demands for wood products.
This project will tier to the Clearwater National Forest
Environmental Impact Statement Land and Resource Management Plan and
Forest Plan (1987), which provides overall guidance of land management
activities on the Clearwater National Forest. Analysis will also be
conducted in compliance with the Stipulation of Dismissal agreed to in
the settlement of the lawsuit between the Forest Service and the Sierra
Club, et. al. (Signed September 13, 1993).
The agency invites written comments and suggestions on the issues
and management opportunities for the area being analyzed.
DATES: Written comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be
received on or before May 22, 1995.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Carmine Lockwood, District Ranger,
Palouse Ranger District, Route 2, Box 4, Potlatch, Idaho 83855.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne Lay, Team Leader, at the same
address, (208) 875-1131.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed action is designed to restore
terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem health and to provide benefits to
people within the capabilities of ecosystems. A significant factor in
the decline of the health of the White Pine Creek project area
ecosystem is the reduction of western white pine abundance caused by
white pine blister rust. The blister rust has created large areas with
heavy concentrations of standing dead and down fuels. Vegetation
treatments designed to reintroduce western white pine in the forest
cover type will be analyzed. Regeneration and intermediate harvest
treatments intended to improve the structure composition and function
of the forest matrix will be analyzed, along with the use of prescribed
fire and mechanical methods to treat excessive fuel loadings.
Intermediate treatments will be designed to improve forest health
conditions by treating overstocked stressed sites while maintaining
desirable seral species such as western white pine, ponderosa pine and
western larch. These overstocked stands are highly susceptible to root
rot pathogens, bark beetles, defoliators, and dwarf mistletoe.
Restoration of the aquatic component will focus on eliminating sediment
delivery sources to aquatic and riparian habitats, as well as improving
the structural components in riparian areas by installing large woody
debris where it is lacking. Other fish habitat improvement projects are
also included in this analysis.
The Clearwater National Forest Plan provides guidance to management
activities within the potentially affected area through its goals,
objectives, standards and guidelines, and management direction. The
areas of proposed timber harvest and reforestation would occur only on
suitable timber land, Management Areas E1, A4, A5 and M2. Below is a
brief description of applicable management direction.
Management Area E1--Timber Management--Provide optimum sustained
production of timber products in a cost effective manner while
protecting soil and water quality.
Management Area A4--Visual Travel Corridor--Maintain or enhance an
aesthetically pleasing, natural appearing Forest setting surrounding
designated roads, trails, and other areas considered important for
recreational travel use.
Management Area M5--Developed Recreation Sites--Manage developed
recreation sites to meet public demands for facilities for camping and
picnicking.
Management Area M2--Riparian Areas--Manage as areas of special
consideration with distinctive values, and integrate with adjacent
management areas to the extent that water and other riparian resources
are protected.
The White Pine Creek study area lies along the divide between the
Palouse River drainage and the Spokane River drainage. It is a roaded
area with intermingled ownership on the interface between forest and
farmland in the panhandle of Idaho. The planning area consists of
approximately 8,000 acres located in T.42N., R.3W, T.43N., R3W., and
T.44N., R.3W. The decision to be made is what, if anything, should be
done in the White Pine Creek project area to (1) Restore terrestrial
and aquatic ecosystem components, (2) provide multiple benefits to
people within the capabilities of ecosystems. An environmental
assessment for the White Pine Creek project area was prepared in 1994,
and a Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact was signed
in July of 1994. This Decision was appealed and reversed back to the
District in October of 1994 with instructions to prepare an EIS if the
project were to proceed. The recommendations included in the reversal
related to: (a) cumulative effects for water and wildlife, (b) old
growth, and (c) range of alternatives considered. All of these issues
will be analyzed in the proposed EIS with an ecosystem management
approach.
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 [[Page 17773]] agencies, the Nez Perce and
Coeur D'Alene Tribes,and other individuals or groups who may be
interested or affected by the proposed action. This information will be
used in preparing the EIS. Interested individuals and organizations
should contact the Palouse Ranger District and request to be placed on
the project mailing list. Those doing so will receive future
newsletters related to this project and notification of public
meetings. Scoping will include: inviting participation, determining the
project's scope and potential issues, eliminating from detailed study
those issues which are not significant, and determining potential
cooperating agencies and task assignments. The public will also be
invited to participate in developing alternatives, and identifying and/
or reviewing the potential environmental effects of the proposed action
and its alternatives.
Public meetings will be held in the Potlatch Idaho area in the
spring of 1995. Field trips will also be available if the public
requests them. The exact dates and locations of these meetings will be
published in local newspapers at least two weeks in advance.
Preliminary issues highlight the need to maintain biodiversity and
biological integrity by providing habitat for a broad range of
terrestrial and aquatic species. Management activities, primarily
logging and road building and the introduction of white pine blister
rust, have changed some of the natural disturbance processes such as
insect and disease outbreaks and have altered the ecosystem
composition, structure, and resiliency in the White Pine Creek project
area. Management activities have affected the function and productivity
of some riparian systems in the Meadow Creek area.
Aquatic ecosystem issues include sediment, temperature and peak
flows. Human needs and desires and their effects on the ecosystem will
also be a driving factor in the formulation of issues. The need for
shelter, employment, aesthetics recreation, cultural, and spiritual
revitalization all play a major role in the forest ecosystem. 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 alternatives will likely include a range from a more
passive approach of managing non-consumptive uses to a more active
consumptive use approach to meet social demands. All alternatives will
focus on maintaining or restoring ecological functions. This will
involve proposals with and without roads, different intensities and
types of timber harvest, and various approaches to access management
including motorized and non-motorized recreation. Most action
alternatives will analyze riparian and aquatic habitat improvement.
Permits and licenses required to implement the proposed action may
include the following: consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service for compliance with Section 7 of the Threatened & Endangered
Species Act; a permit from the Idaho Department of Water Resources for
water removal for dust abatement; and clearance from the Idaho State
Historic Preservation Office.
The Forest Service predicts the Draft EIS will be filed in August
of 1995 and the Final EIS in December of 1995.
The Forest Service will seek comments on the Draft EIS for a period
of 45 days after its publication. Comments will then be summarized and
responded to in the Final EIS.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action or the effects disclosure, 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 EIS. 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.)
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
DEIS's 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.
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.
As Forest Supervisor, I am the Responsible Official for this
project. My address is Clearwater National Forest, 12730 U.S. Highway
12, Orofino, ID 83544 (208-476-4541).
Dated: March 28, 1995.
James L. Caswell,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 95-8530 Filed 4-6-95; 8:45 am]
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