[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 139 (Thursday, July 20, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37424-37425]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-17833]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Trail Creek Timber Sale; Beaverhead National Forest, Beaverhead
County, MT
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of Intent to Prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service, will prepare a Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to disclose the environmental
impacts of timber harvest, reforestation, and road construction and
reconstruction, access management and related activities in the Trail
Creek area of the Wisdom Ranger District, Beaverhead National Forest.
The area is located on the west side of the Big Hole valley
approximately 12 miles west of Wisdom, Montana in the Beaverhead
Mountains of the Bitterroot Range. The area lies between Big Hole
National Battlefield located east of the Beaverhead Forest Boundary and
the Continental Divide on Chief Joseph Pass.
The original Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement was published in the Federal Register, September 15, 1988 (FR
Volume 53, No. 179, page 35870-35871). A revised Notice of Intent for
the same project was published on April 14, 1989 (FR Volume 54, No. 71,
page 14980-14981). The Notice of the availability of the Trail Creek
Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) was filed in the Federal
Register on March 16, 1990 (FR Volume 55, No. 52, page 9951) and the
Record of Decision (ROD) for the Trail Creek timber sale was signed
April 30, 1990.
The Trail Creek Decision was subsequently appealed through the
Forest Service's Administrative Appeals process. In December of 1990 a
complaint was filed in United States District Court for the District of
Montana by two non-profit corporations. On
[[Page 37425]]
December 29, 1994, Chief Judge Paul Hatfield released his decision
finding portions of the contested analysis to be adequate and a portion
to be inadequate. Judge Hatfield ordered ``that the Trail Creek final
environmental impact statement is REMANDED for development and
consideration of an alternative that preserves the roadless areas
within the Trail Creek area.''
This SEIS will respond directly to the court's order and will
consider one additional alternative in addition to those analyzed in
the 1990 Trail Creek FEIS. This additional alternative will keep all
harvest and road activities outside of the Beaver Lake roadless area 1-
003. In addition, the SEIS will address any changed conditions in the
area that the agency has become aware of since the signing of the
Record of Decision in 1990.
The purposes of the project remain the same as those stated in the
1990 FEIS. The proposal is designed to help achieve the goals,
objectives, and standards of the 1986 Beaverhead Land and Resource
Management Plan. More specifically the proposed action is designed to
help satisfy the short-term demand for timber and maintain a continuous
supply of timber in the future. Second, the proposed action is designed
to produce a distribution of size and age classes of timber stands that
are more resistant to insect infestations and disease than existing
stands.
This project level SEIS tiers to the 1986 Beaverhead National
Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) and Final EIS,
which provides overall guidance of all land management activities on
the Beaverhead National Forest, including timber and road management.
It will also tier to the 1990 Trail Creek FEIS, and will incorporate by
reference the Trail Creek Supplemental Information Report, published
April 2, 1991.
No additional scoping to identify issues and concerns is planned
prior to the release of the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement. However, the Forest Service would like information
concerning possible changed conditions within the Trail Creek project
area that may affect project implementation. Changed conditions are
those conditions which may not have been present and considered during
the analysis of the original document.
The Agency is aware of three changed conditions within the project
area that may affect the proposal. These changed conditions are: (1)
The expanded Chief Joseph Cross Country Ski Trail system, with
increased trail length and recreational use; (2) the presence of the
sensitive plant species Allotropa virgata, along with a draft
Conservation Strategy to protect this species; (3) proposed harvest
units have been marked, surveyed and cruised. This provides more
accurate unit measurements than the predicted values used in the Trail
Creek FEIS.
DATES: Written comments and suggestions on significant new
circumstances, or new information relevant to environmental concerns
with a bearing on this proposed project, or its impacts, should be
received within 30 days following publication of this notice. A Draft
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement is scheduled for release on
or about September 15, 1995.
ADDRESSES: Submit written comments and suggestions, or a request to be
placed on the mailing list to Dennis Havig, District Ranger, Wisdom
Ranger District, Beaverhead National Forest, Box 238, Wisdom, Montana
29761. Debbie Austin, Forest Supervisor, for the Beaverhead National
Forest is the responsible official for this SEIS; written comments can
be mailed to her as well at 420 Barrett, Dillon, Montana 59725.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Tom Malecek, SEIS Team leader, Wisdom Ranger District, Beaverhead
National Forest (406) 689-3243.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Timber harvest and reforestation is proposed
in 32 units over 696 acres, requiring approximately 4.9 miles of
temporary and low standard road, yielding approximately 4.8 MMBF. All
of the forested land involved has been designated as suitable for
timber management by the Beaverhead Forest Plan. Unit boundaries near
the Chief Joseph cross country ski trails will be modified to
accommodate and protect skiing opportunities, and units with
populations of Allotropa virgata will be adjusted to minimize impacts
to the plants. All units have been inventoried to identify the
distribution of these plants. All development activities in this
alternative stay out of roadless lands.
The Beaverhead Forest Plan management direction used in the final
EIS has not changed and provides the framework for the analysis of the
new alternatives.
The range of alternatives, including those analyzed in the Trail
Creek EIS, and the one proposed in this SEIS, examine varying levels
and locations for the proposed activities to achieve the proposal's
purposes, as well as to respond to the issues, other resource values,
and any changed conditions in the project area. One of the alternatives
will be the ``no action'' alternative, in which none of the proposed
activities would be implemented.
The SEIS will analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative
environmental effects of alternatives. Past, present and projected
activities on both private and National Forest lands will be
considered. This SEIS will disclose the analysis of site-specific
mitigation measures and their effectiveness.
Public participation has played a very important part in the
analysis of past alternatives. This Notice of Intent requests
additional public participation in the manner described above. Since
all issues and concerns were adequately presented in the EIS, the
Forest Service requests only new information concerning changed
conditions within the project area.
Dated: July 3, 1995.
Gerald W. Alcock,
Acting Forest Supervisor, Beaverhead National Forest.
[FR Doc. 95-17833 Filed 7-19-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M
