[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 185 (Friday, September 24, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51730-51732]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-24890]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Upper North Fork 25 Fire Restoration, Wenatchee National Forest,
Chelan County, WA
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact
[[Page 51731]]
statement (EIS) to analyze and disclose the environmental impacts of a
site specific proposal for the Upper North 25 Fire Restoration. The
proposed action is approximately 20 miles northwest of the town of
Chelan, Washington on approximately 800 acres of National Forest System
Land in the North Fork 25 Mile Creek drainage on the Chelan Ranger
District of the Wenatchee National Forest. It includes part of an area
identified in Appendix C of the 1990 Wenatchee National Forest Land and
Resource Management Plan as the Stormy Mountain Inventoried Roadless
Area. It excludes the portion of that area allocated by the plan to
roadless recreation. The purpose of the EIS will be to develop and
evaluate a range of alternatives for ecosystem restoration activities
within the area of upper North Fork 25 Mile Creek that was burned by
the 1998 North 25 Fire. The objectives include: (1) Protecting/
restoring existing late-successional habitat; (2) creating
heterogeneity in the distribution of woody fuel and snags; (3)
salvaging fire killed/injured trees; (4) maintaining site productivity;
and (5) promoting recovery of riparian areas. To achieve these
objectives, the alternatives may include the following actions: Snag/
tree removal, snag falling, and prescribed fire.
The alternatives will include a no action alternative and at least
one alternative that proposes no action within the Stormy Mountain
Inventoried Roadless Area. The proposed project will be consistent with
direction given in the Wenatchee National Forest Land and Resource
Management Plan, as amended by the April 1994 Record of Decision for
Amendments to the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning
Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl. This Forest
Service proposal is scheduled for implementation between the years 2000
and 2005. The agency invites written comments on the scope of this
project. In addition, the agency gives notice of this analysis so that
interested and affected people are aware of how they may participate
and contribute to the final decision.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope and analysis of this proposal must
be post-marked by October 22, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Submit written comments and suggestions concerning the scope
of the analysis to Al Murphy, District Ranger, Chelan Ranger District,
428 West Woodin Avenue, Chelan, Washington 98816.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions and comments about this EIS
should be directed to Matt Dahlgreen, Interdisciplinary Team Leader,
Entiat Ranger District, PO Box 476, Entiat, Washington 98822; phone
509-784-1511, extension 524.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This analysis was prompted by the North 25
Fire Restoration Environmental Analysis which was conducted in response
to the North 25 Fire of 1998. During that analysis, vegetation
treatments within the Stormy Mountain Inventoried Roadless Area and
adjacent unroaded areas were dropped in response to public concern
about roadless area issues. The Upper North 25 Fire EIS analysis will
re-evaluate the effects of alternative treatments, designed to meet the
objectives summarized above, within these unroaded areas.
The proposed action is to treat approximately 855 acres within the
upper watershed of the North Fork 25 Mile Creek. The area proposed for
treatment within the Inventoried Roadless Area was allocated to Late
Successional Reserves by the amended Wenatchee National Forest Land and
Resource Management Plan. The objective of this allocation is to
maintain and enhance late-successional forest ecosystems and protect
them from loss due to large-scale fire, insect and disease epidemics,
and major human impacts. Treatments would include replanting of a
portion of the burned area and commercial or noncommercial salvage of
trees killed directly by the fire or indirectly by Douglas-fir bark
beetles using both helicopter and skyline logging methods. No new roads
would be constructed.
To date, the following key issues have been identified: ecosystem
sustainability and biodiversity; roadless character; and scenic
quality.
The decision to be made through this analysis is whether
restoration treatments should be implemented within the Upper 25 Mile
Fire Analysis Area, and if so, where, how, and to what extent.
A range of alternatives will be considered, including a no action
alternative, and at least one alternative that proposes no action
within the Stormy Mountain Inventoried Roadless Area. Other
alternatives will be developed in response to relevant issues received
during scoping. All alternatives will need to respond to specific
conditions in the Upper North Fork 25 Mile Creek Analysis Area.
Public participation will be especially important at several points
during the analysis. The Forest Service will be seeking information,
comments, and assistance from Federal, State, tribes, and local
agencies, as well as individuals or organizations who may be interested
in or affected by the proposed actions. This information will be used
in preparation of the draft EIS. The scoping process includes:
1. Identifying potential issues.
2. Identifying issues to be analyzed in depth.
3. Eliminating non-significant issues or those which have been
covered by a relevant previous environmental process.
4. Exploring additional alternatives.
5. Identifying potential environmental effects of the proposed
action and alternatives (i.e., direct, indirect, and cumulative effects
and connected actions).
6. Determining potential cooperating agencies and task assignments.
Comments received in response to this notice, including names and
addresses of those who comment, will be considered part of the public
record on this proposed action and will be available for public
inspection. Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted and
considered; however, those who submit anonymous comments will not have
standing to appeal the subsequent decision under 36 CFR parts 215 or
217. Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any person may request
the agency to withhold a submission from the public record by showing
how the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permits such confidentiality.
Persons requesting such confidentiality should be aware that under the
FOIA, confidentiality may be granted in only very limited
circumstances, such as to protect trade secrets. The Forest Service
will inform the requester of the agency's decision regarding the
request for confidentiality, and where the request is denied, the
agency will return the submission and notify the requester that the
comments may be resubmitted with or without name and address within a
specified number of days.
The draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and to be available for public review in
December 1999. The comment period on the draft EIS will be 45 days from
the date the EPA's Notice of Availability appears in the Federal
Register. Copies of the draft EIS will be distributed to interested and
affected agencies, organizations, tribes and members of the public for
their review and comment. It is very important that those interested in
the management of the Wenatchee National Forest participate at that
time.
[[Page 51732]]
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft EIS 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 draft EIS 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.)
At this early stage, 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, reviewers of
a draft EIS 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 draft EIS 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. 24d 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 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.
The final EIS is scheduled to be completed in March 2000. In the
final EIS, the Forest Service is required to respond to comments and
responses received during the comment period that pertain to the
environmental consequences discussed in the draft EIS and applicable
laws, regulations, and policies considered in making the decision
regarding this proposal. The Forest Service is the lead agency for this
environmental analysis. The responsible official is the Chelan District
Ranger. The responsible official will document the Upper North Fork 25
Fire Restoration decision and reasons for the decision in a Record of
Decision. That decision will be subject to Forest Service Appeal
Regulations (36 CFR part 215).
Dated: September 14, 1999.
Al Murphy,
Chelan District Ranger.
[FR Doc. 99-24890 Filed 9-23-99; 8:45 am]
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