[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 1, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-2050]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: February 1, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
[OR-015-94-4410-02; G4-047]
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
Eastside Ecosystem Management Strategy, Pacific Northwest Region
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA; Bureau of Land Management, USDI.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
propose to develop and adopt a coordinated ecosystem management
strategy for forests and public lands east of the Cascade Mountains in
Oregon and Washington. The strategy will include direction which will
protect and enhance aquatic ecosystems for anadromous fish and bull
trout (formerly known as the PACFISH strategy) and terrestrial
ecosystems. It will also address the social and economic interactions
with these biological variables. The purpose is to carry out President
Clinton's mandate of July 1993 to develop a scientifically sound and
ecosystem-based strategy for management of these lands. The selected
alternative will result in amendment to the Forest Service Regional
Guide for Oregon and Washington and amendment or revision of applicable
national forest land management plans and BLM resource management
plans.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be received
in writing by March 3, 1994.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments concerning this proposal to Jeff D.
Blackwood, Project Manager, 112 E. Poplar St., Walla Walla, Washington
99362.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
George R. Pozzuto, EIS Team Leader, 112 E. Poplar St., Walla Walla,
Washington 99362, phone (509) 522-4030.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This EIS will address all lands east of the
crest of the Cascade Mountains in the states of Oregon and Washington
that are managed by the Forest Service or BLM. The selected alternative
will result in amendment to the Forest Service Regional Guide for
Oregon and Washington and amendment or revision to the Land Management
Plans (forest plans) for the Colville, Okanogan, Wenatchee, Gifford
Pinchot, and portions of the Umatilla National Forests in Washington;
the Deschutes, Fremont, Malheur, Ochoco, portions of the Umatilla,
Wallowa-Whitman, Mt. Hood and Winema National Forests and the Crooked
River National Grassland in Oregon. The BLM Resource Management Plans
(RMPs) which are entirely within the proposed EIS analysis area include
the Spokane RMP (Spokane District), baker RMP (Vale District), and Two
Rivers and John Day RMPs (Prineville District). In addition, forested
portions of the Brothers-LaPine RMP (Prineville District) and Three
Rivers RMP (Burns District) will be reviewed in the EIS.
The BLM Klamath Falls Resource Area (Lakeview District) is now
preparing its RMP and is expected to incorporate equivalent ecosystem
management strategies in conjunction with other western Oregon BLM and
Forest Service plans. Depending upon the results of public scoping and
the basin-wide assessment, additional portions of the BLM managed lands
in the Lakeview and Vale Districts may be included in the EIS and lead
to land use plan amendments. At this time, BLM lands subject to
potential plan decision amendments aggregate approximately 1.6 million
acres in Oregon and Washington. Supplemental information concerning the
approved RMPs will be available shortly from the BLM District offices
noted above and mailed to all persons currently on the District contact
lists.
The land area involved in this EIS overlaps to some degree with the
land area addressed in the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement (DSEIS) on Management of Habitat for Late-Successional and
Old-Growth Forest Related Species Within the Range of the Northern
Spotted Owl (Notice of Availability published in the Federal Register
on July 28, 1993, 53 FR 40444). The July DSEIS addressed all lands
within the range of the northern spotted owl, some of which are on the
east side of the Cascade Crest. It is these lands, which are within the
range of the spotted owl and east of the Cascade Crest, that are within
the scope of both this eastside EIS and the DSEIS. Included in this
overlap are parts of the Winema, Deschutes, Mt. Hood, Gifford Pinchot,
Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests. Whatever decision is made as a
result of the SEIS will be considered in this Eastside Ecosystem
Management EIS.
To support this EIS, a basin-wide assessment will be made for the
interior Columbia River Basin (roughly described as that portion of the
Columbia River upstream from Bonneville Dam). This assessment will
characterize and assess broad ecosystems, and describe social,
economic, and ecological processes and functions. The biophysical
provinces (those land areas having relatively similar landform,
climate, and other biological and physical properties that lead to
certain potential vegetation types) within this broad geographic area
have been altered over time by many factors including drought, fire
suppression, livestock grazing, mining, global climate change, timber
harvest and management, water uses for energy and irrigation, and
urbanization. The results of this assessment will be used, in part, to
analyze the effects of alternative exosystem management strategies for
eastern Oregon and Washington, including effects of continued
management under current forest or land use plans (i.e. the no action
alternative).
This EIS will analyze a number of alternatives, one or more of
which will include anticipated interim direction for maintaining or
restoring anadromous fish habitat. It is expected that EISs will be
initiated in Idaho and California to protect and enhance aquatic
ecosystems for anadromous fish and bull trout. These EISs will be done
in a coordinated manner between Forest Service Regional and BLM State
Offices.
In the case of Alaska, the BLM and the Forest Service are examining
the need for coordinated direction to protect and enhance aquatic
ecosystems for anadromous fish. Also, the Forest Service, in
cooperation with the State of Alaska, is conducting studies and
monitoring existing management practices in Alaskan anadromous fish
habitats on the Tongass National Forest as directed in the Fiscal Year
1994 Appropriations Act.
The scoping process as defined in the Council of Environmental
Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing
regulations will be used to identify issues for developing a range of
management alternatives that simultaneously consider sustained long-
term economic, social, and ecological values of the region. Initial
meetings are planned for John Day, Klamath Falls, Bend, LaGrande,
Salem, and Lakeview in Oregon, and Chewelah, Okanogan, Seattle, and
Walla Walla in Washington. Specific dates, times and locations for the
meetings will be announced in local newspapers of general distribution.
Alternatives will be developed by comparing existing conditions to
desired future conditions described by the public and Federal land
managers and scientists. Information will be used from the basin-wide
assessment, as well as the ``Eastside Forest Ecosystem Health
Assessment'', recommendations of the ``Eastside Forests Scientific
Society Panel'', and other sources. The selected alternative is
intended to serve as a vehicle by which to move from today's conditions
to those conditions desired by society, and to be capable of being
ecologically sustained, while leaving options available for future
generations. The strategy will include integration of social values,
ecological capabilities, and economic relationships including treaty
rights reserved by various American Indian Tribes on ceded lands. The
strategy also will include management direction derived from analysis
of conditions at the biophysical province scale to (1) respond to
current species and habitats of concern (currently listed or being
considered for listing being listed under the Endangered Species Act or
designated as sensitive species by the Forest Service or BLM); (2)
assure viability of species within the context of desired ecosystem
function and structure; (3) support the needs of dynamic ecosystems
that change over time and space; and (4) recognize the role that
disturbance mechanisms play in their evolution and maintenance.
The Forest Service will be the lead agency for this analysis with
the BLM as a cooperating agency. The two agencies will consult with the
Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service
pursuant to the Endangered Species Act. Other Federal agencies such as
the Soil Conservation Service and the Environmental Protection Agency,
and Tribal and State Governments also will be involved.
The responsible official for National Forest System lands will be
the Regional Forester, Pacific Northwest Region, P.O. Box 3623,
Portland, Oregon 97208. The responsible official for public lands
administered by the Bureau of Land Management will be the State
Director for Oregon and Washington, P.O. Box 2965, Portland, Oregon
97208.
The draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) in November 1994 and will be available for
public review at that time. The comment period on the draft EIS will be
90 days from the date the EPA publishes the notice of availability in
the Federal Register.
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 EISs 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.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 90-day comment period on the draft EIS 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.
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 statement. 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.
It is expected that the final EIS will be filed with the
Environmental Protection Agency approximately 6 months after the draft
EIS is published. There will be two records of decisions issued; one
for National Forest System Lands and one for BLM public lands in Oregon
and Washington. The decision for National Forest System Lands will be
subject to Forest Service appeal regulations (36 CFR part 217).
Dated: January 21, 1994.
John E. Lowe,
Regional Forester.
Dated: January 21, 1994.
D. Dean Bibles,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 94-2050 Filed 1-31-94; 8:45 am]
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