[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 86 (Thursday, May 5, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-10798]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: May 5, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service

 

Crane Mountain Salvage, Flathead National Forest, Swan Lake 
Ranger District, Lake County, Montana

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) to analyze and disclose the environment impacts of a 
proposal to harvest timber, use prescribed fire, and implement travel 
management changes on Crane Mountain, on the Swan Lake Ranger District. 
This EIS will tier to the Flathead National Forest Land and Resource 
Management Plan (LRMP) and EIS of January 1986, which provides overall 
guidance in achieving the desired future condition for the area.
    The Proposed Action is designed to implement the Flathead Forest 
Plan within the context of Ecosystem Management principles. The primary 
purpose for development of the Proposed Action is to address an on-
going Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic which is causing extensive 
mortality in lodgepole pine on Crane Mountain. The Proposed Action is 
designed to address the short- and long-term consequences of the 
epidemic. The Proposed Action will reduce the likelihood of a large 
intense fire by reducing the accumulation of dry fuels through salvage 
of dead lodgepole pine and treatment of residual slash, accelerate re-
establishment of a variety of tree species in area of high mortality, 
contribute to the current demands for timber and provide for long-term 
sustainability of wood products and other resource elements.
    A portion of the Proposed Action is designed to address the effects 
of past fire suppression in fire-dependent forest communities where 
ponderosa pine was once a major tree species. Use of prescribed fire is 
proposed to begin to reverse the destabilizing effect of post-
settlement fire suppression on dry sites, moving towards the relatively 
open stands dominated by ponderosa pine and western larch which 
historically existed in these areas.
    A third aspect of the Proposed Action is designed to improve on 
existing levels of grizzly bear habitat security. Changes in Travel 
Management would bring the area into compliance with LRMP standards for 
open road density in grizzly bear habitat, and take further steps to 
provide more effective road closures and increase, over time, the 
proportion of unroaded secure habitat on Crane Mountain.
    Preliminary scoping for this project began in the fall of 1992. At 
this time the Forest Service is seeking information and comments from 
Federal, State, and local agencies and other individuals or 
organizations who may now be interested in or affected by the Proposed 
Action. This input will be used in preparing the Draft EIS. This 
process will include:
    1. Identification of potential issues.
    2. Identification of issues to be analyzed in depth.
    3. Elimination of insignificant issues or those which have been 
covered by a relevant previous environmental analysis.
    4. Identification of additional reasonable alternatives.
    5. Identification of potential environmental effects of the 
alternatives.
    6. Determination of potential cooperating agencies and task 
assignments.
    The agency invites written comments and suggestions on the issues 
and proposed management activities in the area being analyzed. More 
detailed information on the Proposed Action, public comments to date, 
and preliminary issues and alternatives is available upon request.

DATES: Comments should be received by May 31, 1994, to receive timely 
consideration in the preparation of the Draft EIS.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments or requests to be placed on the 
project mailing list to Charles E. Harris, District Ranger, Swan Lake 
Ranger District, P.O. Box 370, Bigfork, MT 59911.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Cathy Calloway, Planning Team Leader, or Chuck Harris, District Ranger. 
Phone (406) 837-5081.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Proposed Action has been developed to 
respond to existing conditions in the Crane Mountain area, ecosystem 
management principles, and Forest Plan direction for the area. For the 
past several years, Crane Mountain has been experiencing a Mountain 
Pine Beetle (MPB) epidemic. The Mountain Pine Beetle is a wood boring 
insect which affects primarily mature lodgepole pine trees. When beetle 
populations are high, as is the case on Crane Mountain, they can cause 
widespread mortality. Approximately 3500 acres (20%) of the Crane 
Mountain landscape is occupied by trees which are susceptible to MPB 
mortality. At present, extensive mortality has occurred on 
approximately 2000 acres where lodgepole pine is the primary tree 
species. An additional 1000 acres of mixed species stands have also 
been impacted by more scattered lodgepole pine mortality. Additional 
mortality is predicted.
    Without management action, MPB activity will result in considerable 
change on the landscape over time. During the next decade or two, most 
dead trees will blow over. Areas which used to have dense lodgepole 
pine forests will become open, dominated by grasses, herbs, and shrubs. 
Dead trees will result in an increased fuel loading and increased 
possibility of stand replacement wildfire. Extensive mortality will 
change the habitat conditions for many wildlife species over time. 
Areas of hiding cover and thermal cover for large mammals will be lost 
in the short-term. The changes in vegetation will also affect water 
yield and water quality, and the visual quality of the area. With or 
without fire, trees will gradually become re-established, but without 
management action it may take an additional 10 to 20 years for openings 
to become fully re-stocked with trees.
    Proposed management activities have been designed to address both 
long- and short-term consequences of the current Mountain Pine Beetle 
epidemic on Crane Mountain. Specifically, the proposal includes the 
following components:
    1. Reduce the likelihood of a large intense fire, by reducing the 
accumulation of dry fuels through salvage of dead lodgepole pine and 
treatment of residual slash.
    2. Accelerate re-establishment of a variety of tree species in 
areas with high levels of MPB mortality. Timely reforestation of 
harvested areas will help ameliorate the affects of wide-spread 
mortality more rapidly than if nature is allowed to take its course in 
the area. Proposed actions will provide for more rapid stabilization of 
exposed soils in riparian areas, more rapid return to wildlife cover 
conditions, and provide for more insect and disease resistant 
conditions across the landscape.
    3. Contribute to the short-term demands for timber and provide for 
utilization of a variety of wood products.
    4. Accomplish other resource objectives in conjunction with 
proposed harvest activities, including:

--Planting of shrubs in riparian areas
--Improve moist site habitat for a variety of wildlife species via 
impoundment of surface water in several sites

    A portion of the Proposed Action is designed to reverse the 
destabilizing effect of post-settlement fire suppression on dry sites, 
historically dominated by open grown stands of ponderosa pine and 
western larch. The objective is to create stand conditions more 
characteristic of those found on these sites under the pre-settlement 
fire regime. This stand type and structure provides an important, and 
quickly disappearing, niche for a variety of plant and animal species, 
including flammulated owl and old growth management indicator species. 
Treatment would be accomplished through a combination of slashing and 
prescribed fire. This would reduce the stocking in understory Douglas-
fir, moving towards the relatively open stands dominated by ponderosa 
pine and western larch which historically existed in these areas.
    The Proposed Action is designed to incorporate a variety of Travel 
Management changes to reduce open road densities to within current LRMP 
standards and to balance public access with measure to provide improved 
grizzly bear habitat security in areas of high quality spring and 
summer habitats.
    Management activities under consideration would occur in an area 
encompassing approximately 40,000 acres of National Forest lands in the 
East Shore and Lower Swan Geographic Units, on the Swan Lake Ranger 
District, as delineated in the LRMP. Proposed harvest or burning 
activities would occur in portions of the following: Sections 21, 22, 
and 26-35, T26N, R19W, and Sections 2-4, 9-11, 13-16, and 21-36, T25N, 
R19W, Principal Montana Meridian. Proposed changes in Travel Management 
would be distributed across a larger area, including portions of T26N, 
R19W; T25N, R19W; T26N, R18W; T25N, R18W; and T24N, R18W.
    The Proposed Action includes harvest treatment on approximately 960 
acres and use of prescribed fire in three areas, totalling 400 acres. 
Harvested areas would be treated to reduce fuels accumulations and to 
prepare sites for reforestation. Tree planting is proposed on 
approximately 800 acres to ensure rapid reforestation. No new road 
construction is proposed, but approximately 3 miles of temporary road 
would be required to access harvested areas. A portion of the proposed 
treatments would require helicopter logging. A variety of changes to 
travel management are also proposed, including road closures via rocks 
or berms and reclamation measures designed to remove some roads from 
the long-term transportation system. The Proposed Action would close 
approximately 51 miles or road which are currently open to motorized 
use.
    The Proposed Action would require a site-specific amendment to the 
LRMP to vary from the grizzly bear distance to cover guideline and the 
duration of activity/re-entry period criteria for grizzly bear habitat. 
These deviations are proposed in order to address the on-going MPB 
epidemic and meet the Purpose and Need for Action on a timely basis.
    The Land and Resource Management Plan for the Flathead National 
Forest provides the overall guidance for management activities in the 
potentially affected area through its goals, objectives, standards and 
guidelines, and management area direction. Most of the proposed 
activities would occur in Management Areas 15 and 7. Forest plan 
direction states that Management Area 15 consists of lands where timber 
management with roads is economical and feasible. The management goal 
is to manage those lands suitable for timber production for the long-
term growth and production of commercially valuable wood products, as 
well as provide for soil and water protection, wildlife habitat, and 
roaded recreation opportunities. Management Area 7 is identified as 
roaded timberlands in visually sensitive areas. The goal in these areas 
is to manage timber resources in a manner that complements and protects 
high scenic values, maintaining a pleasing, natural-appearing 
landscape.
    In addition, prescribed burning, road re-construction, and some 
timber harvest and reforestation may occur within Management Area 12 
(riparian areas along perennial streams), Management Area 17 (riparian 
areas with typically intermittent streams), Management Area 3 (amenity 
resource values), or Management Area 1 (nonforested lands).
    Proposed Actions would occur in Management Situation 2 grizzly bear 
habitat. Management Situation 2 includes areas which do not have 
distinct bear populations or do not contain year-round high quality 
bear habitats. The area is a part of the Northern Continental Divide 
Recovery Area, but categorized as unnecessary for the survival and 
recovery of the bear. Management considerations include minimizing 
potential bear mortality and human-grizzly conflicts, and maintaining 
habitat components. The grizzly bear is an important, but not the 
primary use in this area.
    Public involvement conducted during 1993 has resulted in 
identification of numerous important issues to be addressed in the 
Draft EIS. Five alternatives to the Proposed Action have been developed 
to address the following issues: Water quality, fisheries and riparian 
values, visuals, forest health, grizzly bear, elk, gray wolf, fire 
risk, and road and travel management. Many other issues will be 
addressed as features common to all alternatives, or through effects 
analysis included in the Draft EIS.
    The analysis will consider a range of alternatives. One of these 
will be the ``no-action'' alternative, in which none of the Proposed 
Actions would be implemented. Other alternatives will examine various 
levels and locations of proposed activities to achieve the proposal's 
purpose, as well as respond to the issues and resource values important 
to Crane Mountain.
    The analysis will disclose the environmental effects of alternative 
ways of implementing the Forest Plan. The EIS will disclose the 
analysis of the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental effects 
of the alternatives. Effects analysis will address past, present, and 
projected activities. In addition, the EIS will disclose the analysis 
of site specific mitigation measures and their effectiveness.
    Public participation is especially important at several points of 
the analysis. People may visit with Forest Service officials at any 
time during the analysis and prior to the decision. However, two 
periods of time are identified for the receipt of comments on the 
analysis. The two public comment periods are during the scoping process 
(now through May 31, 1994) and in the review of the Draft EIS 
(anticipated between June and September 1994). The Forest Service has 
not yet determined whether any public meetings will be held.
    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, 
will be informally consulted throughout the analysis. To meet the 
requirements of the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service will review the EIS and biological evaluation and, if 
necessary, render a formal Biological Opinion of the effects on the 
Threatened and Endangered Species including grizzly bear, gray wolf, 
and bald eagle.
    The Draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) and available for public review in June or July 
1994. At that time the EPA will publish a notice of availability of the 
Draft EIS in the Federal Register. The public comment period on the 
Draft EIS will be 45 days from the date when the EPA's notice of 
availability appears 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. 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 
Environmental Impact Statement.
    To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues 
and concerns on the Proposed Action, comments on the Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement 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 
Environmental Impact Statement 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.)
    Following this comment period, the comments received will be 
analyzed, considered and responded to by the Forest Service in the 
Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The FEIS is scheduled to 
be completed by October 1994. The Forest Supervisor for the Flathead 
National Forest is the responsible official for the preparation of this 
EIS and will make a decision regarding this proposal considering the 
comments and responses, environmental consequences discussed in the 
FEIS, and applicable laws, regulations, and policies. The decision and 
rationale for the decision will be documented in a Record of Decision. 
That decision will be subject to appeal under applicable Forest Service 
regulations.

    Dated: April 25, 1994.
Joel D. Holtrop,
Forest Supervisor, Flathead National Forest.
[FR Doc. 94-10798 Filed 5-4-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M