[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
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
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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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