[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]



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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.

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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]
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