[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 250 (Wednesday, December 30, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71884-71886]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-34459]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Morrison Creek, Medicine Bow/Routt National Forest, Routt County, 
Colorado

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Medicine 
Bow/Routt National Forest, Yampa Ranger District will prepare an 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess and disclose the 
environmental effects on a proposal to prepare and sell timber within 
the Morrison Creek Geographic area on the Yampa Ranger District. 
Estimated date for filing of the draft EIS is June 1999, followed by 
the final decision in September 1999. The proposal area is 
approximately 20 miles south of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in 
sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of T.2N. R84 W.; sections 2, 
3, 4, 6, 7, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28 and 29 of T.2N. R.83W., and 
sections 28, 33 and 34 of T.3N. R.84W, Routt County, Colorado.
    National Forest System (NFS) lands within the analysis area are 
allocated for multiple uses in the Revised Forest Land Management and 
Resource Plan (forest plan) for the Routt National Forest, approved in 
1998. Lands affected by the proposed project are allocated as 5.11, 
5.13 and 7.1 Management Areas. Forested lands within these

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management areas are designated as suitable for timber production by 
the forest plan. Following is a summary of the themes for these 
management areas:
    Management Area 5.11--General Forest and Rangelands--Forest 
Vegetation Emphasis: Areas are managed to provide wildlife habitat 
along with forest products, livestock forage, and recreation.
    Management Area 5.13--Forest Products: Areas are managed to produce 
commercial wood products.
    Management Area 7.1--Residential/Forest Interface: Area 
characterized by an interface between private lands and National Forest 
System lands in cooperative relationship landowners and other 
governments with jurisdiction.
    Other management areas exist within the analysis area boundary 
(1.12, 1.32, 2.2, 5.41), but no forest management activities are 
proposed in these areas.
    The Forest Service invites comments and suggestions on the scope of 
the analysis to be included in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
(DEIS). In addition, the Forest Service gives notice that it is 
beginning a full environmental analysis of this proposal and that 
interested or affected people may participate and contribute to the 
final decision. A public ``scoping'' meeting will be scheduled for 
early February, 1999 at the Yampa Ranger District office, 300 Roselawn, 
Yampa, Colorado. Contact the District Office for exact date and time 
for the meeting (970)-638-4516. The purpose of this meeting is to 
describe and discuss the proposed action and provide an opportunity for 
the public and agencies to raise issues that should be considered in 
the environmental analysis. Issues raised will help establish the scope 
of the environmental analysis and develop the range of alternatives to 
be considered. The Forest Service welcomes any public or agency 
comments on this proposal.

DATES: Written comments and suggestions on the Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement should be received on or before the 45 day period from 
the date of publication 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 environmental impact statements 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 environmental impact statement stage but that are not raised 
until after completion of the final environmental impact statement 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 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 this 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.) Please note that comments 
you make on this Draft Environmental Impact Statement will be regarded 
as public information.

ADDRESSES: The Responsible Official will be Jerry E. Schmidt, Forest 
Supervisor, Medicine Bow/Routt National Forest, 2468 Jackson Street, 
Laramie, Wyoming, 82070. Send written comments to Norman Wagoner, 
District Ranger, Yampa Ranger District, P.O. Box 7, Yampa, Colorado, 
80483. Oral comments will be considered as well and can be made by 
calling (970) 638-4516.
    Comments received in response to this solicitation, 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 and 
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 a confidentiality should be aware that, under 
the FOIA, confidentiality may be granted only in very limited 
circumstances, such as to protect trade secrets. The Forest Service 
will inform the requestor 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 reuqestor that the 
comments may be resubmitted with or without name and address within 10 
days.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kent Foster, Project Coordinator, 
Yampa Ranger District, Phone: (970) 638-4516.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Proposed Action--The proposal is to manage 
approximately 1150 areas of mature sawtimber stands within the analysis 
area. The proposal includes the following activities: treatment of 
approximately 1150 acres by commercial timber sale including the 
following: 223 acres of clearcutting or overstory removal lodgepole 
pine; 609 acres of shelterwood and group selection treatments in 
lodgepole pine and spruce/fir stands; 128 acres of sanitation/salvage 
cutting in lodgepole pine and spruce fir; 190 areas of selection cuts 
in spruce/fir. Construction of approximately 14 miles of specified 
road, and approximately 2.0 miles of road reconstruction will be needed 
to access stands for treatments. In addition, treatment of 
approximately 50 areas to reduce fuel loading in areas close to private 
property of varied fuel types is proposed. These treatments may or may 
not be accomplished via commercial timber sale.
    The timber sale(s) are intended to promote healthy stands of timber 
by reducing the risk of widespread mountain pine beatle outbreak, 
salvage dead and dying trees, maintain the aspen forest component, 
reduce risk of spruce bark beetle outbreak in the area, provide 
commercial wood products to industry, increase vegetative diversity in 
the area and will benefit wildlife species that use forested stands in 
an early successional stage. Clearcutting and/or overstory removal in 
lodgepole pine stands may create openings of larger than 40 acres in 
size. If this occurs, approval by the Regional Forester will be 
necessary after a 60-day public review.
    Other Opportunities: Reduce sediment production on FDR 227.1 at the 
crossing of Morrison Creek; reduce fuel loading in areas near private 
lands and improvements; cooperatively

[[Page 71886]]

reduce infestations of noxious and undesirable weeds; prescribed 
burning to reduce fuel loading, regenerate aspen stands to maintain 
tree species diversity, and overall vegetative diversity.
    Decisions to be Made: The Medicine Bow-Routt Supervisor will need 
to make an informed decision about the selection of one alternative 
among several. The issues and alternatives developed by the Forest 
Service interdisciplinary team members and public commentors must be 
analyzed and displayed clearly. From the project record alone, the 
Forest Supervisor and others who review the decision, must be able to 
fully understand the consequences of implementing the selected 
alternative.
    Preliminary Issues: Roads constructed in support of the proposed 
timber sale(s) will reduce the current roadless character by 
approximately 2,600 acres within the Morrison Creek Geographic Area. 
The Morrison Creek Roadless Area (8,314 acres) will be reduced by 
approximately 700 acres to 7,614 acres. The Bushy Creek Roadless Area 
(11,443 acres) will be reduced by approximately 1,900 acres to 9,543 
acres.
    Options to road construction in these roadless areas include aerial 
skidding through the use of cable logging systems, helicopters and/or 
ground based forwarders. Acres treated using either of these methods 
could change based on the feasibility of each method.
    This project is exempt from the proposed interim rule for roadless 
areas of the USDA Forest Service draft Forest Road Policy. The draft 
Forest Road Policy states ``where forest plan revisions are complet but 
not yet through the appeals process, the issue of roadless area 
management will be addressed through the forest planning and appeals 
process.'' The Record of Decision for the Routt National Forest Land 
and Resource Management Plan was signed on February 17, 1998.
    Other Issues: Effects of timber harvest on wildlife habitat; 
effects of mountain pine beetle (MPB) on lodgepole pine stands 
moderately to highly susceptible to infestation; effects of drastic 
increase in lodgepole pine mortality as a result of MPB attack; public 
safety and health as a result of increased fuel loading due to MPB 
caused mortality of lodgepole pine; effects of increased motality of 
englemann spruce due to increased spruce bark beetle activity in stands 
of moderate to high risk to attack; conversion of the aspen cover type 
to mixed conifer forests due to succession and lack of natural 
disturbances such as fire; effects of timber harvest and road 
construction on watershed condition, including water quality and soil 
productivity.
    Scope of the Analysis: This environmental analysis shall consider 
the environmental consequences of the proposed action, as well as 
alternatives reasonably implemented, while meeting the purpose and need 
for the action.

    Date: November 9, 1998.
Jerry E. Schmidt,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 98-34459 Filed 12-29-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M