[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 181 (Monday, September 20, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50790-50792]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-24347]


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 Notices
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 181 / Monday, September 20, 1999 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Nez Perce Fork Vegetation Management Project; Bitterroot National 
Forest, Ravalli County, MT

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The USDA Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) to disclose the environmental effects of management 
activities proposed in the Nez Perce Fork area on the West Fork Ranger 
District of the Bitterroot National Forest. Proposed management 
activities include management ignited prescribed fire, timber harvest, 
reforestation, and road reconstruction. The Nez Perce Fork area is 
located in Ravalli County, Montana, approximately 30 miles southwest of 
the city of Hamilton. The Nez Perce Fork area includes the entire Nez 
Perce Fork drainage and several other tributary drainages of the West 
Fork Bitterroot River, including Boulder Creek, Christisen Creek, Baker 
Creek and Pierce Creek.
    A variety of management activities proposed in the project are 
being considered together because they represent either connected or 
cumulative actions as defined by the Council on Environmental Quality 
(40 CFR 1508.25). The purposes of the project are: (1) To restore fire 
and its associated ecological benefits, (2) to reduce fuel 
accumulations, (3) to modify timber stand structure and species 
composition in order to maintain or restore ecosystem diversity, (4) 
modify the edges of two older clear cut units so they better comply 
with visual quality objectives, (5) improve habitat conditions for 
bighorn sheep and other big game species, (6) reduce sediment sources 
on open roads and stabilize a segment of one road by constructing a 
retaining wall, and (7) to utilize surplus biomass removed in 
fulfilling purposes 1 through 5, above, by providing raw materials for 
forest products. This project level EIS will tier to the Bitterroot 
National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) and 
Final EIS (September, 1987), which provides overall guidance for all 
land management activities on the Bitterroot National Forest.

DATES: Written comments and suggestions should be received by October 
22, 1999.

ADDRESSES: The Responsible Official is David M. Campbell, District 
Ranger, West Fork Ranger District, Bitterroot National Forest, Darby, 
Montana 59829. Written comments and suggestions concerning the scope of 
the analysis or a request to be included on the project mailing list 
should be sent to him at that address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stuart Lovejoy, Resource Team Leader, Sula Ranger Station, Bitterroot 
National Forest, Phone (406) 821-3201.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The project encompasses approximately 86,000 
acres of land in southwestern Montana on the Bitterroot National 
Forest. The Nez Perce Fork area includes lands drained by the Nez Perce 
Fork and several other tributaries of the West Fork Bitterroot River 
including Boulder Creek, Christisen Creek, Baker Creek and Pierce 
Creek. A map and legal descriptions are available on request.
    Management ignited prescribed fire and timber harvest are proposed 
on approximately 10,500 acres and 1,400 acres, respectively. Proposed 
management ignited fire and harvest activities focus primarily on low 
to mid elevations and drier aspects, which are considered more at risk 
ecologically due to fire absence.
    An analysis of the Nez Perce Fork area reveals changes in how the 
forest vegetation currently looks and functions compared to the past. 
Natural patterns and stand structures have changed, largely due to the 
absence of fire during this century in this fire dependent ecosystem. 
This has caused notable changes in vegetation species composition, 
plant density, stand structures, fuels, seral species regeneration, and 
the health and vigor of forest stands. The primary purpose of 
prescribed fire and timber harvest in the Nez Perce Fork area is to 
maintain or restore ecosystem diversity, function, and health. There is 
also an opportunity to address ecological trends and at the same time 
utilize surplus biomass for forest products. Maintaining plant 
community diversity will promote the range of habitats that native 
plants and animals evolved in. Management prescriptions to promote 
diversity include low to moderate intensity management ignited 
prescribed fire, and on some sites prescribed fire would be used in 
combination with silvicultural practices. Silvicultural treatments 
proposed include pre-commercial thinning, commercial thinning, 
irregular shelterwood harvest, seed tree harvest, sanitation salvage 
harvest, improving cutting, and reforestation.
    Managing fuels using fire and silvicultural practices would 
decrease the risk of uncharacteristically intense fires and associated 
undesirable effects. These activities could also increase the ability 
of the Forest Service to allow more naturally occurring fires to burn 
in the adjoining Selway Bitterroot Wilderness Area by reducing fuels 
near private property at lower elevations. This would to some degree 
reduce the risks to private property from natural fires allowed to burn 
in the Wilderness.
    Prescribed fire is proposed in 13 acres totaling about 9,700 acres, 
with special focus on the ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir community, which 
have been most altered due to fire absence.
    Big game forage, including some winter range areas, would be 
improved in the areas to be understory burned. Bighorn sheep forage 
vigor would also be improved in four underburn areas that are located 
within the Nez Perce sheep herds range.
    Fire would also be reintroduced in a portion of the Boulder Creek 
Research Natural Area, presenting the opportunity to conduct research 
on the effects of fire absence and reintroduction. These opportunities 
have been discussed with representatives of the Rocky Mountain Research 
Station from Missoula, Montana and the research would fulfill a need 
for additional information regarding fire absence and the effects of 
fire reintroduction.
    Seven areas totaling 307 acres are proposed for commercial 
thinning. Following the thinning, understory burning is prescribed in 
the areas within the ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir

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community. Pre-commercial thinning is also needed on 311 acres of 
densely stocked sub-merchantable trees in order to maintain desirable 
species composition, tree growth, and vigor.
    Four areas totaling 93 acres would be harvested using an 
``irregular shelterwood'' method to regenerate them. All areas would be 
treated with understory burning following harvest in order to reduce 
fuels, prepare sites for regeneration, and to maintain fire as an 
ecosystem process. The irregular shelterwood treatment would provide 
the relatively open conditions necessary for ponderosa pine tree 
seedlings to become established and provide for future stands that are 
dominated by large ponderosa pines.
    One even aged mature lodgepole pine stand is prescribed for seed 
tree harvest and prescribed burning. Within the Nez Perce area, there 
has been a shift toward more late seral stands during this century due 
to fire absence. This treatment would to some degree simulate a stand 
replacing fire event, thereby increasing early seral stage habitat.
    Two areas totalling 177 acres are proposed to receive a sanitation 
salvage harvest, an intermediate harvest treatment designed to remove 
individual dead, dying, and diseased trees. One of these areas would be 
understory burned following harvest and activity fuels in the other 
area would be limbed and lopped and/or hand-piled and burned. Fire 
absence in the Nez Perce area has allowed for higher than historic 
levels of dwarf mistletoe and other disease or insect disturbance 
levels, adding to heavy fuel accumulations.
    Improvement cutting and prescribed fire would be used to restore 
more favorable conditions for wintering big game animals and spring/
early summer range for bighorn sheep in one area. The resulting open 
stand with an increased ratio of ponderosa pine would provide improved 
sheep habitat and would more closely resemble historic conditions that 
can be maintained with fire.
    Two older clear-cut units that are visible from main roads are 
proposed to have their edges modified in order to better meet visual 
quality objectives. The visual impact of these two openings is proposed 
to be reduced by modifying their geometric shape and straight edges.
    The fill slope of Soda Springs Road (#5365) is eroding and is 
proposed to be stabilized by construction of a bin retaining wall. The 
bin wall is needed to stabilize the chronic sediment source from the 
fill slope and to provide a safer and easier to maintain road facility. 
Roads on which timber would be hauled would have surface improvement 
work completed, such as installing drivable dips and gravelling. These 
are needed to reduce sediment sources, thereby protecting water quality 
and aquatic habitat.
    The Bitterroot Forest Plan provides guidance for management 
activities through its goals, objectives, standards, and management 
area direction. The areas of proposed timber harvest occur in 
Management Areas 1, 2, and 3a. Prescribed burning is proposed on lands 
within Forest Plan Management Areas 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 5, and 6. The 
management direction for these areas are briefly described, as follows. 
Management Area 1 emphasizes timber management, livestock and big game 
forage production, and roaded dispersed recreation activities. 
Management Area 2 emphasizes elk winter range habitat, allows for 
timber management and providing roaded dispersed recreation 
opportunities. Management Area 3a emphasizes visual quality, allows 
timber management, and providing roaded dispersed recreation 
opportunities. Management Area 3b emphasizes protection of riparian 
habitat and water quality and providing for water-related recreation. 
Management Area 5 emphasizes semi-primitive recreation and elk 
security. Management Area 6 includes areas recommended for Wilderness 
designation.
    This project proposal was analyzed in an Environmental Assessment 
(EA) that was issued in February, 1998. Public scopeing meetings and 
opportunities for interested parties to review and comment on the EA 
were included in that analysis effort. That planning effort lead to the 
decision to prepare an EIS. Public participation is also an important 
part of this analysis, commencing with additional scoping (40 CFR 
1501.7), which will occur during September and October, 1999. In 
addition, the public is encouraged to visit with Forest Service 
officials at any time during the analysis and prior to the decision. 
The Forest Service will be seeking information, comments, and 
assistance from Federal, State, and local agencies and other 
individuals or organizations who may be interested in or affected by 
the proposed action. No additional public meetings are scheduled at 
this time.
    Comments from the public and other agencies will be used in 
preparation of the Draft EIS. The scoping process will be used to 
identify issues and alternatives to the proposed action. Some public 
comments have already been received in conjunction with an analysis 
documented in the Nez Perce Fork Vegetation Management Project EA 
(February, 1998). The following issues have already been identified: 1. 
How would the proposed timber harvest (improvement cutting) between 
Watchtower and Sheepshead Creeks and above the Nez Perce Road change 
the undeveloped character of this portion of the Selway Bitterroot 
Roadless area? 2. How would the proposed activities affect threatened, 
endangered and sensitive fish and wildlife species that inhabit the 
area? 3. How would the proposed activities affect the movement of 
wildlife through the area? 4. Can the vegetation diversity and 
ecological purposes of the project be met without any further timber 
extraction in the area? 5. To what degree would the proposed activities 
contribute to the spread of noxious weeds in the area? Other issues 
commonly associated with prescribed fire and timber harvest include: 
potential effects on cultural resources, water quality, air quality, 
soils, old growth, and scenery values. This list may be verified; 
expanded, or modified based on public scoping for this proposal.
    The Forest Service will consider a range of alternatives in the 
EIS. One of these will be the ``no action'' alternative, in which none 
of the proposed activities would be implemented. Additional 
alternatives will examine varying levels and locations for the proposed 
activities to achieve the proposal's purposes, as well as to respond to 
the issues and other resource values. the EIS will analyze the direct, 
indirect, and cumulative environmental effects of the alternatives. 
Past, present, and scheduled activities on both private and National 
Forest lands will be considered. The EIS will disclose the analysis of 
site specific mitigation measures and their effectiveness.
    The Draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) and available for public review in December, 
1999. At that time, the EPA will publish a Notice of Availability of 
the Draft EIS in the Federal Register. The comment period on the Draft 
EIS will be 45 days from the date the EPA's notice of availability 
appears in the Federal Register. It is very important that those 
interested in management of the Nez Perce Fork area participate at that 
time. To be most helpful, comments on the Draft EIS should be as 
specific as possible. The Final EIS is scheduled to be completed in 
April, 2000.
    The Forest Service believes, at this early stage it is important to 
give reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public 
participation in the environmental review process. First,

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reviewers of draft environment 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 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 scoping 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 developing issues and alternatives.
    To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues 
on the proposed action, comments should be as specific as possible. 
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 responsible official for this environmental impact statement is 
David M. Campbell, West Fork District Ranger. His address is West Fork 
Ranger District, Bitterroot National Forest, 6735 West Fork Road, 
Darby, Montana 59829. He will decide which, if any, of the proposed 
actions will be implemented and will document the decision and reasons 
for the decision in a Record of Decision. That decision will be subject 
to Forest Service Appeal Regulations.

    Dated: September 9, 1999.
Jeff Amoss,
Acting Forest Supervisor, Bitterroot National Forest.
[FR Doc. 99-24347 Filed 9-17-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-83-M