[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 215 (Monday, November 8, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60828-60829]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-29116]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Notice of Availability of a Final Environmental Impact Statement 
for the Proposed Forest Management Plan for the Flathead Indian 
Reservation, Pablo, MT

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: A Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed 
Forest Management Plan for the trust forest lands of the Flathead 
Indian Reservation, Pablo, Montana, is now available for public review 
and comment. A description of the proposed action follows as 
supplemental information.

DATES: Comments on the FEIS must arrive by December 6, 1999.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments by any 
one of several methods. You may mail or hand carry written comments to 
Mr. Ernest ``Bud'' Moran, Superintendent, Flathead Field Office, Bureau 
of Indian Affairs, P.O. Box 40, Pablo, Montana 59855. You may also 
comment via the Internet to BudM[email protected]. Please submit Internet 
comments as an ASCII file, avoiding the use of special characters and 
any form of encryption. Include your name and return address in your 
Internet message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the system 
that we have received your Internet message, contact us directly at 
(406) 675-0242.
    Comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, will 
be available for public review at the Flathead Field Office during 
regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except holidays. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If 
you wish to withhold your name and/or address from public review or 
from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state 
this prominently at the beginning of your written comment. Such 
requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. We will not, 
however, consider anonymous comments. All submissions from 
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their 
entirety.
    Copies of the FEIS will be available at the public libraries in 
Arlee, St. Ignatius, Ronan, Polson, and Hot Springs, Montana, and at 
the Salish and Kootenai Cultural Centers in St. Ignatius and Elmo, 
Montana. Comments, responses, and changes and additions to the DEIS 
will be mailed out to all those who commented on the DEIS. Individuals 
wishing copies of the FEIS may contact Mr. Ken Trickey, Tribal 
Forestry, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, P.O. Box 278, Pablo, 
Montana 59855, telephone (406) 676-3755.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ken Trickey, 406-676-3755.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: There are approximately 451,391 acres of 
forest trust land on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The Forest 
Management Plan (the proposed action) takes an interdisciplinary, 
ecosystem approach to forest management and seeks to restore and 
maintain the long-term ecological integrity of the reservation's 
forests in a manner consistent with tribal values. The Plan describes 
resource management practices and levels of production, establishes 
management standards, allocates land, and prescribes management 
practices to achieve balanced forest ecosystems. Its purpose is to 
provide long-term direction for the tribes' forest resources. The Plan 
is needed to: (1) Satisfy tribal goals and objectives; (2) Ensure that 
management activities are compatible with sustainable forest 
ecosystems; (3) Balance tribal cultural, social, economic and 
environmental values; and (4) Establish a basis for an adaptive 
management and monitoring process that incorporates tribal member 
values.
    The FEIS includes five alternatives, including a no action 
alternative. Alternatives 1, 2 and 3 take an ecosystem approach to 
management. They focus on the overall vegetative structure and 
composition of the forest rather than on individual stands or on the 
needs of individual species. They seek to restore, to varying degrees, 
more natural structures, processes and functions to the forest in order 
to achieve more sustainable conditions over the long term. Of the 
three, Alternative 1 seeks the highest levels of

[[Page 60829]]

restoration, followed by Alternative 2 and then 3. Alternative 5 takes 
a passive approach to management, in which timber harvesting would be 
limited to salvage operations after fires, wind throw, or insect and 
disease outbreaks. Alternative 4, no action, would continue the 
management practices of the last forest management plan, which was 
adopted in 1987.
    Alternative 2, the 1996 Draft Forest Plan with updates and 
revisions made in response to modeling refinements and new information, 
is both the proposed action and the preferred alternative. It is 
preferred because it best balances social, cultural, economic and 
environmental concerns and best meets the stated purpose and need.
    Changes between the DEIS and the FEIS include, but are not limited 
to the following:
     Under Alternatives 2 and 3, habitat effectiveness for elk 
will be improved in the nonlethal and mixed fire regimes by reducing 
the number of miles of open road per square mile from five to four.
     Under Alternative 2, 100 percent rather than 80 percent of 
the road sections that are severely degrading aquatics will be 
abandoned.
     The Water and Fish section of the Affected Environment 
chapter has been expanded to include updated information on fluvial 
geomorphology, water quality, wetlands, and monitoring.
     A socio-economic section has been added to the Affected 
Environment chapter.
     The safe use of herbicides and the restoration and 
maintenance of the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of 
streams have been added as objectives of the Forest Management Plan.
    This notice is furnished in accordance with Section 1503.1 of the 
Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500 through 
1508) implementing the procedural requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), 
and the Department of the Interior Manual (516 DM 1-6), and is in the 
exercise of authority delegated to the Assistant Secretary--Indian 
Affairs by 209 DM 8.

    Dated: October 29, 1999.
Kevin Gover,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 99-29116 Filed 11-5-99; 8:45 am]
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