[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 161 (Monday, August 20, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43568-43569]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-20872]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Exodus Timber Sale Project, Umpqua National Forest, Douglas 
County, OR

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) for a timber sale and connected actions within the 
Black Creek watershed planning area of the North Umpqua Ranger 
District. These actions include timber sales, the construction of 
temporary roads, site preparation, tree planting, fuels hazard 
reductions, road decommissioning, road repair, precommercial thinning, 
instream wood placement, and soil restoration. The planning area is 
located approximately 38 miles east of Roseburg, Oregon. The project is 
expected to be implemented 2003 through 2005. The agency gives notice 
of the full environmental analysis and decision-making process that 
will occur on the proposal so that interested and affected people may 
become aware of how they can participate in the process and contribute 
to the final decision.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be received 
in writing, by November 16, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments and suggestions concerning this 
proposal to Carol Cushing, District Ranger, North Umpqua Ranger 
District, 18782 North Umpqua Highway, Glide, Oregon 97443

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Direct questions about the proposed 
action or EIS to Debbie Anderson, ID Team Leader, North Umpqua Ranger 
District, 18782 North Umpqua Highway, Glide, Oregon 97443 or (541) 496-
3532.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The area being analyzed in the Exodus Timber 
Sale Project EIS encompasses approximately 6,750 acres of National 
Forest System land on the North Umpqua Ranger District. The planning 
area is bounded to the North by the Dutch Creek Ridge, to the South by 
the Little River/South Umpqua Divide, to the East by Black Butte and 
Clover Ridge, and to the West by Red Butte and Peter Paul Prairie. The 
planning area includes all or portions of sections 20, 21, 28, 29, 32 
through 34, T26S, R3E; sections 1 through 5, 8 through 17, 20 through 
29, and 32 through 36, T27S, R3E; section 7, 17 through 23 and 25 
through 36, T27S, R4E; sections 30 and 31, T27S, R5E; sections 1 
through 4, 10 through 15, 23 through 26, 35 and 36, T28S, R3E; sections 
1 through 24 and 26 through 30, T28S, R4E; sections 18 and 19, T28S, 
R5E, Willamette Meridian, Douglas County, Oregon.
    The Exodus Timber Sale Project proposed action is based on the need 
to achieve the desired conditions for the planning area recommended in 
the 1995 Little River Watershed Analysis. Timber harvest proposals are 
based on the need to maintain a high level of vegetative diversity in 
both structure and pattern within the watershed over time, by 
approximating large and small scale natural disturbance processes and 
patterns through even and uneven aged silvicultural treatments. 
Proposed natural fuels prescriptions are based on the need to move the 
planning area from a high severity fire regime towards a moderate 
severity fire regime. Rehabilitation of soils through subsoiling is 
based on the need to improve the long term site productivity and water 
infiltration within managed stands that have been adversely affected by 
past management practices. Instream wood placement is based on the need 
to improve aquatic habitat where large woody debris has been removed or 
is otherwise absent or deficient. Pre-

[[Page 43569]]

commercial thinning is based the need to increase stand growth and 
vigor of overstocked managed stands. Road repair/maintenance and 
decommissioning is based on the need to reduce the risk to the aquatic 
resources from road related erosional processes.
    Timber sale related activities include: uneven-aged harvest on 
approximately 1,019 acres of late-seral forest in 16 units, using 
proportional thinning, thinning from below, and small group openings, 
and prescribing leave trees in the largest diameter classes; 
regeneration harvest in one unit on approximately 42 acres of late-
seral forest, with 15% green-tree retention in the form of leave groups 
and dispersed mature trees; an intermediate harvest in the form of 
commercial thinning in 11 units on 354 acres; reforestation and 
seedling protection in one unit on 42 acres; site preparation/fuels 
reduction on 882 acres in 28 units; repair/maintenance of approximately 
25 miles of existing roads; construction of 0.4 miles of temporary 
roads with subsequent obliteration; and use of existing rock pits. The 
acreage proposed for harvest is estimated to yield about 19 million 
board feet of timber. This volume estimate is likely to decrease as a 
result of implementing protection buffers where required for Survey and 
Manage species. The areas prescribed for harvest will require a 
combination of helicopter, skyline and ground-based harvesting 
equipment.
    Alternatives to be considered include the No Action Alternative, 
the Proposed Action, an alternative that responds to concerns over 
economic efficiency, an alternative that maintains high canopy closures 
in order to maintain wildlife habitat components and hydrologic 
recovery percentages, and an alternative that focuses on commercial 
thinning and does not harvest in late successional forests.
    Restoration related activities include approximately: 12 miles of 
road decommissioning and 4 miles of road closure; recruitment of large 
woody material within eleven second growth timber sale harvest units; 8 
acres of site productivity restoration; 7 miles of instream log 
placement in Upper Black and Dutch Creeks; 480 acres of precommercial 
thinning in 23 units; and fuels hazard reduction on 135 acres in one 
stand.
    Preliminary issues, as identified by the Umpqua National Forest and 
by scoping that has been conducted to date, include the following:
     Will the timber sale activity in the proposed action be 
economically efficient and viable?
     How will the proposed action affect the late successional 
habitat and species within the Black Creek Watershed?
     How will the proposed action affect water quality and 
aquatic conditions for aquatic and riparian dependant species?
     How will the public respond to reduced vehicular access 
within the watershed?
    The scoping effort is intended to identify issues, which may lead 
to the development of alternatives to the proposed action. Scoping will 
also contribute to an important aspect of Roads Analysis, which is 
incorporated into this EIS. One of the purposes of this notice of 
intent is to solicit input from the public as part of the overall 
scoping effort. In addition to this notice, the public has been 
notified of the EIS through the Umpqua National Forest's April 2001 
Schedule of Proposed Actions. Scoping for this project will also 
include an open house in Roseburg, Oregon, on October 24, 2001.
    Comments received in response to this notice and through scoping, 
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 
or 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 confidentiality should be aware that, under the 
FOIA, confidentiality may be granted in only very limited 
circumstances, such as to protect trade secrets. The Forest Service 
will inform the requester of the agency's decision regarding the 
requests for confidentiality, and where the request is denied, the 
agency will return the submission and notify the requester that the 
comments may be resubmitted with or without name and address within a 
specified number of days.
    Public comments are appreciated throughout the analysis process. 
The draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) and be available for public review by June 2002. The 
comment period on the draft EIS will be 45 days from the date the EPA 
publishes the notice of availability in the Federal Register. The final 
EIS is scheduled to be available in September of 2002.
    The Forest Serviced believes it is important to give reviewers 
notice of this early stage of public participation and of several court 
rulings related to public participation in the environmental review 
process. First, reviewers of a draft EIS 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 have been raised 
at the draft stage may be waived or dismissed by the court if not 
raised until after completion of the final EIS. 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 substantive comments and objections are made available to the Forest 
Service at a time when it can meaningfully consider and respond to them 
in the final EIS.
    To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues 
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft EIS 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 EIS or th 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 of 
40 CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.)
    In the final EIS, the Forest Service is required to respond to 
substantive comments and responses received during the comment period 
that pertain to the environmental consequences discussed in the draft 
EIS and applicable laws, regulations, and policies considering in 
making a decision regarding the proposal. The Responsible Official is 
Carol Cushing, District Ranger for the North Umpqua Ranger District, 
Umpqua National Forest. The Responsible Official will document the 
decision and rationale for the decision in a Record of Decision. The 
decision will be subject to review under Forest Service Appeal 
Regulations.

    Dated: August 10, 2001.
Don Ostby,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 01-20872 Filed 8-17-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M