[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 232 (Monday, December 3, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60181-60182]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-29837]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Squirrel Meadows-Grand Targhee Land Exchange; Caribou-Targhee 
National Forest, Teton County, WY

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service will 
prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to comply 
with Idaho District Court Judge Winmill's Judgment and Memorandum 
Decision dated August 8, 2001 in Civil Case Number 01-0176-E-BLW. These 
documents are available at the District Court of Idaho's Remote Access 
to Court Electronic Records (RACER) Web page http://www.id.uscourts.gov/ or upon request from the Forest Service.
    The Forest Service proposes to acquire 400 acres of private land at 
Squirrel Meadows that is considered to be important habitat for the 
threatened grizzly bear and other wildlife for 120 acres of National 
Forest System lands at the base of the Grand Targhee Ski and Summer 
Resort. The proposed action remains essentially the same as in the 
Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Squirrel Meadows-Grand 
Targhee Land Exchange, dated December of 2000. In the FEIS the proposal 
was to exchange up to 158 acres of NFS lands at Grand Targhee; however, 
in the Record of Decision, the acreage was reduced to 120 acres to 
balance the appraised values.

DATES: Written comments concerning the analysis required by the 
Judgment and Memorandum Decision should be received within 15 days of 
the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register. The 
Forest Service estimates the Draft SEIS will be filed in February of 
2002. The Final SEIS will be filed within 3 months of that date, 
approximately May of 2002.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Caribou-Targhee National Forest 
Headquarters, Attn: Lisa Klinger, 1405 Hollipark Drive, Idaho Falls, 
Idaho 83401. The responsible official for this decision is Jerry Reese, 
Caribou-Targhee National Forest Supervisor.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of the December 2000 Final EIS 
and Record of Decision (ROD) for the Squirrel Meadows-Grand Targhee 
land Exchange can be obtained by contacting the Caribou-Targhee 
National Forest Headquarters Office at (208) 557-5760 or the Teton 
Basin Ranger District at (208) 354-2312. Questions concerning the 
proposed action and SEIS should be directed to Lisa Klinger, Recreation 
Specialist, at (208) 557-5760 or Cheryl Probert, Forest Planner, at 
(209) 557-5821.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 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 request for confidentiality, and where the request is denied, the 
agency will return the

[[Page 60182]]

submission and notify the requester that the comments may be 
resubmitted with or without name and address within 10 days.
    The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement will 
be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency's notice 
of availability appears in the Federal Register. It is very important 
that those interested in this proposed action participate at this time. 
To be most helpful, comments on the draft environmental impact 
statement should be a specific as possible and may address the adequacy 
of the statement or the merits of the alternatives discussed. (see the 
Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing the 
procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40 
CFR 1503.3).
    In addition, Federal court decisions have established that reviews 
of draft environmental impact statements must structure their 
participation in the environmental review of the proposal so that it is 
meaning and alerts an agency to the reviewers' position and 
contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 
553 (1978). Environmental objections that could have been raised at the 
draft stage may be waived if not raised until after completing of the 
final environmental impact statement. City of Angoon v. Hodel, (9th 
Circuit, 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 F. Supp. 
1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). The reason for this is to ensure that 
substantive comments and objections area made available to the Forest 
Service at time when it can meaningfully consider them and respond to 
them in the final.

    Dated: November 26, 2001.
Jerry B. Reese,
Caribou-Targhee Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 01-29837 Filed 11-30-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M