[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 249 (Friday, December 28, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67175-67177]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-31910]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Blue Fire Forest Recovery Project, Lassen and Modoc Counties, CA

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service, Modoc National Forest, Warner Mountain 
Ranger District (Forest Service) will prepare an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) to disclose the environmental consequences of the 
proposed Blue Fire Forest Recovery Project, and alternatives to the 
proposal. The decision to be made, is to select this proposed action or 
one of the alternatives to this proposal. The alternatives to this 
proposal will include a no-action alternative.
    The Blue Fire Forest Recovery Project area is located approximately 
20 miles southeast of Alturas CA and 9 miles east of Likely, CA, within 
Lassen and Modoc Counties, CA. The total project area is approximately 
33,500 acres, all of which are National Forest System lands.
    The Forest Service proposes to move wildland resource conditions 
within the Blue Fire (August 2001) towards the desired conditions 
described by the Modoc National Forest Land and Resource Management 
Plan (MLRMP), as amended by the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment 
Record of Decision--Jan 2001 (SNROD), and to implement Standards and 
Guidelines described by MLRMP as amended by SNROD. Within the Blue 
Fire, but outside the South Warner Wilderness (SWW), and outside of 
Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs), the Forest Service proposes to take 
actions. The areas where actions are proposed are identified as Old 
Forest Emphasis Area and General Forest, in the SNROD. Actions proposed 
within the Old Forest Emphasis Area are designed to benefit landscape 
conditions for old forest structure and function. Where the Blue Fire 
has killed at least 75% of the trees in a timber stand, the Forest 
Service is proposing to provide long-term watershed protection by 
reestablishing timber stands with appropriate mixes of native tree 
species and by reducing the threat of catastrophic wildfire losses in 
these plantations. The Forest Service proposes to remove heavy fuels 
created by the Blue Fire through implementation of salvage timber 
sales. Salvage timber sales are the proposed method of fuels removal 
because now, and for a short time into the future, these heavy fuels 
have a commercial value that will support the costs of their removal 
and contribute to subsequent reforestation and environmental 
restoration work. If these trees are not harvested, they will 
deteriorate over time, fall down and result in fuel loadings that will 
not meet Standards and Guidelines of the MLRMP or SNROD. In these 
timber stands where salvage harvest is proposed, planting and 
subsequent activities crucial to plantation survival are proposed. 
Other activities are proposed to meet the direction of MLRMP and SNROD.
    Following is a brief summary of activities proposed: (1) No salvage 
harvest will occur in the South Warner

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Wilderness nor any of the three Inventoried Roadless Areas; (2) no 
salvage harvest will occur in any timber stands with less than 75% of 
the trees killed by the Blue Fire, this includes one Great Gray Owl 
Protected Activity Center (PAC), one complete goshawk PAC and about \1/
2\ of another goshawk PAC; (3) where salvage harvest occurs, no live 
trees will be cut; consistent with SNROD, 30 of the largest dead trees 
per 10 acres will be retained in all treatment areas; consistent with 
SNROD, 5 logs (min. 20" dia. and 10 ft.) will be left for woody debris; 
protection for Riparian Conservation Areas (RCAs) will be consistent 
with SNROD; all dead trees 8'' DBH and larger and excess to snag and 
down log needs will be removed by salvage harvest; all dead trees 
between 6'' and 8'' DBH will be removed by subsequent service 
contracts; ground-based harvest systems with designated skid trails 
will be used on approximately 9,500 acres and helicopter harvest will 
occur on approximately 600 acres, whole tree removal (including tops) 
to landing is required; (4) salvage of 2 RCAs is included in the 
description of activity 3, except that in RCAs the maximum size harvest 
tree is 24'' DBH and both RCAs will be helicopter harvested; (5) 
salvage of the Bald Eagle Management Area is included in the 
description of activity 3, except that all dead trees within 200 feet 
of the shoreline of Blue Lake will remain uncut; (6) removal and/or 
rearrangement of dead trees between 1'' and 5'' DBH within harvest 
stands is proposed on 292 acres of Urban Wildland Intermix Zones and 
250 acres of Strategically Placed Area Treatments; (7) Reforest 10,100 
acres of harvest units and approximately 200 acres of existing 
plantations killed by the Blue Fire, by hand planting appropriate mixes 
of species, periodically removing brush from around planted trees by 
hand grubbing, controlling gopher populations by underground baiting 
with strychnine treated pellets as needed to ensure plantation survival 
and installing biodegradable plastic tubing on tree seedlings to 
prevent above ground animal damage as needed to ensure plantation 
survival, wider planting spacing in fuel treatments described in 
activity 6 will be maintained over time; (8) Road activities include: 5 
miles of aggregate resurfacing; opening and reusing 28 miles of 
existing temporary roads, constructing and using 4.4 miles of new 
temporary roads; and closure of 32.4 miles of temporary roads by 
pulling culverts, outsloping and water-barring, and in some site-
specific cases, seeding, tilling or re-contouring; application of 
magnesium chloride on system roads to alleviate dusting; and closure of 
some system roads temporarily during harvest for public safety; (9) 
logs will be placed in designated portions of East Creek to create 
desired pool/riffle ratios; (10) One road (0.4 miles) immediately 
adjacent to Harvey Creek RCA will be decommissioned; (11) As needed, 
some areas of disturbed soils may be seeded with native grass and shrub 
species to minimize invasion by noxious weeds, and (12) Small Business 
Administration (SBA) set-aside is currently estimated at 68% of timber 
sale volume, with SBA sales ranging from 5-10 million board feet 
(MMBF).

DATES: Comments identifying issues concerning the effects of the 
proposal should be postmarked on or before January 28, 2002 to receive 
timely consideration in the draft EIS.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to: Douglas Schultz, Team Leader, 
USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 220, Cedarville, CA 96104. Send 
electronic comments to: [email protected]. Please reference the Blue 
Fire Forest Recovery Project on the subject line. Also, include your 
name and mailing address with your comments so documents pertaining to 
this project may be mailed to you. Comments received, including names 
and addresses of those who comment, will become part of the public 
record and may be subject to public disclosure. Any person may request 
the Agency to withhold a submission from the public record by showing 
how the Freedom of Information Act permits such confidentiality.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Douglas Schultz, Team Leader, at 530-
279-6116 or Edith Asrow, District Ranger, Warner Mountain Ranger 
District, at 530-279-6116.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The information presented in this notice is 
included to help the reviewer determine if they are interested in or 
potentially affected by the proposed land management activities. The 
information presented in this notice is summarized. Those who wish to 
provide comments, or are otherwise interested in the project, are 
encouraged to obtain additional information from the contact identified 
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

Preliminary Issues

    Two preliminary issues have been identified:
    1. Fuel Treatment--The Forest Service will complete an analysis 
which will assess the benefits, problems and risks of fuel treatments. 
That analysis will consider: appropriate fuel levels (tons/ac) to 
retain on the land; size classes of fuels to remove to attain that 
level; and most appropriate methods of removing that fuel, including 
salvage logging and service contracts.
    2. Environmental Restoration--The Forest Service will complete an 
analysis that will assess the benefits, problems and risks of actions 
which will restore or protect desired environmental conditions, 
including reforestation and associated activities, decommissioning of 
0.4 miles of existing road adjacent to Harvey Creek, depositing woody 
debris in East Creek to improve pool/riffle ratio, and maintaining 
wider tree spacing in Urban Intermix and Strategically Placed fuel 
treatments.

Public Involvement

    Additional information concerning the proposal can be accessed on 
the internet at www.r5.fs.fed.us/modoc/management/nepa/nepa.html.

Process Procedures and Timelines

    On October 26, 2001, the Modoc National Forest began a Scoping 
Period for a proposed Action for the Blue Fire Forest Recovery Project 
Environmental Assessment. A Legal Notice of the proposed action was 
published in the Modoc County Record on October 25, 2001, and a Scoping 
Summary description was mailed to approximately 220 persons or groups. 
The Scoping Period for this proposed action closed November 26, 2001. 
Comments were received from 32 commenters.
    Since the close of the original scoping period, the Forest Service 
decided to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. The original 
proposed action was slightly modified, and is described above. All 
comments received from the earlier scoping period will be considered in 
the EIS, unless respondent submits new comments indicating changes to 
prior submissions.
    The draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental 
Protection Agency and available for public review by May 2002. The 
comment period on the draft EIS will be 45 days from the date the 
Environmental Protection Agency publishes the notice of availability in 
the Federal Register.
    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, 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

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reviewer's position and contentions (Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. 
v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519 553 [1978]). Also, environmental objection that 
could be raised at the draft environmental impact statement state but 
that are not raised until after completion of the final environmental 
impact statement stage may be waived or dismissed by the courts (City 
of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2nd 1016, 1022 [9th Cir. 1986] and Wisconsin 
Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 F. Supp. 1334, 1338 [E.D. Wis. 1980]).
    Because of the above 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 are made available to 
the Forest Service at a time when they can be meaningfully considered 
and responded to in the final environmental impact statement. Comments 
on the draft environmental impact statement should be as specific as 
possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to specific pages, 
sections, 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 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. 
After the comment period ends on the draft EIS, the comments received 
will be analyzed and considered by the Forest Service in preparing the 
final EIS.
    The final EIS is scheduled to be completed in September, 2002. In 
the final EIS, the Forest Service is required to respond to the 
comments received (40 CFR 1503.4). The responsible official will 
consider the comments, responses, environmental consequences discussed 
in the environmental impact statement, and applicable laws, regulations 
and policies in making a decision regarding this proposal. The 
responsible official will document the decision and reasons for the 
decision in a Record of Decision. That decision will be subject to 
appeal under 36 CFR part 215.
    The responsible official is Dan Chisholm, Forest Supervisor, Modoc 
National Forest, 800 W. 12th St., Alturas CA, 96101.

    Dated: December 19, 2001.
Dan Chisholm,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 01-31910 Filed 12-27-01; 8:45 am]
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