[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 120 (Friday, June 21, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42230-42232]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-15656]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Payette National Forest, ID, Proposed Grouse Creek Road 
Relocation

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Region, will prepare an 
environmental impact statement (EIS) on a proposal to relocate a 1.5-
mile section of the Grouse Creek Road (Forest Service Road 50325), 
Payette National Forest. The Grouse Creek Road is within the Grouse 
Creek watershed, a tributary to the Secesh River, and is about 25 miles 
northeast of the city of McCall, in Idaho County, Idaho. The road 
relocation is necessary to improve existing road related problems and 
associated impacts to threatened species and their designated critical 
habitat, while maintaining road access for public and administrative 
uses. The current road is physically located in a narrow strip of land 
between two Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs). The 13,005-acre Crystal 
Mountain Inventoried Roadless Area lies immediately to the west, and 
the 8,535-acre Chimney Rock Inventoried Roadless Area lies to the east. 
A portion of the new road would be within the Crystal Mountain 
Inventoried Roadless Area.

DATES: Comments must be received by July 19, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Send written commentrs to District Ranger Randy Swick, 
McCall Ranger District, Payette Natiional Forest, P.O. Box 1026, 
McCall, Idaho 83638, or Fax (208) 634-0433.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Justin Jimenez at the above address, 
by phone at (208) 634-0400 or by email: [email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose of this project is to remove a direct threat to 
Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed fish species and their designated 
critical habitat along a 1.5-mile section of Grouse Creek Road, while 
maintaining a viable access route through the Grouse Creek corridor.
    The need for the project is based on minimizing road related 
impacts to

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water quality and fish habitat while continuing to provide road access. 
The Grouse Creek Road is in close proximity to Grouse Creek in areas of 
exceptionally high aquatic diversity and productivity. Grouse Creek 
contains chinook salmon, steelhead, and bull trout, all of which are 
species listed as ``Threatened'' under the ESA. The Burgdorf Junction 
Fire Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) Report (2000) 
indicated that the Burgdorf Junction Wildlife of 2000 was stand-
replacing within 90 percent of the Grouse Creek drainage. Post-fire 
BAER inventories (2000) identified many road problems on the Grouse 
Creek Road. The Forest Service corrected them shortly after the fire, 
with the exception of the proposed relocation.
    The Burgdorf Roads Analysis (2002) found that the section of road 
to be relocated is within Riparian Habitat Conservation Areas (RHCAs), 
runs parallel to Grouse Creek through a steep canyon, and is resulting 
in direct sediment delivery to Grouse Creek from erosion of road 
surface and fill material. Surface erosion and associated sediment 
delivery from this section of road is adversely affecting designated 
critical habitat for ESA listed species and is of particular concern. 
If the road is left in its current location, active erosion of road 
surface and fill material cannot be avoided.
    Forest Service personnel intensively reviewed the proposed 
relocation alignment on the ground and determined it best met the 
objectives of minimizing impacts to fisheries, while minimizing 
encroachment into the roadless area and providing access in the Grouse 
Creek corridor.
    The Grouse Creek Road provides access to an active mine, a 
seasonally staffed fire lookout, several trailheads, dispersed 
campsites and California Lake, which provides fishing and camping 
opportunities. The Forest Service has validated the need to maintain 
suitable access via the Grouse Creek corridor based on the information 
identified above.
    Idaho County has made a RS 2477 assertion on the Grouse Creek Road. 
The validity of their claim has yet to be decided, and early settlement 
of the claim is not foreseeable. This limits the ability of the Forest 
Service to close the Grouse Creek Road to vehicle use.

Proposed Action

    The Forest Service proposes to relocate a section of the Grouse 
Creek Road (Forest Service Road 50325) upslope on gentle ground. A 1.5-
mile section of road would be relocated; currently 1.3 miles of this 
road is within RHCAs. This would require 2.9 miles of new road 
construction, of which 2.4 miles would be within the Crystal Mountain 
Inventoried Roadless Area. The exiting 1.5 miles of the Grouse Creek 
Road and an additional 0.4 mile of associated unclassified spur road 
would be obliterated.
    The existing road is located in a corridor between the Crystal 
Mountain and Chimney rock IRAs. The proposed road relocation would 
affect a total of 172 acres of the Crystal Mountain Inventoried 
Roadless Area, that portion lying between the new road and the roadless 
boundary to the east. To minimize this effect, Forest Service proposes 
to adjust the Chimney Rock Inventoried Roadless Area boundary to the 
west, realigning the IRA boundary along the new road corridor. The 
Payette National Forest Plan (1988) allocates the portion of the 
Crystal Mountain IRA that would be altered to general forest 
management, which allows development including road construction. The 
PayetteNational Forest's Draft Revised Forest Plan (2000) proposes to 
manage the Crystal Mountain IRA under an Aquatic/Terrestrial Active 
Restoration Management Prescription Category (MPC 3.2). This proposed 
action is fully consistent with that direction.
    The proposed road relocation project would not involve any removal 
of merchantable timber; all cleared timber would be used or left on 
site. Field reconnaissance identified very little, if any, merchantable 
timber within the new construction road right-of-way; therefore, there 
will be no timber sale involved with this project.
    The proposed action meets recent Forest Service Manual (FSM) 
direction requiring a Roads Analysis before new road construction or 
changes in road management may take place on a National Forest (FSM 
7712.1, 7712.12b, and 7712.13). FSM 1925.04b, identifies that it is the 
responsibility of the Regional Forester to serve as the Responsible 
Official for the following decision on a road reconstruction project in 
an IRA: ``road realignment is needed to prevent resource damage by an 
existing road that is deemed essential for public or private access, 
management, or public health or safety, and where such damage cannot be 
corrected by maintenance.'' The proposed action meets the description 
above and the Regional Forester has reviewed the proposed project and 
agreed to serve as the Responsible Official.
    This project is a National Fire Plan Rehabilitation and Community 
Restoration Project.

Responsible Official

    The responsible official is the Regional Forester of the 
Intermountain Region.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    The decision to be made is whether to relocate the Grouse Creek 
Road, and if so, where the new road segment should be located.

Scoping Process

    The Payette National Forest is conducting scoping for issues the 
Environmental Impact Statement should address. Comments provided by the 
public and other agencies will be used to develop issues to be 
addressed. The public is encouraged to visit with Forest Service 
officials during the analysis prior to the decision.

Preliminary Issues

    Preliminary issues identified by the Forest Service 
interdisciplinary team include effects of building a road into an 
Inventoried Roadless Area, and short term effects to threatened and 
endangered species associated with road construction and obliteration.

Public Participation

    Public participation will be important at several points during the 
analysis, particularly during scoping of issues and review of the draft 
environmental impact statement (DEIS). This notice of intent initiates 
the scoping process, which guides the development of the EIS. The 
scoping process will identify potential issues and issues to be 
analyzed in detail, and will lead to the development of alternatives to 
the proposal.
    Comments received in response to this notice, including the names 
and addresses of those who comment, will be part of the project record 
and available for public review.
    The second major opportunity for public input is with the DEIS. The 
DEIS will analyze a range of alternatives to the proposed action, 
including the no-action alternative. The DEIS is expected to be filed 
with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to be available for 
public review in February 2003. EPA will then publish a notice of 
availability of the DEIS in the Federal Register. Public comments will 
be invited. The comment period on the DEIS will be 45 days from the 
date the EPA 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,

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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 reviewer's position and 
contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 
553 (1978). In addition, 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, 
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 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 the final environmental impact statement.
    To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues 
raised by the proposed action, comments on the DEIS 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 DEIS or the 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 at 40 CFR 1503.3 in 
addressing these points.
    In the Final EIS (FEIS) the Forest Service will respond to comments 
received (40 CFR 1503.4). The responsible official will consider the 
comments, responses, and environmental consequences addressed in the 
FEIS, which is expected to be completed in May 2003, along with 
applicable laws, regulations, and policies in making the final decision 
regarding this proposal. The responsible official will document the 
decision and reasons for it in the Record of Decision. That decision 
will be subject to appeal under 36 CFR 215.

    Dated: June 13, 2002.
William S. Werner,
Intermountain Region, Acting Regional Forester.
[FR Doc. 02-15656 Filed 6-20-02; 8:45 am]
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