[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 124 (Thursday, June 27, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43273-43274]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-16228]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Manti-La Sal National Forest, Utah Oak Creek Ridge Aspen Project

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) to document the analysis and disclose the environmental 
impacts of proposed actions to:
    1. Harvest approximately 1 MMBF of aspen/mixed conifer on 
approximately 125 acres. Burning of slash concentrations and fencing 
will follow treatment.
    2. Chainsaw fell conifers on approximately 75 acres of existing 
young aspen stands.
    3. Reconstruction (culvert replacement) of approximately 2.5 miles 
FDR 138.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by August 1, 2002. The draft environmental impact statement is expected 
October 2002 and the final environmental impact statement is expected 
March 2003.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to: Diane M. Cote, Sanpete Ranger 
District, Manti-LaSal National Forest, 540 North Main, Emphraim, Utah 
84627, [email protected].
    For further information, mail correspondence to: Diane M. Cote, 
Sanpete Ranger District, Manti-LaSal National Forest, 540 North Main, 
Ephraim, Utah 84627, [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: See above addresses:

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Oak Ridge Project area includes portions 
of the Oak Creek and Dry Creek. These areas are managed as Range (RNG) 
under the Manti-La Sal National Forest Land and Resource Management 
Plan (USDA, 1986).
    The project area encompasses approximately 615 total acres. The 
project area contains about 463 acres of

[[Page 43274]]

aspen and aspen/mixed conifer types that could be silviculturally 
treated to provide a more diverse ecosystem. Drainages within the 
project area include Dry and Oak Creek. The Oak Creek Inventories 
Roadless Area is within and adjacent to the project area. Approximately 
125 acres of the proposed treatments are within the Oak Creek 
Inventoried Roadless Area.
    Forest development road (FDR) 50138 provides access through the 
area and to a parcel of state owned land. The proposed treatment units 
are adjacent to this road. This proposal has been developed through 
consultation with Forest Service specialists, and other individuals and 
agencies with interest in the resources of the area.

Purpose and Need for Action

    Purpose 1--Move towards restoration of the ecological 
structure, function, processes, and composition of the aspen component 
of the landscape.
    Need: Eighty-three percent of the aspen/mixed conifer stands (463 
acres) in the Oak Creek Ridge Project Area are in a mid-aged to mature 
condition, the other 75 acres is in a young structural stage. Conifers 
are encroaching in these aspen stands and crowding the shade-intolerant 
aspen. Fire exclusion and lack of any alternate regeneration treatment 
over the past 100 years has caused the decline of these stands and 
changed the distribution of the structural stages. Converting the 
mature aspen/mixed conifer stands to a seedling/sapling structure will 
move the project area closer to the desired future condition discussed 
in the NFMA (National Forest Management Act) analysis.

Proposed Action

    1. Harvest approximately 1 MMBF of aspen/mixed conifer on 
approximately 125 acres. Burning of slash concentrations and fencing 
will follow treatment.
    2. Chainsaw fell conifers on approximately 75 acres of existing 
young aspen stands.
    3. Reconstruction (culvert replacement) of approximately 2.5 miles 
FDR (Forest Development Road) 138.

Possible Alternatives

    No additional alternatives other than ``No Action'' have been 
identified at this time.

Responsible Official

    The Forest Supervisor, Elaine Zieroth is the responsible official 
for this project. The Forest Supervisor's office of the Manti-La Sal 
National Forest is located at 599 West Price River Drive, Price, Utah 
84501, phone: 435-637-2817.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    The Forest Supervisor of the Manti-LaSal must decide whether to 
conduct vegetation management activities now or to defer management 
until a later time.
    If she decides to apply vegetation management activities now, she 
must decide the following specific management activities:
     Which acres to treat
     What, if any, acres to treat with harvest
     What, if any, acres to treat with conifer removal
     What mitigation and/or monitoring measures to implement to 
meet Forest standards and minimize resource damage
     Whether to close roads not needed for resource management.

Scoping Process

    Agency representatives and other interested people are invited to 
visit with Forest Service officials at any time during the EIS process. 
Two specific time periods are identified for the receipt of formal 
comments on the analysis. The two comment periods are: (1) During the 
scoping process, the next 30 days following publication of this notice 
in the Federal Register, and (2) During the formal review period of the 
Draft EIS. The comment period on the draft environmental impact 
statement will be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection 
Agency publishes the notice of availability in the Federal Register.

Preliminary Issues

    Possible impacts to the Oak Creek Inventoried roadless Area if the 
project is implemented as stated in the proposed action.

Comment Request

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process which guides 
the development of the environmental impact statement.
    Early Notice of Importance of Public Participation in Subsequent 
Environmental Review: A draft environmental impact statement will be 
prepared for comment. The comment period on the draft environmental 
impact statement 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 reviewer's position and 
contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 
553 (1978). Also, 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 August 10, 2002 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 
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft 
environmental impact statement 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 
environmental impact statement 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.

    (Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; Forest Service Handbook 
1909.15, Section 21).

    Dated: June 21, 2002.
Elaine J. Zieroth,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 02-16228 Filed 6-27-02; 8:45 am]
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