[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 193 (Monday, October 6, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57660-57662]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-25235]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Sheep Creek Fire Salvage, Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, 
Beaverhead County, MT

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Amended notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact 
statement.

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SUMMARY: This amended notice of intent to prepare an environmental 
impact statement is a correction of the original notice of intent 
published on July 11, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 133, page

[[Page 57661]]

41295-41296). This amendment includes text which was not included in 
the original notice of intent. The USDA, Forest Service, will prepare 
an environmental impact statement (EIS) to disclose the environmental 
effects of the salvage harvest of timber killed as a result of fire in 
the Canyon Creek, Boulder Creek, Cascade Creek, Sage Creek, and Runaway 
Creek drainages (herein referred to as the Sheep Creek project). The 
project area is located 15 miles west of Wisdom, Montana, north of 
State Highway 43, just west of the Placer Creek Road. The project area 
is outside of inventoried roadless areas.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be postmarked 
by November 20, 2003. The draft environmental impact statement is 
expected February, 2004 and the final environmental impact statement is 
expected June of 2004.

ADDRESSES: Written comments concerning this notice or a request to be 
placed on the project mailing list should be addressed to Chris 
Tootell, TEAMS, 200 East Broadway, suite 251, Missoula, Montana, 59807. 
Comments may also be sent via e-mail to [email protected]. 
(Please note that there is a `one' after the letter r, not an `L.') The 
subject line in the e-mail message should contain the title ``Sheep 
Creek Fire Salvage Project.'' If you choose to comment by e-mail, 
please include your name and regular mailing address with the comment. 
Comments may also be sent via facsimile to (406) 689-3245, C/O Dennis 
Havig, Wisdom Ranger District.
    All comments, including names and addresses when provided, are 
placed in the record and are available for public inspection and 
copying. The public may inspect comments received at the Wisdom Ranger 
District,Wisdom, MT. Visitors are encouraged to call ahead to (406) 
689-3243 to facilitate entry to the building.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Tootell, Environmental Resource 
Coordinator, TEAMS Enterprise unit, USDA Forest Service (406) 329-3459. 
Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) may 
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday through 
Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed project area is located within 
sections 4,5,6,7,8,9 & 18, T.2S., R.17W., and sections 1, 12 and 13, 
T.2S., R.18W.

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose and need for the proposed action is to move toward the 
desired conditions as described in the Beaverhead National Forest Land 
and Resource Management Plan (LRMP). The proposed action is located on 
lands classified as ``available and suitable for timber production'' 
(LRMP, p. III-48 and III-63). Congress has recognized the importance of 
sustainable commodity use in laws including the Multiple-Use Sustained 
Yield Act, the National Forest Managment Act, and the 1872 Mining Act. 
There is a need to emphasize long-term production of commodities for 
local and regional economies, communities, and people in an 
environmentally sound manner (LRMP, Record of Decision, p.19). Most of 
the trees killed as a result of the fire are expected to fall to the 
ground and contribute to heavy fuel build-up over the next two decades. 
There is a need to break up the continuity of fuel accumulation to 
prevent the dead trees from becoming part of a future, long-term fuels 
problem. Specifically, the purpose and need is to:
    [sbull] Recover and utilize timber from the trees killed as a 
result of the Sheep Creek Fire providing a supply of wood products to 
the forest products industry and ultimately to the public, and
    [sbull] Break up fuel continuity and decrease fuel loads in order 
to decrease risks that future fires will pose to human health and 
safety, improvements and resources.

Proposed Action

    To address these needs the proposed action has the following 
components:
    [sbull] Approximately 600 to 1,000 acres would be salvage harvested 
within the Sheep Creek Fire perimeter. Trees that are dead as a result 
of the fire would be salvaged by conventional ground-based and cable 
logging methods. An estimated 3 to 6 million board feet of merchantable 
timber would be recovered by the harvesting operations. As much as 
practicable, slash associated with harvest operations would be piled 
and burned on the landings.
    [sbull] Where concentrations of fuels exist within proposed 
treatment areas, techanical or other methods of fuel treatment will 
occur where practicable.
    [sbull] Approximately 2.5 miles of temporary road would be 
constructed to access proposed harvest units; the temporary roads would 
be reclaimed when this project is completed.
    The salvage timber harvest and fuel treatments following harvest 
would reduce fuel loading in accordance with Beaverhead National Forest 
Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP p. II-29, II-35), and 
Beaverhead-Deerlodge Fire Management Plan.
    Operational design elements would be included to ensure compliance 
and consistency with direction found in the LRMP, and state and federal 
law, regulation and direction.
    Implementation of these activities would occur as soon as possible 
following completion of the environmental analysis. It is proposed that 
the environmental analysis be completed by spring of 2004 with a signed 
decision document issued by 6/18/2004.

Responsible Official

    Thomas K. Reilly, Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Supervisor, 
420 Barrett Street, Dillon, MT 59725-3572.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    The decisions to be made include the location and scheduling of the 
proposed salvage harvest activities, harvest methods and associated 
slash treatment and silvicultural treatments; the estimated timber 
volume to make available from the project area; the estimated amount of 
temporary road construction needed; and mitigation mesures and 
monitoring requirements.

Scoping Process

    Public participation is important to this analysis. Part of the 
goal of public involvement is to identify additional issues and to 
refine the general, tentaive issues. The Beaverhead-Deerlodge National 
Forest has developed a listing of individuals and organizations that 
have expressed an interest in being informed of and providing input to 
vegetation management and fuel redcution projects. This list of 
individuals and organizations include private citizens, businesses, 
various organizations, Native American groups, and federal, state and 
county agencies. All of these contacts will be sent the intial scoping 
document.

Preliminary Issues

    The following list of preliminary issues was developed for the 
project area by the Forest Service Interdisciplinary Team (ID Team). 
This list was developed after review of issues from previous post fire 
management projects, including previous public involvement, and 
specific internal agency scoping. General categories have been used to 
focus key topics. This list will be amended and/or expanded after 
review of the Sheep Creek Fire Salvage project public comments. During 
the analysis, alternatives to the proposed action will be developed 
responding to the final list of issues. In response to the issues, the 
alternatives developed may

[[Page 57662]]

include different levels of activity and may include different 
prescriptions.
    [sbull] Timber sale value.
    [sbull] Potential reduction of big game ``security cover'' within 
harvest units may result in a need for a nonsignificant site specific 
Forest plan amendment for elk effective cover standards.
    [sbull] Loss of future potential Lynx denning habitat by removal of 
heavy fuels.
    [sbull] Potential for introduction and spread of noxious weeds from 
logging and log hauling.
    [sbull] Potential soil disturbance.
    [sbull] Residual fuel loads exceeding desired thresholds within 
treatment units.
    [sbull] Potential for introduction of sediment to streams impacting 
fish species.
    [sbull] Loss of habitat for snag dependent and cavity nesting 
species.

Comment Requested

    This amended notice of intent initiates the scoping process which 
guides the development of the draft environmental impact statement, 
including the identification of the range of alternatives to be 
considered. While public participation is strictly optional at this 
stage, the Forest Service believes that it is important to give 
reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public 
participation in the subsequent environmental review process. First, 
reviewers of draft 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 45 
day draft environmental impact statement 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 also may 
address the adequacy of the draft environmental impact statement or the 
merits of the alternatives formulated and discussed in the statement. 
In addressing these points, reviewers may wish to refer to the Council 
on Environmental Quality regulations which implement the procedural 
provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40 CFR 1503.3.

    Dated: September 23, 2003.
Thomas K. Reilly,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 03-25235 Filed 10-3-03; 8:45 am]
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