[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 196 (Thursday, October 9, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58301-58303]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-25584]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Crawford Timber Sale, Malheur National Forest, Grant County, 
Oregon

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The USDA Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) on a proposal action to treat forested stands, using 
harvest methods to decrease tree density, increase representation of 
fire-adapted tree species, as well as decrease existing and activity 
fuel levels. The connected actions of log hauling will require 
constructing new road and temporary road, and maintaining and 
reconstructing existing road. This proposed action would implement a 
Road Access Travel Management Plan that would close and decommission 
roads. The alternatives will include the proposed action, no action, 
and additional alternatives that respond to issues identified during 
scoping. The agency will give notice of the full environmental analysis 
and decision making process so interested and affected people may 
participate and contribute to the final decision.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by November 15, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Michelle Putz, District Writer 
Editor, Blue Mountain Ranger District, P.O. Box 909, John Day, Oregon 
97845 or on-line at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michelle Putz, District Writer Editor, 
Blue Mountain Ranger District. Phone: (541) 575-3000.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The alternatives being considered were 
proposed in the original Crawford Vegetative Management Environmental 
Assessment (EA). The Decision Notice, which selected Alternative 3 was 
signed on April 26, 2002, was appealed and then remanded back to the 
Forest for further work following appeal; this EIS has been renamed and 
is intended to address many of the same needs. Some items in the 
original EA have been removed from the proposed actions in this EIS, 
including pre-commercial thinning that is outside of the harvest units 
to decrease small diameter trees, planting hardwoods, conifer removal 
from hardwood areas and meadows, cutting hardwoods to stimulate 
reproduction, caging shrubs, fencing to protect hardwoods, and slashing 
junipers to create barriers to hardwoods. These items will be addressed 
in other types of environmental documents under the heading of a 
categorical exclusion. In addition, this document plans to keep 5.4 
miles of Forest Road 1940 open to travel (there had been 4.3 miles of 
Road 1940 planned for closure in previous NEPA documents). The 
regeneration Salvage Treatment was dropped for wildlife habitat 
objectives, following interdisciplinary team review.
    Purpose and Need for Action. The purposes and needs for action in 
this project now are: Move vegetation towards a status more closely 
resembling historical conditions while protecting soil productivity and 
protecting or enhancing water quality and reduce fuels to decrease 
potential fire severity. This project would change the species 
composition and structure of the vegetation to improve the resiliency 
of the forested component of the ecosystem. Existing stand densities 
are higher than historical stand densities, and retard growth to the 
large tree stage, thus there is a need to increase the number of large 
trees across the landscape and increase the representation of fire 
tolerate tree species.
    Move toward an efficient, properly located road system that 
provides adequate public and administrative access, while reducing the 
risk of sediment reaching streams. Maintain and/or reconstruct 
remaining roads to limit delivery of sediment into streams and to 
facilitate harvest activities while improving water quality. To protect 
water quality and to decrease movement of sediment into streams, 
unneeded roads causing resource damage need to be decommissioned or 
closed.
    Three previously designated Dedicated Old Growth areas have no 
Replacement Old Growth (ROG) areas designated; three ROG areas need to 
be designated. The Malheur National Forest Plan directs the Forest to 
provide Replacement Old Growth and to complete this process in 
conjunction with the timber sale planning process.

[[Page 58302]]

    Capture economic value of material and help achieve a stable 
economy in the local area.
    Proposed Action. The proposal would decrease tree density by 
harvesting and thinning. Stand treatments include the following harvest 
methods: shelterwood (167 acres); partial cut (1,343 acres); and 
commercial thinning (2,568 acres). Treatment would decrease small tree 
density, reducing competition for nutrients for remaining trees. Timber 
yarding systems to be utilized are tractor (3,522 acres) and skyline 
(556 acres). The estimated volume of timber harvested is 11.1 million 
board feet. Fire and fuel reduction treatments include the following 
activities: prescribed burning (9,498 acres); fuel reduction (2,130 
acres); and burning within harvest units (517 acres). Three new areas 
for Replacement Old Growth (ROGs) areas to Dedicated Old Growth (DOGs) 
stands are provided for pileated woodpecker and pine marten.
    The Crawford Roads Analysis reviewed a portion of the roads within 
the analysis area. Roads needed for the proposal would include the 
following: new construction (12.8 miles), temporary construction (4.6 
miles), reconstructed (0.1 miles), maintained (60.9 miles), closed 
(15.2 miles) and decommissioned (24.5 miles). The Road Analysis 
concentrated on roads within Riparian Habitat Conservation Areas 
(RHCAs) and roads that might be needed for proposed activities, as haul 
routes. Roads within RHCAs contributing sediment or which potentially 
could contribute sediment were considered as candidates for 
decommissioning. No new road construction is proposed within RHCAs. 
This is permanent, new road construction that remains a part of the 
transportation system.
    Proposed activities would occur in the Crawford Creek, Mill Creek, 
Phipps Meadow, Dry Fork, Clear Creek, Bridge Creek, Squaw Creek, and 
Idaho/Summit Creek subwatersheds of the Upper Middle Fork John Day 
watershed.
    Issues. Preliminary issues were identified and include the 
potential effects of the proposed action on: management indicator 
species, threatened, endangered, and sensitive species, and neotropical 
migratory birds associated with dense forest habitat; soil compaction; 
increase sediment movement into streams; reduce water quality; and 
continued vehicle access in the area.
    Alternatives. A full range of alternatives will be considered 
including a ``No Action'' alternative in which none of the activities 
proposed above would be implemented. Based on the issues gathered 
through scoping, the action alternatives could differ in the 
silvicultural and post-harvest treatments prescribed, the amount and 
location of harvest, or the amount and location of fuels reduction 
activity.
    Scoping Process. The public will have an opportunity to participate 
at several points during the analysis including the scoping period 
after publication of the Notice of Intent, and the draft EIS in the 
Federal Register. Notification of these opportunities will also appear 
in subsequent issues of the Malheur National Forest's Schedule of 
Proposed Activities; letters to agencies, organizations, and 
individuals who have previously indicated their interest in such 
activities; and in the Blue Mountain Eagle. Public meetings may be 
scheduled during the winter of 2003/2004 and the spring of 2004. The 
scoping process will include identifying potential issues, identifying 
major issues to be analyzed in depth, eliminating non-significant 
issues, considering additional alternatives based on themes which will 
be derived from issues recognized during scoping activities, and 
identifying potential environmental effects of the proposed action and 
alternatives (i.e. direct, indirect, and cumulative effects).
    Comments. Public comments about this proposal are requested in 
order to assist in properly scoping issues, to determine how to best 
manage the resources, and to fully analyze environmental effects. 
Comments received to this notice, 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; those who submit 
anonymous comments will not have standing to appeal the subsequent 
decision under 36 CFR parts 215 and 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 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 submission and notify the 
requester that the comments may be resubmitted with or without name and 
address within a specified number of days.
    The draft EIS will be filed with Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA) and available for public review by May 2004. The comment period 
on the draft EIS will be 45 days from the date EPA publishes the notice 
of availability of the draft in the Federal Register. The final EIS 
will be released in September 2004.
    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 
a draft EIS 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, 533 (1978). Also, environmental objections 
that could be raised at the draft EIS stage but that are not raised 
until after completion of the final EIS 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 EIS.
    To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues 
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft EIS should 
be as specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to 
specific pages or chapters of the draft EIS. Comments may also address 
the adequacy of the draft EIS 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, the Forest Service is required to respond to 
substantive comments received during the comment period for the draft 
ESI. The Forest Service is the lead agency. The Responsible Official is 
the Forest Supervisor for the Malheur National Forest. The Responsible 
Official will decide where and whether or not to implement the proposed 
projects and will document the Crawford Timber Sale and Thinning 
decision and reasons for the decision in the Record of Decision. That 
decision will be subject

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to Forest Service Appeal Regulations (36 CFR Part 215).

    Dated: September 30, 2003.
Roger W. Williams,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 03-25584 Filed 10-8-03; 8:45 am]
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