[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 62 (Friday, April 1, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16792-16793]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-6442]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


BLT Vegetation Management Project, Deschutes National Forest, 
Klamath County, OR

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 proposed action to address forest health and 
hazardous fuels concerns within the 14,800 acre planning area known as 
the BLT Vegetation Project. The planning area is located in the Upper 
Little Deschutes Watershed, which includes the upper reaches of the 
Little Deschutes River; it is located in T.25-26 S, R. 6\1/2\E; T. 25-
26 S, R. 7E; T. 24S, R. 8 E. The alternatives will include the proposed 
action, no action, and additional alternatives that respond to issues 
generated through the scoping process. 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 30 days following the date that this notice appears in the Federal 
Register.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Phil Cruz, District Ranger, 
Crescent Ranger District, PO Box 208, Crescent, Oregon 97733.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Mickle, Environmental 
Coordinator, Crescent Ranger District, PO Box 208, Crescent, Oregon 
97773, phone (541) 433-3200. E-mail [email protected].
    Responsible Official: The responsible official will be Leslie 
Weldon, Forest Supervisor, Deschutes National Forest, PO Box 1654 Hwy 
20 East, Bend, OR 97701.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Purpose and Need. Current conditions on the landscape indicate that 
forests are moving toward late seral stages, with stand structure 
becoming more complex and more susceptible to stand replacement events. 
Stands once dominated by large trees (greater than 21 inches in 
diameter) have a steadily increasing amount of smaller trees. In many 
areas the large trees do not dominate the forest sufficiently to 
provide adequately for species that depend on late- and old-structure 
habitat. Overcrowding and competition with the young, smaller trees are 
causing the large-tree component to decline. This may occur slowly 
through insect/disease outbreaks, or more rapidly through large-scale 
fire events.
    In addition to unhealthy conditions for large trees, mortality 
resulting from insect and disease outbreaks has created dead fuel build 
up. High levels of blowdown in some areas increase the fuel loadings. 
Some lodgepole pine stands have an overstory that is in poor condition, 
with heavy mistletoe in some cases. This poses a condition that could

[[Page 16793]]

impede development of a health understory.
    In some parts of the project area, homes and personal property lie 
adjacent to Forest land, creating what is known as ``wildland-urban 
interface.'' There is a need to reduce hazardous fuels in those areas 
to increase the ability to control wildfire. This will improve safety 
for firefighters and residents and reduce the risk of high intensity 
fire destroying private property as well as important forest habitats.
    Specifically, the purpose and need of the proposed action is to:
--Reduce stand density where it is too high to promote development of 
large tree structure.
--Reduce the level of hazardous fuels including ladder and surface 
fuels. Return fire to the ecosystem.
--Improve conditions in lodgepole pine where the overstory is in poor 
condition because of mistletoe or other diseases or insects.
--Maintain or improve late and old structured stands, and reduce the 
risk to the ecosystem posed by large-scale, catastrophic outbreaks of 
insects, disease, and fire.
--Address fire hazard in the wildland-urban interface by creating fuel 
breaks around subdivisions.
--Take advantage of opportunities resulting from vegetation management 
activities that offset costs and provide products to stimulate the 
economy.

    Proposed Action. The proposed actions are intended to sustain, 
enhance, and protect long-term productivity and resiliency of the 
forest ecosystem, maintain and enhance wildlife habitat, recreational 
opportunities, and quality scenic values, and address concerns within 
the wildland/urban interface. Proposed actions include selection 
harvest, commercial thinning, small tree thinning and ladder fuels 
reduction, activity fuels treatments, and prescribed underburning to 
treat natural fuels.
    Issues. The following is a list of concerns or issues related to 
the proposed action that the interdisciplinary team has identified. 
Other issues arise from public input. Where issues cannot be resolved 
through project design or mitigation, they may be the basis for 
developing alternatives to the Proposed Action.
     Soil Productivity: Maintenance of soil productivity is an 
important objective for management of National Forest lands.
     Water Quality and Fish Habitat: The Little Deschutes River 
is listed on the 2002 303(d) list as ``Water Quality Limited'' by the 
Oregon Department of Environmental quality. Activities proposed must 
improve conditions in the stream, or at least ensure that the 
conditions are not further degraded.
     Wildlife Habitat: Within the project area, treatment aimed 
at improving forest health conditions and reducing fuels have the 
potential to reduce certain attributes important to some species of 
wildlife habitat.
     Special Forest Products: The project area includes habitat 
and popular harvesting areas for matsutake mushrooms. Vegetation and/or 
fuels treatments have the potential to affect matsutake growing 
conditions, both beneficially and adversely.
    Comment. Public comments about this proposal are requested in order 
to assist in identifying issues, determine how to best manage the 
resources, and to focus the analysis. 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; however, 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 1.279d), 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.
    A draft EIS will be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA) and available for public view by April, 2006. The EPA will 
publish a Notice of Availability (NOA) of the draft EIS in the Federal 
Register. The final EIS is scheduled to be available July, 2006.
    The comment period on the draft EIS will be 45 days from the date 
the EPA publishes 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 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, 553 (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. 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 statement. Comments may also 
address the adequacy of the draft EIS of 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 
EIS. The Forest Service is the lead agency and the responsible official 
is the Forest Supervisor, Deschutes National Forest. The responsible 
official will decide where, and whether or not to thin stands, salvage 
excess dead and dying lodgepole pine, and apply natural fuels 
treatments. The responsible official will also decide how to mitigate 
impacts of these actions and will determine when and how monitoring of 
effects will take place.
    The BLT Vegetation Project decision and the reasons for the 
decision will be documented in the record of decision. That decision 
will be subject to Forest Service Appeal Regulations (35 CFR part 215).

    Dated: March 28, 2005.
Leslie A.C. Weldon,
Forest Supervisor, Deschutes National Forest.
[FR Doc. 05-6442 Filed 3-31-05; 8:45 am]
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