[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 62 (Friday, April 1, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16794-16795]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-6445]



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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Five Buttes Interface Vegetation Management Project, Deschutes 
National Forest, Deschutes and Klamath Counties, 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 maintain and restore forest 
health conditions within the 160,000-acre planning area known as Five 
Buttes Interface. The planning area is located approximately 50 miles 
south of Bend, Oregon, south of Wickiup Reservoir, east of the Cascade 
Crest, and west of State Highway 97. The area is a combination of 
public lands (90%), managed by the Deschutes National Forest, and 
private lands (10%). 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, P.O. Box 208, Crescent, Oregon 97733.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marcy Boehme, Environmental 
Specialist, Crescent Ranger District, P.O. Box 208, Crescent, Oregon 
97733, phone (541) 433-3200. E-mail [email protected].
    Responsible Official: The responsible official will be Leslie 
Weldon, Forest Supervisor, Deschutes National Forest, P.O. Box 1645 
Hwy. 20 East, Bend, OR 97701.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Purpose and Need. The Davis Late Successional Reserve Assessment 
found that the most immediate need within the Late Successional Reserve 
(LSR) was to reduce the risk of uncharacteristic loss of critical 
vegetative components in the existing late and old-structured stands 
that are imminently susceptible to insect attack or wildfire. This 
situation applies in much of the area outside the LSR as well.
    In the mixed conifer dry plant association group the true fir 
component has increased dramatically in the last century. Because of 
the dry site conditions and the stand structure that provides ladder 
fuels from the ground to the crown, these stands are at the highest 
risk of being lost to a large-scale insect or disease attack or fire 
event. Large ponderosa pine and Douglas fir that would ordinarily be 
fire resistant are placed at risk because of increased competition with 
true fir and increased ladder fuels.
    Across the landscape stands once dominated by large trees (greater 
than 21'' in diameter) have a steadily increasing amount of smaller 
trees. Due to these overstocked stand conditions and competition with 
younger, smaller trees, it is likely that the large tree component will 
continue to decline in these forests. High density understories consist 
mostly of true fir and lodgepole pine, while residual overstory trees 
are ponderosa pine, sugar pine, white pine, and Douglas fir. Not enough 
overstory trees of the right species exist to provide a seed source to 
adequately replace the larger trees that are being lost.
    The decline in large-tree dominated stands affects habitat for the 
bald eagle and the northern spotted owl, species listed as Threatened 
under the Endangered Species Act. Habitat for both species has been 
reduced on the landscape by the Davis Fire, thereby increasing the 
importance of treatments that can help improve resistance of the large, 
old trees to insect and fire processes.
    Fire exclusion has allowed wet areas and riparian zones in the 
planning area to experience encroachment by lodgepole pine to levels 
that significantly reduce the abundance and health of historic riparian 
vegetation.
    The proposed action is designed to address opportunities for 
restoring ecosystems identified during watershed analysis and to 
implement the management strategy defined for the Davis LSR. 
Specifically, the purpose and need of the proposed action is to:

--Reduce the risk of large-scale loss of forest due to insects, 
disease, and/or uncharacteristically severe wildfires.
--Maintain and enhance existing late and old-structured forest stand 
characteristics through silvicultural treatments.
--Reduce high fuel loading across the project area, including the urban 
interface, to better protect communities and the forest.
--Reintroduce fire to fire-dependent ecosystems as a natural fuels 
reduction agent.
--Take advantage of opportunities resulting from vegetation management 
activities that offset costs and provide products to stimulate the 
economy.

    Proposed Action. The proposed action includes a variety of 
vegetation management activities. These include: thin to create or 
maintain single story stands and culture large trees, thin to maintain 
multi-story canopy and large trees, combination thin to multi-story and 
single story, remove (salvage) excess dead and dying lodgepole pine; 
thin and burn lodgepole understory, and use prescribed fire in 
association with these activities to maintain or enhance fire-dependent 
ecosystems.
    Issues. Preliminary issues identified include the potential effect 
of the proposed action on suitable nesting, roosting and foraging (NRF) 
habitat for the northern spotted owl. Treatments aimed at making these 
stands more resistant to insect, disease, and fire may also cause 
short-term degradation of habitat.
    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 1.27(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, confidentially 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 review by January, 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 April, 2006.
    The comment period on the draft EIS will be 45 days from the date 
the EPA

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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 
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 think 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 Five Buttes Interface 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. 05-6445 Filed 3-31-05; 8:45 am]
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