[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 12, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18712-18714]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-3481]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Millville Peak/Logan Peak Road Relocation Project, Wasatch-Cache 
National Forest, Cache County, UT

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The Forest Supervisor of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest 
gives notice of the agency's intent to prepare an environmental impact 
statement on a proposal to relocate a total of about 5 miles of the 
Millville Peak and Logan

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Peak Roads (Forest Roads 20168 and 20042, respectively) due to road 
damage and safety concerns. The relocation would place construction in 
adjacent roadless areas.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by May 12, 2006. The draft environmental impact statement is expected 
to be published in November 2006, with public comment on the draft 
material accepted for a period of 45 days, and the final environmental 
impact statement is expected in March, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Rob Cruz, District Ranger, Logan 
Ranger District, 1500 East Highway 89, Logan, Utah 84321, ATTN: 
Millville Peak/Logan Peak Road EIS. Or, e-mail comments to: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Evelyn Sibbernsen, Environmental 
Coordinator, Logan Ranger District, 1500 East Highway 89, Logan, Utah 
84321, (435) 755-3620.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose of the Millville Peak/Logan Peak Road Relocation 
Project is for public safety, resource improvement, and to provide a 
safe, reliable, ground access route for maintenance of the State-owned 
communications facility at Logan Peak.
    The State of Utah, Information Technology Services, owns a high 
voltage electrical power line buried beneath the surface of a portion 
of the public access roadways, Millville Peak Road (Forest Road 20168) 
and Logan Peak Road (Forest Road 20042). The power line, installed 
nearly twenty years ago, serves the State-owned radio communications 
facility located at Logan Peak. The tower houses microwave equipment 
for several local, state, and national public safety entities providing 
a vital link in their communications systems.
    Normal vehicular and off-highway recreational traffic on the 
roadway, combined with irregular road maintenance and seasonal erosion, 
have severely damaged the surface of the roadway to the site, exposing 
the power line at several locations. The potential for death and 
serious injury is significant around those locations where the cable 
has been exposed. Severe damage to the roadway also impacts 
accessibility to the communications facility at Logan Peak.
    The first two-thirds of the 16-mile roadway accessing the 
communications site have been repaired and maintained where the cable 
could be buried deeper and the road maintained with additional gravel 
and installation of proper drainage. However, along the later section 
where the roadway gets excessively steep and rocky, road damage has 
resulted in the cable becoming increasingly exposed. Travel on this 
section of the road is unsafe and limits access to the communications 
facility on Logan Peak. The cable can no longer be safely covered and 
the road damage cannot be corrected by maintenance.
    There is a need to eliminate the public safety hazard posed by the 
exposed electrical power cable and a need to improve ground access to 
this vital communications facility located on Logan Peak.

Proposed Action

    The Forest Service proposes to re-Iocate a total of about 5 miles 
of the Millville Peak and Logan Peak Roads. The new roadways would be 
relocated away from the cable and designed to maintain an 8% or lower 
grade. They would be relocated up to one quarter mile from the existing 
roadways (at the greatest extent) and would have a maintenance level of 
2; the same as the existing roads. The old roadways would be physically 
closed and revegetated.
    The Millville Peak Road forms a part of the boundary between the 
Mount Logan North Roadless Area (19, 197 acres) and the Mount Logan 
South Roadless Area (17,001 acres). The section of road to be relocated 
would be constructed near the edge of the two roadless areas. The 
management prescriptions within which the road would be relocated, 
Management Prescriptions 3.1w (Watershed Emphasis) and 2.7 (Special 
Interest Areas), allow no road construction. Re-alignment of the road 
within the 3.1w or 2.7 management prescriptions would necessitate a 
non-significant amendment of the Forest Plan.

Possible Alternatives

    A no action alternative will be considered as well as any other 
alternatives that may be developed in response to significant issues.

Responsible Official

    The Responsible Official is Faye Krueger, Forest Supervisor, 
Wasatch-Cache National Forest, 8236 Federal Building, 125 South State 
Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84138.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    The decision to be made is whether or not to relocate this section 
of the Millville Peak and Logan Peak Roads and if so, where and to what 
degree.

Scoping Process

    The Forest Service invites comments and suggestions on the scope of 
the analysis to be included in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
(DEIS). In addition, the Forest Service gives notice that it is 
beginning a full environmental analysis and decision-making process for 
this proposal so that interested or affected people may know how they 
can participate in the environmental analysis and contribute to the 
final decision. This notice of intent initiates the scoping process 
which guides the development of the environmental impact statement. The 
Forest welcomes any public Service comments on the proposal.

Preliminary Issues

    Preliminary issues identified by the interdisciplinary team include 
the effects on the roadless character of the Mount Logan North and 
Mount Logan South Roadless Areas, the effects on motorized recreation 
challenge opportunities, access to routes that connect to the portion 
of the Millville Peak Road that would be relocated (such as Forest Road 
20126), effects on snowmobile opportunities and experience from the new 
road cut just below Logan Peak, the potential for new weed infestations 
from the new road cut, effects on threatened, endangered, and sensitive 
plant and wildlife species, and the effectiveness of the old Millville 
and Logan Peak Road closures in preventing future (unauthorized) use.

Comment Requested

    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.

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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 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.
    Comments received, including the names and addresses of those who 
comment, will be considered part of the public record on this proposal 
and will be available for public inspection.

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

    Dated: April 6, 2006.
Faye L. Krueger,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 06-3481 Filed 4-11-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M