[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 103 (Wednesday, May 30, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29948-29949]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-10358]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Caribou-Targhee National Forest, Idaho; Big Bend Ridge Vegetation 
Management Project and Timber Sale Supplement Environmental Impact 
Statement and Proposed Targhee Revised Forest Plan Amendment

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement.

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SUMMARY: The Caribou-Targhee National Forest proposes to supplement the 
Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Management Project and Timber Sale analysis 
and to consider amending the Targhee Revised Forest Plan with regard to 
old growth and aspen. The supplement will provide additional analysis 
and disclosure of environmental effects.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
within 45 days from the date of this publication. The draft 
supplemental environmental impact statement is expected in September 
2007. The comment period on the draft supplemental environmental impact 
statement will be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection 
Agency publishes the notice of availability in the Federal Register. 
The final supplemental environmental impact statement is expected in 
early 2008.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Robbin Redman, Forest Planner, 
Caribou-Targhee National Forest, 1405 Hollipark Drive, Idaho Falls, 
Idaho 83401. Electronic comments can be submitted in rich text format 
(.rtf), or Word (.doc) to [email protected].
    For further information, mail correspondence to Robbin Redman, 
Forest Planner, Caribou-Targhee National Forest, 1405 Hollipark Drive, 
Idaho Falls, Idaho 83401 or call (208) 557-5821.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robbin Redman, Forest Planner, 
Caribou-Targhee National Forest, USDA, (see address above).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Forest Service, working with the public, 
developed the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Management Project and Timber 
Sale over numerous years beginning in 1998. The process included 
publishing a Notice of Intent (NOI), seeking comments (scoping) on the 
proposed project and also seeking comments on the Draft EIS that 
included various alternatives for the project. On December 12, 2003 a 
Record of Decision selecting Alternative C was signed by the Forest 
Supervisor. This decision was appealed and upheld by the Intermountain 
Regional Forester.
    After the ROD was upheld on appeal, a Complaint was filed in Idaho 
District Court. In the Complaint the Plaintiffs sought to enjoin the 
Big Bend Vegetation Management Project and Timber Sale project. The 
Court did not enjoin the Big Bend Vegetation Management Project and 
Timber Sale in its November 2004 ruling stating the logging was not 
imminent. The Court did enjoin the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Project 
and Timber Sale on September 28, 2005 in its Memorandum Decision and 
Order when it determined the logging was imminent.
    To address the Court's decision on the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation 
Project and Timber Sale, the Forest has completed a draft vegetation 
assessment of old growth and aspen for the Targhee National Forest. 
This preliminary information revealed that more clarification and 
guidance in the Targhee Revised Forest Plan (TRFP) is needed to assess, 
monitor, and manage old growth and aspen forests, and the proposed 
Targhee amendment is a result of this assessment.

Purpose and Need for Action

    New information and a court ruling on the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation 
Management Project has shown that more clarification and guidance to 
assess, monitor, and manage old growth forest is needed. The Forest has 
determined a need to supplement the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation 
Management Project and Timber Sale analysis and to consider updating 
the Targhee Revised Forest Plan (TRFP) with regard to managing old 
growth, and aspen forests. This draft assessment will be used in the 
Forest's review of the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Management Project and 
Timber Sale and incorporated into the DSEIS and FSEIS for the project. 
In the SEIS process for the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Management 
Project and Timber Sale, the Forest will consider amending the TRFP as 
needed to address clarification of old growth forest and aspen.
    The purpose and need for the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Management 
Project and Timber Sale is: (1) Need for ecosystems and their 
components to be resilient to disturbances to structure, composition 
and processes at appropriate landscape scales. (2) Need to improve 
overall representation of forested age classes across the landscape 
over the long-term. (3) Need to maintain and regenerate declining 
species (at risk). (4) Need to provide for a sustained yield of forest 
products.

Proposed Action

    The Forest will supplement the analysis for the Big Bend Ridge 
Vegetation Management Project and Timber Sale with regard to old 
growth, and aspen. The Forest also proposes to amend the TRFP to make 
it consistent regarding old growth, and aspen.
    The Forest proposes to develop Desired Future Conditions for old 
growth, and aspen that would be incorporated into the Targhee Revised 
Forest Plan. The Forest also proposes to remove the current guidance 
for old growth/late seral management found on page III-12-13 6 
of the Targhee Revised Forest Plan.
    The Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Management Project includes the 
following: harvesting by thinning from below and also some limited 
sanitation improvement harvest, planting a limited amount of trees 
(approximately 200 acres), closing some non-system roads before and 
after harvest, relocating a specific road, some maintenance of roads 
used in the harvest activities, fencing some aspen units if needed, and 
some temporary road construction with rehabilitation after harvest.

Possible Alternatives

    The Forest has developed the Proposed Action for the TRFP amendment 
as discussed above and the no-action alternative.

Responsible Official

    The responsible official is: Lawrence Timchak, Forest Supervisor, 
Caribou-

[[Page 29949]]

Targhee National Forest, 1405 Hollipark Drive, Idaho Falls, ID 83401.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    Given the purpose and need, the deciding officer will decide 
whether or not to make a new decision on the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation 
Management Project and Timber Sale and whether to amend the Targhee 
Revised Forest Plan.

Scoping Process

    The Forest is now seeking comments on this proposal and will seek 
comments on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for 
the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Project and Timber Sale and the proposed 
TRFP amendment when it becomes available.

Comment Requested

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process which guides 
the development of the supplemental environmental impact statement.

Early Notice of Importance of Public Participation in Subsequent 
Environmental Review

    A draft supplemental environmental impact statement will be 
prepared for comment. The comment period on the draft supplemental 
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. 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 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 supplemental 
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 
supplemental 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: May 23, 2007.
Lawrence Timchak,
Forest Supervisor.
 [FR Doc. E7-10358 Filed 5-29-07; 8:45 am]
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