[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 139 (Friday, July 20, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39784-39786]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-3519]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Kootenai National Forest, Rexford Ranger District, Montana; 
Young-Dodge Environmental Impact Statement

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) to disclose the environmental effects of timber 
harvest, prescribed burning, road management, recreation improvements, 
and special use permits in the Young-Dodge Decision Area (Decision 
Area) on the Rexford Ranger District of the Kootenai National Forest. 
The Forest Service is seeking comments from Federal; State, and local 
agencies and individuals and organizations that may be interested in or 
affected by the proposed actions. The comments will be used to prepared 
the draft EIS (DEIS).

DATES: Written comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be 
postmarked by or received within 30 days following publication of this 
notice. The draft environmental impact statement is expected in April 
2008.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments concerning the proposed action to Glen 
M. McNitt, District Ranger, Rexford Ranger District, 1299 U.S. Highway 
93 N, Eureka, MT 59917. All comments received must contain: name of 
commenter, postal service mailing address, and date of comment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Fox, Interdisciplinary Team 
Leader, Rexford Ranger District, 1299 U.S. Highway 93N, Eureka, MT 
59917.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Decision Area is located approximately 
15 miles northwest of Eureka, Montana, and contains approximately 
37,900 acres of land within the Kootenai National Forest. Proposed 
activities include all or portions of the following areas: T.37N R.28W 
and part of T.37N R.29W, PMM, Lincoln County, Montana.
    All proposed activities are outside the boundaries of any areas 
considered for inclusion to the National Wilderness System as 
recommended by the Kootenai National Forest Plan or by any

[[Page 39785]]

past or present legislative wilderness proposals. A prescribed burn is 
proposed within the boundary of the Robinson Mountain Inventoried 
Roadless Area.

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose and need for the project is to: (1) Reduce fuel 
accumulations, both inside and outside the Wildland-Urban Interface, to 
decrease the likelihood that fires would become stand-replacing 
wildfires; (2) Restore historical vegetation species and stand 
structure; and (3) Restore historical patch sizes. Other consideration 
are: (4) Identify the minimum transportation system necessary to 
provide safe, reasonable, and efficient access for Forest Service 
administrative activities and fire suppression, recreation use and 
public access, and private land owners and utility companies; (5) 
Manage the transportation system to reduce effects to threatened, 
endangered, sensitive, and management indicator species habitat and 
security; streams, riparian areas, and wetlands; big game winter range; 
and old growth habitat, and to minimize road maintenance costs; (6) 
Evaluate recreation facilities and opportunities to meet growing and 
anticipated demand; and (7) Evaluate existing and proposed Special Use 
Permits.

Proposed Action

    The Forest Service proposes to use regeneration harvest 
(shelterwood and seedtree prescriptions) on approximately 2,000 acres, 
and commercial thinning on approximately 1,120 acres.
    The Proposed Action would result in 26 openings over 40 acres, 
ranging from 41 to 1,121 acres. A 60-day public review period and 
approval by the Regional Forester for exceeding the 40-acre limitation 
for regeneration harvest would be required prior to the signing of the 
Record of Decision. This 60-day period is initiated with this Notice of 
Intent.
    The Proposed Action includes approximately 2,660 acres of 
underburning following timber harvest, 460 acres of excavator piling 
and burning, and approximately 2,050 acres of prescribed burning 
without timber harvest. Approximately 1,650 acres will be mechanically 
pre-treated followed by prescribed burning. Additionally, the Proposed 
Action includes 31 acres of post and pole harvest, 366 acres of 
roadside salvage, and up to 200 acres of salvage of incidental 
mortality associated with prescribed burning.
    The Proposed Action includes maintenance activities on portions of 
approximately 70 miles of road to meet Best Management Practices; 
decommissioning approximately 12 miles of roads currently restricted 
year-long to motorized vehicles; placing approximately 26 miles of 
roads, which are currently restrict year-long to motor vehicles, in 
intermittent stored service; placing seasonal restrictions on motorized 
vehicle use on approximately 6 miles of roads; adding approximately 9 
miles of ``unauthorized'' roads to the National Forest Road System; and 
realigning and reconstructing approximately .25 miles of a road which 
is of poor standard and receiving heavy use.
    The Proposed Action includes the construction of a boat ramp and 
installation of a rest room, and improvements to a trail.
    The Proposed Action also includes a number of special use permits 
which will expire during the period this project will be implemented, 
and two proposed special use permits for utility lines.
    The Proposed Action may require several project-specific Forest 
Plan amendments to meet the project's objectives:
    An amendment to allow harvest in units adjacent to existing 
openings in Management Area (MA) 12 (Big Game Summer Range). The 
amendment would be needed to suspend Wildlife and Fish Standard 
7 and Timber Standard 2 for this area. These 
standards state the movement corridors and adjacent hiding cover be 
retained.
    The resulting opening sizes more closely correlate to natural 
disturbance patterns. Snags and down woody material would be left to 
provide wildlife habitat and maintain soil productivity.
    A third amendment to allow the open road density in MA 12 to be 
managed at greater than 0.75 miles/square mile during project 
implementation may be required. The amendment would be necessary to 
suspend Facilities Standard 3, which states that open road 
density should be maintained at 0.75 miles/square mile.

Possible Alternatives

    The Forest Service will consider a range of alternatives. One of 
these will be the ``no action'' alternative, in which none of the 
proposed activities will be implemented. Additional alternatives will 
be considered to achieve the project's purpose and need for action, and 
to respond to specific resource issues and public concerns.

Responsible Official

    Paul Bradford, Forest Supervisor, Kootenai National Forest, 1101 
Highway 2 West, Libby, MT 59923.

Nature of the Decision To Be Made

    This project will provide approximately 10 MMBF of commercial 
forest products, reduce hazardous fuels within and outside the 
wildland-urban interface, provide for recreation facilities, and 
evaluate special-use permits.

Scoping Process

    In March 2007, efforts were made to involve the public in 
considering management opportunities within the Decision Area. Open 
houses were held on March 14 and 15, 2007. A scoping package was mailed 
for public review on May 4, 2007. An open house was held on May 16, 
2007, and field trips were held on May 17, 2007 and June 28, 2007. The 
proposal will be included in the quarterly Schedule of Proposed 
Actions. Comments received prior to this notice will be included in the 
documentation for the EIS.

Preliminary Issues

    A preliminary issue identified reflects concern over the amount of 
regeneration harvest (approximately 2,000 acres) proposed in watersheds 
were logging has occurred and grizzly bears and lynx may be present.

Comment Requested

    This Notice of intent initiates the scoping process which guides 
the development of the environment impact statement. At this stage of 
the planning process, site-specific public comments are being requested 
to determine the scope of the analysis, and identify significant issues 
and alternatives to the Proposed Action.

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 will be 
45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency published the 
notice of availability in the Federal Register.
    The Forest Service believes it is important to give reviewers 
notice of several court rulings related to public participating in the 
environmental review process. First, reviewers of DEIS' 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

[[Page 39786]]

Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978). Also, environmental 
objections that could be raised at the draft environmental impact 
statement stage 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, 1339 (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 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 statements. 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: July 10, 2007.
Paul Bradford,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 07-3519 Filed 7-19-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M