[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 143 (Thursday, July 26, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41051-41052]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-3653]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

PROJECT: Corralled Bear, Clearwater National Forest, Latah County, ID.

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 fire, fuels reduction, watershed restoration, and 
access management activities in the Corralled Bear project area on the 
Palouse Ranger District of the Clearwater National Forest. The 
Corralled Bear project area is located north of the towns of Deary and 
Helmer within the East Fork of Big Bear Creek and Corral Creek 
drainages, approximately 21 air-miles northeast of the town of Moscow, 
Idaho.

DATES: This project was previously scoped in March 2006, and the 
comments received will be included in the documentation for the EIS. A 
45-day public comment period will follow the release of the draft 
environmental impact statement (DEIS) that is expected in September 
2007. The final environmental impact statement (FEIS) and Record of 
Decision (ROD) is expected in February 2008.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Corralled Bear project area contains 
approximately 11,318 acres, which is all National Forest lands except 
for 160 acres of private land. The project area is located in portions 
of T40N, R1W; T40N, R2W; T41N, R1W; and T41N, R2W, Boise Meridian, 
Latah County, Idaho. The proposed actions would occur on National 
Forest lands and are all outside the boundaries of any inventoried 
roadless area or any areas considered for inclusion to the National 
Wilderness System as recommended by the Clearwater National Forest Plan 
or by any past or present legislative wilderness proposals.
    Purpose and Need for Action is to: (1) Promote stand productivity, 
restore vegetative successional stages to reflect historical patch 
sizes and locations, and restore blister rust resistant white pine; (2) 
reduce fuel buildup in stands where fire suppression has interrupted 
the short-return fire interval and resulted in unnaturally high amounts 
of fuel and overgrown understory, and create a more defensible space to 
control wildfire on Forest Service land adjacent to private property; 
(3) reduce long-term sedimentation to streams caused by existing 
unsurfaced roads, and stabilize stream banks made unstable by motorized 
vehicles, cattle trailing, and channelization (historic railroad 
grades); (4) update fish/water quality standards for Corral Creek in 
Appendix K of the Clearwater Forest Plan to better meet the Clean Water 
Act standards supporting fisheries and reflect better information

[[Page 41052]]

on fisheries collected in stream surveys; and (5) provide for a 
reasonable level of off-highway vehicle (OHV) access, reduce user 
conflicts, and provide the necessary resource protection required by 
law, regulation, and good stewardship practices.
    The Proposed Action would consist of timber harvest on about 812 
acres, using improvement cuts, commercial thinning, and regeneration 
harvest methods. Some regeneration harvests could create openings 
exceeding 40 acres in size; however, all harvest will retain some 
healthy trees and replacement snags for structural diversity. Road 
activities associated with the timber sales would include 
reconstructing about 2.4 miles of existing roads and constructing 3.6 
miles of temporary road (to be decommissioned after harvest activity). 
About 8.6 miles of open roads would be treated on each side to reduce 
fuel concentrations and ladder fuels. Watershed improvements would 
include 8.2 miles of road decommissioning, putting 14.4 miles of 
existing roads into intermittent stored service (self-maintaining), and 
installation of a rocked cattle crossing. Access management would 
consist of designating existing suitable OHV routes for future use and 
managing area roads and trails based on a Roads Analysis. Other 
components of the proposed action include designating areas to be 
managed for old growth and making a Forest Plan Amendment to raise the 
fish/water quality standards on Corrall Creek to incorporate better 
information on fish and their habitat.
    Possible Alternatives the Forest Service will consider include the 
``no action '' alternative in which none of the proposed activities 
would be implemented. Additional alternatives being considered include 
an alternative that does not build any new roads, an alternative that 
does not create any openings by utilizing only intermediate (non-
regeneration) type harvests like thinnings and improvement cuts, an 
alternative that promotes patch placement for maximum wildlife and 
biological benefits, an alternative that does not include a Forest Plan 
Amendment to increase the fish and water standard for Corral Creek, and 
an alternative that only includes activities that would help stabilize 
watershed conditions, such as road obliteration, stream bank 
stabilization and OHV use management.
    The Scoping Process was initiated with the release of a Scoping 
Letter on March 29, 2006. Comments received as a result of that effort 
will be included in the documentation for the EIS. Additional public 
input will be solicited following the release of the DEIS. This 
proposal also includes six openings greater than 40 acres in size that 
would be created by timber harvest. A 60-day public review of the 
proposed openings will be initiated by public notice in the newspaper 
of record.
    Preliminary Issues that could be affected by proposed activities 
include: Access management, air quality, economic feasibility, fish 
habitat, heritage resources, sensitive and management indicator species 
of wildlife, sensitive plants, snag habitat, soil productivity, spread 
of noxious weeds, tribal treaty rights, and water quality. Issues 
expected not to be affected by the proposal include impacts of grazing, 
old growth habitat, risk of landslides, and threatened and endangered 
wildlife and plant species. Issues identified through previous scoping 
and found to be outside the scope of the project or not consistent with 
Forest Plan standards include using prescribed fire instead of timber 
harvest for vegetative treatments within the E1 management area and 
evaluating cattle grazing laws.
    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. 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)

    The Responsible Official for this project is the Forest Supervisor 
of the Clearwater National Forest, 12730 Highway 12, Orofino, ID 83544. 
The Responsible Official will decide if the proposed project will be 
implemented and will document the decision and reasons for the decision 
in a Record of Decision. That decision will be subject to Forest 
Service Appeal Regulations. The responsibility for preparing the DEIS 
and FEIS has been delegated to Kara Chadwick, District Ranger, Palouse 
Ranger District.

ADDRESSES:  Written comments and suggestions concerning this project 
should be sent to: Kara Chadwick, District Ranger, Palouse Ranger 
District, 1700 Highway 6, Potlatch, ID 83855 or e-mailed to: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tam White; Project Leader, North Fork 
Ranger District, at: [email protected] or phone: (208) 476-4541.

    Dated: July 19, 2007.
Thomas K. Reilly,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 07-3653 Filed 7-25-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M