[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 237 (Tuesday, December 11, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70293-70294]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-6012]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Sheppard Creek Post-Fire Project, Flathead National Forest, 
Flathead and Lincoln Counties, MT

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The USDA Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) for a proposal to salvage merchantable timber affected 
by the Brush Creek wildland fire on the Tally Lake Ranger District of 
the Flathead National Forest. This fire burned a total of approximately 
30,000 acres on the Flathead and Kootenai National Forests from July to 
September of 2007. Approximately 25,000 acres burned on the Tally Lake 
Ranger District where this project is proposed. The Kootenai National 
Forest will be preparing a separate salvage proposal. The city of 
Whitefish, Montana is located about twenty air miles to the east of the 
central portion of the project area.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be received 
in writing on or before January 15, 2008. A public scoping meeting will 
be held in the city of Kalispell, Montana on January 9, 2008. The draft 
environmental impact statement (DEIS) is expected to be filed with the 
Environmental Protection Agency and made available for public review in 
April of 2008. No date has yet been determined for filing the final 
environmental impact statement (FEIS).

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Lisa Timchak, Tally Lake District 
Ranger. The mailing address is Tally Lake Ranger District, 650 Wolfpack 
Way, Kalispell, Montana 59901. Electronic comments may be e-mailed to 
[email protected] with ``Sheppard Creek 
Post-Fire Project'' in the subject line and must be submitted in MSWord 
(*.doc) or rich text format (*.rtf). Comments received in response to 
this request will be available for public inspection and will be 
released in their entirety if requested pursuant to the Freedom of 
Information Act.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bryan Donner, Planning Team Leader, 
Tally Lake Ranger District, 650 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, Montana 59901 
or call at (406) 758-0408.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose and need for the action is to recover merchantable wood 
fiber affected by the Brush Creek Fire in a timely manner to support 
local communities and contribute to the long-term yield of forest 
products.
    Fire-killed trees do not typically maintain their merchantability 
as wood products for more than one to three years, depending on their 
species and size. Sapwood staining, checking, woodborer damage, and 
decay will deleteriously reduce timber volume after that time. Smaller-
diameter trees typically will not be merchantable within a year. 
Larger-diameter trees can retain their merchantability as wood products 
for a longer period, but merchantability will deteriorate as time goes 
on. While considering ecological needs, salvage harvesting an 
appropriate amount of fire-affected trees in a timely manner to ensure 
their economic utilization and starting the reforestation process in 
the burned area will help facilitate meeting desired conditions within 
the area of the Brush Creek Fire.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action includes salvage of trees from approximately 
6500 acres, which represents about 30 percent of the area that burned 
in the 2007 Brush Creek Fire on the Flathead National Forest. 
Approximately 17 miles of road reconstruction are proposed to access 
burned trees. This reconstruction on existing road templates would 
allow use of the road during salvage operations and would later close 
them after salvage operations are completed. In addition, new temporary 
road construction is proposed on approximately 9 miles to access burned 
trees. No salvage or road building is proposed within inventoried 
roadless lands. Planting conifer seedlings and ensuring that Best 
Management Practices would be maintained on roads used for the salvage 
would also be included in this project.
    More detailed scoping information and maps can be accessed on the 
Flathead National Forest internet site at http://www.fs.fed.us/rl/flathead/.

Possible Alternatives

    Alternative A is the no-action alternative. Alternative B, the 
proposed action described above, was developed by the interdisciplinary 
team to respond to the purpose and need for action and to comply with 
the Flathead Forest Plan. At least one additional action

[[Page 70294]]

alternative will be developed by modifying the proposed action to 
respond to the significant issues identified during the public 
involvement and scoping process.

Responsible Official

    The Responsible Official is the Forest Supervisor of the Flathead 
National Forest, 650 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, Montana 59901. The Forest 
Supervisor will make a decision regarding this proposal considering the 
comments and responses, environmental consequences discussed in the 
final EIS, and applicable laws, regulations, and policies. The decision 
and rationale for the decision will be documented in a Record of 
Decision.

Nature of the Decision To Be Made

    An environmental analysis for the Sheppard Creek Post-Fire Project 
will evaluate site-specific issues, consider management alternatives, 
and analyze the potential effects of the proposed action and 
alternatives. The scope of the project is limited to decisions 
concerning activities within the Sheppard Creek Post-Fire Project Area 
that meet the Purpose and Need, as well as desired conditions. An 
environmental impact statement will provide the Responsible Official 
with the information needed to decide which actions, if any, to 
approve.
    This EIS will tier to the Flathead National Forest Land and 
Resource Management Plan and EIS of January 1986, and its subsequent 
amendments, which provide overall guidance for land management 
activities on the Flathead National Forest.

Scoping Process

    Public questions and comments regarding this proposal are an 
integral part of this environmental analysis process. Comments will be 
used to identify issues and develop alternatives to the proposed 
action. To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering 
issues and concerns on the proposed action, comments should be as 
specific as possible.
    Input provided by interested and/or affected individuals, 
organizations, and government agencies will be used to identify 
resource issues that will be analyzed in the draft EIS. The Forest 
Service will identify significant issues raised during the scoping 
process, and use them to formulate alternatives, prescribe project 
design features, and/or analyze environmental effects.

Preliminary Issues

    Preliminary issues and concerns include effects of treatments on 
the following: Soils, old growth and mature tree wildlife habitat, 
cavity nesting wildlife habitat, threatened and endangered species 
habitat, and potential bark beetle epidemics.

Comment Requested

    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 atlernatives 
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.

    Dated: December 4, 2007.
Cathy Barbouletos,
Forest Supervisor, Flathead National Forest.
[FR Doc. 07-6012 Filed 12-10-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M