[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 112 (Tuesday, June 10, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32676-32677]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-12823]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


East Deer Lodge Valley Landscape Restoration Management 
Environmental Impact Statement, Deer Lodge County, MT

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, will prepare an 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a integrated restoration 
proposal to restore terrestrial and aquatic conditions by improving the 
health, vigor and resilience of forest stands of infected, dead and 
high risk trees; restoration and maintenance of grass and shrub 
communities through prescribed burning; the restoration of aspen age 
classes and diversity; improving recreation opportunities and grazing; 
capturing the economic value of the dead and dying mountain pine beetle 
infested and high risk trees; understory thinning, followed with 
prescribed burning, on small understory conifer trees; enhancing water 
quality and quantity and maintaining and restoring conditions for 
native fish populations. The integrated restoration EIS will also 
improve public safety and infrastructure by reconstructing, relocating, 
maintaining and improving signing, design and linkage of forest trails, 
road densities and travel management. The EIS will address the 
obliteration of roads as well as provide mitigation measures to avoid 
introducing and spreading invasive vegetation. The proposed action will 
occur on a project area of approximately 39,000 acres of National 
Forest System land. The Forest Service will be using the Healthy Forest 
Restoration Act (HFRA). The East Deer Lodge Valley Landscape 
Restoration Project developed in response to the Healthy Forest 
Restoration Act (HFRA) of 2003 (PL 108-148). Title 1 of HFRA contains 
provisions to expedite hazardous fuel reduction and forest restoration 
projects on certain National Forest System lands at risk from wildland 
fire or are currently experiencing (or show imminent risk to) insect 
and disease epidemics (HFRA 2003, p. 15). Section 1 02(a)(4) of the 
HFRA authorizes expedited vegetation management projects where 
conditions such as the existence of an insect or disease epidemic ``* * 
* (poses) a significant threat to an ecosystem component, or forest or 
rangeland resource on the Federal land or adjacent non-Federal land.'' 
(Ibid. p. 20).
    Title 1 of HFRA encourages federal agencies to involve state and 
local governments and citizens when developing plans and projects for 
vegetation treatment on federal and adjacent non-federal lands (Ibid., 
p. 7). A stewardship contract will be let upon reaching the project 
decision and implementation. The Record of Decision will disclose 
whether and where the Forest Supervisor decides to provide integrated 
restoration proposals for both the terrestrial and aquatic 
environments.

DATES: A public mailing outlining the project timeline and public 
involvement opportunities is planned the summer and fall of 2008. 
Individuals who want to receive this mailing should contact us within 
30 days of the publication of this NOI. To be most useful, comments 
concerning the scope of this project should be received by July 30, 
2008. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement is anticipated in the 
spring or summer of 2009 followed by a 45-day public comment period. 
The Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision should 
be completed by the spring of 2010.

ADDRESSES: Please send written comments to the Pintler Ranger District, 
Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, Attn: Charlene Bucha Gentry, East 
Deer Lodge Valley Landscape Restoration Management EIS, 88 Business 
Loop, Philipsburg, MT 59858. The FAX number is (406) 859-3689. E-Mail 
comments can be submitted to the project leader, [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions about the proposal and EIS 
should be directed to Charlene Bucha Gentry, District Ranger, Pintler 
Ranger District, Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, 88 Business 
Loop, Philipsburg, MT 59858; telephone (406) 859-3211 or David 
Fletcher, Interdisciplinary Team Leader, Beaverhead-Deerlodge National 
Forest, Butte Ranger District/SO Annex, 1820 Meadowlark Lane, Butte, MT 
59701 telephone (406) 494-0235. E-mail comments can be sent to 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Background: The 39,000 acre East Deer Lodge Valley Landscape 
Restoration Management Project is located in southwest Montana and is 
bounded by the Clark Fork River along Interstate 90 on the west and the 
Continental Divide above the Deer Lodge Valley on the east located 
within the Pintler Ranger District of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National 
Forest, Deer Lodge County. In 2006 a Memorandum of Understanding 
established the Forest Stewardship Partnership between a diverse group 
of individuals and the Forest Service to provide framework for 
cooperation and coordination between the Forest Service and the members 
of the Forest Stewardship Partnership to engage in joint project 
planning within the project area.
    Purpose and Need: The purpose and need for the East Deer Lodge 
Valley Landscape Restoration Management Project is to: (1) Restore 
terrestial and aquatic conditions and processes in the project area, 
including goals, objectives, management prescriptions, and standards 
and guidelines set forth in the Forest Plan; (2) respond to needs and 
opportunities identified in the East Deer Lodge Valley Landscape 
Assessment of 2008; (3) capture the economic value of dead and dying 
mountain pine beetle infested and high risk trees; and (4) implement 
the Regional Integrated Restoration and Protection Strategy to help 
move the project area towards greater diversity, resiliency, and 
complexity; (5) incorporate Title 1 of HFRA which contains provisions 
to expediate hazardous fuel reduction and forest restoration projects 
on certain National Forest System lands that are at risk from wildland 
fire or are currently experiencing (or show imminent risk to) insect 
and desease epidemics (HFRA 2003, p. 15).
    Proposed Action: The proposed action of the East Deer Lodge Valley 
Landscape Restoration Management Project is to: (1) Improve the health, 
vigor and resilience of up to approximately 2,200 acres of forest 
stands of infected, dead and high risk trees; (2) treat approximately 
13,900 acres of mixed conifer trees by a) cutting followed by 
prescribed burning to restore and maintain grass and shrub communities 
and b) reducing hazardous fuels that are at risk from wildfire; (3) 
prescribe thinning on approximately 600 acres of smaller understory 
trees situated under mature mixed conifer forests followed with 
prescribed burning. The majority

[[Page 32677]]

of these proposed treatments acres are situated adjacent to wild and 
urban interface developments, individual ranch houses and outbuildings 
as well as popular recreation travel routes; (4) use receipts from the 
sale of forest products to improve watersheds, fisheries, recreation 
opportunities and grazing; (5) capturing the economic value of the dead 
and dying mountain pine beetle infested and high risk trees; (6) 
enhance water quality and quantity within the project area and maintain 
and restore conditions for native fish populations. The integrated 
restoration EIS will also evaluate reconstruction, relocation, 
maintenance and improved signing, design and linkage of forest trails; 
road densities, travel management and reconditioning forest roads and 
providing mitigation measures to avoid introducing and spreading 
invasive vegetation found within the East Deer Lodge Valley Landscape 
Restoration Management Project Area, Pintler Ranger District.
    Public Participation: Public participation has been an integral 
component of the study process and will continue to be especially 
important at several points during the analysis. The Forest Service 
will be seeking information, comments, and assistance from Tribal 
Governments, Federal, State, and local agencies, individuals and 
organizations that may be interested in, or affected by, the proposed 
activities. The scoping process includes: (1) Identification of 
potential issues; (2) identification of issues to be analyzed in depth; 
and, (3) elimination of insignificant issues or those which have been 
covered by a previous environmental review. Based on results of scoping 
and the resource capabilities within the project area, alternatives 
including a ``no-action'' alternative will be developed for the Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement.
    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). Environmental objections that could have been raised at 
the Draft Environmental Impact Statement stage may be waived or 
dismissed by the courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2nd 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 of the proposed action, comments during scoping and 
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 Environmental Impact 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 in response to this 
solicitation, including names and addresses of those who comment, will 
be considered part of the public record on this proposed action and 
will be available for public inspection. Comments submitted anonymously 
will be accepted and considered; however, those who submit anonymous 
comments will not have standing to appeal the subsequent decision under 
36 CFR Parts 215 or 217. Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any 
person may request the agency to withhold a submission from the public 
record by showing how the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permits 
such confidentiality. Requesters should be aware that, under FOIA, 
confidentiality may be granted in only very limited circumstances, such 
as to protect trade secrets. The Forest Service will inform the 
requester of the agencys decision regarding the request for 
confidentiality, and where the request is denied; the agency will 
return the submission and notify the requester that the comments may be 
resubmitted with or without name and address within 7 days.
    Responsible Official: Bruce Ramsey, Forest Supervisor, Beaverhead-
Deerlodge National Forest, 420 Barrett Street, Dillon, MT 59725, is the 
responsible official. The responsible official will consider the 
comments, responses, disclosure of environmental consequences, and 
applicable laws, regulations, and policies in making the decision and 
state the rationale in the Record of Decision.

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

    Dated: May 30, 2008.
Bruce Ramsey,
Forest Supervisor.
 [FR Doc. E8-12823 Filed 6-9-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M