[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 65 (Tuesday, April 7, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15691-15693]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-7490]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Willow Creek Pass Fuel Reduction Project

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA--Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests; 
Hahns Peak-Bears Ears Ranger District, Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

PROJECT:  Willow Creek Pass Fuel Reduction Project.

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

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SUMMARY: The mountain pine beetle epidemic is continuing to cause large 
areas of mortality to lodgepole pine throughout the Medicine Bow-Routt 
National Forests. Adjacent private lands are experiencing mortality 
along shared boundaries and an increasing number of homeowner 
associations are taking preventive steps to provide defensible space 
around their properties and reduce overhead hazard trees.
    The Willow Creek Pass Village Homeowners Association (WCPV-HOA) has 
requested assistance with increasing defensible space and removal of 
hazard trees on Forest lands (east) adjacent to their private boundary.
    This project is an ``authorized and covered project'' under Title I 
of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA). We will be using 
expedited procedures authorized by this Act to complete project 
planning and decision-making. Use of this authority requires an 
emphasis on collaboration with local communities and a determination 
that an epidemic exists by consulting with forest health specialists.

DATES: The draft environmental impact statement is expected to be filed 
with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and available for public 
review during April 2009. At that time, the EPA will publish a Notice 
of Availability (NOA) of the draft EIS in the Federal Register. The 
comment period on the draft EIS will be for a period of not less than 
45 days from the date the EPA publishes the NOA in the Federal 
Register. It is important that those interested in the management of 
this area comment at that time.
    The final EIS is expected to be available in June 2009. In the 
final EIS, the Forest Service will respond to any comments received 
during the public comment period that pertain to the environmental 
analysis. Those comments and the Forest Service responses will be 
disclosed and discussed in the final EIS and will be considered when 
the final decision about this proposal is made.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Jamie Kingsbury, District Ranger, 
925 Weiss Drive, Steamboat Springs, Colorado 80487. Comments may also 
be sent via e-mail or facsimile. E-mail to: comments-rocky-mountain-medicine-bow-routt-hahns-peak-bears-ears@fs.fed.us, include ``Willow 
Creek Pass'' in the subject line of the e-mail message, or via 
facsimile to 970-870-2284.
    Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names 
and addresses of those who comment, will be part of the public record 
for this proposed action. Comments submitted anonymously will be 
accepted and considered; however, anonymous comments will not provide 
the respondent with standing to appeal the subsequent decision.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Waugh--Environmental Coordinator 
(970-870-2185) or Andy Cadenhead--Supervisory Forester (970-870-2220), 
Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, 925 Weiss Drive, Steamboat 
Springs, Colorado 80487.
    Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose of the Willow Creek Pass Project is to provide 
defensible space along the boundary shared with the U.S. Forest Service 
and reduce fuel and overhead hazards adjacent to the private properties 
in the WCPV-HOA. This would include reducing hazard fuels in close 
proximity to private in-holdings and adjacent properties of the WCPV-
HOA, creating defensible space to provide increased protection from 
wildland fire events, and removing hazard trees that could fall on 
private residences and other improvements in the Willow Creek Pass 
Village Homeowners Association.
    There is a need to:
     Reduce the development of continuous high hazard fuel 
conditions.

[[Page 15692]]

     Reduce hazard trees within damage distance to private 
dwellings.
     Remove beetle killed and dying lodgepole pine.
     Promote regeneration of aspen and other conifer species to 
expedite the establishment of the next forest.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action would occur in the Dome Peak inventoried 
roadless area. After the proposed Colorado Roadless Rule decision has 
been signed, this project would be permitted with an Environmental 
Impact Statement.
    The Willow Creek Pass Village Homeowners Association proposal was 
modified slightly by specialists with the U.S. Forest Service, HPBE 
Ranger District to treat approximately 100 acres of mature forested 
stands where lodgepole pine is dead and dying from the ongoing beetle 
epidemic. The proposed treatment area on National Forest lands is 
adjacent to the Willow Creek Pass Village Homeowners Association. 
Access onto the Forest would be through the Marshall Property on the 
south end and private property to be determined in the central part of 
the project area where approximately \1/4\ mile of temporary road would 
be constructed for the hazard tree removal and then obliterated at the 
end of the project. The last access would be on an existing dead end 
road spur that accesses a user trail onto the Forest. This northernmost 
access would require no temporary road as skidding would occur to the 
existing access location. Lodgepole pine would be targeted for removal 
along the shared Forest and private boundaries approximately 800 feet 
east inside the Forest boundary. The heaviest removal would extend from 
the shared boundary to a temporary road with whole-tree skidding 
required from the shared Forest/homeowner boundary to the temporary 
road east of the boundary approximately 300 feet.
    The proposed action would remove all lodgepole pine down to 5 
inches diameter at breast height and all other hazard trees greater 
than 7 inches diameter at breast height. Hazard trees within 300 feet 
of the shared Forest/homeowner boundary would be whole-tree skidded to 
a landing along the temporary road, limbed and decked at this location. 
Removal east of the temporary road could be whole-tree skidded or 
lopped and scattered at point of felling with excess slash piled for 
later faIl/winter burning operations.
    The project area can be accessed off of Routt County Road (RCR) 129 
along existing roads in the WCPV-HOA subdivision east of RCR 129. The 
existing roads in the homeowners association are well maintained and 
would require little maintenance for log hauling. New temporary roads 
would need to be constructed from private properties onto forest lands 
to facilitate accessing and removing the timber. The temporary roads, 
skid trails, and landings would be reclaimed to their original contours 
and permanently closed at the end of the project.

Responsible Official

    The responsible official is Jamie Kingsbury, District Ranger, Hahns 
Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District, 925 Weiss Drive, Steamboat Springs, 
Colorado 80487.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    The decision will be whether to treat dead and dying lodgepole pine 
timber affected by the mountain pine beetle epidemic in the Dome Peak 
Inventoried Roadless Area adjacent to the private properties of the 
Willow Creek Pass Village Homeowners Association that are fuel and 
overhead hazards to the community. If the decision is to treat the 
hazard fuels and standing hazards to complement the on-going work on 
private lands, the type, distribution, and priority of treatments would 
be decided with consideration for resource protection for watersheds, 
recreation, scenery, and wildlife habitat.

Preliminary Issues

     Subdivision road maintenance and repair.
     Smoke management during pile burning.
     Logging vehicle conduct on subdivision roads during 
hauling.

Scoping Process

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process, which guides 
the development of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The Forest 
Service has listed the project in the Schedule of Proposed Actions that 
is posted on the Web. A field trip on July 26, 2008 with Forest Service 
specialists and interested homeowners reviewed the proposed project 
area and potential treatments. At least one additional meeting is 
planned after the draft EIS is available. The Forest Service will also 
respond to information requests about the project and add additional 
public meetings and field trips as interest dictates.
    It is important that reviewers provide their comments at such times 
and in such manner that they are useful to the agency's preparation of 
the environmental impact statement. Therefore, comments should be 
provided prior to the close of the comment period and should clearly 
articulate the reviewer's concerns and contentions. The submission of 
timely and specific comments can affect a reviewer's ability to 
participate in subsequent administrative appeal or judicial review.

Release of Names

    Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names 
and addresses of those who commented, 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 object to the subsequent decision under 36 CFR Part 218. 
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. 
Persons requesting such confidentiality should be aware that, under the 
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 agency's 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 ten 
(10) days.
    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, that 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 during 
the draft environmental impact statement stage, but 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,

[[Page 15693]]

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 related to 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 document. Comments may also address the adequacy of the draft 
environmental impact statement or the merits of the alternatives 
displayed in the document. Reviewers should refer to the Council on 
Environmental Quality Regulations at 40 CFR 1503.3 for implementing the 
procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act for 
addressing these points.

    Dated: March 22, 2009.
Mary H. Peterson,
Forest Supervisor, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests.
 [FR Doc. E9-7490 Filed 4-6-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M