[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 152 (Monday, August 9, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47755-47756]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-19532]
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Notices
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 152 / Monday, August 9, 2010 /
Notices
[[Page 47755]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Black Hills National Forest, Mystic Ranger District, South
Dakota, Pactola Project Area
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS).
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SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact
statement on a proposal to use multiple vegetation treatments focused
on reducing the threat to ecosystem components including forest
resources from an existing insect and disease epidemic (mountain pine
beetle), creating a landscape condition more adapted to fire and that
reduces potential for high severity wildfire near at-risk communities
and in the wildland-urban interface. The proposal is being planned for
the 26,017 acre Pactola Project Area that includes about 24,863 acres
of National Forest System land and about 1,154 acres of interspersed
private land. The project area lies west of Pactola Lake and
approximately 10 miles west of Rapid City, SD. This project will be
conducted as an authorized project under Section 102 of the Healthy
Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA). Actions proposed for the
Pactola Project Area include the following:
Thin and harvest approximately 8,566 acres of pine stands
using a variety of methods to treat mountain pine beetle (MPB) infested
stands, reduce the overall density of pine trees and create a mosaic of
structural stages across the landscape. Both commercial harvest and
non-commercial thinning will be used to reduce the stand density, and
associated fuel hazard conditions and susceptibility to mountain pine
beetle infestations.
Reduce the amount of fuels that currently exists and that
created by vegetation treatment activities. Treatment could include
lopping, chipping, crushing, piling and burning, and creating fuel
breaks along roads and adjacent to private property, particularly those
properties with houses and subdivisions. Prescribed broadcast and pile
burning of up to 5,037 acres is also planned to disrupt the continuity
of surface and canopy fuels, and to increase the quantity and quality
of forage for big game and other wildlife resources.
Remove conifers from hardwood stands such as aspen and
birch, and restore meadows on approximately 1,562 acres to provide
habitat diversity and additional wildfire protection by enhancing
natural fuel breaks.
Use of existing road templates with less than two miles of
new construction.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis would be most
useful if received by 30 days following the date of this notice. The
draft environmental impact statement is expected to be available for
public review by November 2010 and the final environmental impact
statement is expected to be completed by March 2011.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Robert J. Thompson, District
Ranger, Black Hills National Forest, Mystic Ranger District, Pactola
Project Area, 8221 South Highway 16, Rapid City, South Dakota 57702.
Telephone Number: (605) 343-1567. E-mail: [email protected] with ``Pactola'' as the subject.
Electronic comments must be readable in Word, Rich Text or PDF formats.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have any questions or need
additional information, please contact Katie Van Alstyne, Team Leader
or Robert J. Thompson, District Ranger, at the Mystic Ranger District
office in Rapid City at (605) 343-1567.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The actions proposed are in direct response
to management direction provided by the Black Hills National Forest
Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan). The site specific
actions are designed, based on Forest Plan Standards and Guidelines, to
move existing resource conditions in the Pactola Project Area toward
meeting Forest Plan Goals and Objectives. The project area lies west of
Pactola Lake and approximately 10 miles west of Rapid City, SD.
Anticipated issues include: reducing MPB infestation and risk;
protecting local communities, private and public lands, infrastructure
and access from severe wildfire; associated fire and fuels hazard
reduction needs in the wildland-urban interface; support or opposition
to forest thinning using commercial timber harvest; impacts of
vegetation treatment and multiple forest uses on wildlife habitat. The
range of alternatives analyzed in the EIS is expected to be consistent
with Sec. 104 of HFRA.
Purpose and Need for Action
The purpose of the Pactola Project is to:
Move toward achieving desired land and resource
conditions, as provided by the Forest Plan.
Reduce the threat to ecosystem components including forest
resources, from the existing insect and disease (mountain pine beetle)
epidemic.
Restore resource conditions to a healthy, resilient fire-
adapted ecosystem.
Help protect local communities and resources from
catastrophic wildfire.
This project is focused on implementing management actions that
move toward achieving:
Desired conditions and objectives embodied in Goals 2, 3,
7, and 10 of the Forest Plan (as amended).
Goals and objectives applicable to Forest Plan Management
Area (MA) 2.2--Research Natural Areas (~548 acres); MA 3.7--Late
Successional Forest Landscape (~1,268 acres); MA 5.1 Resource
Production Emphasis (~5,755 acres); MA 5.3A; MA 5.4--Big Game Winter
Range Emphasis (~12,201 acres); and MA 8.2 Developed Recreation
Complexes (~5,071 acres), that lie within Pactola Project Area,
described in Chapter III of the Forest Plan (Phase II Amendment).
Goals of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA) of 2003
(HR 1904) and other National level initiatives and policy that provide
procedural tools to hasten processes focused on reducing insects or
disease on public and adjacent private lands, and reducing the
probability and occurrence of severe wildfire in the fire adapted
ecosystems, especially near at risk communities and in the wildland-
urban interface. Moreover, it is appropriate that proposed actions be
[[Page 47756]]
designed in consideration of the fuels hazard reduction management
recommendations and guidelines provided by the Pennington County
Community Wildfire Protection Plan of 2007.
Proposed Action
Proposed actions include the following:
Thin and harvest approximately 8,556 acres of pine stands
using a variety of methods to treat MPB infested stands, reduce the
overall density of pine trees and create a mosaic of structural stages
across the landscape. Both commercial and non-commercial sized trees
would be removed utilizing multiple contracts including stewardship,
timber sale, and service contracts.
Disrupt the continuity of surface and canopy fuels to help
reduce the potential for large-scale, intense wildfire spread.
Treatment could include thinning, lopping, chipping, crushing, piling,
and burning; restoring natural fuel breaks by removing conifers that
have encroached upon meadows and hardwood stands on approximately 1,562
acres; creating fuel breaks along roads and adjacent to private
property--particularly those properties with houses and subdivisions.
Prescribed broadcast and pile burning of up to 5,037 acres is also
planned to reduce the natural, as well as the management-caused
accumulation of fuels and to benefit big game and other wildife
resources.
Use of existing road templates with less than two miles of
new construction.
Responsible Official
Robert J. Thompson, District Ranger, Mystic Ranger District, Black
Hills National Forest, 8221 South Highway 16, Rapid City, South Dakota
57702
Nature of Decision To Be Made
The decision to be made is whether or not to implement the proposed
action or possible alternative at this time.
Scoping Process
Comments and input regarding the proposal will be received via
direct mailing from the public, other groups, and agencies during the
initial public comment period in August 2010. If you would like to be
more involved, a public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 24,
2010, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Silver City Community Hall, Silver
City, South Dakota. Comments submitted based on this NOI will be most
useful if received within 30 days from the date of this notice.
Response to the draft EIS will be sought from the interested public
beginning in November 2010.
Comment Requested
This notice of intent provides information that the agency will
prepare an environmental impact statement in response to public comment
and feedback during the August 2010, scoping period. Comments received
will assist the planning team to develop the mailing list for the draft
EIS and help identify key issues and opportunities used to refine the
proposal or possible alternative and mitigation measures. Comments on
the DEIS will be requested during the 45 day comment period following
the Notice of Availability, expected to be published in the Federal
Register in November 2010 (See discussion below).
Early Notice of Importance of Public Participation in Subsequent
Environmental Review
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.
Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; Forest Service Handbook
1909.15, Section 21.
Dated: July 27, 2010.
Craig Bobzien,
Forest Supervisor, Black Hills National Forest.
[FR Doc. 2010-19532 Filed 8-6-10; 8:45 am]
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