[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Page 33390]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13669]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest; Montana; Supplemental EIS 
for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Land and Resource 
Management Plan To Comply With District of Montana Court Order

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement.

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SUMMARY: The Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest will prepare a 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to the 2009 
Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Revised Land and Resource 
Management Plan (Forest Plan) environmental analysis in response to an 
April 2, 2012 Order, from the U.S. District Court for the District of 
Montana. The Court directed the Forest Service to apply the 
minimization criteria mandated by Executive Order (EO) 11644 ``at the 
route-specific level where specific snowmobile routes are designated.'' 
The supplement will evaluate the effects of specific snowmobile routes 
delineated on maps in the 2009 Forest Plan in order to make an informed 
decision in accordance with EO 11644.

DATES: Under 40 CFR 1502.9(c)(4), there is no formal scoping period for 
this proposed action. The Draft SEIS is expected June, 2012 and the 
Final SEIS is expected September, 2012.

ADDRESSES: The line officer responsible for the decision is Northern 
Region Regional Forester Faye Krueger.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Noelle Meier, Beaverhead-Deerlodge 
National Forest, 420 Barrett Street, Dillon, MT 59725, (406) 683-3900. 
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: The 2009 Forest Plan provides management 
direction for activities on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest 
for the next 10 to 15 years, including direction on eight revision 
topics (vegetation, wildlife, aquatic resources, recreation and travel 
management, fire management, livestock grazing, timber and recommended 
wilderness). In 2010, Wildlands CPR, Inc., Friends of the Bitterroot 
Inc., and Montanans for Quiet Recreation filed a complaint in U.S. 
District Court for the District of Montana (Case 9:10-cv-00104-DWM) 
alleging inadequate analysis of the impacts of winter motorized travel 
when developing the Forest Plan and failure to analyze criteria 
intended to minimize off-road vehicle impacts. In an April 2, 2012 
Order, the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana found the 
Forest Service had adequately applied the minimization criteria of EO 
11644 for areas generally open to snowmobile use. However, the court 
found ``to the extent that specific routes have been designated for 
snowmobile use'', the Forest Service failed to show it adequately 
applied the minimization criteria at the route-specific level. The 
court ordered as follows: ``that this case is remanded to the Forest 
Service for the limited purpose of applying the minimization criteria 
mandated by EO 11644 at the route specific level where specific 
snowmobile routes are designated. The Forest Service shall perform this 
analysis and updated the Revised Forest Plan by September 30, 2012. A 
failure to do so will result in the suspension of the winter travel 
management portion of the Revised Forest Plan as of October 1, 2012.''
    The SEIS will provide additional environmental analysis of three 
routes delineated in the Forest Plan as exceptions to winter, non-
motorized areas. These routes are: (1) Snowmobile use in the vicinity 
of Thunderbolt Creek and Cottonwood Lake (Jefferson County, Montana) as 
delineated on page 94 of the Forest Plan, (2) snowmobile use through 
the non-motorized area on the Road 056 corridor in the 
vicinity of Antelope Basin (Beaverhead County, Montana) as delineated 
on page 128 of the Forest Plan, and (3) snowmobile use on the route to 
Antone Cabin (open to motorized vehicles yearlong) in the southwest 
portion of the Snowcrest Mountains (Beaverhead County, Montana) as 
delineated on page 152 of the Forest Plan. The analysis will evaluate 
the potential effects from these routes on soil, watershed, vegetation, 
wildlife, and recreation users. This analysis will be used to determine 
if snowmobile use on these routes complies with EO 11644 or whether a 
change is warranted.
    A Draft SEIS is expected to be available for public review and 
comment in late June 2012; and a Final SEIS in September 2012. The 
comment period for the Draft SEIS 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 supplemental 
environmental impact statement.

    Dated: May 31, 2012.
Victoria C. Christiansen,
Regional Forester.
[FR Doc. 2012-13669 Filed 6-5-12; 8:45 am]
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