[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 83 (Wednesday, April 30, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24378-24380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-09700]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Willamette National Forest, McKenzie River Ranger District; 
Oregon; Goose Project

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: We propose to commercially harvest approximately 2,134 acres, 
reduce hazardous fuels through non-commercial thinning on ~588 acres, 
and implement understory prescribe fire on ~80 to ~679 acres within the 
McKenzie Bridge Wildland-Urban Interface. Commercial harvest treatments 
would be comprised of variable density thinning on ~2,085 acres (that 
includes gap creations and no-cut leave areas) and regeneration harvest 
on ~49 acres (through a two-aged system that would allow for the 
regeneration of younger trees underneath residual trees left from the 
original canopy). The proposed action would also include maintenance of 
approximately 43 miles of road and creation of approximately 8 miles of 
temporary roads. The project area surrounds the community of McKenzie 
Bridge and is intermixed with private and national forest lands. The 
proposed project would manage stands to improve stand conditions: 
Diversity, density, and structure; reduce hazardous fuel levels in the 
McKenzie Bridge Wildland-Urban Interface; and provide for a sustainable 
supply of timber products from within the project area.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by May 30, 2014. The draft environmental impact statement is expected 
September 2014, and the final environmental impact statement is 
expected November 2014.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 57600 McKenzie HWY, McKenzie 
Bridge, OR 97413. Comments may also be sent via email to [email protected], or via facsimile to 
541-822-7254. District open-house public meetings will be held at the 
McKenzie River district office (57600 McKenzie Hwy, McKenzie Bridge, OR 
97413) on April 24, 2014 and May 1, 2014 from 1 p.m.-7 p.m. Goose open-
house meetings will be held on May 2, 2014 at McKenzie Bridge, OR and 
May 9, 2014 at Leaburg, OR both from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 
locations to be determined (please contact our office at 541-822-3381 
for updated information). These meetings provide additional

[[Page 24379]]

opportunity for you to submit any scoping comments you may have.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Rudisill 
[email protected] or at 541-822-7203. 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:

Background

    On March 21, 2013, Judge Ann Aiken, United States District Judge, 
provided an Opinion and Order on Case No. 6:12-cv-00804-AA (Cascadia 
Wildlands and Oregon Wild, plaintiffs, v. United States Forest Service, 
defendant). The case involved a challenge to the authorization of the 
Goose Project (29829) that had previously been decided on by 
the Forest Service on 09/13/2010 through the documentation of an 
Environmental Assessment and a corresponding Decision Notice and 
Finding of No Significant Impact. The Court found all but one of the 
plaintiffs' arguments without merit. The Court found that the Forest 
Service provided a reasonably thorough analysis, adequately supported 
by materials in the administrative record, of the effects and 
consequences of the project on potential wilderness, the northern 
spotted owl, and riparian reserves. Although the Court found that the 
Forest Service disclosed such effects properly, this does not mean that 
it necessarily renders them insignificant.
    The Court stressed the importance that a significant effect need 
not actually occur to require the preparation of an Environmetal Impact 
Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act. The court stated 
that if there exists a substantial question as to whether a project may 
have a significant effect on the environment, then it is sufficient to 
trigger the preparation of an Environmetal Impact Statement. In this 
context, it was the court's opinion that the environmental effects on 
potential wilderness, riparian reserves, and the northern spotted owl, 
although properly disclosed in the analysis of the Goose Project, still 
raised enough question as to whether they could be considered 
significant. As a result, the Court enjoined the Forest Service from 
moving forward with the Goose Project until an Environmental Impact 
Statement is prepared. Prior to the decision being litigated three 
timber sales contracts were awarded and are currently outstanding. 
These timber sale contracts are Ten Reoffer (contract 002679, 
awarded to Seneca Sawmill), Golden (contract 002703, awarded 
to Seneca Sawmill), and Pegasus (contract 002638, awarded to 
Freres Lumber). The Forest Service is preparing an Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Goose Project in response to the Court's Order and 
Opinion.

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose of this project is to manage stands to improve stand 
conditions: Diversity, density, and structure; reduce hazardous fuel 
levels in the McKenzie Bridge Wildland-Urban Interface; and provide for 
a sustainable supply of timber products from within the Goose Project 
area, which covers a total of 13,181 acres of federal forested lands.
    A reduction in fires on the landscape over the past century, 
coupled with in-growth of existing openings, has resulted in a 
deficient amount of young, regenerating early seral habitat on federal 
lands here. The project area contains four elk emphasis areas, three of 
which do not currently meet the Willamette Land and Resource Management 
Plan Standards and Guidelines for elk forage values. There is a need to 
enhance, create, and/or maintain regenerating early seral habitat in 
the project area to support wildlife species that depend on it.
    Riparian Reserves within the selected treatment units generally 
consist of dense and overstocked stands. Thinning is proposed in order 
to provide accelerated development of late successional connectivity, 
large diameter trees as large wood sources in streams and Riparian 
Reserves, and complex habitat structures representative of those that 
would result from natural disturbance patterns.
    Fire suppression has also resulted in increased fuel loading 
consisting of surface fuels, ladder fuels, and dense overstory canopies 
that increase potential impacts and risks to people, structures, and 
resources within and around the McKenzie Bridge Wildland-Urban 
Interface. There is a need to treat hazardous fuels to reduce potential 
wildfire impacts and risk to private homes and other structures. This 
proposal is in alignment with the recommendations of the 2005 Lane 
County Community Wildfire Protection Plan and work the Oregon 
Department of Forestry has started to create defensible space around 
private residences in the McKenzie Bridge Wildland-Urban Interface.
    Forest stands selected for treatment are overstocked, from a tree 
health perspective, which decreases individual tree growth and 
increases tree and stand stress. This leads to an increase in a stand's 
susceptibility to successful insect and disease attack as well as 
competition-related mortality. The project would address this through 
tree thinning that removes some trees and leaves primarily the largest 
and healthiest trees, which then have a greater amount of resources 
available. As a result stand vigor would increase, and released trees 
would develop into larger trees more quickly. Tree species, age, and 
structure diversity would be maintained or enhanced.
    One of the management goals of the Willamette National Forest Land 
and Resource Management Plan (Willamette Forest Plan) is to provide a 
sustained yield of timber for commercial products (p, IV-5). The 1994 
Record of Decision and Standards and Guidelines for Management of 
Habitat for Late-Successional and Old-Growth Related Species Within the 
Range of the Northern Spotted Owl (Northwest Forest Plan) amends the 
Willamette Forest Plan and also recognizes ``the need for a sustainable 
supply of timber . . . on a predictable and long-term basis'' (p. 26). 
All of the proposed activity units are within the Adaptive Management 
Area and Matrix land management allocations that are identified as the 
areas where most of the scheduled timber harvest will occur (p C-39). 
The management of selected stands provides forest products in a manner 
that meets direction provided in the Willamette Forest Plan as amended 
by the Northwest Forest Plan.

Proposed Action

    We propose to commercially harvest approximately 2,134 acres, 
reduce hazardous fuels through non-commercial thinning on ~588 acres, 
and implement understory prescribe fire on ~80 to ~679 acres within the 
McKenzie Bridge Wildland-Urban Interface. Commercial harvest treatments 
would be comprised of variable density thinning on ~2,085 acres (that 
includes gap creations and no-cut leave areas) and regeneration harvest 
on ~49 acres. Reforestation would be implemented in regeneration units. 
Some variable thinning would include dominant tree release (including 
sugar pine release) and some would include a greater emphasis on 
creating early seral wildlife gaps. Harvest operations would be 
implemented by helicopter (451 acres), skyline (640 acres), and ground 
based (1,009 acres) logging systems. Fuel reductions would be 
implemented by hand and mechanical methods of ramoval and/or piling 
fuels that would then be burned on site through pile burning or 
understory prescribed fire.

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The proposed action would also include maintenance of approximately 43 
miles of road and creation of approximately 8 miles of temporary roads.

Responsible Official, McKenzie River District Ranger

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    Given the purpose and need, the scope of the decision to be made by 
the responsible official will be as follows:
     Do the proposed actions comply with all applicable laws 
governing Forest Service actions?
     Do the proposed actions comply with the applicable 
Standards and Guidelines found in the Willamette Land and Resource 
Management Plan (LRMP)?
    [cir] If not, will the action amend the LRMP?
     Does the Environmental Impact Statement have sufficient 
site-specific environmental analysis to make an informed decision?
     Do the proposed actions meet the purpose and need for 
action?
    With these assurances the responsible official must decide:
     Whether or not to select the proposed action or one of any 
other potential alternatives that may be developed, and what, if any, 
additional actions should be required.
     Do any of the reasonably selectable alternatives, based on 
the criteria stated above, best meet the outstanding contractural 
obligations of the Forest Service on timber sales sold under the 
original Goose decision? And if so, is this an effective way to meet 
the intent of the project while meeting these obligations?

Scoping Process

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process, which guides 
the development of the environmental impact statement. District open-
house public meetings will be held for your convenience at the McKenzie 
River district office (57600 McKenzie Hwy, McKenzie Bridge, OR 97413) 
on April 24, 2014 and May 1, 2014 from 1 p.m.-7 p.m. Goose open-house 
meetings will be held on May 2, 2014 at McKenzie Bridge, OR and May 9, 
2014 at Leaburg, OR from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at locations to be 
determined (please contact our office at 541-822-3381 for updated 
information). All of these meetings provide an opportunity to gain more 
information regarding this proposed project and also provide an 
opportunity for you to submit any scoping comments you may have. We are 
interested in your comments on the following questions:
     Are there alternative ways to meet the purpose of the 
project other than the proposed action we offer, which you would like 
the Forest Service to consider and analyze?
     Is there any information about the project area, which you 
believe is important in the context of the proposed activities that you 
would like the Forest Service to consider?
     What specifically are the potential effects of this 
proposal that you are particularly concerned about? For example, rather 
than simply stating that you would like a change in a proposed activity 
or that you would not like an activity to take place, it is most 
helpful to understand why you desire this. What are your underlying 
concerns with an activity or action; what are the effects from the 
activity that concern you?
    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.
    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.

    Dated: April 18, 2014.
Terry Baker,
District Ranger.
[FR Doc. 2014-09700 Filed 4-29-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M