[Federal Register: May 30, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 103)]
[Notices]
[Page 29948-29949]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30my07-33]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Caribou-Targhee National Forest, Idaho; Big Bend Ridge Vegetation
Management Project and Timber Sale Supplement Environmental Impact
Statement and Proposed Targhee Revised Forest Plan Amendment
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact
statement.
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SUMMARY: The Caribou-Targhee National Forest proposes to supplement the
Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Management Project and Timber Sale analysis
and to consider amending the Targhee Revised Forest Plan with regard to
old growth and aspen. The supplement will provide additional analysis
and disclosure of environmental effects.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received
within 45 days from the date of this publication. The draft
supplemental environmental impact statement is expected in September
2007. The comment period on the draft supplemental environmental impact
statement will be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection
Agency publishes the notice of availability in the Federal Register.
The final supplemental environmental impact statement is expected in
early 2008.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Robbin Redman, Forest Planner,
Caribou-Targhee National Forest, 1405 Hollipark Drive, Idaho Falls,
Idaho 83401. Electronic comments can be submitted in rich text format
(.rtf), or Word (.doc) to comments-intermtn-caribou-targhee@fs.fed.us.
For further information, mail correspondence to Robbin Redman,
Forest Planner, Caribou-Targhee National Forest, 1405 Hollipark Drive,
Idaho Falls, Idaho 83401 or call (208) 557-5821.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robbin Redman, Forest Planner,
Caribou-Targhee National Forest, USDA, (see address above).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Forest Service, working with the public,
developed the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Management Project and Timber
Sale over numerous years beginning in 1998. The process included
publishing a Notice of Intent (NOI), seeking comments (scoping) on the
proposed project and also seeking comments on the Draft EIS that
included various alternatives for the project. On December 12, 2003 a
Record of Decision selecting Alternative C was signed by the Forest
Supervisor. This decision was appealed and upheld by the Intermountain
Regional Forester.
After the ROD was upheld on appeal, a Complaint was filed in Idaho
District Court. In the Complaint the Plaintiffs sought to enjoin the
Big Bend Vegetation Management Project and Timber Sale project. The
Court did not enjoin the Big Bend Vegetation Management Project and
Timber Sale in its November 2004 ruling stating the logging was not
imminent. The Court did enjoin the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Project
and Timber Sale on September 28, 2005 in its Memorandum Decision and
Order when it determined the logging was imminent.
To address the Court's decision on the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation
Project and Timber Sale, the Forest has completed a draft vegetation
assessment of old growth and aspen for the Targhee National Forest.
This preliminary information revealed that more clarification and
guidance in the Targhee Revised Forest Plan (TRFP) is needed to assess,
monitor, and manage old growth and aspen forests, and the proposed
Targhee amendment is a result of this assessment.
Purpose and Need for Action
New information and a court ruling on the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation
Management Project has shown that more clarification and guidance to
assess, monitor, and manage old growth forest is needed. The Forest has
determined a need to supplement the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation
Management Project and Timber Sale analysis and to consider updating
the Targhee Revised Forest Plan (TRFP) with regard to managing old
growth, and aspen forests. This draft assessment will be used in the
Forest's review of the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Management Project and
Timber Sale and incorporated into the DSEIS and FSEIS for the project.
In the SEIS process for the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Management
Project and Timber Sale, the Forest will consider amending the TRFP as
needed to address clarification of old growth forest and aspen.
The purpose and need for the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Management
Project and Timber Sale is: (1) Need for ecosystems and their
components to be resilient to disturbances to structure, composition
and processes at appropriate landscape scales. (2) Need to improve
overall representation of forested age classes across the landscape
over the long-term. (3) Need to maintain and regenerate declining
species (at risk). (4) Need to provide for a sustained yield of forest
products.
Proposed Action
The Forest will supplement the analysis for the Big Bend Ridge
Vegetation Management Project and Timber Sale with regard to old
growth, and aspen. The Forest also proposes to amend the TRFP to make
it consistent regarding old growth, and aspen.
The Forest proposes to develop Desired Future Conditions for old
growth, and aspen that would be incorporated into the Targhee Revised
Forest Plan. The Forest also proposes to remove the current guidance
for old growth/late seral management found on page III-12-13 6
of the Targhee Revised Forest Plan.
The Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Management Project includes the
following: harvesting by thinning from below and also some limited
sanitation improvement harvest, planting a limited amount of trees
(approximately 200 acres), closing some non-system roads before and
after harvest, relocating a specific road, some maintenance of roads
used in the harvest activities, fencing some aspen units if needed, and
some temporary road construction with rehabilitation after harvest.
Possible Alternatives
The Forest has developed the Proposed Action for the TRFP amendment
as discussed above and the no-action alternative.
Responsible Official
The responsible official is: Lawrence Timchak, Forest Supervisor,
Caribou-
[[Page 29949]]
Targhee National Forest, 1405 Hollipark Drive, Idaho Falls, ID 83401.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
Given the purpose and need, the deciding officer will decide
whether or not to make a new decision on the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation
Management Project and Timber Sale and whether to amend the Targhee
Revised Forest Plan.
Scoping Process
The Forest is now seeking comments on this proposal and will seek
comments on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for
the Big Bend Ridge Vegetation Project and Timber Sale and the proposed
TRFP amendment when it becomes available.
Comment Requested
This notice of intent initiates the scoping process which guides
the development of the supplemental environmental impact statement.
Early Notice of Importance of Public Participation in Subsequent
Environmental Review
A draft supplemental environmental impact statement will be
prepared for comment. The comment period on the draft supplemental
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, 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 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 supplemental
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
supplemental 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, including the names and addresses of those who
comment, will be considered part of the public record on this proposal
and will be available for public inspection.
(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; Forest Service Handbook
1909.15, Section 21)
Dated: May 23, 2007.
Lawrence Timchak,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. E7-10358 Filed 5-29-07; 8:45 am]
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