Black Hills National Forest

US Forest Service
Black Hills National Forest
1019 N. 5th Street
Custer, SD 57730
605-673-9200

Telephone for the
Hearing Impaired
605-673-9227

News Release

USDA Forest Service

Black Hills National Forest

Contact: Kelley Honors (315) 668-3307, Patricia Hudson (605) 673-4853, or email us at r2 blackhills webinfo@fs.fed.us

DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT ABVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC

RAPID CITY, SD: SEPTEMBER 12, 2005

The Black Hills National Forest, Hell Canyon District Ranger, Michael Lloyd announces the release of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Bugtown Gulch Mountain Pine Beetle and Fuels Project. This project is an authorized project under the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003.

The Bugtown Gulch project area covers approximately 13,378 acres of National Forest System land and about 2,563 acres of interspersed private land and is located approximately 5 miles west of Custer, South Dakota. Approximately 90% of the project area is within management area 5.1, Resource Production Emphasis. The remaining 10% is in management area 5.4, Big Game Winter Range.

The Purpose of and Need for action in the Bugtown Gulch project area is to reduce the potential for an existing mountain pine beetle epidemic to cause widespread mortality on National Forest and private lands and to reduce the risk of large-scale high intensity wildfires within the project area.

Actions are needed because an existing mountain pine beetle epidemic is threatening to cause widespread mortality within the project area on Forest and private lands and could also spread beyond the project boundary. Fuel treatments propose to break up the continuity and reduce the unnaturally high concentrations of biomass in the Forest.

The alternatives presented and analyzed in detail in the DEIS include the following:

Alternative 1 – No Action: This alternative assumes no implementation of any elements of the proposed action or other action alternatives. The no action alternative represents no attempt to actively respond to the purpose and need for action or the issues raised during scoping for this project.

Alternative 2 – Preferred Alternative: Alternative 2 includes aggressive management strategies designed for suppression of the epidemic, prevention of further infestations, and salvage of the mountain pine beetle epidemic area. Sanitation harvesting is proposed as a suppression method to remove trees which have live beetle brood in them. This action would remove as many beetles as possible prior to flight, in an attempt to lessen the size and extent of the epidemic. Sanitation may occur for up to three consecutive years in any particular area to capture infested trees that have been missed or which became infested following harvest. Prevention methods include commercial thinning to reduce stand density thereby increasing tree vigor and reducing stand susceptibility to beetle attack. Salvage harvesting would remove dead trees which no longer have beetle brood in them. Other actions would include understory fuel treatments to reduce the future risk of large high intensity wildfires in the area. Due to the urgent nature of the project, it was decided that no new roads would be constructed and no road closures would be proposed. All treatments would utilize existing roads. All treatments would occur within ponderosa pine stands or aspen stands with a pine component. A project specific Forest Plan amendment regarding big game habitat effectiveness in management area 5.4 would be necessary to implement this alternative.

Alternative 3- This alternative was developed to address input from the public that Alternative 2 would result in little diversity on the landscape and that options to increase diversity should be considered. Another component of this alternative is that it would meet all Forest Plan direction and would not require a project specific Forest Plan amendment for Big Game habitat in management area 5.4 as in Alternative 2. To address these concerns and meet the purpose and need, all treatments are deferred in management area 5.4 as well as select stands in management area 5.1. Sites deferred in management area 5.1 are those considered to be somewhat less susceptible to mountain pine beetle, thus improving the potential for these stands to persist. However, all deferred sites would continue to have a high risk for mountain pine beetle susceptibility. Where deferred sites are adjacent to private land, 300 foot fuel breaks would be constructed.

The complete DEIS, with appendices, is available on the Black Hills National Forest website. The DEIS is also available by request from the Hell Canyon Ranger District in Custer, phone (605) 673-4853.

In accordance with 36 CFR 215.6(a), the comment period on the proposed activities ends 45 days following the publication of the Notice of Availability (NOA) in the Federal Register. The NOA was published in the Federal Register on September 9, 2005. The Responsible Official for this project is Craig Bobzien, Forest Supervisor, Black Hills National Forest.
Comments may be provided by phone, mail or e-mail. Mailed comments may be sent to District Ranger Michael Lloyd, Hell Canyon Ranger District, 330 Mt Rushmore Road, Custer, SD 57730. Electronic comments must be provided in Word or Rich Text format and should be e-mailed to the following address: comments-rocky-mountain-black-hills-hell-canyon@fs.fed.us .

The subject line of e-mailed comments must contain “Bugtown Gulch”.

Comments received in response to this solicitation, including the names and addresses of those who comment, 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 be eligible to file objections to the Final EIS 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 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 10 days.

The Phase II Forest Plan Amendment decision may be signed before the final decision on this project. If that occurs, compliance will be reviewed and any necessary additional analysis or adjustments will be made in the Final EIS.