Payette National Forest

News Release

USDA Forest Service

Payette National Forest

Contact: Laura Pramuk: (208) 634-0784, (208) 634-6945

Date:  April 7, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

15,000 Comments Received on Bighorn Sheep Viability DSEIS

McCall, ID - The official comment period on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) on Bighorn Sheep Viability on the Payette National Forest (PNF) ended on March 16, 2009.  Forest Supervisor Suzanne Rainville extended the comment period an additional 73 days to give the public extra time to consider the document and develop their responses.  Now that the comment period is finished the Forest is preparing to review the information sent by the public and collect additional technical and scientific analysis and information.

The Forest received over 15,000 comments on the draft document and has contracted an outside group to complete an analysis of the comments.  The PNF thanks all of the people who took time to send in suggestions and information.  The results of the comment analysis will be used by Forest Service Staff and the Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) to determine if any more alternatives need to be considered and if the proposed management directions are practical from an implementation perspective.  The IDT will meet monthly this summer to study the comments and assist the Forest Supervisor in developing the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) and Amendment to the Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP).  Cooperators working with the Forest Service IDT are the States of Idaho, Oregon and Washington and the Tribal governments of the Nez Perce, Shoshone-Pauite, Shoshone-Bannock and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla.  Many of the individuals representing these cooperators are from the fields of veterinary science, wildlife and land management.  They provide technical expertise and information on this complex issue to Forest Supervisor Suzanne Rainville.  The final decision, to be officially released as the Record of Decision, will be made by the Forest Supervisor.  The FSEIS will contain a selected alternative along with the amendment to the Forest Plan and will contain the direction to be used in implementing the alternative.  The plan is to release the Record of Decision by the end of 2009.

The Payette NF is in the process of contracting with science specialists to develop a quantitative risk analysis and disease spread model to be used for the FSEIS.  Forest staff will also be updating and refining the population and habitat models used in the draft with the new research and data that has been gathered since publication of the draft and its related documents.

The Forest will also be working with economists to look at the effects of having Bighorn Sheep populations on the Payette and the effects of domestic sheep livestock grazing on the Payette.  Analysis contained in the DSEIS will also be reviewed and updated if necessary during the summer by the IDT and Forest Service Staff.

Since the release of the draft document PNF staff have met with state and federal elected officials, state agencies, school groups, civic organizations, the governor’s office, and the tribes in an effort to explain the various alternatives discussed and seek feedback on the proposed management direction under the preferred alternative.

In 2003 the FEIS for the Payette LRMP was appealed by a group of organizations and individuals arguing that the environmental document and direction in the Forest Plan did not adequately address the issue of disease transmission between domestic sheep and Bighorn sheep in the Hell’s Canyon area and the PNF.  In 2005 the Forest Service Washington Office found merit in the appeal and reversed this one issue, finding the PNF not compliant with Federal law.  The PNF was directed to conduct an analysis of Bighorn viability on the PNF and to conduct a compliance check with the Hell’s Canyon National Recreation Area Act, supplementing the FEIS and amending the Forest Plan.  The release of the DSEIS in the fall of 2008 was the result of work begun in 2005 to meet these requirements.  The complete set of documents and science information can be found on the Forest’s website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/payette/publications/.  The public may call Pattie Soucek, Forest Planner at 208-634-0812 or Laura Pramuk, Public Affairs at 208-643-0784 for more information.

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