78132 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 249 / Thursday, December 28, 2006 / Notices 

Preliminary Issues 

Important goals for the project are to 

meet the legal requirements for 

evaluating National Forest System (NFS) 

lands and make the required decisions. 

Preliminary issues are anticipated to 

involve potential effects to wildlife, 

biological diversity (Management 

Indicator Species), water, soil resources, 

social and economic settings, cultural 

and paleontological resources, 

inventoried roadless area 

characteristics, visual resources, 

traditional cultural properties 

(including plant and mineral gathering 

areas and sacred sites), forest 

transportation system, noxious weeds, 

and air quality. Specific issues will be 

developed through review of public 

comments and internal review. 

Comment Requested 

This notice of intent initiates the 

scoping process which guides the 

development of the environmental 

impact statement. Specific comments or 

concerns are the most important types 

of information needed for this EIS. Only 

public comments which address 

relevant issues and concerns will be 

considered and formally addressed in 

an appendix to the EIS. 

Early Notice of Importance of Public 

Participation in Subsequent 

Environmental Review: A draft 

environmental impact statement will be 

prepared for comment. The comment 

period on the draft 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 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 

environmental impact statement. 

To assist the Forest Service in 

identifying and considering issues and 

concerns on the proposed action, 

comments on the draft 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 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: December 20, 2006. 

Lawrence A. Timchak, 

Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. 06–9906 Filed 12–27–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Kaibab National Forest; Arizona; Warm 

Fire Recovery Project 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: This project would address 

part of the overall restoration needs for 

the approximately 40,000 acres that 

burned in June through July 2006 in the 

fire suppression area of the Warm Fire. 

Specifically, this proposal includes 

salvage of approximately 84.5 million 

board feet (MMBF) (168,987 hundred 

cubic feet) of fire killed timber on 

approximately 9,990 acres and 

reforestation through planting conifers 

on approximately 14,690 acres, while 

allowing approximately 4,050 acres to 

naturally reforest with quaking aspen. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received by 

January 26, 2007. The draft environment 

impact statement is expected May 2007 

and the final environmental impact 

statement is expected September 2007. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

District Ranger, North Kaibab Ranger 

District, Kaibab National Forest, P.O. 

Box 248, 430 S. Main Street, Fredonia, 

AZ 86022, or fax: 928–643–8105. 

Comments may be submitted by e-mail 

in word (.doc), rich text format (.rtf), 

text (.txt), or hypertext markup language 

(.html) to: 

mailroom_r3_kaibab@fs.fed.us, please 

include ‘‘Warm Fire, Attn: Scott 

Clemans’’ in the subject line. Oral 

comments may the provided to 

Interdisciplinary Team Leader Lois 

Pfeffer by telephone (559) 359–7023 or 

(307) 754–8197. 

Please call her to set up a time for 

your oral comments. Comments may 

also be hand delivered weekdays 8 a.m. 

until 4:30 p.m. at the above address. To 

be eligible for appeal, each individual or 

representative from each organization 

submitting comments must either sign 

the comments or verify their identity 

upon request. 

For further information, mail 

correspondence to Lois Pfeffer, 

Environmental Coordinator, TEAMS 

Planning, 145 East 2nd Street, Powell, 

WY 82435, (550) 359–7023 or Scott 

Clemans, Kaibab National Forest, North 

Kaibab Ranger District, P.O. Box 248, 

430 S. Main Street, Fredonia, AZ 86022 

(928) 643–8172. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lois 

Pfeffer or Scott Clemans (see ADDRESSES

above). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction: The Warm Fire was 

started by lightning on June 8 and was 

managed as a ‘‘wildland fire use’’ fire 

for approximately 21⁄2 weeks. On June 

25, fire management transitioned from a 

wildland fire use to a suppression 

strategy after winds pushed the fire 

south outside the Maximum Manageable 

Area, burning over 39,000 acres. On July 

1, 2006 a Burned Area Emergency 

Response (BAER) team wa assembled to 

conduct a soil and hydrologic 

assessment and initiate rehabilitation to 

minimize the loss of soil productivity, 

downstream water quality, and threats 

to human life and property. 

Rehabilitation of fire lines, repair of 

storm damaged roads, and aerial seeding 

of the high intensity burned areas 

occurred under the BAER plan. On 

August 1, 2006 an interdisciplinary 

post-fire assessment team was 

assembled to assess the status of the 

resources, identify recovery needs, and 

recommend a program of recovery work 

(beyond BAER). The assessment team 

identified the levels of tree mortality 

across the wildfire area. The final 


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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 249 / Thursday, December 28, 2006 / Notices 78133 

assessment will be available on the 

Kaibab National Forest Web site http:// 

www.fs.fed.us/r3/kai. 

The National has begun addressing 

the needs identified in the draft 

assessment including repair of range 

improvements and removal of hazard 

trees along roads. The Warm Fire 

Recovery project addresses three of the 

needs identified in the assessment. 

Public meetings were held to discuss 

the Warm Fire and potential 

management of the burned areas. 

Comments and recommendations were 

considered in the formulation of the 

proposed action for this project. 

Need for Action 

Recovery the Economic Value from 

Burned Timber 

Thousands of acres of suitable 

timberland burned in the Warm Fire are 

now occupied by dead and dying trees. 

The Kaibab Forest Plan includes the 

goal to ‘‘manage suitable timberland to 

provide a sustained level of timber 

outputs to support local dependent 

industries’’. The Plan also includes a 

guideline for Ecosystem Management 

Area (EMA) 13 to ‘‘salvage stands, or 

parts thereof, that are severely damaged 

by dwarf mistletoes, insects, fires, 

windthrow’’. The Forest Service has a 

MOU with the State of Utah to jointly 

identify priority restoration needs, build 

capacity to accomplish needed 

restoration projects and to expand the 

use of stewardship contracting or other 

tools that encourage local employment 

in order to benefit the management of 

the National Forests and communities of 

the Central Colorado Plateau. 

There is a need to recover economic 

value of some of the burned timber 

before the commercial value of the 

wood is lost to deterioration. Jobs 

created from the sale of salvage material 

could provide positive benefits to the 

local community. Also, salvage harvest 

would help reduce the costs associated 

with meeting desired fuel conditions in 

portions of the burned area. 

Reforest Burned Conifer Stands and 

Move Toward Longer-Term Desired 

Conditions 

Long-term desired conditions based 

on reference conditions (Fule, et al., 

2003a; Gildar and Fule, 2004; White and 

Vankat, 1993) and Kaibab Forest Plan 

Direction include: 

• Forest stands dominated by the 

appropriate species, which includes 

both conifers and quaking aspen as 

determined as the site level. 

• Uneven-aged stand conditions. 

• Relatively low stand densities in 

ponderosa pine dominated stands, with 

higher densities in mixed conifer 

stands. 

• Surface fuel levels are such that 

reflects the historic fire regime 

(relatively frequent and low to mixed 

fire intensity) and the associated 

ecological processes are maintained. 

• Collectively, these conditions 

provide suitable habitat for nature 

wildlife species, including Northern 

Gashawks, Mexican Spotted Owls, and 

their prey species. 

The Kaibab Forest Plan includes a 

standard for EMA 13 to ‘‘formulate, 

design, and propose operations or 

improvements that contribute, over 

time, to the achievement of desired 

resource or ecological conditions in 

landscapes’’. 

Large areas of conifer stands were 

killed by the fire and now have few and 

poorly distributed seed sources. Natural 

conifer regenerations may take decades. 

There is a need to establish a course 

toward longer-term desired conditions 

by assuring regeneration of forest cover 

in the near term. There is a need to 

establish conifer seedlings in areas 

where conifer seed sources are now 

lacking. The early establishment of 

conifers (e.g. by planting seedlings) and 

management to reduce future large fuel 

hazards would provide the greatest 

assurance that conifers would be a 

significant components of the next 

generation of forest vegetation in the 

burned area. In order to protect the 

reforested stands from future wildland 

fires that would need to be managed to 

become resilient to low and moderate 

intensity fires. There is a need to protect 

and accelerate the recovery of habitat 

conditions that would provide for the 

needs of native wildlife. 

Break Up Fuel Continuity in the Burned 

Area 

There are currently thousands of acres 

of fire killed trees that will eventually 

fall to the ground, resulting in high 

loading of large fuels over extensive 

areas. Future fire intensity and severity 

is expected to be higher increasing the 

risk of soil damage due to large woody 

fuel accumulations. 

The Kaibab Forest Plan provides fire 

protection guidelines for EMA 13 that 

include: 

• Provide fire protection to restrict 

wildfire size to 20 acres. 

• Minimize acreage burned by high 

intensity fires. 

The Forest Plan also provides the 

following guideline for fuel 

management in EMA 13: ‘‘Priority for 

fuel treatment investment is given to: a. 

Rural-urban interface; b. Areas which 

exceed the burning conditions which 

yield the historical, 50 percentile rate of 

fire spread in fuel model K; c. 

Maintenance of existing fuelbreaks and 

fuel reduction corridors.’’

There is a need to reduce fuels in 

certain areas in order to increase the 

likelihood of safe and successful fire 

protection efforts in the future. These 

areas should have a strategic spatial 

arrangement and need to provide areas 

for relatively safe and effective 

management of future fires (both 

wildland and prescribed). The objective 

in these areas is to promote, over the 

longer term, fuel conditions with low 

surface fire intensity and fire severity, 

low resistance to fire line construction,; 

collectively helping to reduce the 

likelihood of future large, high intensity 

fires and protecting reforestation efforts. 

Purpose and Need for Action 

The purpose and need for the Warm 

Fire Recovery project is to: 

• Recover the economic value from 

burned timber. There is a need to 

recover economic value of some of the 

burned timber before the commercial 

value of the wood is lost to 

deterioration. Jobs created from the sale 

of salvage material could provide 

positive benefits to the local 

community. Also, salvage harvest would 

help reduce the costs associated with 

meeting desired fuel conditions in 

portions of the burned area. 

• Reforest burned conifer stands and 

move toward longer-term desired 

conditions. There is a need to establish 

a course toward longer-term desired 

conditions by assuring regeneration of 

forest cover in the near term. There is 

a need to establish confier seedlings in 

areas where conifer seed sources are 

now lacking. The early establishment of 

conifers (e.g. by planting seedings) and 

management to reduce future large fuel 

hazards would provide the greatest 

assurance that conifers would be a 

significant component of the next 

generation of forest vegetation in the 

burned area. In order to protect the 

reforested stands from future wildland 

fires they would need to be managed to 

become resilient to low and moderate 

inensity fires. There is a need to protect 

and accelerate the recovery of habitat 

conditions that would provide for the 

needs of native wildlife. 

• Break up fuel continuity in the 

burned area. There is a need to reduce 

fuels in certain areas in order to increase 

the likelihood of safe and successful fire 

protection efforts in the future. These 

areas should have a strategic spatial 

arrangement and need to provide areas 

for relatively safe and effective 

management of future fires (both 

wildland and prescribed). The objective 

in these areas is to promote, over the 


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78134 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 249 / Thursday, December 28, 2006 / Notices 

longer term, fuel conditions with low 

surface fire intensity and fire severity, 

low resistance to fire line construction,; 

collectively helping to educe the 

likelihood of future large, high intensity 

fires and protecting reforestation efforts. 

Proposed Action 

The proposed action is limited to the 

area within the Warm Wildfire area. 

Comments received from the public 

stakeholders were reviewed when 

determining where salvage logging may 

be appropriate. The following criteria 

were used to determine whether an area 

would be appropriate for treatment or 

not. 

• Wildlife: Large blocks of snags and 

travel corridors for Mexican spotted owl 

and goshawk habitat would be reserved. 

These areas were combined with 100 

foot buffers along drainages identified in 

the USGS National Hydrography Dataset 

stream layer. These areas would provide 

habitat with no ground disturbance 

within the project area. 

• Economics: Stands considered for 

salvage include those with at least 3–4 

MBF volume per acre in trees greater 

than 14 inches diameter. Smaller 

diameter material is anticipated to lose 

value quickly. 

• Soils: Forest Plan direction allows 

harvest on slopes under 40 percent. 

Ground based equipment is on average 

limited to slopes less than 30 percent. 

Highly erosive soils that burned with 

high intensity were reviewed on the 

ground. To protect soils on steeper 

slopes, ground disturbing activities were 

limited to occur on slopes less than 20 

percent and up to 100 feet into areas on 

slopes over 20 percent, but under 30 

percent. The approximately breakdown 

in potential salvage logging by slope are: 

8,230 acres percent of the salvage 

logging are on slopes between 20–30% 

slopes and approximately 250 acres of 

salvage logging on slopes over 30% 

adjacent to other salvage areas. 

• Fire severity: Areas with moderate 

to high mortality were considered for 

salvage logging. Low severity burn areas 

with green trees were removed from 

salvge consideration. 

• Reforestation needs: Areas with 

adequate aspen regeneration were 

identified for aspen restoration 

opportunities. Planting was identified 

for areas with high to moderate 

mortality that don’t have an aspen 

response, are lacking a seed source and 

where suitble soil conditions exist to 

ensure a resonable change of 

reforestation success. Planting was also 

proposeed to ensure a reasonable 

chance of reforestation success. Planting 

was also proposed to encourage mixed 

conifer species composition for some of 

the areas that are designated Mexican 

spotted owl habitat. 

The actions developed to address teh 

needs are as follows: 

• Salvage logging on approximately 

9,990 acres resulting in removal of 

approximately 84.5 MMBF of timber 

products. 

• Salvage logging on approximately 

9,990 acres resulting in removal of 

approximately 84.5 MMBF of timber 

products. 

• Approximately 14,690 acres of 

reforestation need were identified in the 

wildfires aera. Reforestation proposed 

for the wildfire area includes allowing 

aspen to naturally regenerate on 

approximately 4,050 acres, planting on 

ponderosa pine on 5,370 acres, and 

planting of mixed conifers (ponderosa 

pine and Douglas fir) on 5,270 acres. In 

designated Mexican Spotted Owl habitat 

planting would occur to encourage 

mixed conifer habitat development. 

• Slash disposal/fuels treatments 

would be conducted on some salvage 

logged areas to protect future 

regeneration and may include lop and 

scatter of tops and limbs, chipping, 

mastication, and/or hand pile or jackpot 

burning. 

Responsible Official 

Michael Williams, Forest Supervisor, 

Kaibab National Forest, 800 S. 6th 

Street, Williams AZ 86046. 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

The decision to be made is whether to 

salvage fire-killed timber from the Warm 

Wildfire area as proposed or in what 

manner, the level of reforestation 

planting, and what mitigation measures 

would be in effect. 

Scoping Process 

Scoping letters will be sent to those 

that previously indicated interest in the 

War Fire. Comments received will; be 

reviewed and alternatives developed to 

address comments as needed. 

Preliminary Issues 

The following resource issues have 

been identified and will be addressed in 

the analysis: 

• Direct, indirect, and cumulative soil 

and watershed effects in the burned 

area. 

• Effects to wildlife (particularly MIS 

and TES species) and consistency with 

the intent of the Grand Canyon Game 

Preserve Act. 

• Visual quality along the North Rim 

Scenic Byway. 

Comment Requested 

This notice of intent initiates the 

scoping process which guides the 

development of the environmental 

impact statement. Comments most 

helpful tot he project development are 

those which specifically identify issues 

caused or related to the proposed action. 

More information about this and other 

projects in the Warm Fire area is 

available on the Kaibab National Forest 

Web site at http://www.fx.fed.us/r3/kai. 

Early Notice of Importance of Public 

Participation in Subsequent 

Environmental 

Review: A draft environmental impact 

statement will be prepared for comment. 

The comment period on the draft 

environmental impact statement will be 

45 days from the data 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, 533 (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 

January 2007 scoping 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 

environmental impact statement. To 

assist the Forest Service in identifying 

and considering issues and concerns on 

the proposed action, comments ont he 

draft 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 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 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 249 / Thursday, December 28, 2006 / Notices 78135 

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: December 20, 2006. 

Elizabeth M. Schuppert, 

Acting Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. 06–9904 Filed 12–27–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Tripod Fire Salvage Project, Okanogan 

and Wenatchee National Forests, 

Okanogan County, WA 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the USDA Forest Service will prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

for a proposal to recover the economic 

value through salvage harvest of dead 

and dying trees damaged in the Tripod 

Complex Fire, to remove potential 

hazard trees from open roads, and to 

reforest salvage harvest units within 

specified drainages of the Methow 

Valley and Tonasket Ranger Districts, 

Okanogan and Wenatchee National 

Forests. Details of the proposal are 

further described in the SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION section below. 

Approximately 2,800 acres would be 

treated in the proposed project area. 

The analysis area encompasses a 

portion of the burned area in the Middle 

Fork Beaver Creek, Lightning Creek, 

Chewuch River, Ramsey Creek, Boulder 

Creek, North Fork Boulder Cree, Bromas 

Creek, Brevucinus Creek, Twentymile 

Creek, Pelican Creek, McCay Creek, 

Granite Creek, Cedar Creek, and Cabin 

Creek drainages, along Road 37 and 

Road 39 within the fire boundary, and 

includes parts of the following 

townships: T34N, R23E; T34N, R24E; 

T35N, R22E; T35N, R23E; T35N, R24E; 

T36N, R22E; T36N, R23E; T36N, R24E; 

T37N, R22E; T37N, R23E; T38N, R23E; 

and T39N, R23E; Williamette Meridian. 

The Tripod Complex Fire, located five 

miles northeast of Winthrop, 

Washington, burned approximately 

175,000 acres across mixed ownership 

in July to September 2006. 

Approximately 164,000 acres were on 

National Forest System lands 

administered by the Methow Valley 

Ranger District and the Tonasket Ranger 

District, Okanogan and Wenatchee 

National Forests. 

The purpose of the EIS will be to 

evaluate a range of reasonable 

alternatives for this proposal and take 

public comment on the analysis. The 

direction in the amended Okanogan 

National Forest Land and Resource 

Management Plan (Forest Plan) provides 

the overall guidance for management of 

National Forest System lands included 

in this proposal. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received by 

January 29, 2007. The draft DEIS is 

expected to be available to the public for 

review by March 2007. The final EIS is 

scheduled to be completed by June 

2007. 

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments 

to John Newcom, Methow Valley 

District Ranger, 24 West Chewuch Road, 

Winthrop, Washington 98862, Attn: 

Tripod Fire Salvage Project. Comments 

may be mailed electronically to 

comments-pacificnorthwest-okanoganmethowvalley@fs.fed.us. See the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 

below for the format and other 

information about electronic filing of 

comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob 

Stoehr, Tripod Fire Salvage Project 

Leader, USDA Forest Service, Methow 

Valley Ranger District, 24 West 

Chewuch Road, Winthrop, Washington 

98862; phone 509–996–4003. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need for Action 

The purpose and need of the Tripod 

Fire Salvage Project includes: (1) 

Recovery of the economic value of a 

portion of dead and dying trees in the 

project areas; (2) Improving public 

safety within the fire area by removing 

potential hazard trees along open forest 

roads; and (3) Re-establishing trees in 

salvage harvest units where there are 

few or no green trees that can act as a 

seed source. 

Proposed Action 

The Forest Supervisor for the 

Okanogan and Wenatchee National 

Forests proposes to salvage dead and 

dying trees from approximately 2,800 

acres within a portion of the area 

burned by the Tripod Complex Fire. 

Salvage harvest methods would include 

ground based and skyline yarding 

systems. Ground-based yarding systems 

would not be used on sustained slopes 

greater than 35 percent. To facilitate 

haul, 6.5 miles of existing classified 

roads would be reconstructed and about 

3.5 miles of temporary roads would be 

constructed. No new classified road 

construction is proposed and all 

temporary roads would be closed or 

decommissioned after project activities 

are completed. No commercial harvest 

or road construction is proposed within 

the Granite Mountain, Long Swamp, 

and Tiffany Inventoried Roadless Areas. 

Roadside hazard trees and trees 

expected to become a hazard in the 

future within the project area along 

open roads and along any closed roads 

to be opened for implementation for this 

project, would be felled and removed to 

provide safe and adequate road access. 

Tree planting is proposed in salvage 

harvest units where there is insufficient 

seed source to ensure natural 

regeneration in a timely manner. The 

proposed action would require 

amendments of the Forest Plan to: (1) 

Allow harvest of green trees larger than 

21′ diameter breast height that are 

expected to die from fire effects, (2) 

Allow snowplowing and motorized use 

of designated, groomed snowmobile 

routes to facilitate salvage operations, 

(3) Allow motorized access in 

Management Area 26, which is deer 

winter range, during the winter season 

to facilitate salvage operations, and (4) 

Exceed open road density standards in 

discrete management areas as a result of 

salvage operations. 

Possible Alternatives 

A full range of alternatives will be 

considered, including the proposed 

action, no action, and additional 

alternatives that respond to issues 

generated during the scoping process. 

Responsible Official 

The Responsible Official is James L. 

Boynton, Forest Supervisor, Okanogan 

and Wenatchee National Forests, 215 

Melody Lane, Wenatchee, Washington 

98801. The Responsible Official will 

document the Tripod Fire Salvage 

Project decision and reasons for the 

decision in a Record of Decision. That 

decision will be subject to Forest 

Service appeal regulations (36 CFR Part 

215). 

Nature of the Decision To Be Made 

The Forest Supervisor for the 

Okanogan and Wenatchee National 

Forests will decide whether or not to 

salvage timber, remove potential hazard 

trees, and reforest salvage harvest units, 

and if so, the locations and extent of 

treatments. The decision will include 

whether or not to reconstruct classified 

roads and construct new temporary 

roads for access within the project area, 

and if so, how much. The Forest 

Supervisor will also decide how to 


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