[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 201 (Friday, October 17, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54037-54039]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-27542]


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Notices
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, 
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency 
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents 
appearing in this section.

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Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 200 / Friday, October 17, 1997 / 
Notices

[[Page 54037]]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management


Clancy-Unionville Vegetative Treatment/Travel Management Plan 
EIS; Helena National Forest, BLM Headwaters Resource Area, Lewis & 
Clark and Jefferson Counties, Montana

AGENCIES: Forest Service, USDA and Bureau of Land Management, USDI.

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare Environmental Impact Statement and 
BLM Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment.

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SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service and USDI, Bureau of Land Management 
are gathering information and preparing an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) for a planning effort involving vegetative treatments 
and motorize travel management actions. This EIS will analyze the 
impacts of utilizing prescribed fire on grassland vegetation types and 
a combination of prescribed fire and tree removal within the forested 
vegetation. It will also evaluate the effects of alternative strategies 
for managing motorized travel uses throughout the affected area. 
Alternative travel management actions will address spatial, temporal 
and vehicle type allocations. Travel planning will also guide the long-
term management of new roads needed to access the vegetation treatment 
areas. The project area is located immediately south of Helena, 
Montana, and totals 40,000 acres of public lands (including 5,000 acres 
of BLM lands).
    The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management propose to treat 
approximately 5750 acres of grassland and forested vegetation through 
prescribed burning and tree removal. On the National Forest, 
approximately 2800 acres would be treated with prescribed burning and 
2200 acres of timber would be harvested. On the Bureau of Land 
Management lands approximately 750 acres would be harvested of which 
250 acres would be treated further with prescribed burning.
    Timber would be sold and removed using commercial thinning, 
selection, shelterwood, seedtree and clearcut harvest systems. 
Approximately 17.4 miles of new temporary road construction is needed 
to access treatment areas. Following treatment all but 1 mile of the 
temporary roads would be recontoured and physically closed. New road 
construction would occur in the Grizzly Gulch, Go Devil Creek, Whiteman 
Gulch, Little Buffalo Gulch, Jackson Creek, Lump Gulch and Quartz Creek 
vicinities.
    The travel management proposal is to establish a ``Restricted 
Area'' designation for the entire area that would limit public 
motorized travel to designated routes. The use of some roads and trails 
would also be restricted to specific seasons and/or certain vehicle 
classes. Snowmobile users would be able to travel off routes in some 
portions of the area.
    The proposal is designed to help achieve the goals and objectives 
of the 1986 Helena National Forest Plan and move selected areas towards 
the desired conditions identified from the Forest Plan. These needs are 
supported by the findings of the Divide Landscape Analysis (September 
1996). This proposal would fulfill the vegetative management direction 
of the BLM Headwaters RMP and create some changes regarding travel 
management direction, ultimately requiring an amendment.
    More specifically, the proposal has the following purpose:
    <bullet> to create a more diverse forest with a wide variety of 
trees of varying ages, species and sizes.
    <bullet> to minimize the threat of large scale, catastrophic 
wildfire by reducing the amount of forest vegetation (trees, shrubs and 
grasses) and litter on the forest floor. Vegetation treatments would be 
done in concert with the existing qualities of the urban/rural setting, 
while protecting the area's scenic and recreational amenities.
    <bullet> to insure a variety of different plant and animal habitats 
which would meet the needs of the area's plant and animal species.
    <bullet> to manage the area with designated roads and trails that 
serve the needs of a wide variety of public users, both motorized and 
non-motorized, while still protecting other resource values of the 
landscape.
    <bullet> to produce an array of forest wood products (i.e. saw 
timber, post and pole material, firewood, Christmas trees) while still 
maintaining a sustainable forest.
    <bullet> to improve water quality through sediment reduction 
measures and an up-dated travel management plan.

DATE: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be received 
in writing on or before November 17, 1997.

    The draft EIS is scheduled for public release and comment in the 
spring of 1998.

ADDRESSES: The responsible officials are Tom Clifford, Forest 
Supervisor, Helena National Forest, Supervisor's Office, 2880 Skyway 
Drive, Helena, MT. 59601. Phone: (406) 449-5201, and James R. Owings, 
Butte District Manager, Bureau of Land Management, 106 N. Parkmont, 
Butte, MT. 59701, Phone (406) 494-5059.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Denis A. Hart, Helena District Ranger, 
Helena Ranger District, 2001 Poplar Helena, MT. 59601. Phone: (406) 
449-5490; or Merle Good, Headwaters Resource Area Manager, P.O. Box 
3388, Butte, MT. 59702. Phone: (406) 494-5059; or Fan Mainwaring, 
Interdisciplinary Team Leader, Helena Ranger District, 2001 Poplar, 
Helena, MT. 59601.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The prescribed burning, timber harvest, and 
temporary road construction would occur on National Forest and Bureau 
of Land Management lands in portions of Grizzly Gulch, Go Devil Creek, 
Whiteman Gulch, Little Buffalo Creek, Jackson Creek, Lump Gulch and 
Quartz Creek drainages of the Helena Ranger District of the Helena 
National Forest and Headwaters Resource Area of the Bureau of Land 
Management. Included in the area being analyzed is all or portions of 
T.10N., R.4W., Sections 34-35; T.9N., R.4W., Sections 1-5, 8-12, 20-23, 
26-29; T9N., R3W., Sections 29-33; T8N., R3W., Sections 12-14, 25-27, 
35-36; T8N., R4W., Sections 7-8, 17-20, 29-30, Montana Principle 
Meridian.
    The areas of proposed tree removal and prescribed burning are 
within

[[Page 54038]]

Management Areas T-1, T-4, T-5, L-1, R-1, W-1 and M-1 described in the 
Helena Forest Plan. The Forest Plan direction states that:
    --T-1 Lands available and suitable for timber production. Although 
these areas consist primarily of suitable forest lands, there are 
inclusions on non-forest and non-productive forest lands.
    --T-4 Productive timberland within sensitive viewing area of many 
major travel routes, use areas and water bodies. Most of the area is 
suitable forest land, but there may be inclusions of non-forest or non-
productive forest land.
    --T-5 Suitable timberlands interspersed with natural openings, 
generally with existing livestock allotments.
    --L-1 Generally nonforested forage producing areas where forage 
production is optimized and timber harvest and prescribed fire may be 
used as tools for this purpose, but not for timber management sake.
    --R-1 These management areas consist of large blocks--greater than 
3,000 acres--of undeveloped land suited for dispersed recreation. These 
areas provide opportunities for semi-primitive, non-motorized 
recreation and are characterized predominantly by natural or natural 
appearing environment where there is a high probability of isolation 
from man's activities.
    --W-1 This management area consists of a variety of wildlife 
habitat ranging from important big game summer range to big game winter 
range.
    --M-1 Non-forest and forested land where timber management and 
range or wildlife habitat improvements are currently uneconomical or 
environmentally infeasible.
    The affected area of this EIS includes portions of Management Units 
(MUs) 8, 23 and 24 as described in the BLM Headwaters RMP of 1984. 
These MUs were identified as having high forest land values with a high 
priority for management. This vegetative treatment analysis will meet 
the RMP directive to complete a Compartment Management Plan in this 
area. The RMP designated MUs 8 and 24 as open to motorized travel and 
available for permitted motorized event consideration. MU 23 is 
classified as restricted to motorized travel and closed to motorized 
events. The travel management proposal complies with the RMP direction 
for MU 23 and is inconsistent with the direction for MUs 8 and 24. 
Therefore, Plan Amendment procedures will be followed in this EIS 
planning effort.
    The decisions to be made, based on this environmental analysis, 
are:
    1. Whether or not to treat the forested and nonforested vegetation 
at this time, and if so, what areas to treat, and what treatment 
methods would be employed.
    2. What roads, trails, and areas need to be closed or restricted to 
ensure resource protection and what roads, trails and areas should 
remain open for motorized users.
    If it is decided to implement the proposal, activities may begin as 
early as 1998 and take up to 3 years to implement.
    This EIS will tier to the Helena Forest Plan Final EIS of April 
1986 and the BLM Headwaters RMP of 1984 that provide program goals, 
objectives and standards and guidelines for conducting management 
activites in this area. All activities associated with the proposal 
will be designed to maintain or enhance the resource objectives 
identified in the two plans. The Forest Service will also strive to 
meet the objectives further refined in the Divide Landscape Analysis.
    The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management are seeking 
information and comments from Federal, State, local agencies and others 
organizations or individuals who may be interested in or affected by 
the proposed action. The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land 
Management invite written comments and suggestions on the issues for 
the proposal and the area being analyzed. Information received will be 
used in preparation of the Draft EIS. Preparation of the EIS will 
include the following steps:
    1. Identification of potential issues.
    2. Identification of issues to be analyzed in depth.
    3. Elimination of insignificant issues or those that have been 
covered by a relevant previous environmental analysis.
    4. Identification of additional reasonable alternatives.
    5. Identification of potential environmental effects of the 
alternatives.
    Prescribed harvest treatments in this proposal include: a) 
unevenaged management techniques such as individual tree selection and 
group selection; b) intermediate treatments such as commercial 
thinning; and c) regeneration treatments include seedtree, shelterwood, 
and clearout harvest methods. Alternatives to this proposal will 
include the ``no action'' alternative, in which none of the proposed 
treatments would be implemented. Other alternatives will examine 
variations in the location, amount and method of vegetative management.
    The preliminary issues identified are:
    1. The effects of the vegetative treatments on existing noxious 
weed populations.
    2. The effects of the vegetative treatments and temporary road 
construction on wildlife resources.
    3. The effects of the vegetative treatments on existing recreation 
use.
    4. The effectiveness of the vegetative treatment upon forest health 
and forest fuel accumulations.
    5. The effects on threatened, endangered and sensitive plant and 
animal species.
    6. The effects on motorized and non-motorized recreation use.
    7. The economic trade-offs of implementing this proposal.
    8. The effects on cultural resources within the project area.
    9. The effects upon public safety and adjacent private lands from 
log hauling and prescribed burning.
    The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management will analyze and 
disclose in the DEIS and FEIS the environmental effects of the proposed 
action and a reasonable range of alternatives. The DEIS and FEIS will 
disclose the direct, indirect and cumulative environmental effects of 
each alternative and its associated site specific mitigation measures.
    Public participation is especially important at several points of 
the analysis. Interested parties may visit with the Forest Service and 
Bureau of Land Management officials at any time during the analysis. 
However, two periods of time are specifically identified for the 
receipt of comments. The first comment period is during the scoping 
process when the public is invited to give written comments to the 
Forest Service and Bureau of Land management. This period extends for 
30 days from the date of publication of this notice, in the Federal 
Register. The second review period is during the 45 day review of the 
DEIS in and when the public is invited to comment on the DEIS.
    The DEIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) and available for public review in March 1998. At that 
time, the EPA will publish a notice of availability of the DEIS in the 
Federal Register.
    The comment period on the DEIS will be 45 days from the date the 
notice of availability is published in the Federal Register.
    At this early stage in the scoping process, the Forest Service and 
the Bureau of Land Management believe it is important to give reviewers 
notice of several court rulings related to public participation in the 
environmental review process. First, reviews of DEIS

[[Page 54039]]

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). Secondly, environmental objections 
that could be raised at the draft environmental impact statement stage, 
but that are not raised until after completion of the FEIS 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. 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 objects are made available to the Forest 
Service and Bureau of Land Management at a time when they can 
meaningfully consider them and respond to them in the FEIS.
    To assist the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in 
identifying and considering issues and concerns on the proposed action, 
comments on the DEIS 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 DEIS 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.)
    After the comment period ends on the DEIS, the comments will be 
analyzed and considered by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land 
Management in preparing the FEIS. The FEIS is expected to be filed in 
July 1998.

    Dated: October 6, 1997.
Tom Clifford,
Forest Supervisor, Helena National Forest.
    Dated: September 29, 1997.
James R. Owings,
Butte District Manager, Bureau of Land management.
[FR Doc. 97-27542 Filed 10-16-97; 8:45 am]
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