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Notices Federal Register

2079

Vol. 62, No. 10

Wednesday, January 15, 1997

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Katka Peak Environmental Impact

Statement Supplement, Idaho

Panhandle National Forests, Boundary

County, ID

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare a

supplement to the Katka Peak

environmental impact statement.

SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service,

will prepare a supplement to Katka Peak

Final Environmental Impact Statement

(EIS). The notice of intent for the EIS

was published in volume 57, number

137 of the Federal Register, pages 31491

through 31493 on July 16, 1992. This

supplement will disclose environmental

effects of a timber salvage and

ecosystem rehabilitation project in the

Katka Peak analysis area. A portion of

the proposed activities are within the

Katka Peak Roadless Area number 1–

157.

The project area is approximately 7

air miles southeast of the community of

Bonners Ferry. It is in the northwest

portion of the Cabinet Mountains, Idaho

Panhandle National Forests, Bonners

Ferry Ranger District, Boundary County,

Idaho. There are approximately 28,827

acres of National Forest lands within the

analysis area. It includes portions of

Township 61 North, Ranges 1, 2 and 3

East, and Township 60 North, Range 2

East, Boise Meridian, Boundary County,

Idaho.

The decision to be made is to the

extent, if anything, of activities to be

accomplished for salvage, thinning,

prescribed burning, watershed and

fisheries habitat improvement and road

reconditioning within the project area.

Decisions concerning road closures for

grizzly bear security habitat would

affect only roads within the Boulder

Bear Management Unit.

The purpose of the project is fourfold. It is to: salvage dead and dying

timber; to trend productive and

stagnating poletimber, sawtimber and

plantation stands towards historical

stocking levels and species composition;

reduce the stocking of small diameter

Douglas-fir, larch and other species that

are invading historical dry site

ponderosa pine habitat types; and,

remove seed trees in previous harvest

units which are now certified as

regenerated.

The items covered by the 1994 Katka

Peak record of decision to implement

Alternative 7c are outside the scope of

this analysis. This supplement will not

result in any changes to the existing

timber sales and related activities as

analyzed and disclosed in the Katka

Peak Final EIS and ROD.

This supplement to the EIS is

necessary under 40 CFR 1502.9(c) due

to significant new circumstances and

information obtained since the Katka

Peak Final EIS was completed. One

significant new circumstance is the

expanding market for commercial

utilization of trees ranging in size from

4 to 7 inches in diameter at breast

height. These small trees are

increasingly in demand for pulp, posts

and poles. Also, dead timber is being

utilized in larger quantities for

houselogs. These growing markets now

make it feasible to use commercial forest

product sales to treat timber stands that

were designated for ‘‘deferred

treatment’’ in the Katka Peak Final EIS

and Record of Decision.

The scientific assessment for the

Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem

Management Project (ICBEMP) has

provided significant new information

relevant to the project area. This area

lies within the Northern Glaciated

Mountains Region described in the

ICBEMP assessment area. Specific

recommendations for this region

indicate a need to rehabilitate

overstocked stands and to enhance dry

site ponderosa pine habitat types by

such techniques as mechanical stocking

control (thinning) and prescribed fire.

DATES: Written comments and

suggestions on the proposed

management activities or requests to be

placed on the public involvement list

should be submitted on or before

February 14, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments,

suggestions or requests to District

Ranger, ATTN: Katka Peak

Supplemental EIS (Kit Katkee Salvage

Project), Bonners Ferry Ranger District,

Route 4 Box 4860, Bonners Ferry, Idaho

83805–9764.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Barry Wynsma, Project Leader, phone

(208) 267–5561.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Katka

Peak Supplemental EIS (Kit Katkee

Salvage Project) was initiated in October

of 1995 pursuant to procedures in

Section 2001 of Public Law 104–19

(Pub.L. 104–19). New direction issued

by Forest Service Chief Jack Ward

Thomas and Department of Agriculture

Secretary Dan Glickman on July 2, 1996

resulted in this project being subject to

standard NEPA procedures for

supplements to environmental impact

statements. This project is no longer

subject to Pub.L. 104–19 procedures

because the estimated total volume of

live timber proposed for removal in

stocking reduction treatments is

expected to exceed 25 percent, which is

the upper limit for a salvage sale under

Pub.L. 104–19.

This project-level EIS supplement

incorporates the Katka Peak Final EIS

and Record of Decision (July 12, 1994)

and tiers to the Idaho Panhandle

National Forests Land and Resource

Management Plan (Forest Plan) and

Final EIS (September, 1987). The Forest

Plan provides overall guidance of all

land management activities on the Idaho

Panhandle National Forests.

Use of prescribed fire, timber harvest,

road closures, road reconstruction and

obliteration, water quality improvement

and instream fish habitat structures, and

access management are all being

considered to achieve or trend toward

the desired condition.

Proposed salvage and ecosystem

rehabilitation management activities

would take place in timber stands with

the highest treatment needs and with

low potential for producing and

delivering sediment to streams.

Thinning treatments would remove

trees between 4 and 9 inches in

diameter at breast height (dbh).

Activities would include:

Approximately 1,800 acres of

roundwood thinning (trees less than 7

inches dbh), approximately 3,800 acres

of understory removal treatments,

including salvage of dead/down timber;

approximately 135 acres of final

removal of seed trees in certified
2080 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 10 / Wednesday, January 15, 1997 / Notices

regenerated harvest units (keeping

reserve trees for wildlife);

approximately 730 acres of plantations

scheduled for precommercial thinning;

approximately 340 acres of dry site

ponderosa pine habitat enhancement

treatments, using both mechanical

methods and prescribed fire;

approximately 11 water quality/fisheries

improvement projects, mostly road

stabilization on existing roads; and,

access management to meet security

habitat for threatened and endangered

wildlife species.

The proposal includes precommercial

thinning and prescribed fire treatments

in the Katka Peak Roadless Area (1–

157). Approximately 329 acres of drysite ponderosa pine habitat would be

underburned and 217 acres of

overstocked pole-sized timber stands

would be precommercially thinned.

There would not be any use of heavy

equipment, no road construction, and

no removal of forest products within the

roadless area.

These proposed actions are being

considered together because they

represent either connected, similar, or

cumulative actions as defined by the

Council on Environmental Quality (40

CFR 1508.25).

The Idaho Panhandle National Forests

Forest Plan provides the guidance for

management of activities through goals,

objectives, standards and guidelines,

and management area directions. The

proposed salvage and ecosystem

rehabilitation management activities are

within Forest Plan designated

management Areas 2 and 19. These

areas can be described briefly as

follows:

Management Area 2—Manage

identified grizzly bear habitat to support

a recovered grizzly bear population

while providing for long-term growth

and production of commercially

valuable wood products.

Management Area 19—Manage for a

semi-primitive recreation setting while

providing low levels of timber harvest

with minimum standard roads.

The Forest Service will consider two

alternatives to the proposed action. One

alternative will be ‘‘No Action’’ in

which none of the proposed activities

would be implemented. Another

alternative will consider the effects of

treating all stands that have a

component of dead timber, that are

overstocked, that are in ponderosa pine

habitat that currently do not exhibit the

historical species and stocking levels of

this habitat type, or have final removal

needs.

The supplement to the Katka Peak

Final EIS will analyze the direct,

indirect, and cumulative environmental

effects of the proposed action and

alternatives. Past, present, and

reasonably foreseeable activities on both

private and National Forest lands will

be considered. Analysis of site-specific

mitigation measures and their

effectiveness will be disclosed.

Public participation is an important

part of the analysis and decisionmaking

process. Scoping began with publication

of the proposed project in the October

1995 IPNF NEPA Quarterly Schedule of

Proposed Actions and through

newspaper articles and letters to

interested persons. The public is

encouraged to visit with Forest Service

officials at any time during the analysis

and prior to the decision.

The following preliminary issues have

been identified at this time:

1. How will access management and

project timing affect habitat and security

needs for Threatened, Endangered,

Sensitive and Management Indicator

species?

2. How will the fisheries and water

quality in the project area be protected,

maintained, or improved?

3. What timber stands have stocking

levels and species compositions that are

above and outside of their historic range

of variability? Also, what stands are

experiencing or at risk of unacceptably

high levels of insect and disease

activity? In relation to stands

experiencing high levels of tree

mortality, what are the fuel loading

concerns and are the stands in need of

fuels reduction?

4. How will the project contribute to

maintaining the customary flow of

goods and services to communities?

5. How will the project affect the

Katka Peak Roadless Area?

6. How will the visual resource be

affected by the project?

7. How will the project protect

sensitive plant species?

8. How will the project protect

cultural resources?

This list may be expanded, verified or

modified based on continuing public

participation in this project.

The Draft Supplement to the Katka

Peak Final EIS is expected to be filed

with the Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) and available for public

review in February of 1997. At that

time, EPA will publish a Notice of

Availability (NOA) of the Draft

Supplemental EIS in the Federal

Register. The comment period on the

Draft Supplemental EIS will end 45

days from the date the NOA appears in

the Federal Register. It is very

important that those interested in the

management of the Katka Peak area

participate at that time. To be most

helpful, comments on the Draft

Supplemental EIS should be as site- and

project-specific as possible and relate

only to proposals made in the EIS

supplement. The Final Supplemental

EIS is anticipated to be completed by

April, 1997.

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 and agency to the

reviewer’s position and contentions.

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp.

versus NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978).

Also, environmental objections that

could be raised at the draft EIS stage but

that are not raised until after completion

of the final EIS may be waived or

dismissed by the courts. City of Angoon

versus Hodel, 803 F.2d 1016, 1022 (9th

Cir. 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc.

versus 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

supplement to the Katka Peak Final EIS.

To assist the Forest Service in

identifying and considering issues and

concerns on the proposed action,

comments on the draft supplement to

the Final EIS should be as specific as

possible. 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.

It is also helpful if comments refer to

specific pages or chapters of the draft

supplement. Comments may also

address the adequacy of the draft

supplement or the merits of the

alternatives formulated and discussed in

the supplement.

I am the responsible official for this

supplement to the environmental

impact statement.

Dated: December 26, 1996.

Elaine J. Zieroth,

District Ranger, Bonners Ferry Ranger District.

[FR Doc. 97–887 Filed 1–14–97; 8:45 am]

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