This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

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examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

61777 

Vol. 70, No. 206 

Wednesday, October 26, 2005 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

White/White Project, Clearwater 

National Forest, Idaho County, ID 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service, 

will prepare an Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS) to disclose the 

environmental effect of timber harvest 

and watershed restoration activities in 

the White/White project area on the 

Lochsa Ranger District of the Clearwater 

National Forest. The White/White 

project area is located in the Nevada 

Creek, Mike White Creek, Utah Creek, 

White Creek, Chamook Creek drainages, 

a tributaries to Lolo Creek, 

approximately 12 air-miles southeast of 

the town of Pierce, Idaho. 

DATES: This project was previously 

scoped in August 2, 1999 and rescoped 

in May 24, 2001. The comments that 

were received from the White/White EA 

will be included in the documentation 

for the EIS. A 45-day public comment 

period will follow the release of the 

draft environmental impact statement 

that is expected in January 2006. The 

final environmental impact statement is 

expected in April 2006. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments and 

suggestions concerning the scope of this 

project should be sent to Steve Bess 

(sbess@fs.fed.us), Project Leader, Lochsa 

Ranger District, Rt. 1, Box 398, Kooskia, 

ID 83539. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Steve Bess (sbess@fs.fed.us), Project 

Leader, Lochsa Ranger District, Phone: 

(208) 926–4274. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

original White/White analysis was 

documented in an Environmental 

Assessment, followed by a Decision 

Notice and Finding of No Significant 

Impact on June 3, 2003. The decision 

was withdrawn on October 17, 2005, in 

favor of proceeding with an 

Environmental Impact Statement. 

The White/White project area 

contains approximately 7,000 acres, all 

on National Forest lands. The legal 

location is in portions of Sections 9, 10, 

14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 32, 

33, and 34, T35N, R6E; Sections 4 and 

5, T34N, R6E; Boise Meridian, Idaho 

County, Idaho. The proposed actions 

would occur on National Forest lands 

and are all outside the boundaries of 

any inventoried roadless area or any 

areas considered for inclusion to the 

National Wilderness System as 

recommended by the Clearwater 

National Forest Plan or by any past or 

present legislative wilderness proposals. 

Purpose and Need for Action is to: (1) 

Improve forest health, maintain, and/or 

restore ecological processes, functions, 

forest structure, and composition 

expected to occur today and in the 

future under natural disturbance 

regimes by: (a) Emulating the scale of 

natural disturbance patterns through 

management activities; (b) reestablishing white pine and larch as a 

major component of the forest 

ecosystem; (c) reducing vegetative 

density to allow for increased tree vigor 

and vegetative health; (d) changing the 

tree species mix to a greater percent of 

early serial intolerant species which are 

more fire adapted and generally more 

disease resistant and which more 

closely emulates the historic species 

composition of the landscape; (2) restore 

the aquatic ecosystem to a more natural 

process and functioning condition by: 

(a) Reducing road density through the 

decommissioning of roads not necessary 

for future management; (b) replacing 

inadequate culverts that hinder stream 

connectivity for aquatic organisms; (c) 

placing roads into long-term storage 

(pulling culverts, waterbarring, seeding 

and fertilizing) that are not currently 

needed but will be needed for future 

management; and (3) managing the 

landscape to provide for goods and 

services deemed important to society. 

The Proposed Action would harvest 

timber through regeneration harvest, 

commercial thinning, and jackpot 

burning on approximately 1,215 acres of 

forestland within the project area. 

Regeneration harvest (510 acres) would 

leave approximately 15–20 trees per 

acre as individual trees and/or in groups 

to provide a continued source of 

nutrients and organic material to the 

soils to maintain site productivity and 

to provide future snags and down 

woody material for wildlife habitat. 

Commercial thinning (655 acres) would 

reduce the basal area in dense timbered 

stands down to about 160–180 square 

feet per acre. Jackpot burning on 

approximately 50 acres would improve 

the stand composition by creating 

openings that can be planted with seral 

species. There is also an opportunity to 

precommercial thin approximately 

1,740 acres of young stands scattered 

throughout the project area. Use of 

existing, temporary, and permanent 

roads would be needed to access timber 

harvest areas. An estimated 1.73 miles 

of existing roads would be reconstructed 

in addition to 0.5 miles of new specified 

road constructed to facilitate timber 

removal. An estimated 1.81 miles of 

temporary roads would be constructed 

and obliterated following completion of 

sale related activities. Watershed 

restoration activities would consist of an 

estimated 20.4 miles of roads 

decommissioned and 14.9 miles of 

existing roads put into intermittent 

storage (self-maintaining). This would 

reduce motorized access by 35.3 miles. 

Possible Alternatives the Forest 

Service will consider including the ‘‘no 

action’’ alternative in which none of the 

proposed activities would be 

implemented. Additional alternatives 

being considered examine varying levels 

and locations for the proposed activities 

to achieve the proposal’s purpose and 

need, as well as to respond to the issues 

and other resource concerns. 

The Responsible Official is the Forest 

Supervisor of the Clearwater National 

Forest, 12730 Highway 12, Orofino, ID 

83544. The Responsible Official will 

decide if the proposed project will be 

implemented and will document the 

decision and reasons for the decision in 

a Record of Decision. That decision will 

be subject to Forest Service Appeal 

Regulations. The responsibility for 

preparing the DEIS and FEIS has been 

delegated to Cindy Lane, District 

Ranger, Lochsa Ranger District, Rt. 1 

Box 398, Kooskia, ID 83539. 

The Scoping Process was initiated 

with the release of a Scoping Letter in 

August 1999, April 2001 and comments 

received during the 30-day comment 

period of the EA March 2003. 

Comments received as a result of that 

effort will be included in the 

61778 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 206 / Wednesday, October 26, 2005 / Notices 

1The term off-highway wheeled motor vehicle in 

this proposal means ‘‘any (wheeled) motorized 

vehicle designed or capable of cross-country travel 

on or immediately over land, water, sand, snow, 

ice, marsh, swampland, or other natural terrain 

*** ’’ (Executive Order 11644, as amended). 

documentation for the EIS. Additional 

scoping will follow the release of the 

DEIS, expected in January 2006. This 

proposal also includes openings greater 

than 40 acres. A 60-day public review 

period was initiated with the scoping of 

this project on May 16, 2001. Approval 

to exceed the 40-acre limitation was 

received from the Regional Forester on 

March 21, 2003. 

Preliminary Issues that could be 

affected by proposed activities include 

aesthetics/scenery; air quality; 

economics; fuels treatment; future 

management accessibility; heritage 

resources; old growth; retention of live 

and dead trees; riparian areas; size of 

openings; soil compaction and 

productivity; threatened, endangered, 

sensitive, and management indicator 

specifies of wildlife, fish and plants; 

tribal treaty rights; and water quality. 

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, 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 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: October 19, 2005. 

Thomas K. Reilly, 

Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. 05–21334 Filed 10–25–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Eldorado National Forest, CA; Notice 

of Intent To Prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement To Designate Routes 

for Public Off-Highway Wheeled Motor 

Vehicles 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The Forest Service will 

prepare an environmental impact 

statement to designate a portion of the 

inventoried routes on the Eldorado 

National Forest open to public offhighway wheeled motor vehicle 1 use, 

and assign the type of use(s) and season 

of use allowed on each road and trail or 

portion thereof. Inventoried routes not 

selected for designation for public offhighway wheeled motor vehicle use will 

be closed to public wheeled motor 

vehicles year round. Eldorado National 

Forest maintenance level 3, 4, and 5 

system roads subject to the Federal 

Highway Safety Act are currently 

designated open to highway legal 

vehicles. The Forest Supervisor will not 

propose to redesignate these roads for 

off-highway wheeled motor vehicles. 

The Rock Creek multi-use trail area on 

the Eldorado National Forest is not 

affected by this decision and is outside 

the scope of the project. 

DATES: Comments on the proposed 

action should be submitted within 30 

days of the date of publication of this 

Notice of Intent. The draft 

environmental impact statement is 

expected by June 2006 and the final 

environmental impact statement is 

expected in October 2006. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

John D. Berry, Forest Supervisor, 

Eldorado National Forest, 100 Forni 

Road, Placerville, CA 95667. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Anthony V. Scardina, Route Designation 

Interdisciplinary Team Leader, Eldorado 

National Forest Supervisor’s Office by 

telephone at (530) 621–5276, FAX (530) 

621–5297, or by e-mail at 

ascardina@fs.fed.us. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need for Action 

It is Forest Service policy to provide 

a diversity of road and trail 

opportunities for experiencing a variety 

of environments and modes of travel 

consistent with the National Forest 

recreation role and land capability (FSM 

2353.03(2)). Modes of travel include 

hiking, horseback riding, motor biking, 

and so forth (FSM 2353.2). The 

Eldorado National Forest Land and 

Resource Management Plan (ENF 

LRMP) prohibits wheeled vehicle travel 

off of designated roads, trails, and 

limited off-highway vehicle (OHV) use 

areas (Sierra Nevada Forest Plan 

Amendment (SNFPA) Record of 

Decision (ROD), January 2004, S&G 

#69). 

In recent years, the use of OHVs 

across the Eldorado National Forest has 

increased substantially. This increased 

use has led to development of usercreated trails, increased conflict 

between motorized and non-motorized 

uses; complaints about noise from 

adjacent landowners; and areas of 

degraded soil, water, vegetation, and 

wildlife habitat conditions. The current 

route inventory for Eldorado National 

Forest identified approximately 2,830 

miles of roads and trails currently 

receiving some level of OHV use. Of 

these, 2,110 miles of National Forest 

System roads and trails are managed for 

OHV use. 

The underlying need for this proposal 

is to designate routes for public offhighway wheeled motor vehicle use on 

the Eldorado National Forest. In meeting 

this need, the selection of designated 

routes shall achieve the following 

purposes: