Commercial timber harvest will be used to restore important habitat that is currently nonexistant in the Wildlife Management Unit by thinning of individual trees while leaving the largest and healthiest trees on site, and by opening the stand such that fire can be reintroduced with minimal risk of killing the overstory trees. Following harvest, forests will be underburned to stimulate the regeneration of grasses, forbs, aspen and willow. Other alternatives will examine variations in the location, amount and method of vegetative management. The Forest Service 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 Forest Service 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 within 45 days of the publication of the Notice of Intent. 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.