Crane Mountain Salvage, Flathead National Forest, Swan Lake Ranger District, Lake County, Montana

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Crane Mountain Salvage, Flathead National Forest, Swan Lake

Ranger District, Lake County, Montana

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact

Statement (EIS) to analyze and disclose the environment impacts of a

proposal to harvest timber, use prescribed fire, and implement travel

management changes on Crane Mountain, on the Swan Lake Ranger District.

This EIS will tier to the Flathead National Forest Land and Resource

Management Plan (LRMP) and EIS of January 1986, which provides overall

guidance in achieving the desired future condition for the area.

The Proposed Action is designed to implement the Flathead Forest

Plan within the context of Ecosystem Management principles. The primary

purpose for development of the Proposed Action is to address an on-

going Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic which is causing extensive

mortality in lodgepole pine on Crane Mountain. The Proposed Action is

designed to address the short- and long-term consequences of the

epidemic. The Proposed Action will reduce the likelihood of a large

intense fire by reducing the accumulation of dry fuels through salvage

of dead lodgepole pine and treatment of residual slash, accelerate re-

establishment of a variety of tree species in area of high mortality,

contribute to the current demands for timber and provide for long-term

sustainability of wood products and other resource elements.

A portion of the Proposed Action is designed to address the effects

of past fire suppression in fire-dependent forest communities where

ponderosa pine was once a major tree species. Use of prescribed fire is

proposed to begin to reverse the destabilizing effect of post-

settlement fire suppression on dry sites, moving towards the relatively

open stands dominated by ponderosa pine and western larch which

historically existed in these areas.

A third aspect of the Proposed Action is designed to improve on

existing levels of grizzly bear habitat security. Changes in Travel

Management would bring the area into compliance with LRMP standards for

open road density in grizzly bear habitat, and take further steps to

provide more effective road closures and increase, over time, the

proportion of unroaded secure habitat on Crane Mountain.

Preliminary scoping for this project began in the fall of 1992. At

this time the Forest Service is seeking information and comments from

Federal, State, and local agencies and other individuals or

organizations who may now be interested in or affected by the Proposed

Action. This input will be used in preparing the Draft EIS. This

process will include:

1. Identification of potential issues.

2. Identification of issues to be analyzed in depth.

3. Elimination of insignificant issues or those which have been

covered by a relevant previous environmental analysis.

4. Identification of additional reasonable alternatives.

5. Identification of potential environmental effects of the

alternatives.

6. Determination of potential cooperating agencies and task

assignments.

The agency invites written comments and suggestions on the issues

and proposed management activities in the area being analyzed. More

detailed information on the Proposed Action, public comments to date,

and preliminary issues and alternatives is available upon request.

DATES: Comments should be received by May 31, 1994, to receive timely

consideration in the preparation of the Draft EIS.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments or requests to be placed on the

project mailing list to Charles E. Harris, District Ranger, Swan Lake

Ranger District, P.O. Box 370, Bigfork, MT 59911.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cathy Calloway, Planning Team Leader, or Chuck Harris, District Ranger.

Phone (406) 837-5081.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Proposed Action has been developed to

respond to existing conditions in the Crane Mountain area, ecosystem

management principles, and Forest Plan direction for the area. For the

past several years, Crane Mountain has been experiencing a Mountain

Pine Beetle (MPB) epidemic. The Mountain Pine Beetle is a wood boring

insect which affects primarily mature lodgepole pine trees. When beetle

populations are high, as is the case on Crane Mountain, they can cause

widespread mortality. Approximately 3500 acres (20%) of the Crane

Mountain landscape is occupied by trees which are susceptible to MPB

mortality. At present, extensive mortality has occurred on

approximately 2000 acres where lodgepole pine is the primary tree

species. An additional 1000 acres of mixed species stands have also

been impacted by more scattered lodgepole pine mortality. Additional

mortality is predicted.

Without management action, MPB activity will result in considerable

change on the landscape over time. During the next decade or two, most

dead trees will blow over. Areas which used to have dense lodgepole

pine forests will become open, dominated by grasses, herbs, and shrubs.

Dead trees will result in an increased fuel loading and increased

possibility of stand replacement wildfire. Extensive mortality will

change the habitat conditions for many wildlife species over time.

Areas of hiding cover and thermal cover for large mammals will be lost

in the short-term. The changes in vegetation will also affect water

yield and water quality, and the visual quality of the area. With or

without fire, trees will gradually become re-established, but without

management action it may take an additional 10 to 20 years for openings

to become fully re-stocked with trees.

Proposed management activities have been designed to address both

long- and short-term consequences of the current Mountain Pine Beetle

epidemic on Crane Mountain. Specifically, the proposal includes the

following components:

1. Reduce the likelihood of a large intense fire, by reducing the

accumulation of dry fuels through salvage of dead lodgepole pine and

treatment of residual slash.

2. Accelerate re-establishment of a variety of tree species in

areas with high levels of MPB mortality. Timely reforestation of

harvested areas will help ameliorate the affects of wide-spread

mortality more rapidly than if nature is allowed to take its course in

the area. Proposed actions will provide for more rapid stabilization of

exposed soils in riparian areas, more rapid return to wildlife cover

conditions, and provide for more insect and disease resistant

conditions across the landscape.

3. Contribute to the short-term demands for timber and provide for

utilization of a variety of wood products.

4. Accomplish other resource objectives in conjunction with

proposed harvest activities, including:

--Planting of shrubs in riparian areas

--Improve moist site habitat for a variety of wildlife species via

impoundment of surface water in several sites

A portion of the Proposed Action is designed to reverse the

destabilizing effect of post-settlement fire suppression on dry sites,

historically dominated by open grown stands of ponderosa pine and

western larch. The objective is to create stand conditions more

characteristic of those found on these sites under the pre-settlement

fire regime. This stand type and structure provides an important, and

quickly disappearing, niche for a variety of plant and animal species,

including flammulated owl and old growth management indicator species.

Treatment would be accomplished through a combination of slashing and

prescribed fire. This would reduce the stocking in understory Douglas-

fir, moving towards the relatively open stands dominated by ponderosa

pine and western larch which historically existed in these areas.

The Proposed Action is designed to incorporate a variety of Travel

Management changes to reduce open road densities to within current LRMP

standards and to balance public access with measure to provide improved

grizzly bear habitat security in areas of high quality spring and

summer habitats.

Management activities under consideration would occur in an area

encompassing approximately 40,000 acres of National Forest lands in the

East Shore and Lower Swan Geographic Units, on the Swan Lake Ranger

District, as delineated in the LRMP. Proposed harvest or burning

activities would occur in portions of the following: Sections 21, 22,

and 26-35, T26N, R19W, and Sections 2-4, 9-11, 13-16, and 21-36, T25N,

R19W, Principal Montana Meridian. Proposed changes in Travel Management

would be distributed across a larger area, including portions of T26N,

R19W; T25N, R19W; T26N, R18W; T25N, R18W; and T24N, R18W.

The Proposed Action includes harvest treatment on approximately 960

acres and use of prescribed fire in three areas, totalling 400 acres.

Harvested areas would be treated to reduce fuels accumulations and to

prepare sites for reforestation. Tree planting is proposed on

approximately 800 acres to ensure rapid reforestation. No new road

construction is proposed, but approximately 3 miles of temporary road

would be required to access harvested areas. A portion of the proposed

treatments would require helicopter logging. A variety of changes to

travel management are also proposed, including road closures via rocks

or berms and reclamation measures designed to remove some roads from

the long-term transportation system. The Proposed Action would close

approximately 51 miles or road which are currently open to motorized

use.

The Proposed Action would require a site-specific amendment to the

LRMP to vary from the grizzly bear distance to cover guideline and the

duration of activity/re-entry period criteria for grizzly bear habitat.

These deviations are proposed in order to address the on-going MPB

epidemic and meet the Purpose and Need for Action on a timely basis.

The Land and Resource Management Plan for the Flathead National

Forest provides the overall guidance for management activities in the

potentially affected area through its goals, objectives, standards and

guidelines, and management area direction. Most of the proposed

activities would occur in Management Areas 15 and 7. Forest plan

direction states that Management Area 15 consists of lands where timber

management with roads is economical and feasible. The management goal

is to manage those lands suitable for timber production for the long-

term growth and production of commercially valuable wood products, as

well as provide for soil and water protection, wildlife habitat, and

roaded recreation opportunities. Management Area 7 is identified as

roaded timberlands in visually sensitive areas. The goal in these areas

is to manage timber resources in a manner that complements and protects

high scenic values, maintaining a pleasing, natural-appearing

landscape.

In addition, prescribed burning, road re-construction, and some

timber harvest and reforestation may occur within Management Area 12

(riparian areas along perennial streams), Management Area 17 (riparian

areas with typically intermittent streams), Management Area 3 (amenity

resource values), or Management Area 1 (nonforested lands).

Proposed Actions would occur in Management Situation 2 grizzly bear

habitat. Management Situation 2 includes areas which do not have

distinct bear populations or do not contain year-round high quality

bear habitats. The area is a part of the Northern Continental Divide

Recovery Area, but categorized as unnecessary for the survival and

recovery of the bear. Management considerations include minimizing

potential bear mortality and human-grizzly conflicts, and maintaining

habitat components. The grizzly bear is an important, but not the

primary use in this area.

Public involvement conducted during 1993 has resulted in

identification of numerous important issues to be addressed in the

Draft EIS. Five alternatives to the Proposed Action have been developed

to address the following issues: Water quality, fisheries and riparian

values, visuals, forest health, grizzly bear, elk, gray wolf, fire

risk, and road and travel management. Many other issues will be

addressed as features common to all alternatives, or through effects

analysis included in the Draft EIS.

The analysis will consider a range of alternatives. One of these

will be the ``no-action'' alternative, in which none of the Proposed

Actions would be implemented. Other alternatives will examine various

levels and locations of proposed activities to achieve the proposal's

purpose, as well as respond to the issues and resource values important

to Crane Mountain.

The analysis will disclose the environmental effects of alternative

ways of implementing the Forest Plan. The EIS will disclose the

analysis of the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental effects

of the alternatives. Effects analysis will address past, present, and

projected activities. In addition, the EIS will disclose the analysis

of site specific mitigation measures and their effectiveness.

Public participation is especially important at several points of

the analysis. People may visit with Forest Service officials at any

time during the analysis and prior to the decision. However, two

periods of time are identified for the receipt of comments on the

analysis. The two public comment periods are during the scoping process

(now through May 31, 1994) and in the review of the Draft EIS

(anticipated between June and September 1994). The Forest Service has

not yet determined whether any public meetings will be held.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior,

will be informally consulted throughout the analysis. To meet the

requirements of the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service will review the EIS and biological evaluation and, if

necessary, render a formal Biological Opinion of the effects on the

Threatened and Endangered Species including grizzly bear, gray wolf,

and bald eagle.

The Draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) and available for public review in June or July

1994. At that time the EPA will publish a notice of availability of the

Draft EIS in the Federal Register. The public comment period on the

Draft EIS will be 45 days from the date when the EPA's notice of

availability appears in the Federal Register.

The Forest Service believes it is important to give reviewers

notice at this early stage of several court rulings related to public

participation in the environmental review process. First, reviewers of

Draft EISs 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 EIS stage but that are not raised

until after completion of the final EIS may be waived or dismissed by

the courts. 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.)

Following this comment period, the comments received will be

analyzed, considered and responded to by the Forest Service in the

Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The FEIS is scheduled to

be completed by October 1994. The Forest Supervisor for the Flathead

National Forest is the responsible official for the preparation of this

EIS and will make a decision regarding this proposal considering the

comments and responses, environmental consequences discussed in the

FEIS, and applicable laws, regulations, and policies. The decision and

rationale for the decision will be documented in a Record of Decision.

That decision will be subject to appeal under applicable Forest Service

regulations.

Dated: April 25, 1994.

Joel D. Holtrop,

Forest Supervisor, Flathead National Forest.

[FR Doc. 94-10798 Filed 5-4-94; 8:45 am]

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