Fish Bate Timber Sale; Clearwater National Forest, Clearwater County, ID

SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service, will prepare an environmental impact

statement (EIS) to disclose the environmental effects of timber

harvest, reforestation and prescribed burning in the vicinity of the

Sneak Creek, Sheep Creek, Fish Creek, Owl Creek, Martin Creek and Bates

Creek drainages. The area is located south and east of the Canyon Work

Center, North Fork Ranger District, Clearwater National Forest,

Clearwater County, Idaho. None of the proposed project's activities are

within a roadless area. The proposal's actions are being considered

together because they represent either connected or cumulative actions

as defined by the Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR 1508.25).

The purposes of the project are to implement the Clearwater Forest

Plan; provide conditions that insure positive timber growth; sustain

the diversity and productivity of all ecosystems within the analysis

area including the aquatic ecosystems, sensitive plant communities and

old growth forest ecosystems; reduce the risk of large fires within the

Fish Bate analysis area; develop a permanent transportation plan for

the area that uses ecologically-sensitive road design methods for new

roads, utilizes timber yarding systems that minimize the need for

additional new roads and analyzes each existing road for the

appropriate type of use, need for maintenance and possibility of

obliteration.

This project-level EIS will tier to the Clearwater National Forest

Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) and Final EIS

(September, 1987), which provides overall guidance of all land

management activities on the Clearwater National Forest.

DATES: Written comments and suggestions should be received by July 5,

1994, to receive timely consideration in the preparation of the Draft

EIS. The Draft EIS will be filed with the Environmental Protection

Agency in September 1994. The Final EIS and Record of Decision are

expected to be issued in March 1995.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments and suggestions on the proposed

action or requests to be placed on the project mailing list to Arthur

S. Bourassa, District Ranger, North Fork Ranger District, Clearwater

National Forest, P.O. Box 2139, Orofino, ID, 83544. FAX: 208-476-5441.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jennefer Sundberg, Team Leader, North Fork Ranger District, Clearwater

National Forest, P.O. Box 2139, Orofino, ID, 83544. Phone: (208) 476-

3775.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The planning area consists of approximately

11,500 acres of National Forest land located in all or part of sections

1, 2, 3, 9-16, 21, 22, 23, and 24 of T40N, R7E; and sections 7, 8, 16-

21, 29, and 30 of T40N, R8E, Boise Meridian. All management activities

would be administered by the North Fork Ranger District, Clearwater

National Forest, Clearwater County, Idaho.

The proposed action includes activities covering approximately 600

acres of the 11,500-acre analysis area. Silvicultural prescriptions

would include 203 acres of sanitation/salvage, 59 acres of seed tree,

52 acres of clearcuts with reserve trees, and 287 acres of group

selection harvests. These harvest units are expected to yield

approximately 4.5 MMBF of timber product. The majority of this volume

(63%) would be yarded with a skyline system. The remaining volume (37%)

would be helicopter yarded. Approximately .31 miles of new road

construction would be required to access landing sites and .35 miles of

road reconstruction would be required.

The Clearwater Forest Plan provides guidance for management

activities within the potentially affected area through its goals,

objectives, standards, guidelines and management area direction. The

areas of proposed timber harvest and reforestation would occur within

Management Areas E1, C4, A4 and M2. Timber harvest would occur only on

suitable timber land. Below is a brief description of the applicable

management direction.

Management Area E1--Timber Management--Provide optimum,

sustained production of timber products in a cost-effective manner

while protecting soil and water quality.

Management Area C4--Elk Winter Ranger/Timber--Provide sufficient

winter forage and thermal cover for existing and projected big game

populations while achieving timber production outputs.

Management Area A4--Visual Travel Corridor--Maintain or enhance

an aesthetically pleasing, natural appearing Forest setting

surrounding designated roads, trails, and other areas considered

important for recreational travel and use.

Management Area M2--Riparian Lands--Meet watershed and riparian

dependant resource objectives and compatible timber production.

The Forest Service will consider a range of alternatives to the

proposed action. One of these will be the ``no action'' alternative, in

which none of the proposed activities would be implemented. Additional

alternatives will examined varying levels and locations for the

proposed activities to achieve the proposal's purposes, as well as to

respond to the issues and other resource values.

The EIS will analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative

environmental effects of the alternatives. Past, present, and projected

activities on both private and National Forest lands will be

considered. The EIS will disclose the analysis of site-specific

mitigation measures and their effectiveness.

Public participation is an important part of the project,

commencing with the initial scoping process (40 CFR 1501.7), which

starts with publication of this notice and continues for the next 45

days. In addition, the public is encouraged to visit with Forest

Service officials at any time during the analysis and prior to the

decision. The Forest Service will be seeking information, comments, and

assistance from Federal, State and local agencies, as well as other

individuals or organizations who may be interested in or affected by

the proposed action. No meetings are scheduled, but letters, phone

calls or personal visits are invited for the purpose of providing

information related to this proposal. Interested individuals and

organizations are encouraged to contact the North Fork District Ranger

to be added to the project mailing list to receive future information

related to this project.

Comments from the public and other agencies will be used in

preparation of the Draft EIS. The scoping process will be used to:

1. Identify potential issues.

2. Identify major issues to be analyzed in depth.

3. Eliminate minor issues or those which have been covered by a

relevant previous environmental analysis, such as the Clearwater

Forest Plan EIS.

4. identify alternatives to the proposed action.

5. Identify potential environmental effects of the proposed action

and alternatives (i.e., direct, indirect, and cumulative effects).

6. Determine potential cooperating agencies and task assignments.

Preliminary issues identified as a result of internal scoping

include: effects of the proposal on old growth habitat, cumulative

effects of the past harvest that has occurred in the area,

fragmentation, opening size (existing and proposed), water quality,

impacts to biodiversity of the area, watershed rehabilitation, effects

of the proposal on riparian areas, impacts to fish species, snag

management, visual quality of the area, travel corridors/linkages and

effects on threatened, endangered, and sensitive species. This list

will be verified, expanded, and/or modified based on the public scoping

for this proposal .

The Draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) and available for public review in September of

1994. At that time, the EPA will publish a Notice of Availability of

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

EIS will be 45 days from the date of Environmental Protection Agency

publishes the notice of availability in the Federal Register. It is

very important that those interested in management of the Fish Bate

area participate at that time. To be most helpful, comments on the

Draft EIS should be as site-specific as possible. The Final EIS is

scheduled to be completed by March, 1995.

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,

553 (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. 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

on the proposed action, comments on the draft environmental impact

statement should be as specific as possible. It is helpful if comments

refer to specific pages or chapters of the draft 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.

I am the responsible official for this environmental impact

statement. My address is Clearwater National Forest, 12730 Highway

12, Orofino, ID 83544.

Dated: May 6, 1994.

James L. Caswell,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 94-12395 Filed 5-19-94; 8:45 am]

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