Butch Creek Timber Sale; Idaho Panhandle National Forests, Pend Oreille County, Washington.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Butch Creek Timber Sale; Idaho Panhandle National Forests, Pend

Oreille County, Washington.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the draft environmental impact

statement for proposed activities in the Butch Creek project area.

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DATES: The comment period on this draft environmental impact statement

expires March 28, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to District Ranger, Priest Lake Ranger

District, HCR 5, Box 207, Priest River ID 83856.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Questions about the proposed action and environmental impact statement

should be directed to Kent Dunstan, District Ranger; David Cobb, the

Interdisciplinary Team Leader, or David Asleson, the District Planning

Staff Officer, Priest Lake Ranger District, Idaho Panhandle National

Forests, HCR 5 Box 207, Priest Lake ID 83856. Phone: (208) 443-2512.

SUMMARY: The notice is hereby given that the Forest Service has

prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) documenting the

environmental effects that proposed timber harvesting and watershed

improvement activities would have in the Butch Creek project area. The

area is located approximately 15 air miles northwest of Priest River,

Idaho, and is approximately 7,270 acres in size.

Public participation is important. People may visit with Forest

Service officials at any time prior to the decision, however, it is

very important that public comment be made available to the Forest

Service during review of this Draft EIS. After a 45-day public comment

period, the comments received will be analyzed and considered by the

Forest Service in preparing the Final Environmental Impact Statement

(FEIS). The FEIS is scheduled to be completed by June, 1994. The Forest

Service will respond to the comments received from the DEIS in the

FEIS.

The District Ranger is the responsible official for 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 reasons

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A very specific proposed action was

developed for the area that includes timber harvest, reforestation and

watershed rehabilitation activities. The proposed action and

alternatives to the proposed action were developed within the framework

of Ecosystem Management. This approach considers the management of all

resources on large land areas with emphasis on sustaining the

ecological systems present.

Five alternatives were developed, including a No-Action

Alternative. Alternative C is the alternative preferred by the Forest

Service. Under Alternative C, approximately 4.5 million board feet of

green, dead and dying timber would be harvested within 23 harvest

units. Harvest methods include commercial thinning, overstory removal,

group selection, individual tree selection, sanitation/salvage,

shelterwood with reserves and seed tree with reserves. Skyline and

tractor yarding methods would be utilized to harvest trees within these

areas. In addition to these timber management activities, approximately

69 acres would be precommercially thinned.

Access to these proposed harvest areas would require 0.9 mile of

new road construction, 8.7 miles of road reconstruction and 0.8 mile of

road reconditioning. All of these roads would be closed, either

immediately following the timber harvesting or after the post sale

activities (such as slash burning and planting) have been completed.

The majority of the newly constructed roads would be obliterated

immediately after the timber is harvested while the majority of the

reconstructed roads would be closed following the post sale activities.

In addition to these road activities, improvements to the existing

Forest Service Road 305 would be made over an 8-mile stretch within the

project area to reduce the amount of sediment reaching the adjacent

stream. To further improve the watershed conditions, structures would

be placed into some headwater streams.

Management activities would be administered by the Priest Lake

Ranger District of the Idaho Panhandle National Forests in Bonner

County, Idaho. This DEIS will tier to the Forest Plan (September 1987)

which provides the overall guidance (Goals, Objectives, Standards and

Guidelines, and Management Area direction) in achieving the desired

future condition for this area.

HOW TO RESPOND: The agency invites written comments and suggestions on

the issues and management opportunities in the area being analyzed. To

ensure that these comments are considered in the final decision,

comments must be postmarked or received within 45 days from the date

that this notice is published in the Federal Register. Commenters

should include: (1) Name, address, telephone number, organization

represented, if any; (2) title of the document on which the comment is

being submitted (Butch Creek DEIS); and (3) specific concerns and

supporting reasons for the District Ranger to consider. Copies of the

Record of Decision will be mailed to those people who have submitted

comments either before or during the comment period and to those who

request a copy.

Dated: January 25, 1994.

Kent L. Dunstan,

District Ranger, Priest Lake Ranger District, Idaho Panhandle National

Forests.

[FR Doc. 94-2584 Filed 2-7-94; 8:45 am]

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