Boise River Wildlife Recovery Project, Boise National Forest, Idaho

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Boise River Wildlife Recovery Project, Boise National Forest,

Idaho

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Agriculture, Forest Service announces the

availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the

Boise River Wildlife Recovery Project, Boise National Forest. The

responsible official for the DEIS is Acting Forest Supervisor Cathy

Barbouletos. The DEIS describes and displays an analysis of three

alternatives to manage approximately 141,000 acres of National Forest

System land burned in the summer of 1994. The project area is northeast

of Boise, Idaho on the Idaho City and Mountain Home Ranger Districts.

Comments/time frame: Reviewers of the draft should provide the

Boise National Forest with their comments during the review period

which will last for 45 days after this notice of availability.

Responding within this time frame will enable forest personnel to

analyze and respond to your comments in the Final Environmental Impact

Statement (FEIS) and avoid undue delay in the decisionmaking process.

Reviewers have an obligation to structure their participation in the

review of the proposal so that it is meaningful and alerts the agency

to the reviewers' position and contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear

Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978). Also, environmental

objections that could have been raised at the draft stage may be waived

if not raised until after completion of the final environmental impact

statement. City of Angoon vs. Hodel (9th Circuit, 1986) and Wisconsin

Heritages, Inc. vs. Harris, 490 F Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wisc. 1980).

Comments on the DEIS should be as specific as possible. It is also

helpful if reviewers refer their comments to specific pages and/or

chapters in the DEIS.

Availability: Copies of the DEIS or copies of a summary are

available upon request from the Boise National Forest, 1750 Front

Street, Boise, Idaho 83702; Idaho City Ranger District P.O. Box 129,

Idaho City, Idaho 83631; Mountain Home Ranger District, 2180 American

Legion Boulevard, Maintain Home, Idaho 83647 or by calling (208) 364-

4300 to leave a message.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The DEIS describes three alternatives to

treat approximately 141,000 acres of National Forest System Land. The

Rabbit Creek, Bannock Creek and Star Gulch Wilderness burned a total of

184,500 acres in July, August, and September of 1994. The DEIS assess

opportunities to salvage the economic value of fire killed and

imminently dead trees in combination with treatments to promote

regeneration of trees on forested areas, maintain or improve hydrologic

conditions of affected watersheds, and protect long-term soil site

productivity.

Recovery Assessment Schedule: This is Phase II of a four phase

ecosystem approach to wildlife recovery. Phase I included burned area

emergency analysis and rehabilitation. This phase, Phase II, is an

assessment of the opportunities to treat killed timber in the recovery

effort, Phase III will assess resource management opportunities which

are not time dependent (i.e. trail bridge replacement, access

management) and Phase IV will assess long-term effects at a landscape

scale and re-evaluate adjacent decisions surrounding the wildfires.

Contact: Further information can be obtained by contacting Project

Leader Terry Padilla, Idaho City Ranger District, Boise National

Forest, PO Box 129, Idaho City, ID 83631, Telephone, (208) 364-4330.

Response Official: Cathy Barbouletos, Acting Forest Supervisor,

Boise National Forest, 1750 Front Street, Boise, ID 83702.

Dated: December 8, 1994.

Cathy Barbouletos,

Acting Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 94-30835 Filed 12-14-94; 8:45 am]

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