White Pine Creek EIS, Vegetation Management Analysis; Clearwater National Forest, Benewah and Latah Counties, Idaho

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Clearwater

National Forest, will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS)

to disclose effects of alternative decisions it may make to manage

vegetation, restore watersheds, and analyze access management in the

vicinity of White Pine, Blakes Fork and Meadow Creek drainages. The

area is located approximately 25 miles northeast of the town of

Potlatch Idaho, near North-South Ski Bowl. The purpose of the project

is to implement the Clearwater Forest Plan within the context of

ecosystem management principles; conserve biological diversity and

integrity; restore fire's role within fire dependent communities;

reduce the chance of spread of large fires; and, provide timber from

suitable lands in response to human demands for wood products.

This project will tier to the Clearwater National Forest

Environmental Impact Statement Land and Resource Management Plan and

Forest Plan (1987), which provides overall guidance of land management

activities on the Clearwater National Forest. Analysis will also be

conducted in compliance with the Stipulation of Dismissal agreed to in

the settlement of the lawsuit between the Forest Service and the Sierra

Club, et. al. (Signed September 13, 1993).

The agency invites written comments and suggestions on the issues

and management opportunities for the area being analyzed.

DATES: Written comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be

received on or before May 22, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Carmine Lockwood, District Ranger,

Palouse Ranger District, Route 2, Box 4, Potlatch, Idaho 83855.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne Lay, Team Leader, at the same

address, (208) 875-1131.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed action is designed to restore

terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem health and to provide benefits to

people within the capabilities of ecosystems. A significant factor in

the decline of the health of the White Pine Creek project area

ecosystem is the reduction of western white pine abundance caused by

white pine blister rust. The blister rust has created large areas with

heavy concentrations of standing dead and down fuels. Vegetation

treatments designed to reintroduce western white pine in the forest

cover type will be analyzed. Regeneration and intermediate harvest

treatments intended to improve the structure composition and function

of the forest matrix will be analyzed, along with the use of prescribed

fire and mechanical methods to treat excessive fuel loadings.

Intermediate treatments will be designed to improve forest health

conditions by treating overstocked stressed sites while maintaining

desirable seral species such as western white pine, ponderosa pine and

western larch. These overstocked stands are highly susceptible to root

rot pathogens, bark beetles, defoliators, and dwarf mistletoe.

Restoration of the aquatic component will focus on eliminating sediment

delivery sources to aquatic and riparian habitats, as well as improving

the structural components in riparian areas by installing large woody

debris where it is lacking. Other fish habitat improvement projects are

also included in this analysis.

The Clearwater National Forest Plan provides guidance to management

activities within the potentially affected area through its goals,

objectives, standards and guidelines, and management direction. The

areas of proposed timber harvest and reforestation would occur only on

suitable timber land, Management Areas E1, A4, A5 and M2. Below is a

brief description of 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 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 use.

Management Area M5--Developed Recreation Sites--Manage developed

recreation sites to meet public demands for facilities for camping and

picnicking.

Management Area M2--Riparian Areas--Manage as areas of special

consideration with distinctive values, and integrate with adjacent

management areas to the extent that water and other riparian resources

are protected.

The White Pine Creek study area lies along the divide between the

Palouse River drainage and the Spokane River drainage. It is a roaded

area with intermingled ownership on the interface between forest and

farmland in the panhandle of Idaho. The planning area consists of

approximately 8,000 acres located in T.42N., R.3W, T.43N., R3W., and

T.44N., R.3W. The decision to be made is what, if anything, should be

done in the White Pine Creek project area to (1) Restore terrestrial

and aquatic ecosystem components, (2) provide multiple benefits to

people within the capabilities of ecosystems. An environmental

assessment for the White Pine Creek project area was prepared in 1994,

and a Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact was signed

in July of 1994. This Decision was appealed and reversed back to the

District in October of 1994 with instructions to prepare an EIS if the

project were to proceed. The recommendations included in the reversal

related to: (a) cumulative effects for water and wildlife, (b) old

growth, and (c) range of alternatives considered. All of these issues

will be analyzed in the proposed EIS with an ecosystem management

approach.

Public participation will be fully incorporated into preparation of

the EIS. The first step is the scoping process, during which the Forest

Service will be seeking information, comments, and assistance from

Federal, State, and local [[Page 17773]] agencies, the Nez Perce and

Coeur D'Alene Tribes,and other individuals or groups who may be

interested or affected by the proposed action. This information will be

used in preparing the EIS. Interested individuals and organizations

should contact the Palouse Ranger District and request to be placed on

the project mailing list. Those doing so will receive future

newsletters related to this project and notification of public

meetings. Scoping will include: inviting participation, determining the

project's scope and potential issues, eliminating from detailed study

those issues which are not significant, and determining potential

cooperating agencies and task assignments. The public will also be

invited to participate in developing alternatives, and identifying and/

or reviewing the potential environmental effects of the proposed action

and its alternatives.

Public meetings will be held in the Potlatch Idaho area in the

spring of 1995. Field trips will also be available if the public

requests them. The exact dates and locations of these meetings will be

published in local newspapers at least two weeks in advance.

Preliminary issues highlight the need to maintain biodiversity and

biological integrity by providing habitat for a broad range of

terrestrial and aquatic species. Management activities, primarily

logging and road building and the introduction of white pine blister

rust, have changed some of the natural disturbance processes such as

insect and disease outbreaks and have altered the ecosystem

composition, structure, and resiliency in the White Pine Creek project

area. Management activities have affected the function and productivity

of some riparian systems in the Meadow Creek area.

Aquatic ecosystem issues include sediment, temperature and peak

flows. Human needs and desires and their effects on the ecosystem will

also be a driving factor in the formulation of issues. The need for

shelter, employment, aesthetics recreation, cultural, and spiritual

revitalization all play a major role in the forest ecosystem. The

direct, indirect, cumulative, short-term, and long-term, aspects of

impacts on national forest lands and resources, and those of connected

or related effects off-site, will be fully disclosed.

Preliminary alternatives will likely include a range from a more

passive approach of managing non-consumptive uses to a more active

consumptive use approach to meet social demands. All alternatives will

focus on maintaining or restoring ecological functions. This will

involve proposals with and without roads, different intensities and

types of timber harvest, and various approaches to access management

including motorized and non-motorized recreation. Most action

alternatives will analyze riparian and aquatic habitat improvement.

Permits and licenses required to implement the proposed action may

include the following: consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service for compliance with Section 7 of the Threatened & Endangered

Species Act; a permit from the Idaho Department of Water Resources for

water removal for dust abatement; and clearance from the Idaho State

Historic Preservation Office.

The Forest Service predicts the Draft EIS will be filed in August

of 1995 and the Final EIS in December of 1995.

The Forest Service will seek comments on the Draft EIS for a period

of 45 days after its publication. Comments will then be summarized and

responded to in the Final EIS.

To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues

and concerns on the proposed action or the effects disclosure, comments

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

comments refer to specific pages or chapters of the Draft EIS. Comments

may also address the adequacy of the DEIS 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.)

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

DEIS's 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 DEIS 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 EIS.

As Forest Supervisor, I am the Responsible Official for this

project. My address is Clearwater National Forest, 12730 U.S. Highway

12, Orofino, ID 83544 (208-476-4541).

Dated: March 28, 1995.

James L. Caswell,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 95-8530 Filed 4-6-95; 8:45 am]

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