Skranak Road Construction Kootenai National Forest, Lincoln County, Montana

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Skranak Road Construction Kootenai National Forest, Lincoln

County, Montana

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: Henry Skranak of Libby, Montana is the owner of record of

landlocked private property located in portions of Section 12 and 13,

Township 26 North, Range 31 West, Principal Montana Meridian. The

Forest Service has received from Skranak a special use permit

application for the construction of a dry season road to his property.

The Libby Ranger District on the Kootenai National Forest intends to

prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess and disclose

the environmental effects of road construction on National Forest. The

Skranak decision area is located approximately 26 miles south of Libby,

Montana.

The EIS will tier to the Kootenai National Forest Land and Resource

Management Plan and Final EIS of September 1987, which provides overall

guidance for forest management of the area.

DATE: Written comments and suggestions should be received on or before

December 18, 1996.

ADDRESSES: The Responsible Official is Robert L. Schrenk, Forest

Supervisor, Kootenai National Forest. Written comments and suggestions

concerning the scope of the analysis should be sent to Lawrence A.

Froberg, District Ranger, Libby Ranger District, 12557 US Hwy 37 N,

Libby Montana, 59923.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jon Jeresek, Interdisciplinary Team Leader, Libby Ranger District.

Phone: (406) 293-7773.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The west side of the Skranak property is the

common boundary of a portion of the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. All

of the Skranak property and proposed road construction is located

within the Inventoried Roadless Area #671--Cabinet Face East. The

decision area is occupied grizzly bear habitat.

Proposed Action

The Kootenai National Forest is proposing to issue a Special Use

Permit to Henry Skranak to construct a 10 foot wide running surface

road and use the

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road to access private property. The construction is proposed to begin

in 1997. The purpose of the project is to provide reasonable access to

private land that is surrounded by National Forest as provided for

under Public Law 96-487, the Alaska National Interest Lands

Conservation Act (ANILCA). No proposed activities are located in areas

considered for inclusion to the National Wilderness Preservation System

as recommended by the Kootenai National Forest Plan.

The Kootenai National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan

provides overall management objectives in individual delineated

management areas (MA's). The decision area is allocated to MA-2, Semi-

Primitive Non-Motorized Recreation. Briefly described, MA-2 is managed

to provide for the protection and enhancement of areas for roadless

recreation use, and to provide for wildlife management where specific

values are high. Within grizzly bear habitat, the goal of MA-2 is to

provide habitat that will contribute to the recovery of the grizzly

bear. Special Uses may be permitted in a case by case basis.

Preliminary Issues

Several preliminary issues of concern have been identified by the

Forest Service. These issues are briefly described below:

Water Quality--How would the proposed action affect

sediment production?

Roadless Areas--The proposed road construction lies

entirely within the Cabinet Face East Inventoried Roadless Area #671.

What effect would the proposal have on the character of this Roadless

Area?

Grizzly Bear--The decision area lies within the recovery

area for the Cabinet/Yaak grizzly bear ecosystem. How would the

proposal protect and enhance grizzly bear habitat, and contribute to

recovery efforts?

Fisheries--The proposed road construction would cross

Bramlet and 4th of July Creeks which are priority bull trout streams.

How would the proposed action affect sediment production and bull trout

habitat?

Heritage Resources--The road construction is proposed to

occur over the existing historic 4th of July Trail #115. Can the loss

of this resource and associated sites be mitigated?

Forest Plan Amendment

The Kootenai National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan has

specific management direction for the Skranak decision area. Prior to

making a NEPA decision, a thorough examination of all standards and

guidelines of the Forest Plan would be completed and, if necessary,

plan exceptions or amendments would be addressed in the EIS.

Decisions To Be Made

The Kootenai Forest Supervisor will decide the following:

Should road construction to the Skranak property be permitted and

if so how and where;

What mitigation measures would be required for protection of

National Forest resources; and

If Forest Plan exception or amendments are necessary to proceed

with the Proposed Action within the decision area.

Public Involvement and Scoping

An open house will be scheduled during the winter 1997, to provide

an opportunity for the public to review the proposed action.

Consultation with appropriate State and Federal agencies will be

initiated. Preliminary effects analysis indicated that the proposed

road construction may significantly affect the quality of the human

environment. These potential effects prompted the decision to prepare

an EIS for the Skranak Road Construction.

This environmental analysis and decision making process will enable

additional interested and affected people to participate and contribute

to the final decision. Public participation will be requested at

several points during the analysis. The Forest Service will be seeking

information, comments, and assistance from Federal, State, local

agencies, and other individuals or organizations who may be interested

in or affected by the proposed projects. This input will be used in

preparation of the draft and final EIS. The scoping process will

include:

Identifying potential issues.

Identifying major issues to be analyzed in depth.

Exploring additional alternatives which will be derived

from issues recognized during scoping activities.

Identifying potential environmental effects of this

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

and connected actions).

The analysis will consider a range of alternatives, including the

proposed action, no action, and other reasonable action alternatives.

Estimated Dates for Filing

The draft Skranak Road Construction EIS is expected to be filed

with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to be available for

public review by March, 1997. At that time 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 the EPA publishes

the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register.

The final EIS is scheduled to be completed by July, 1997. In the

final EIS, the Forest Service is required to respond to comments and

responses received during the comment period that pertain to the

environmental consequences discussed in the draft EIS and applicable

laws, regulations, and policies considered in making a decision

regarding the proposal.

Reviewer's Obligations

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 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. 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 and respond to them in the final EIS.

To be most helpful, comments on the draft EIS should be as specific

as possible and may address the adequacy of the statement or the merit

of the alternatives discussed. 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.

Responsible Official

Robert L. Schrenk, Forest Supervisor, Kootenai National Forest, 506

US Highway 2 West, Libby, Mt 59923 is the Responsible Official. As the

Responsible Official I will decide which, if any, of the proposed

projects will be implemented. I will document the decision and reasons

for the decision in

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the Record of Decision. That decision will be subject to Forest Service

Appeal Regulations.

Dated: November 6, 1996.

Robert L. Schrenk,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 96-29444 Filed 11-15-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-11-M