Private Property Access-Road Construction; Kootenai National Forest, Lincoln County, Montana

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Private Property Access-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: The owner of record of landlocked private property located in

portions of Sections 33 and 34, Township 27 North, Range 31 West,

Principal Montana Meridian and the owner of record of landlocked

private property located in portions of Sections 12 and 13, Township 26

North, Range 31 West, Principal Montana Meridian have requested special

use permit applications for the construction and reconstruction of

roads to their 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 the proposed road construction

and reconstruction. The decision areas are located approximately 24 and

26 air miles respectively 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.

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

June 5, 1997.

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 U.S. Hwy 37 N,

Libby, Montana 59923.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jon Jeresek, Interdisciplinary Team Leader, Libby Ranger District.

Phone: (406) 293-7773.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: All of the properties and proposed road

constructions are located within the Inventoried Roadless Area #671--

Cabinet Face East. The decision areas are occupied grizzly bear

habitat.

Proposed Action: The Kootenai National Forest is proposing to issue

two special use permits for permanent access to West Fisher private

property and to allow reconstruction of roads to allow passenger

traffic. The purpose of the projects is to access private land that is

surrounded by National Forest. 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.

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 actions affect

sediment production?

Roadless Areas--The proposed road construction lies

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

What effect would the proposals 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

proposals protect and enhance grizzly bear habitat, and contributes 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 by mitigated?

Forest Plan Amendment: The Kootenai National Forest Land and

Resource Management Plan has specific management direction for the

Harpole

[[Page 24635]]

and 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 amendments would be addressed in the

EIS.

Decisions To Be Made: The Kootenai Forest Supervisor will decide

the following:

Should road construction to the private properties be permitted and

if so how and where,

What mitigation measures would be required for protection of

National Forest Service resources, and

If Forest Plan amendments are necessary to proceed with the

Proposed Action within the decision area.

Public Involvement and Scoping: Notices will be mailed to

interested parties from a mailing list, to provide an opportunity for

the public to review and comment on 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 road construction proposals.

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 EIS is expected to be filed

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

public review by August, 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 in November, 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 alternative 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 U.S. 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 the Record of

Decision. That decision will be subject to Forest Service Appeal

Regulations.

Dated: April 28, 1997.

Robert L. Schrenk,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 97-11749 Filed 5-5-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-11-M