Rocky Mountain Region Environmental Impact Statement for Sheep Flats Diversity Unit Timber Sales, Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests, Mesa County, Colorado

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain Region Environmental Impact Statement for Sheep

Flats Diversity Unit Timber Sales, Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison

National Forests, Mesa County, Colorado

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Revision of a notice of intent to prepare an environmental

impact statement.

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RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL: The responsible official for this environmental

impact statement is Mr. Robert Storch, Forest Supervisor of the Grand

Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests, 2250 Highway 50,

Delta, Colorado 81416.

SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact

statement about four (4) proposed timber sales: Valley View, Sheep

Flats, Grove Creek, and Leon. These sales are located in the Sheep

Flats Diversity Unit on the Grant Mesa National Forest, Collbran Ranger

District.

DATES: Publication of Draft EIS: July 1997; Final EIS: January, 1988.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Pam Bode, Team Leader, USDA Forest

Service, 216 North Colorado Street, Gunnison, CO, 81230. Contact Pam

Bode also for further information. Phone: 970-641-0471. FAX: 970-641-

1928.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Forest Supervisor will use this

Environmental Impact Statement to decide how to manage the timber

resource within the Sheep Flats Diversity Unit. The Forest Service is

proposing to harvest four timber sales on this National Forest system

land. Even-aged and uneven-aged silvicultural systems are being planned

in Engelmann spruce, sub-alpine fir, and aspen stands. These sales are

scheduled to be offered within a five to ten year period after this

analysis.

Initial scoping of interested parties identified three preliminary

issues. These are: (1) Constructing roads and harvesting timber within

areas that were identified as the Salt Creek Roadless Area and Priest

Mountain Roadless Area during the 1979 RARE II process, (2) harvesting

old growth timber, and (3) cumulative impacts on ecosystems from

logging operations in and around the sale areas.

Five alternatives will be studied in this analysis. Alternative 1

is no action. Alternatives 2 and 4 harvest suited timber but do not

enter the Salt Creek Roadless Area. Alternatives 3 and 5 harvest suited

timber throughout the Diversity Unit, including within the Salt Creek

Roadless Area. Alternatives 2 and 3 emphasize maintenance of current

old growth attributes and wildlife habitat networks while moderately

improving timber structural diversity. Alternative 4 and 5 emphasize

timber structural diversity and production for wood fiber. The proposed

action is Alternative 5.

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Acres planned for

harvest

Alternative -------------------------- Volume in Number

RARE II board feet of sales

Total acres acres

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1........................................................... 0 0 0 0

2........................................................... 682 0 2,222,000 1

3........................................................... 2,615 1798 11,158,000 4

4........................................................... 889 0 3,172,000 1

5........................................................... 3,591 2766 15,279,000 4

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This notice is a renotification of the Forest Service's intent to

study these timber sales within the Sheep Flats Diversity Unit.

Previous notices of intent were published in the Federal Register

Volume 57, 31, on 2/14/92, and volume 61

177, on 9/11/96. A previous notice of availability

of the draft EIS was published in Volume 59, 5, on

1/7/94. This revised notice provides new dates for completions of the

revised draft and the final Environmental Impact Statements. The

alternatives that are being studied have changed substantially from the

previous document.

Since this is a renotification, news releases have already been

issued and a public meeting has already taken place in March 1992.

Field tours to the proposed area have already been conducted with

concerned parties. Additional news releases have been issued explaining

the new timeline for

[[Page 36760]]

this analysis. Parties that expressed interest previously have been

informed individually by mail that this analysis is continuing. No

additional public meetings are planned, however, the Forest Service is

willing to consider any party's request for additional field tours or

public meetings.

The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement will

be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes

the notice of availability in the Federal Register.

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 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 stage but that are not raised until after

completion of the final environmental statement 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 them and respond to them in the final

environmental impact statement.

To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues

and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft

environmental impact statement should be as specific as possible. It is

also helpful if comments refer to specific pages or chapters of the

draft statement. Comments may also address the adequacy of the draft

environmental impact statement or the merits of the alternatives

formulated and discussed in the statement 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.

Dated: June 23, 1997.

Robert L. Storch,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 97-17927 Filed 7-8-97; 8:45 am]

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