Plum Creek Access Requests Within the Green River Drainage, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, King County, Washington

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Plum Creek Access Requests Within the Green River Drainage, Mt.

Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, King County, Washington

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service, USDA, will prepare an environmental impact

statement (EIS) on Plum Creek Timber Company's (Plum Creek) application

to acquire easements which allow the construction and maintenance of

roads across portions of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in

King County in the State of Washington. The easements will access to

Plum Creek parcels that are intermingled with National Forest System

lands and that are not currently served by roads. The EIS will address

Plum Creek proposals to build roads to eight separate parcels of

company lands.

Requirements of the access authorized in the Record of Decision

will be consistent with the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Land

and Resource Management Plan (LRPM) (as amended in April 1994), which

provides guidance for all land management activities on the Mt. Baker-

Snoqualmie National Forest

The Forest Service invites written comments and suggestions on the

issues for the proposed project.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of this analysis should be

received in writing by September 19, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Dennis Bschor, Forest Supervisor,

21905 64th Avenue West, Mountlake Terrace, Washington 98043, Attention:

Plum Creek Access Requests.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lloyd Johnson, Realty Specialist,

North Bend Ranger District, 42404 Southeast North Bend Way, North Bend,

Washington 98045. Phone: 425-888-1421.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Plum Creek owns lands which are intermingled

with National Forest System lands in the Green River Watershed, North

Bend District, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Some of the

parcels that Plum Creek owns and wishes to manage for timber are not

served by existing roads. Access to these parcels via roads

necessitates crossing National Forest System lands. Because Plum

Creek's purpose for requesting access is to harvest timber and to

conduct forest management activities, consistent with a 50-year Habitat

Conservation Plan for Plum Creek lands, the company has specifically

requested permanent easements from the Forest Service to construct and

maintain permanent roads for access to Plum Creek lands. Under Section

1323 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980

(Pub. L. 96-487, 94 Stat. 2371; 16 U.S.C. 3210), the United States

shall provide access to nonfederal lands within national forest

boundaries, as deemed adequate to secure to the owner the reasonable

use and enjoyment of those lands, subject to the rules and regulations

applicable to ingress and egress to or from the National Forest System.

Depending on specific road location alternatives, the road projects

are likely to range from about 0.25 to 2.5 miles in length. For this

analysis, it is assumed that a 66-foot-wide right-of-way (ROW) would be

established for each road corridor and that vegetation clearing would

only occur within this ROW.

[[Page 43984]]

Vegetation removal would occur on approximately 24 to 32 feet of the

ROW; the road surface proper would be approximately 14 feet wide.

Because road grade and terrain would vary, the amount of the 66-foot

ROW affected and the exact amount utilized per mile is unknown. Plum

Creek would construct and maintain the roads according to Forest

Service road construction standards and guidelines.

The Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie LRMP (as amended) provides guidance for

access across National Forest System lands through its goals,

objectives, standards, guidelines, and management direction.

An environmental document will be produced which will display

alternatives considered, including no action and the proposed action,

and an estimation of the effects of the alternatives. The EIS will

analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative effects of the

alternatives. Past, present, and projected activities on both private

and National Forest System lands will be considered. The EIS will

disclose the effects of site-specific mitigation.

Comments from the public will be used to:

Identify potential issues.

Identify major issues to be analyzed in depth.

Eliminate minor issues or those that have been covered by

a previous environmental analysis, such as the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie

LRMP.

Identify alternatives to the proposed action.

Identify potential environmental effects of the proposed

action and alternatives.

Determine potential cooperating agencies and task

assignments.

Issues identified as the result of internal scoping include:

How will wildlife and wildlife habitat be affected by the

project;

Will unique plant communities be affected;

Will fish habitat be affected downstream, especially in

Sawmill Creek which has a distinct population of trout as well as coho

and steelhead that are being planted by the State and the Muckleshoot

Tribe;

Will water quality be affected by sedimentation from mass

wasting and surface erosion;

Will large woody material be affected;

Will water temperature be affected;

The conversion of areas without roads to roaded areas; and

Will cultural properties or heritage sites be impacted.

An initial scoping letter was mailed on August 8, 1997. One public

scoping meeting will be held on September 9, 1997, at the North Bend

Ranger District from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The responses and

information provided during scoping will be compiled and will be

incorporated into the analysis.

The draft EIS is expected to be filed in December 1997. The comment

period on the draft EIS will be 45 days from the date the Environmental

Protection Agency publishes the notice of availability in the Federal

Register.

The Forest Service believes that 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

the draft EIS 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 EIS stage but that are not raised

until after completion of the final EIS 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 EIS. To

assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues and

concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft EIS 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 draft EIS or the merits of the alternatives formulated

and discussed in the EIS. (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 final EIS is scheduled to be completed in June 1998. 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 the decision

regarding this proposal. The lead agency is the Forest Service. Dennis

E. Bschor, Supervisor of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, is

the responsible official. As the responsible official, he will document

the decision and the reasons for the decision in the Record of

Decision. That decision will be subject to Forest Service appeal

regulations (CFR Part 215).

Dated: August 7, 1997.

Terry L. Degrow,

Acting Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 97-21786 Filed 8-15-97; 8:45 am]

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