Jericho Salvage Project; Helena National Forest, Powell County, Montana

SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service is gathering information and

preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Jericho

Salvage Project located approximately 18 air miles southwest of Helena,

Montana.

The Helena Ranger District of the Helena National Forest proposes

to salvage winter killed and severely damaged trees on approximately

200 acres in the Sally Ann Creek drainage. This area is located west of

the Continental Divide approximately eight miles southeast of Elliston,

Montana (Sections 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12 Township 8 North, Range 6 West).

The Proposed Action includes the construction of two temporary

roads to provide logging truck access to the log collection sites. The

total length of the temporary road construction is about two miles. No

permanent road construction is proposed.

The areas proposed for harvest are located within the Jericho

Mountain Roadless Area (1607) and are located in or immediately

adjacent to management areas designated by the Helena Forest Plan as

suitable for timber management.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be received

in writing on or before March 10, 1997.

ADDRESSES: The responsible official is Denis Hart, District Ranger,

Helena Ranger District, Helena National Forest, 2001 Poplar St.,

Helena, MT. 59601. Phone: (406) 449-5490.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Denis Hart, Helena District Ranger or Dan Mainwaring, Interdisciplinary

Team Leader, Helena Ranger District, Helena National Forest, 2001

Poplar Street, Helena, MT 59601. Phone: (406) 449-5490.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 200 acres of timber salvage and

associated two miles of temporary road construction would occur on

National Forest lands in portions of Sally Ann Creek drainage. Included

in the area being analyzed is all or portions of Sections, 1, 2, 3, 10,

11, 12 Township 8 North, Range 6 West, Montana Principle Meridian.

Most of the trees in the Sally Ann Creek drainage were killed

during the winter of 1989 from stress associated with a weather event

in which temperatures rose from well below freezing to the mid-60's and

then plunged to below the zero mark, all in the period of 24 hours.

The Proposed Action for this site includes the salvage of

approximately 1 million board feet of timber and the regeneration of a

new generation of trees. The District also proposes to construct 2

temporary access spurs to provide logging truck access from Forest Road

#495 to the log collection sites. The total length of temporary road

construction is approximately 2 miles. No new permanent road would be

constructed.

The proposed harvest is within the Jericho Mountain Roadless Area.

The treated sites will be planned for natural regeneration and/or

planting of conifers, if necessary, to meet required regeneration goals

and time frames. The proposed two miles of temporary, low standard road

construction will be returned to contour and seeded to native grass

species following harvest. Improvements will also be made to the main

log haul route along Forest Road #495 by improving drainage and

regarding the road surface.

The responsible official is the Helena District Ranger of the

Helena National Forest. This responsible official will decide (1)

whether dead and dying trees within the proposed project area should be

harvested and, if so, how much and by what methods, (2) what mitigation

measures will be needed under the selected alternative, (3) how much

temporary road will be constructed and how much road improvement will

be done on Forest Road #495 and, (4) how much of the temporary road

will be returned to contour and seeded to native grasses.

If the decision is to implement an action alternative, salvage

operations would begin as soon as the fall of 1997 and should be

completed by the end of 1998. Public firewood gathering, road

recontouring, and brush disposal work may extend into 1999. Other

resource objectives for this site are within Forest Plan standards. All

activities are designed to comply with the Forest Plan.

This EIS will tier to the Helena Forest Plan Final EIS of April

1986, that provides program goals, objectives and standards and

guidelines for conducting management activities in this area. All

activities associated with the proposal will be designed to maintain or

enhance the resource objectives identified in the Forest Plan and

further refined in the Divide Landscape Analysis.

The Forest Service is seeking information and comments from

Federal, State, local agencies and other organizations or individuals

who may be interested in or affected by the proposed action. The Forest

Service invites written comments and suggestions on the issues for the

proposal and the area being analyzed. Information received will be used

in preparation of the Draft EIS. Preparation of the EIS will include

(1) identification of potential issues, (2) identification of issues to

be analyzed in depth, (3) elimination of issues that have been covered

by a relevant previous environmental analysis, (4) identification of

reasonable alternatives to the Proposed Action and, (5) identification

of potential environmental effects of the alternatives.

The preliminary issues identified are (1) the effects on forest

health and sustaining ecosystems, (2) the effects on recreation and

scenic resources, (3) the effects on fish/wildlife and, (4) the effects

on the roadless and wilderness character of the Jericho Mountain

Roadless Areas.

The Forest Service will analyze and disclose in the DEIS and FEIS

the environmental effects of the proposed action and a reasonable range

of alternatives. The DEIS and FEIS will disclose the direct, indirect

and cumulative environmental effects of each alternative and its

associated site specific mitigation measures.

[[Page 5795]]

Public participation is especially important at several points of

the analysis. Interested parties may visit with the Forest Service

officials at any time during the analysis. However, two periods of time

are specifically identified for the receipt of comments. The first

comment period is during the scoping process when the public is invited

to give written comments to the Forest Service. The scoping period ends

on March 24, 1997. The second review period is during the 45 day review

of the DEIS when the public is invited to comment on the DEIS.

The DEIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) and available for public review in May, 1997. At that

time, the EPA will publish a notice of availability of the DEIS in the

Federal Register.

The comment period on the DEIS will be 45 days from the date the

notice of availability is published in the Federal Register.

At this early stage in the scoping process, the Forest Service

believes it is important to give reviewers notice of several court

rulings related to public participation in the environmental review

process. First, reviews of DEIS 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). Secondly,

environmental objections that could be raided at the draft

environmental impact statement stage, but that are not raised until

after completion of the FEIS 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. 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 FEIS.

To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues

and concerns on the proposed action, 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 statement. 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.)

After the comment period ends on the DEIS, the comments will be

analyzed and considered by the Forest Service in preparing the FEIS.

The FEIS is expected to be filed in August, 1997.

Dated: January 21, 1997.

Denis Hart,

District Ranger, Helena Ranger District, Helena National Forest.

[FR Doc. 97-3023 Filed 2-6-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-11-M