Moose Subwatershed Timber Sales, Willamette National Forest, Linn County, OR

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Moose Subwatershed Timber Sales, Willamette National Forest, Linn

County, OR

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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

statement (EIS) on a proposal to harvest and regenerate timber, and to

construct and reconstruct roads in the Moose

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Subwatershed. The legal description of the planning area is: T.13 S.,

R.3 E., Sections 11-15, 22-27; T.13 S., R.4 E., Sections 7, 17-19. The

Forest Service proposal will be in compliance with the 1990 Willamette

National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan as amended by the

1994 Northwest Forest Plan, which provides the overall guidance for

management of this area. This proposal is tentatively planned for

fiscal years 1998-2000.

The Willamette National Forest invites written comments and

suggestions on the scope of the analysis in addition to those comments

already received as a result of local public participation activities.

The agency will also give notice of the full environmental analysis and

decision-making process so that interested and affected people are made

aware as to how they may participate and contribute to the final

decision.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope and implementation of the analysis

should be received in writing by January 15, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments and suggestions concerning the

management of this area to Darrel Kenops, Forest Supervisor, Willamette

National Forest, P.O. Box 10607 Eugene, Oregon 97386.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Direct questions about the proposed

action and EIS to Donna Short, Integrated Resource Management Assistant

or Suzanne Schindler, Project Coordinator, Sweet Home Ranger District,

phone 541-367-5168.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Moose Subwatershed is completely within

the Central Cascades Adaptive Management Area (CCAMA) designated in the

Northwest Forest Plan (ROD, C21-22). The purpose of AMAs is to

encourage the development and testing of technical and social

approaches to achieving desired ecological, economic, and other social

objectives. AMAs are expected to produce timber as part of their

program of activities consistent with their specific direction.

Management objectives for the Moose Lake Block in the CCAMA are

described in the ROD, the South Santiam Watershed Analysis (SSWA), and

the CCAMA Strategic Guide.

The purpose of this project is to harvest timber in a manner that

implements the management objectives, specifically:

Utilize landscape design processes to understand long

term, historic patterns of landscape change created by natural

disturbance processes, land management practices and vegetation

succession (CCAMA Strategic Guide p. 39).

Develop approaches for integrating forest and stream

management objectives and the implications of natural disturbance

regimes. (CCAMA Strategic Guide p. 35, ROD D12-13).

Manage young and mature stands to accelerate development

of late successional conditions (Strategic Guide p. 35, ROD D12-13).

The Forest Service has a need to provide alternative timber harvest

to the Mr. Rogers Timber Sale on the Siuslaw National Forest pursuant

to Section 2001(k)(3) of the Rescission Act (Pub. L. 104-19) and the

September 17, 1996 settlement agreement in Northwest Resources Council

v. Glickman and Babbit. Under the Act and the agreement, such

alternative timber volume must be ``an equal volume of timber, of like

kind and value, which shall be subject to the terms of the original

contract'' (or as otherwise acceptable to the purchaser). Designation

of alternative timber volume must also be done in consultation and

agreement with the purchaser.

The proposal includes harvesting timber by thinning and

regeneration methods and constructing road under the Moose Subwatershed

Timber Sale. This analysis will evaluate a range of alternatives

addressing the Forest Service proposal to harvest approximately 13.0

million board feet of timber from approximately 600 to 1600 acres and

anticipate 0.5 miles of road construction.

The Moose Subwatershed is comprised of 13,562 acres, including

4,630 acres of private land. Of the 8,932 acres of Forest Service

ownership 1,252 has regenerated. For the most part the remaining 7,680

acres is in second growth and late-successional/old-growth type of

vegetative structure. Management areas that provide for timber harvest

are Scenic (11a) and General Forest. No harvest allocations in this

subwatershed are the Cougar Rock Special Interest Area, 100 acre Late-

Successional Reserves, Bald Eagle Management Area, and the Moose Lake

Dispersed Recreation Area.

The project area includes a portion of the Moose Lake RARE I area,

which was considered but not selected for wilderness designation and is

the reason for initiating this EIS.

Preliminary issues identified are roadless area quality, and water

quality and anadramous fish habitat.

Initial scoping began in May, 1997. Preliminary analysis is

currently being conducted. The Forest Service will be seeking

additional information, comments and assistance from Federal, State and

local agencies and other individuals or organizations who may be

interested or affected by the proposed project. Additional input will

be used to help identify key issues and develop alternatives. This

input will be used in preparation of the draft EIS. The scoping process

includes:

Identification of potential issues;

Identification of issues to be analyzed in depth;

Elimination of insignificant issues or those which have

been covered by a relevant previous environmental process;

Exploration of additional alternatives based on the issues

identified during the scoping process; and

Identification of potential environmental effects of the

proposed action and alternatives (i.e. direct, indirect, and cumulative

effects and connected actions).

The draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) and to be available for public review by March

1998. The comment period on the draft EIS will be January 26, 1998.

The Forest Service believes 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, a reviewer of

a 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

objectives 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 statement. Comments may also

address the adequacy of the draft EIS or the merits

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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.).

The final EIS is scheduled to be completed in April 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. Darrel L. Kenops, Forest Supervisor, is the

responsible official and as responsible official, he will document the

Moose Subwatershed Timber Sales decision and rationale in the Record of

Decision. That decision will be subject to Forest Service Appeal

Regulations (36 CFR part 215).

Dated: December 2, 1997.

Darrel L. Kenops,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 97-32398 Filed 12-10-97; 8:45 am]

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