Cool Bear Vegetative Management, Road Management, and Watershed Rehabilitation. Lolo National Forest, Sanders County, Montana

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Cool Bear Vegetative Management, Road Management, and Watershed

Rehabilitation. Lolo National Forest, Sanders County, Montana

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare environmental impact statement.

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

statement (EIS) to disclose the environmental effects of timber

harvest, reforestation, precommercial thinning, prescribed burning,

road management and watershed rehabilitation; and to correct management

area mapping errors in the Lolo National Forest Land and Resource

Management Plan (Forest Plan) in the Fishtrap Creek drainage (herein

referred to as the Cool Bear Project). The project area encompasses

18,000 acres north of Thompson Falls, Montana.

The proposed actions of timber harvest, reforestation,

precommercial thinning, prescribed burning, road management, and

watershed rehabilitation are being considered together because they

represent either connected or cumulative actions as defined by the

Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR 1508.25). This EIS will tier

to the Lolo Forest Plan Final EIS (April, 1986).

DATES: Written comments and suggestions should be received by September

21, 1998.

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ADDRESSES: Submit written comments and suggestions on the proposed

management activities or a request to be placed on the project mailing

list to Richard A. Smith, District Ranger, Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger

District, Lolo National Forest, P.O. Box 429, Plains, Montana 59859.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Frank Yurczyk, EIS Team Leader, Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District,

Lolo National Forest, Phone (406) 826-4313.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Timber harvest, is proposed on approximately

2170 acres of forested land removing an estimated 8.9 MMBF, in the Cool

Bear project area, T. 24 N.,R. 27 W.: T. 24 N., R. 28 W.; and T. 25 N.,

R. 28 W, PMM. This area has been designated as suitable for timber

management by the Lolo Forest Plan. Prescribed burning on approximately

701 acres is proposed to facilitate reforestation, improve forest

health, reduce fuel loading and enhance big game forage production.

Approximately 1.9 miles of new road construction is proposed.

Reconditioning of 12 miles and reconstructing 27 miles of existing road

is proposed to improve drainage and reduce sediment delivery to

Fishtrap Creek. Fishtrap Creek is identified as a water quality limited

stream segment by the State of Montana. The project would also

obliterate the entrances of secondary roads that are not needed in the

future. There are 15 roads that are now closed with gates. The gates

will be removed and the entrances obliterated to prevent all motor

vehicle travel. These roadways will be reseeded to hasten recovery. The

project will also propose correction of mapping errors in the Forest

Plan Management Area allocation.

The Lolo Forest Plan provides the overall guidance for management

activities in the potentially affected area through its goals,

objectives, standards and guidelines, and management area direction.

The purpose of these proposed actions is to alter current trends in the

forest condition and to regulate, over time, changes in vegetative

cover which could adversely affect timber commodity potential, wildlife

habitat, fuel build up or watershed stability. Timber harvest will help

support the economic structure of local communities while contributing

to the regional and national timber supply. Proposed road closures and

timing of harvest activities are intended to limit human disturbance

within suitable grizzly bear habitat, improve long-term watershed

conditions, while continuing to provide non-motorized recreational

uses.

The Forest Service will consider a range of alternatives. One of

these will be the ``no action'' alternative, in which none of the

proposed activities would be implemented. Additional alternatives will

examine varying levels and locations for the proposed activities in

response to issues and other resource values.

The EIS will analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative

environmental effects of the alternatives. Past, present, and projected

activities on both private and National Forest lands will be

considered. The EIS will disclose the analysis of site-specific

mitigation measures and their effectiveness.

Public participation is an important part of the analysis. The

public may visit Forest Service officials at any time during the

analysis and prior to the decision. The Forest Service will be seeking

information, comments, and assistance from Federal, State, and local

agencies and other individuals or organizations who may be interested

in or affected by the proposed action. No public meetings are scheduled

at this time. Comments previously received from the public on the Cool

Bear project, will be utilized in the preparation of the EIS and do not

need to be resubmitted.

Comments from the public and other agencies will be used in

preparation of the Draft EIS.

The following principle issues have been identified so far:

1. The potential effect of proposed timber harvest and associated

road development on forest health, old growth, fragmentation,

vegetative cover types and patterns across the landscape and natural

ecological processes.

2. The potential effect of proposed timber harvest and associated

road development on grizzly bear recovery.

3. The potential for proposed harvest and associated road

development to affect water quality and quantity, including all

cumulative effects from adjacent previous and reasonable foreseeable

future activities.

4. The potential for proposed harvest and associated road

development to affect wildlife habitat including big game, snag

dependent species, riparian dependent species, threatened, endangered,

and sensitive species.

5. The potential for proposed harvest and associated road

development to affect the net economic cost and benefit to the public.

6. The potential for proposed harvest and associated road

development to affect the current patterns of public use for

recreation, hunting, personal firewood gathering and the natural

appearance of the landscape.

7. The potential for proposed harvest and associated road

development to affect fisheries, including bull char and their habitat.

Other issues commonly associated with timber harvesting and road

construction include effects on cultural resources, soils, compaction,

nutrients, and noxious weeds in the area. This list will be verified,

expanded, or modified based on public scoping for this proposal.

The Draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) and available for public review in February

1999. At that time, the 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's notice of availability

appears in the Federal Register. It is very important that those

interested in management of the Cool Bear project area participate at

that time. The Final EIS is scheduled to be completed by April, 1999.

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, 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 but that are not raised until

after completion of the final environmental impact 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 30-day scoping 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 developing issues and alternatives. To assist the

Forest Service in identifying and considering issues, comments should

be as specific to this proposal as possible. Reviewers may wish to

refer to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for

implementing the procedural provisions of the National

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Environmental Policy Act at 40 CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.

I am the responsible official for this environmental impact

statement. My address is Lolo National Forest, Building 24--Fort

Missoula, Missoula, MT 59804

Dated: August 13, 1998.

Dallas J. Emch,

Acting Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 98-22508 Filed 8-20-98; 8:45 am]

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