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

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain Region; Supplemental Environmental Impact

Statement for Sheep Flats Diversity Unit Timber Sales, Grand Mesa,

Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest, Mesa County, Colorado

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to supplement an environmental impact

statement.

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Responsible Official: The Responsible Official for this

Supplemental 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 prepared and issued a final environmental

impact statement in June 1998 about four (4) proposed timber sales:

Valley View, Sheep Flats, Grove Creek, and Leon. These sales are

located on the Grand Mesa National Forest, Collbran Ranger District.

The Forest Service will supplement this environmental impact statement

by developing and presenting additional information concerning soils

and watershed resources. Errors and inconsistencies in the June 1998

EIS will also be corrected.

DATES: Publication of Draft Supplemental EIS: December 1998.

Publication of Final Supplemental EIS: March 1999. Publication of

Record of Decision: April 1999.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Mr. Robert Storch, Forest

Supervisor of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National

Forests, 2250 Highway 50, Delta, Colorado 81416. Send electronic mail

comments to Pam Bode, Project Leader at pam.bode/[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Forest Supervisor will use this

Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to reconsider his decision

concerning how to manage the timber resource within 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 considered in Engelmann spruce, subalpine

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 Salt Creek Roadless Area and Priest

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

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

from logging operations in and around the sale areas.

Five alternatives were studied in the June 1998 EIS. Alternative 1

is No Action. Alternatives 2 and 4 harvest suited timber but do not

enter the Salt Creek or Priest Mountain Roadless Area. Alternatives 3

and 5 enter both the Salt Creek and Priest Mountain Roadless Areas.

Alternatives 2 and 3 emphasize maintenance of current old growth

attributes and wildlife habitat networks while moderately improving

timber structural diversity. Alternatives 4 and 5 emphasize improvement

of timber structural diversity and production of wood fiber for timber

industry. The selected action in the June 1998 Record of Decision was a

combination of Alternatives 3 and 5. This action will be reconsidered

when the Final Supplemental EIS is complete and a new decision will be

published.

News releases were issued, field tours have been conducted, and

public meetings have occurred over the past six years. No additional

scoping is planned for this project. News releases will be issued to

inform the public that a Supplemental EIS will be prepared. These

releases will outline the analysis schedule, and identify the period of

opportunity for comment. The comment period on the Draft Supplemental

Environmental Impact Statement will be 45 days from the date the

Environmental Protection Agency publishes the Notice of Availability in

the Federal Register. The parties that expressed interest previously

have been informed individually by mail that this analysis is

continuing.

[[Page 64036]]

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

supplemental 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 supplemental environmental impact stage but that are not raised

until after completion of the final supplemental 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 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 supplemental environmental impact

statement.

To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues

and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the supplemental EIS

should be as specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer

to specific pages or chapters of the supplement. Comments may also

address the adequacy of the supplement or its merits. 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: November 9, 1998.

Robert L. Storch,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 98-30859 Filed 11-17-98; 8:45 am]

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