Good Creek Environmental Impact Statement; Flathead National Forest, Tally Lake Ranger District, Flathead and Lincoln Counties, State of Montana

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Good Creek Environmental Impact Statement; Flathead National

Forest, Tally Lake Ranger District, Flathead and Lincoln Counties,

State of Montana

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact

statement (EIS) for a proposal to harvest timber; reclaim,

rehabilitate, and construct roads; change road and trail access; place

large logs in streams; and burn brushfields or forest understory trees

within the Good Creek watershed. The area is located west of Whitefish,

Montana and southwest of Olney, Montana.

The Forest Service is seeking further information and comments from

Federal, State, and local agencies and other individuals or

organizations who may be interested in or affected by the proposed

actions. These comments will be used to prepare the draft EIS.

DATES: The draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental

Protection Agency and made available for public review in April, 1999.

No date has yet been determined for filing the final EIS.

The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement will

be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes

the notice of availability in the Federal Register.

ADDRESS: You may request to be placed on the project mailing list or

direct questions, comments, and suggestions about the proposed action

and EIS to Bryan Donner, EIS Team Leader, or Jane Kollmeyer, District

Ranger, Tally Lake Ranger District, 1335 Highway 93 West, Whitefish, MT

59937. Phone: (406) 863-5400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Nature and scope of the proposed action: The need for this proposal

stems from conditions within the 72,000-acre Good Creek and Martin

Creek watersheds in which high levels of accumulated fuels pose a

threat of wildfire to national forest lands within the watershed and to

human developments and private lands adjacent to the area. Also, the

watershed contains large areas composed almost entirely of lodgepole

pine. The lack of diversity in tree species, ages, and sizes and their

numbers and distribution across the landscape has reduced available

habitat for native wildlife, plant, and fish species.

The purpose of the proposal is to reduce fuels to historic levels

where appropriate or to levels which might prevent intense fires; to

increase habitat for plants, animals, and fish; to maintain hydrologic

function, protect water quality, and reduce sediment; to provide access

for management activities over the next 10 years; to maintain a variety

of recreation opportunities in the Good Creek area; and to meet social

and economic needs of local communities.

The proposal's actions to regenerate lodgepole pine stands and wind

damaged stands, construct temporary roads or recondition roads

necessary to access these stands, correct chronic sediment sources, and

stabilize stream channels are being considered together because they

represent either connected or cumulative actions as defined by the

Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR 1508.25).

The proposed action outlines 11,914 areas of vegetation treatment,

19 miles of road reclamation, 34 miles of drainage improvements on

roads, new temporary road construction of 7 miles, new specified road

construction of 13 miles, and culvert replacements on 10 sites, all

over a 10 year period. The vegetation treatments proposed consist of

combinations of prescribed burning, pre-commercial thinning, and

varying intensities of timber harvest with associated fuels treatments

and preparation for reforestation. In addition, road access changes are

proposed for 37 miles, and fisheries habitat improvement (large woody

debris placement) is proposed for a total of 2.6 miles on three

streams.

The Forest Service believes the current forest conditions resulting

from large wildfires that occurred near the turn of the century and

subsequent management decisions are causing adverse effects. These

effects include an increased risk of property damage on both national

forest and adjacent private land from large and intense wildfires;

reduced individual tree health in some areas; and a low level of tree

species diversity. The Forest Service also believes implementing a no

action alternative will further increase these effects in the future.

The proposed actions may have short term significant effects on

wildfire, fisheries, and surface hydrology, but long term benefits to

the function of the ecosystem are more desirable.

This EIS will tier to the Flathead National Forest Land and

Resource Management Plan (LRMP) and EIS of January, 1986, and its

subsequent amendments, which provide overall guidance of all land

management activities on the Flathead National Forest.

Decision to be made: Should the Forest Service implement the

proposed action or any action to meet the purpose and need or to defer

any action at this time within the Good Creek and Martin Creek

watersheds? The deciding official for this project is Catherine

Barbouletos, Forest Supervisor, Flathead National Forest.

Preliminary issues and alternatives: Public and internal scoping

which has already occurred for this project includes one public open

house; two public field trips; two mailings to Federal, State, and

local agencies and other individuals or organizations; personal

conversations with interdisciplinary team members and members of the

public, and news media releases. An additional public mailing is

planned to present a refined proposed action and give an update on

progress. Based on public and internal scoping, the following

significant issues emerged:

1. Effects of vegetation treatments and road and trail access on

wildlife security.

2. Effects of vegetation treatments and road access on existing and

future old growth habitat.

3. Effects of vegetation treatments on the size, shape, continuity,

and edge effects of some late seral patches of trees.

4. Effects of the proposed action on some forested connections that

serve as

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links for wildlife movement between important habitat such as riparian

forests and ridgelines.

5. Effects of vegetation treatments and road building and

reclamation on water quality, fish habitat, and fine sediment

deposition.

6. Effects of vegetation treatments and road building and

reclamation on cutthroat trout populations in upper Good Creek.

The interdisciplinary team has not yet developed any alternatives

to the proposed action that respond to these significant issues.

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

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 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 environmental impact statement.

To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues

and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft

environmental impact statement 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

environmental impact statement 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.

Following this comment period, the comments received will be

analyzed, considered, and responded to by the Forest Service in the

final environmental impact statement (FEIS). Catherine Barbouletos,

Forest Supervisor, Flathead National Forest, 1935 Third Avenue East,

Kalispell, MT 59901 is the responsible official for the preparation of

the EIS and will make a decision regarding this proposal considering

the comments and responses, environmental consequences discussed in the

FEIS, and applicable laws, regulations, and policies. The decision and

rational for the decision will be documented in a Record of Decision.

That decision will be subject to appeal under applicable Forest Service

regulations.

Dated: December 16, 1998.

Jane Kollmeyer,

District Ranger, Tally Lake Ranger District, Flathead National Forest.

[FR Doc. 98-34719 Filed 12-30-98; 8:45 am]

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