Nevada/Dalton Project; Including Timber Harvest, Prescribed Fire, Fish and Wildlife Habitat Improvement, Road Construction, Road Obliteration, and Travel Management; Helena National Forest, Lewis & Clark County, Montana

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Nevada/Dalton Project; Including Timber Harvest, Prescribed Fire,

Fish and Wildlife Habitat Improvement, Road Construction, Road

Obliteration, and Travel Management; Helena National Forest, Lewis &

Clark County, Montana

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service is gathering information and

preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Nevada/Dalton

Project located approximately 26 air miles northwest of Helena,

Montana.

The Forest Service proposes to treat approximately 1630 acres with

regeneration harvest treatments, 320 acres with commercial thinning,

160 acres with commercial thinning, 1670 acres with grass/shrub/

underburning, and 1000 acres of aerial herbicide treatment of noxious

weeds. The proposal would also hydromulch erosive sites along existing

roads and install other erosion control structures within the project

area. Approximately 7 miles of new system road construction is needed

to access treatment areas. The new roads will be obliterated after

harvest. An additional 7 miles of existing road would be obliterated

also. The proposed action would implement a new travel management plan

that identifies designated routes which would be available for

motorized vehicle use with a mix of seasonal and vehicle type

restrictions.

The proposal is designed to help achieve the goals and objectives

of the 1986 Helena National Forest Plan and move selected areas towards

the desired conditions identified from the Forest Plan. These needs are

supported by the findings of the Blackfoot Landscape Analysis. The

purpose is to maintain healthy, sustainable ecosystems that (1) reduce

fire risk, (2) provide wildlife habitat similar to the habitat that

existed when fire was a natural component of the ecosystem, (3) protect

solid and water, (4) provide recreation opportunities, and (5) provide

wood for people's use.

A Forest Plan amendment is proposed to change management direction

for the M-1 management area. Further analysis of the proposed action

and alternatives to that proposal may result in a decision(s) that

include amendments to the Forest Plan.

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

in writing on or before February 17, 1998.

ADDRESSES: The responsible official is Thomas J. Clifford, Forest

Supervisor, Helena National Forest, Supervisor's Office, 2880 Skyway

Drive, Helena, MT 59601. Phone: (406) 449-5201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gilbert Zepeda, District Ranger,

Lincoln Ranger District, P.O. Box 219, Lincoln, MT 59639. Phone: (406)

362-4265; or Tom Andersen, Interdisciplinary Team Leader, Helena

National Forest, 2880 Skyway Drive, Helena, MT 59601. Phone: (406) 449-

5201 [Ext. 277].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The project would occur on National Forest

lands of the Lincoln Ranger District. The activities would take place

within portions of T.12N., R.7,8,9 W., T.13N., R.7,8,9,10W., and

T.14N., R. 10W., Montana Principle Meridian.

Portions of the prescribed fire treatment units, road construction

and tree harvest are within the Ogden Mountain roadless area and Nevada

Mountain roadless area.

The decisions to be made, based on this environmental analysis,

are:

1. Whether or not to treat the vegetation at this time, and if so,

how would the treatments be accomplished.

2. What type of transportation system will be necessary to

accomplish the vegetation management objectives, while considering

other resource transportation needs and objectives.

The 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 Blackfoot Landscape Analysis.

The Forest Service is seeking information and comments from

Federal, State, and local agencies together with 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 the following steps:

1. Identification of issues to be analyzed in depth.

2. Identification of additional reasonable alternatives.

3. Identification of potential environmental effects of the

alternatives.

Timber harvest includes even-aged management treatments such as

clearcutting with reserves, seed tree with reserves, and shelterwood

with reserves. Intermediate treatment such as commercial thinning will

also be considered. Prescribed burning will be used to treat

nonforested and forested vegetation. Alternatives to this proposal will

include the ``no action'' alternative, in which none of the proposed

treatments would be implemented. Other alternatives will examine

variations in the location, amount and method of vegetative management.

The preliminary issues identified are:

1. The effects on forest health and sustaining ecosystems.

2. The effects on recreation and visual resources.

3. The effects on wildlife.

4. The effects on the roadless and wilderness character of the

Ogden Mountain and Nevada Mountain Roadless Areas.

5. The effects on fish, water quality, and riparian 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.

Public participation is especially important at several points of

the analysis. Interested parties may visit with the Forest Service

officials at any

[[Page 2198]]

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 second review period is during the

45 days 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 September 1998. 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 is it is meaningful

and alerts an agency to the reviewer's position and contentions.

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NDRC, 435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978).

Secondly, environmental objections that could be raised 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 the

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 February 1999.

Dated: January 5, 1998.

Thomas J. Clifford,

Forest Supervisor, Helena National Forest.

[FR Doc. 98-821 Filed 1-13-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-11-M