Threemile Timber Harvest, Tongass National Forest; Environmental Impact Statement

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Threemile Timber Harvest, Tongass National Forest; Environmental

Impact Statement

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Revision of the Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental

Impact Statement for the Threemile Timber Harvest as published in

Federal Register page 13766-13767, on March 22, 1999. This revision

includes changes in the proposed action, the size of the project area,

as well as changes in the project schedule.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, will prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to provide timber for the Tongass

National Forest timber sale program. The Record of Decision will

disclose how the Forest Service has decided to provide harvest units,

roads, and associated timber harvesting facilities. The revised

proposed action is to harvest timber in the Threemile Project area on

Kuiu Island with associated road construction as well as a new log

transfer facility at Threemile Arm.

A range of alternatives responsive to significant issues will be

developed including a no-action alternative. The proposed timber

harvest is located in the Tongass National Forest, Petersburg Ranger

District, on Kuiu Island. Alaska, within the Threemile Arm area. The

Tongass Land and Resource Management Plan (1999) provides the overall

guidance (land use designations, goals, objectives, management

prescriptions, standards and guidelines) to achieve the desired future

condition for the area in which this project is proposed. The Forest

Plan allocates portions of the project area into three management

prescriptions: Timber Production, Modified Landscape, and Old-growth

Habitat Land Use Designations.

[[Page 37095]]

DATES: For the Forest Service to best use the scoping input, comments

should be received by August 1, 1999; however, scoping comments will be

accepted at any time. Comments received in response to the original

Notice of Intent are also accepted.

ADDRESSES: Please send written comments to Petersburg Ranger District;

Tongass National Forest, Attn: Threemile Timber Harvest EIS; PO Box

1328, Petersburg, AK., 99833.

INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions about the proposal and EIS should be

directed to Everett Kissinger, Interdisciplinary Team Leader, PO Box

1328, Petersburg, AK, 99833, phone (907) 772-3841.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public participation will be part of the

planning process and will be especially important at several points

during the analysis. The first is during the scoping process. The

Forest Service will be seeking information, comments, and assistance

from federal, tribal, state, and local agencies, and from individuals

and organizations that may be interested in, or affected by, the

proposed activities. The scoping process will include: (1)

Identification of potential issues; (2) identification of issues to be

analyzed in depth; and (3) elimination of insignificant issues or those

which have been covered by a previous environmental review. Written

scoping comments will be solicited through a scoping package sent to a

project mailing list. For the Forest Service to best use the scoping

input, comments should be received by August 1, 1999; however, scoping

comments will be accepted at any time. Tentative issues identified for

analysis in the EIS include subsistence, wildlife habitat, road

development and access management, and timber sale economics and timber

supply. Based on the results of scoping and the resource capabilities

within the project area, alternatives including a no-action alternative

will be developed for a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft

EIS). The Draft EIS is projected to be filed with the Environmental

Projection Agency (EPA) in January 2000. Subsistence hearings, as

provided for in Title VIII, Section 810 of the Alaska National Interest

Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), may be conducted during the comment

period on the Draft EIS if the analysis indicates a significant effect

to subsistence uses. The Final EIS is anticipated by July, 2000.

The comment period on the Draft EIS will be 45 days from the date

the Environmental Protection Agency publishes a notice of availability

in the Federal Register.

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). Environmental objections that could have been raised at

the draft environmental impact statement stage may be waived or

dismissed by the courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2nd 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 of the proposed action, comments during scoping and

comments on the draft environmental impact statement should be as

specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to specific

areas with the project area are 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 Regulation for implementing the

procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40

CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.

Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names

and address of those who comment, will be considered part of the public

record on this proposed action and will be available for public

inspection. Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted and

considered; however, those who submit anonymous comments will not have

standing to appeal the subsequent decision under 36 CFR parts 215 or

217. Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any person may request

the agency to withhold a submission from the public record by showing

how the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permits such confidentiality.

Requests should be aware that, under FOIA, confidentiality may be

granted in only very limited circumstances, such as to protect trade

secrets. The Forest Service will inform the requester of the agency's

decision regarding the request for confidentiality, and where the

request is denied, the agency will return the submission and notify the

requester that the comments may be resubmitted with or without name and

address within 7 days.

Permits: Those required for implementation include the following:

1. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

--Approval of discharge of dredged or fill material into the waters of

the United States under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act;

--Approval of the construction of structures or work in navigable

waters of the United States under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors

Act of 1989;

2. Environmental Protection Agency

--National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (402) Permit;

--Review Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure Plan;

3. State of Alaska, Department of Natural Resources

--Tideland Permit and Lease or Easement;

4. State of Alaska, Department of Environmental Conservation

--Solid Waste Disposal Permit;

--Certification of Compliance with Alaska Water Quality Standards (401

Certification)

5. State of Alaska, Division of Governmental Coordination

--Coastal Zone Consistency Determination concurrence

RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL: Carol J. Jorgensen, Assistant Forest Supervisor,

Stikine Area, Tongass National Forest, PO Box 309, Petersburg, AK

99833, is the responsible official. The responsible official will

consider the comments, responses, disclosure of environmental

consequences, and applicable laws, regulations, and policies in making

the decision and stating the rationale in the Record of Decision.

Dated: June 21, 1999.

Carol J. Jorgensen,

Assistant Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 99-17477 Filed 7-8-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-11-M