Chalk Creek Timber Sales, Willamette National Forest, Lane County, Oregon

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Chalk Creek Timber Sales, Willamette National Forest, Lane

County, Oregon

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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

statement (EIS) on a Proposal Action to harvest and regenerate timber

and thin young stands created by past regeneration harvest. The

proposal also calls for the construction, reconstruction, and

decommissioning of roads within the Chalk Creek, McKinley Creek, and

Hamner Creek drainages of the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the

Willamette River watershed. The planning area is bounded by the North

Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River on the east, Alpine

River to the west and north (the watershed boundary between the North

Fork and the Fall Creek watershed) and an unnamed ridge to the south

which separates Hamner Creek and High Creek. The area is approximately

40 air miles east of the City of Eugene and 12 air miles northeast of

the City of Oakridge. The Forest Service proposal will be in compliance

with the 1990 Willamette National Forest Land and Resource Management

Plan as amended by the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan, which provides the

overall guidance for management of this area. These proposals are

tentatively planned for implementation in fiscal year 2001 and 2002.

The Willamette National Forest invites written comments and suggestions

on the scope of the analysis. The agency will also give notice of the

full environmental analysis and decision-making process so that

interested and affected people are made aware as to how they may

participate and contribute to the final decision.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope and implementation of the analysis

should be received in writing by September 1, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments and suggestions concerning the

management of this area to Rick Scott, District Ranger, Middle Fork

Ranger District, Willamette National Forest, P.O. Box 1410, Oakridge,

Oregon 97463.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Direct questions about the proposed

action and the scope of analysis to Kristie Miller, Planning Resource

Management Assistant or Tim Bailey, Project Coordinator, Middle Fork

Ranger District, phone 541-782-2283.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Chalk Creek Planning area is entirely

within the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River

watershed, which is designated as a Tier 2 Key watershed by the

Northwest Forest Plan (ROD, C-7). Tier 2 Key watersheds contain

important sources of high quality water. A Watershed Analysis was

completed for the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River

in September, 1995.

The purpose of this project is to harvest timber in a manner that

implements the management objectives, and to implement various resource

restoration activities to meet Key Watershed objectives.

The proposed actions include harvesting timber in one to several

commercial thinning timber sales over the next five years, and one

regeneration harvest timber sale to be sold in the year 2001. Both

thinning and regeneration timber sale proposals involve temporary road

construction, system road reconstruction, and system road

decommissioning. This analysis will evaluate alternative ways of

addressing the Forest Service proposal to harvest approximately 15

million board feet. Approximately 3 million board feet would be from

thinning about 600 acres of young stands created by past clearcut

harvest. Approximately 12 million board feet would from regeneration

harvest on about 200 acres. All the above proposed harvest would

require some temporary road construction and reconstruction of existing

system roads.

The Chalk Creek planning area comprises about 9,500 acres, all of

which is National Forest System lands. Of the 9,500 acres about 4,200

acres (44%) have been previously harvested and regenerated. Of the

remaining acres, approximately 1,450 acres (15%) is in a late-

successional stand condition [ranging in ages from 80 to 170 years],

and 3,500 acres (37%) is in an old-growth stand condition [stand ages

exceeding 200 years]. The planning area contains about 200 acres (2%)

of non-forest vegetation types. Management areas that provide for

programmed timber harvest are Scenic (11c) and General Forest (14a).

Other land allocations in this planning area are Late-Successional

Reserves, Riparian Reserves, Wild and Scenic River Corridor, Special

Wildlife Habitats, and one Old-Growth Grove.

Preliminary issues identified for this analysis include water and

stream quality, habitat fragmentation, economic benefit, reduction of

habitat considered critical for the northern spotted owl, and road

management.

The Forest Service will be seeking information, comments and

assistance from Federal, State, local agencies, tribes, and other

individuals or organizations who may be interested or affected by the

proposed project. This information will be used to determine the issues

significant to the development and analysis of alternatives, to

determine the appropriate range of alternative ways of implementing the

proposed action, and to guide the analysis of effects. This input will

be used in preparation of the draft EIS.

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The scoping process will include the following:

Identification of potential issues;

Identification of issues to be analyzed in depth;

Elimination of insignificant issues or those which have

been covered by a relevant previous environmental process;

Exploration of alternative ways to implement the proposed

actions based on the issues identified during the scoping process; and

Determination of environmental effects of the proposed

action and alternatives (i.e. direct, indirect, and cumulative effects

and connected actions).

The draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) and to be available for public review by

December 1, 1999. the comment period on the draft EIS will be 45 days

from the date the EPA publishes the notice of availability in the

Federal Register.

The Forest Service believes it is important to give reviewers

notice at this early stage of several court rulings related to public

participation in the environmental review process. First, a reviewer of

a draft EIS 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 EIS stage but that are not raised

until after completion of the final EIS 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

objectives are made available to the Forest Service at a time when it

can meaningfully consider them and respond to them in the final EIS.

To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues

and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft EIS 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 EIS 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).

The final EIS is scheduled to be completed in November, 2000. In

the final EIS, the Forest Service is required to respond to comments

and responses received during the comment period that pertain to the

environmental consequences discussed in the draft EIS and applicable

laws, regulations, and policies considered in making the decision

regarding this proposal. Rick Scott, District Ranger, is the

responsible official and as responsible official, he will document the

chalk Creek Timber Sales project decision and rationale in a record of

Decision. That decision will be subject to Forest Service Appeal

Regulations (36 CFR Part 215).

Dated: July 12, 1999.

Rick Scott,

District Ranger.

[FR Doc. 99-19233 Filed 7-27-99; 8:45 am]

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