Lost Moose Ecosystem Management Project, Bitterroot National Forest, Ravalli County, MT

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Lost Moose Ecosystem Management Project, Bitterroot National

Forest, Ravalli County, MT

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

[[Page 66608]]

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact

statement (EIS) to disclose the environmental effects of management

activities proposed in the Lost Moose Ecosystem Management Project area

on the Darby Ranger District on the Bitterroot National Forest.

Proposed management activities include: harvesting timber, management

ignited prescribed burning, restoring ponderosa pine and aspen;

precommercial thinning; fire hazard reduction treatments; and

implementing road-use restrictions and watershed and recreation

improvements. The Lost Moose Project Area is located in Ravalli County,

Montana, approximately five miles west of the city of Hamilton and

includes Lost Horse, Canyon, and Roaring Lion Creeks.

A variety of management activities proposed in the project 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 purposes of the project are to reduce the fuels

hazard, restore site productivity, and return ecosystems to more

sustainable conditions. This project level analysis will tier to the

Bitterroot National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest

Plan) and Final EIS (September, 1987), which provides overall guidance

for all land management activities in the Bitterroot National Forest.

DATE: Written comments and suggestions should be received by January 3,

2000.

ADDRESSES: The Responsible Official is Craig Bobzien, District Ranger,

Darby Ranger District, Bitterroot National Forest, PO Box 388, Darby,

Montana 59829. Written comments and suggestions concerning the scope of

this analysis or a request to be included on the project mailing list

should be sent to him at that address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tami Brewer, Resource Team Leader,

Stevensville Ranger District, 88 Main Street, Stevensville, Montana,

59870, phone (406) 777-5461.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The project area encompasses approximately

50,715 acres of land in southwestern Montana on the Bitterroot National

Forest. The Lost Moose area contains lands drained by Lost Horse Creek

and several other Bitterroot River tributaries including Canyon,

Sawtooth, and Roaring Lion Creeks. A map and legal descriptions are

available on request.

Proposals in this analysis fall into three categories: Maintaining

or restoring terrestrial ecosystems; maintaining or restoring aquatic

ecosystems; and managing recreation. Proposals to maintain or restore

terrestrial ecosystems include: underburning on about 1, 395 acres;

restoring ponderosa pine ecosystems by reducing ladder fuels and

underburning on about 307 acres; reducing fire risk along the Forest/

residential interface by thinning and/or underburning or burning with

shelterwood harvesting, and precommercial thinning on a total of about

2,050 acres; restoring hardwood tree and shrub communities by felling

conifers and/or underburning to stimulate aspen reproduction on 260

acres; and creating and maintaining wildlife trees where opportunities

exist. These actions are designed to: reduce the fuels hazard--

particularly along the wildland/urban interface--and restore fire as a

key ecosystem process; maintain and restore vegetative structures and

compositions that reflect sustainable, natural patterns and processes;

maintain and restore ecosystem health and productivity; enhance

wildlife habitat; and provide wood products. Additionally, specific

road-use restrictions are proposed to reduce human disturbance of

wildlife and comply with Forest Plan standards for elk habitat

effectiveness.

Proposals to maintain or restore aquatic ecosystems include:

gravelling and/or installing waterbars or drainage dips on specified

road segments; road obliteration; constructing a short road segment

(about 0.25 mile) to allow access through an existing loop route; and

improving drainage on FS Trail #128. Fish habitat improvements include

adding large woody debris to specified stream segments, planting

conifers, replacing/modifying culverts, and constructing resting pools.

These actions would improve stream habitat, contribute to the long-term

health of aquatic ecosystems, and improve water quality.

Proposals to manage recreation include: installing interpretative

signs; extending the Blodgett Overlook Trail into a loop trail;

improving resource conditions on the Foss-McCrossin/Brown irrigation

ditch; and improving the Lost Horse dispersed camping sites. These

actions would provide a balance of recreation opportunities while

managing and enhancing other resource values.

Maps and data describing these proposals in greater detail are

available on request.

The Bitterroot Forest Plan provides guidance for management

activities through its goals, objectives, standards, and management

area direction. The areas of proposed timber harvest occur in

Management Areas 2, 3a, 3c, and 5. Aspen restoration is proposed in

Management Areas 3a, 3b, and 3c. Prescribed underburning is proposed on

lands within Forest Plan Management Areas 3c, 5, and 5-9. The

management direction for these areas is briefly described as follows.

Management Area 2 emphasizes elk winter range habitat, allows for

timber management, and providing roaded dispersed recreation

opportunities. Management Area 3a emphasizes visual quality, allows for

timber management, and providing roaded dispersed recreation

opportunities. Management Area 3b emphasizes protecting riparian

habitat and water quality and providing for water-related recreation.

Management Area 3c emphasizes visual quality, allows for timber

management, and providing dispersed recreation opportunities.

Management Area 5 emphasizes semi-primitive recreation and elk

security. Management Area 5-9 emphasizes semi-primitive recreation and

elk security and also includes proposed research natural areas.

Portions of the Selway-Bitterroot Inventoried Roadless Area lie within

the analysis area where management activities are proposed.

Additionally, areas of unsuitable lands lie within some harvest units.

The analysis process for the Lost Moose Ecosystem Management

Project began in 1996. In April 1997 a summary of the existing

conditions, purpose and need for action, and management opportunities

for the assessment area was mailed. Following several public meetings,

a Proposed Action was developed and mailed in March 1999. Primary

issues that were identified at that time include the following: 1. How

would the proposed timber harvest and prescribed burning affect the

undeveloped character of this portion of the Selway-Bitterroot

Inventoried Roadless Area? 2. How would the proposed activities affect

fish and wildlife species that inhabit the area? 3. Can the vegetation

diversity and ecological purposes of the project be met without any

further timber extraction or road building in the area? 4. Are the

proposed road closures necessary to improve elk habitat? 5. Would the

proposed road closures cause more off-road traffic and subsequent

resource damage? Other issues commonly associated with prescribed fire

and timber harvest include: potential effects on water and air quality,

soils, old growth, and scenery

[[Page 66609]]

values. This list may be verified, expanded, or modified based on

public scoping for this proposal.

The Forest Service will consider a range of alternatives in the

EIS. One of these will be the ``no action'' alternative, in which none

of the proposed activities would be implemented. Additional

alternatives will examine varying levels and locations for the proposed

activities to achieve the proposal's purposes as well as to respond to

the issues and other resource values. The EIS will analyze the direct,

indirect, and cumulative environmental effects of the alternatives.

Known past, present, and scheduled activities on both private and

national forest lands will be considered.

In addition to the scoping that has already occurred for this

project, the public is encouraged to visit with Forest Service

officials at any time during the analysis prior to the decision. The

Forest Service will be seeking information, comments, and assistance

from federal, state, and local agencies and other organizations and

individuals who may be interested in or affected by the proposed

action. No further public meetings are scheduled at this time.

The Draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) and available for public review in September

2000. At that time, the EPA will publish a Notice of Availability of

the Draft EIS in the Federal Register. The Comment period on the draft

EIS will be 45 days from the date that the EPA's notice of availability

appears in the Federal Register. It is very important that those

interested in the management of the Lost Moose area participate at that

time. To be most helpful, comments on the Draft EIS should be as

specific as possible. The Final EIS is scheduled to be completed in

January 2001.

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, reviewers of

Draft EISs 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 F2d 1016, 1022 (9th Cir.

1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 F. Supp. 1334 (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 scoping 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 developing issues and

alternatives.

To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues

related to the Proposed Action, comments should be as specific as

possible. 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 responsible official for this EIS is Craig Bobzien, District

Ranger, Darby Ranger District, Bitterroot National Forest, P.O. Box

388. Darby, Montana 59829. The decision to be made is what, if

anything, should be done in the Lost Moose Project Area to: (1) Reduce

the fuels hazard; (2) restore site productivity and return ecosystems

to a more sustainable condition; (3) restore watersheds; (4) promote

aspen reproduction to restore hardwood tree and shrub communities; and

(5) provide goods and services such as wood products and recreation

opportunities. He will document the decision and reasons for the

decision in a Record of Decision. That decision will be subject to

Forest Service Appeal Regulations.

Dated: November 16, 1999.

Susan L. Heald,

Acting Forest Supervisor, Bitterroot National Forest.

[FR Doc. 99-30826 Filed 11-26-99; 8:45 am]

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