Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Threemile Timber Harvest

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for

the Threemile Timber Harvest

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 proposed action

is to harvest timber on approximately 2300 acres including both

clearcut with reserves and overstory removal harvest methods. This

would entail harvest of an estimated 48 million board feet of timber.

Approximately 33 miles of new roads would be built, as well as a new

log transfer facility at No Name Bay.

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 Value Comparison Units 416,

417, 418, 419 and the east side of VCU 420. The Tongass Land and

Resource Management Plan (1997) 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 four management prescriptions: Timber Production,

Modified Landscape, Semi-Remote Recreation, and Old-growth Habitat Land

Use Designations.

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

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

accepted at any time.

ADDRESSES: Please send written comments to Petersburg Ranger District;

Tongass National Forest; Attn: Threemile Timber Harvest EIS; P.O. Box

1328, Petersburg, AK, 99833.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTRACT: Questions about the proposal and EIS

should be directed to Everett Kissinger, Interdisciplinary Team Leader,

P.O. Box 309, 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, 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 enviromental 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 May 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 Protection Agency (EPA)

in September 1999. Subsistence hearings, as provided for in Title VIII,

Section 810 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

(ANILCA), are planned during the comment period on the Draft EIS. The

Final EIS is anticipated by March, 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 areas or 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.

Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names

and addresses 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.

Requesters 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

[[Page 13767]]

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 1899;

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, Tongass National

Forest, P.O. 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: March 8, 1999.

Carol J. Jorgensen.

Assistant Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 99-6914 Filed 3-19-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-11-M