[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 199 (Friday, October 15, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63434-63436]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-25969]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Kootenai National Forest, Lincoln County, Montana; Grizzly
Vegetation and Transportation Management Project
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
[[Page 63435]]
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact
statement.
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SUMMARY: The Kootenai National Forest will prepare a Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Grizzly Vegetation and
Transportation Management Project (Grizzly Project). The Grizzly
Project includes vegetation management, fuels reduction, watershed
rehabilitation activities, wildlife habitat improvement, and access
management changes, including road decommissioning. The project is
located in the Grizzly planning subunit on the Three Rivers Ranger
District, Kootenai National Forest, Lincoln County, Montana, and
northeast of Troy, Montana. The Notice of Availability of the Draft EIS
for this project was published in the Federal Register (72 FR 31821) on
June 8, 2007, and the notice of the Final EIS (74 FR 24006) on May 22,
2009. The Record of Decision was issued concurrently with the Final
EIS. On June 29, 2010, the United States District Court for the
District of Montana issued a sixty-nine page decision granting in part
and denying in part cross motions for summary judgment in this case
which alleged that the Forest Service's authorization of the Grizzly,
Miller, and Little Beaver Projects on the Kootenai National Forest
violated NEPA, NFMA, and the ESA. Plaintiffs generally alleged that in
authorizing these Projects for vegetation management, fuels reduction,
watershed restoration, timber harvest, and other purposes, the Forest
Service failed to adequately evaluate their impact on the threatened
Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bears which inhabit the area. Regarding the
Grizzly Vegetation and Transportation Management Project the court
found that (1) the agency's conclusion that the Project was consistent
with the Kootenai Forest Plan violated NFMA because there was
insufficient information in the record to determine whether the
Projects complied with the standard for Management Situation 1 lands
which require the agency to ``favor the needs of the grizzly bear when
grizzly habitat and other land use values compete''; and (2) the
agency's failure to explain why it used the bear management unit
instead of the Forest as the proper level for analysis of cumulative
effects and its failure to disclose and discuss the problems with the
``Wakkinen Study'' regarding grizzly habitat standards violated NEPA's
``hard look'' requirement. The Court enjoined all three Projects and
remanded them to the agency to address the defects identified in its
decision. (09-160, D. Mont.). A Supplemental EIS is being prepared for
the Grizzly Vegetation and Transportation Management Project to address
these disclosures in the grizzly bear analysis.
DATES: Under 40 CFR 1502.9(c)(4), there is no formal scoping period for
this proposed action. The supplemental draft environmental impact
statement is expected to be available for public review and comment in
late November, 2010 and the environmental impact statement is expected
in February, 2011.
ADDRESSES: The line officer responsible for this analysis is Cami
Winslow, Acting District Ranger, Three Rivers Ranger District, 12385
U.S. Hwy 2, Troy, MT 59935.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact Kathy Mohar, Team Leader,
Three Rivers Ranger District, at (406) 295-4693.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Grizzly Project Area is approximately 18
air miles northeast of Troy, Montana, within all or portions of T34N,
R32W-R33W, T35N, R32W-R33W, and T36N, R32W-R33W, Lincoln County,
Montana.
The Grizzly Project Supplemental EIS will provide additional
information and disclosures on the grizzly bear analysis in support of
the Record of Decision issued in April 2009. More specifically, the
Supplemental EIS will provide clarification and additional information
on the following disclosures as requested by the District Court of
Montana:
1. Why the Bear Management Unit is the appropriate scale of
analysis for cumulative effects.
2. Further discussion on the limitations of Wakkinen and Kasworm
(1997) utilized as the Best Available Science in regard to grizzly bear
habitat protection in the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem Grizzly Bear Recovery
Zone.
3. Further explanation on how the Grizzly Project was made
compatible with grizzly bear needs, consistent with the Kootenai
National Forest 1987 Forest Plan.
Record of Decision--Alternative 2a
The Grizzly Project Record of Decision issued in April 2009
authorized the following:
Vegetation treatments: Restoration of western white pine and
western larch on 340 acres; restoration of low and moderate intensity
fire regime vegetation characteristics on 548 acres; enhancement of
aspen habitat on 19 acres; ecosystem and wildlife burning on 468 acres;
precommercial thinning on 515 acres. These activities will contribute
an estimated 8.2 million board feet of forest products to markets.
Transportation actions: Placing 15.5 miles of road in intermittent
stored service status to improve grizzly bear habitat; active
decommissioning on 15.4 miles of unneeded road, and storage work on 9.7
miles of road to reduce sediment delivery prior to placing in grizzly
bear core habitat; best management practices on 36 miles of road;
passive decommissioning of 27 miles of road; designate 65.5 miles of
currently open roads as open to motorized use; designate 39 miles of
existing trails within grizzly bear habitat for non-motorized use. The
proposed action and alternatives were originally described and analyzed
in the FEIS, located at http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/kootenai/projects/projects/Grizzly/index.shtml. At this time no new alternatives are
expected.
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
A Draft SEIS is expected to be available for public review and
comment in late November 2010; and a Final SEIS in February 2011. The
comment period for the Draft SEIS will be 45 days from the date the
Environmental Protection Agency publishes the 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). Also, environmental objections that could be raised at the
draft environmental impact statement stage but that are not raised
until after completion of the final environmental impact statement 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 objections are made available to the Forest
Service at a time when it can meaningfully consider them and respond to
them in the final supplemental environmental impact statement.
[[Page 63436]]
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the Draft SEIS should
be as specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to
specific pages or chapters of the draft 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.
Responsible Official: Paul Bradford, Forest Supervisor of the
Kootenai National Forest, 31374 US Hwy 2, Libby, MT 59923 is the
Responsible Official for the Grizzly Project.
Dated: October 8, 2010.
Paul Bradford,
Forest Supervisor, Kootenai National Forest.
[FR Doc. 2010-25969 Filed 10-14-10; 8:45 am]
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