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Blue Fire Forest Recovery Project, Lassen and Modoc Counties, CA
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
[Federal Register: December 28, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 249)]
[Notices]
[Page 67175-67177]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28de01-43]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Blue Fire Forest Recovery Project, Lassen and Modoc Counties, CA
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The Forest Service, Modoc National Forest, Warner Mountain
Ranger District (Forest Service) will prepare an environmental impact
statement (EIS) to disclose the environmental consequences of the
proposed Blue Fire Forest Recovery Project, and alternatives to the
proposal. The decision to be made, is to select this proposed action or
one of the alternatives to this proposal. The alternatives to this
proposal will include a no-action alternative.
The Blue Fire Forest Recovery Project area is located approximately
20 miles southeast of Alturas CA and 9 miles east of Likely, CA, within
Lassen and Modoc Counties, CA. The total project area is approximately
33,500 acres, all of which are National Forest System lands.
The Forest Service proposes to move wildland resource conditions
within the Blue Fire (August 2001) towards the desired conditions
described by the Modoc National Forest Land and Resource Management
Plan (MLRMP), as amended by the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment
Record of Decision--Jan 2001 (SNROD), and to implement Standards and
Guidelines described by MLRMP as amended by SNROD. Within the Blue
Fire, but outside the South Warner Wilderness (SWW), and outside of
Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs), the Forest Service proposes to take
actions. The areas where actions are proposed are identified as Old
Forest Emphasis Area and General Forest, in the SNROD. Actions proposed
within the Old Forest Emphasis Area are designed to benefit landscape
conditions for old forest structure and function. Where the Blue Fire
has killed at least 75% of the trees in a timber stand, the Forest
Service is proposing to provide long-term watershed protection by
reestablishing timber stands with appropriate mixes of native tree
species and by reducing the threat of catastrophic wildfire losses in
these plantations. The Forest Service proposes to remove heavy fuels
created by the Blue Fire through implementation of salvage timber
sales. Salvage timber sales are the proposed method of fuels removal
because now, and for a short time into the future, these heavy fuels
have a commercial value that will support the costs of their removal
and contribute to subsequent reforestation and environmental
restoration work. If these trees are not harvested, they will
deteriorate over time, fall down and result in fuel loadings that will
not meet Standards and Guidelines of the MLRMP or SNROD. In these
timber stands where salvage harvest is proposed, planting and
subsequent activities crucial to plantation survival are proposed.
Other activities are proposed to meet the direction of MLRMP and SNROD.
Following is a brief summary of activities proposed: (1) No salvage
harvest will occur in the South Warner
[[Page 67176]]
Wilderness nor any of the three Inventoried Roadless Areas; (2) no
salvage harvest will occur in any timber stands with less than 75% of
the trees killed by the Blue Fire, this includes one Great Gray Owl
Protected Activity Center (PAC), one complete goshawk PAC and about \1/
2\ of another goshawk PAC; (3) where salvage harvest occurs, no live
trees will be cut; consistent with SNROD, 30 of the largest dead trees
per 10 acres will be retained in all treatment areas; consistent with
SNROD, 5 logs (min. 20" dia. and 10 ft.) will be left for woody debris;
protection for Riparian Conservation Areas (RCAs) will be consistent
with SNROD; all dead trees 8'' DBH and larger and excess to snag and
down log needs will be removed by salvage harvest; all dead trees
between 6'' and 8'' DBH will be removed by subsequent service
contracts; ground-based harvest systems with designated skid trails
will be used on approximately 9,500 acres and helicopter harvest will
occur on approximately 600 acres, whole tree removal (including tops)
to landing is required; (4) salvage of 2 RCAs is included in the
description of activity 3, except that in RCAs the maximum size harvest
tree is 24'' DBH and both RCAs will be helicopter harvested; (5)
salvage of the Bald Eagle Management Area is included in the
description of activity 3, except that all dead trees within 200 feet
of the shoreline of Blue Lake will remain uncut; (6) removal and/or
rearrangement of dead trees between 1'' and 5'' DBH within harvest
stands is proposed on 292 acres of Urban Wildland Intermix Zones and
250 acres of Strategically Placed Area Treatments; (7) Reforest 10,100
acres of harvest units and approximately 200 acres of existing
plantations killed by the Blue Fire, by hand planting appropriate mixes
of species, periodically removing brush from around planted trees by
hand grubbing, controlling gopher populations by underground baiting
with strychnine treated pellets as needed to ensure plantation survival
and installing biodegradable plastic tubing on tree seedlings to
prevent above ground animal damage as needed to ensure plantation
survival, wider planting spacing in fuel treatments described in
activity 6 will be maintained over time; (8) Road activities include: 5
miles of aggregate resurfacing; opening and reusing 28 miles of
existing temporary roads, constructing and using 4.4 miles of new
temporary roads; and closure of 32.4 miles of temporary roads by
pulling culverts, outsloping and water-barring, and in some site-
specific cases, seeding, tilling or re-contouring; application of
magnesium chloride on system roads to alleviate dusting; and closure of
some system roads temporarily during harvest for public safety; (9)
logs will be placed in designated portions of East Creek to create
desired pool/riffle ratios; (10) One road (0.4 miles) immediately
adjacent to Harvey Creek RCA will be decommissioned; (11) As needed,
some areas of disturbed soils may be seeded with native grass and shrub
species to minimize invasion by noxious weeds, and (12) Small Business
Administration (SBA) set-aside is currently estimated at 68% of timber
sale volume, with SBA sales ranging from 5-10 million board feet
(MMBF).
DATES: Comments identifying issues concerning the effects of the
proposal should be postmarked on or before January 28, 2002 to receive
timely consideration in the draft EIS.
ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to: Douglas Schultz, Team Leader,
USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 220, Cedarville, CA 96104. Send
electronic comments to: dschultz@fs.fed.us. Please reference the Blue
Fire Forest Recovery Project on the subject line. Also, include your
name and mailing address with your comments so documents pertaining to
this project may be mailed to you. Comments received, including names
and addresses of those who comment, will become part of the public
record and may be subject to public disclosure. Any person may request
the Agency to withhold a submission from the public record by showing
how the Freedom of Information Act permits such confidentiality.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Douglas Schultz, Team Leader, at 530-
279-6116 or Edith Asrow, District Ranger, Warner Mountain Ranger
District, at 530-279-6116.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The information presented in this notice is
included to help the reviewer determine if they are interested in or
potentially affected by the proposed land management activities. The
information presented in this notice is summarized. Those who wish to
provide comments, or are otherwise interested in the project, are
encouraged to obtain additional information from the contact identified
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
Preliminary Issues
Two preliminary issues have been identified:
1. Fuel Treatment--The Forest Service will complete an analysis
which will assess the benefits, problems and risks of fuel treatments.
That analysis will consider: appropriate fuel levels (tons/ac) to
retain on the land; size classes of fuels to remove to attain that
level; and most appropriate methods of removing that fuel, including
salvage logging and service contracts.
2. Environmental Restoration--The Forest Service will complete an
analysis that will assess the benefits, problems and risks of actions
which will restore or protect desired environmental conditions,
including reforestation and associated activities, decommissioning of
0.4 miles of existing road adjacent to Harvey Creek, depositing woody
debris in East Creek to improve pool/riffle ratio, and maintaining
wider tree spacing in Urban Intermix and Strategically Placed fuel
treatments.
Public Involvement
Additional information concerning the proposal can be accessed on
the internet at www.r5.fs.fed.us/modoc/management/nepa/nepa.html 
.
Process Procedures and Timelines
On October 26, 2001, the Modoc National Forest began a Scoping
Period for a proposed Action for the Blue Fire Forest Recovery Project
Environmental Assessment. A Legal Notice of the proposed action was
published in the Modoc County Record on October 25, 2001, and a Scoping
Summary description was mailed to approximately 220 persons or groups.
The Scoping Period for this proposed action closed November 26, 2001.
Comments were received from 32 commenters.
Since the close of the original scoping period, the Forest Service
decided to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. The original
proposed action was slightly modified, and is described above. All
comments received from the earlier scoping period will be considered in
the EIS, unless respondent submits new comments indicating changes to
prior submissions.
The draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental
Protection Agency and available for public review by May 2002. The
comment period on the draft EIS 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
[[Page 67177]]
reviewer's position and contentions (Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp.
v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519 553 [1978]). Also, environmental objection that
could be raised at the draft environmental impact statement state but
that are not raised until after completion of the final 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 the above 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 are made available to
the Forest Service at a time when they can be meaningfully considered
and responded to in the final environmental impact statement. Comments
on the draft environmental impact statement should be as specific as
possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to specific pages,
sections, 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 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.
After the comment period ends on the draft EIS, the comments received
will be analyzed and considered by the Forest Service in preparing the
final EIS.
The final EIS is scheduled to be completed in September, 2002. In
the final EIS, the Forest Service is required to respond to the
comments received (40 CFR 1503.4). The responsible official will
consider the comments, responses, environmental consequences discussed
in the environmental impact statement, and applicable laws, regulations
and policies in making a decision regarding this proposal. The
responsible official will document the decision and reasons for the
decision in a Record of Decision. That decision will be subject to
appeal under 36 CFR part 215.
The responsible official is Dan Chisholm, Forest Supervisor, Modoc
National Forest, 800 W. 12th St., Alturas CA, 96101.
Dated: December 19, 2001.
Dan Chisholm,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 01-31910 Filed 12-27-01; 8:45 am]
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