Moose Post Fire Project, Flathead National Forest, Flathead
County, Montana
[Federal Register: January 10, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 7)]
[Notices]
[Page 1328-1329]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10ja02-19]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Moose Post Fire Project, Flathead National Forest, Flathead
County, Montana
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice; Intent to prepare environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact
statement (EIS) for a proposal to manage forest resources within and
adjacent to the Moose Fire affected area, which burned 70,000 acres in
August-September of 2001 (approximately 35,000 acres burned on lands
administrated by the Forest Service). The project area is on the
Glacier View Ranger District, Flathead National Forest, and is bordered
on the east by Glacier National Park and the North Fork of the Flathead
River, on the north by the Coal Creek State Forest, and on the west by
the Whitefish Divide. The city of Columbia Falls, Montana is located
about 10 air miles to the southeast.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be received
in writing on or before 30 days after publication of this notice in the
Federal Register. The draft EIS is expected to be filed with the
Environmental Protection Agency and made available for public review in
May 2002. No date has yet been determined for filing the final EIS.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Jimmy DeHerrera, District Ranger,
P.O. Box 190340, Hungry Horse, Montana 59919 or call (406) 387-3800.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michele Draggoo, Planning Team Leader,
(406) 387-3827.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Moose Fire created a situation that is
very favorable for the development of spruce beetle and Douglas-fir
beetle epidemic conditions. The fire severely weakened or killed large
numbers of spruce and Douglas-fir, and the beetles are well adapted to
capitalize on such events. Spruce bark beetles were found in endemic
levels prior to the fire and Douglas-fir bark beetles were building in
several areas across the Flathead National Forest including in the
vicinity of the Moose Fire area.
Beetle numbers can rapidly build when they are suddenly presented
with abundant food and breeding habitat such as provided by the many
acres of dead and stressed trees within the Moose Fire area. Once the
adult beetles emerge from the fire stressed trees, they will search for
the next nearest source of food. They are capable of flying about five
miles in search of habitat, thus posing a very real threat to mature,
larger diameter spruce and Douglas-fir trees outside the fire area.
Fire killed trees in the Moose Fire area have already started
falling and will continue to come down over the next 15-20 years. This
will result in extremely heavy fuel loads adjacent to private property
and the administrative sites. If a fire does occur in these areas, the
fuel accumulations, fuel continuity and profile would make the fire
difficult to contain and control. A large high intensity fire would
likely again threaten or burn private property, administrative sites
and valuable forest resources.
Fire-killed trees also do not typically maintain their
merchantability as wood products for more than 1 to 3 years, depending
on their species and size. Sapwood staining, checking, woodborer
damage, and decay will deleteriously affect volume after that time.
Smaller diameter trees typically will not be merchantable within a year
while larger diameter trees can retain their merchantability longer but
will lose their value as wood products as time goes on. Removing an
appropriate amount of fire-affected trees while considering ecological
needs, before they lose their timber value and starting the
reforestation process helps facilitate meeting desired conditions
within the Moose Fire Project area.
The proposed action includes the following resource management
activities: salvage trees that were burned on approximately 4300 to
5300 acres; use a combination of pheromone baiting, trap trees, and
funnel trees to help address existing and future spruce bark beetle and
Douglas-fir bark beetle concerns; and the reduce fuels in urban/
interface and administrative site areas. Approximately 1000 acres are
proposed for salvage in inventoried roadless lands. Planting conifer
seedlings and making sure that best management practices would be
maintained on roads used for the salvage would also be included in this
project. Additionally, road access would be changed in two grizzly bear
subunits to meet the Flathead Forest Plan's Amendment 19 ten-year goals
and objectives, relative to
[[Page 1329]]
grizzly bear security. Approximately 22 miles of open yearlong/
seasonally open road would be restricted yearlong within the Werner
Creek and Lower Big Creek grizzly bear subunits. Also, approximately 57
miles of road would be decommissioned in both grizzly bear subunits.
The purpose and need for the actions are to: decrease potential
mortality cause by bark beetles to remaining live Douglas-fir and
spruce trees within and outside the Moose fire are; recover
merchantable wood fiber affected by the Moose Fire in timely manner to
support local communities and contribute to the long-term yield of
forest products; and to reduce future fire risk and hazard by reducing
future fuel accumulations caused by the Moose Fire adjacent to private
property or administrative sites.
This EIS will tier to the Flathead National Forest Land and
Resource Management Plan and EIS of January 1986, and its subsequent
amendments, which provide overall guidance for land management
activities on the Flatheads National Forest.
Preliminary issues and concerns include effects of treatments on
inventoried roadless lands, effects of treatments on riparian areas,
effects of treatments on recreational motorized access, and effects of
treatments on threatened/endangered species such as bull trout and
grizzly bears.
The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement will
be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency 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, 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. 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 on the proposed action, comments on the draft
environmental impact statement 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
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).
The Responsible Official is the Forest Supervisor of the Flathead
National Forest, 1935 3rd Avenue East, Kalispell, Montana 59901. The
Forest Supervisor will make a decision regarding this proposal
considering the comments and response, environmental consequences
discussed in the final EIS, and applicable laws, regulations, and
policies. The decision and rationale for the decision will be
documented in a Record of Decision. That decision will be subject to
appeal under applicable Forest Service regulations.
Dated: January 4, 2002.
Cathy Barbouletos,
Forest Supervisor--Flathead National Forest.
[FR Doc. 02-612 Filed 1-9-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M
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