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Flathead National Forest, Swan Lake Ranger District, Montana; Cooney McKay Project Environmental Impact Statement

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

 [Federal Register: December 22, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 246)]
[Notices]
[Page 76963-76964]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22de06-32]

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service.

Flathead National Forest, Swan Lake Ranger District, Montana;
Cooney McKay Project Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) for a proposal to harvest timber, reduce hazardous
forest fuels, and construct temporary roads within the Cooney McKay
Project area. The project area is approximately 35 miles southeast of
Bigfork, Montana, in the vicinity of the community of Condon, Montana.
The Forest Service is seeking further information and comments from
Federal, State, and local agencies and other individuals or
organizations that maybe interested in or affected by the proposed
actions. These comments will be used to prepare the draft EIS.

DATES: The draft environmental impact statement is expected in March
2007 and the final environmental impact statement is expected in May 2007.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Steve Brady, District Ranger, Swan
Lake Ranger District, 200 Ranger Station Road, Bigfork, MT 59911.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sue Tebay, Project Writer-Editor, Swan
Lake Ranger District, 200 Ranger Station Road, Bigfork, MT 59911.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Forest Plan

    The EIS will tier to the Flathead National Forest Land and Resource
Management Plan (LRMP) and EIS of January, 1986, and its subsequent
amendments, which provide overall guidance of all land management
activities on the Flathead National Forest.

Background and Existing Condition Information

    The Forest Services believes that a combination of factors such as
natural succession processes, extended regional drought patterns,
introduction of invasive plants, human development patterns, along with
unintended consequences of past management practices (e.g., fire
suppression policies) have crated and continue to lead to vegetative
conditions that do not wholly meet the desired future condition for the
project area, as described in the Forest Plan. The consequences of
these environmental changes and past management practices place
portions of the forested landscape at an elevated risk to unwanted
disturbances such as insect epidemics, wide-scale disease infections,
and high-severity wildfire.

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose and need for the Cooney McKay project include: (1)
Improving the general health, resiliency, and sustainability of forest
vegetative communities within the project area; (2) reducing the risk
of insect epidemics and disease infestations within the project area;
(3) reducing the hazardous forest fuels buildup on National Forest
System lands adjacent to private lands within the project area; (4)
providing for a safer environment for the public and firefighters
should a wildfire occur within the project area; increase the
probability of stopping wildfires on National Forest Services lands
before they burn onto private lands; and (5) providing commercial and
personal-use wood products for the local communities.

Proposed Action

    To move toward the desired future (vegetative) condition of
restoring and maintaining a healthy forest in the project area, the
Cooney McKay proposal includes mechanical and/or hand vegetation
treatments of mature and immature forest, ecosystem maintenance burning
on approximately 2,500 acres of upper elevation forest and shrubland
stands; hand planting of approximately 302 acres; and invasive plants/
noxious weed treatment on traveled roadways. In addition, approximately
900 acres may be understory or jackpot burned following treatment. The
proposal includes the construction and subsequent reclamation of
approximately 2 miles of temporary roads on National Forest System
lands to access treatment units. Best Management Practices would be
applied to all temporary roads constructed and roads temporarily
opened, as well as all system roads used in association with this
project for access and product removal.
    The proposed management actions summarized above are being
considered together because they represent either connected or
cumulative actions as defined by the Council on Environmental Quality
(40 CFR 1508.25).

Possible Alternatives

    Alternatives may be developed to respond to concerns that the
proposed action could potentially result in adverse impacts to white-
tailed deer winter habitat or that the proposed

[[Page 76964]]

 action could potentially impact wildlife species associated with
closed canopy forest communities.

Responsible Official

    Cathy Barbouletos, Forest Supervisor, Flathead National Forest,
1935 3rd Avenue East, Kalispell, MT 59901, is the responsible official
for the preparation of the EIS and will make a decision regarding this
proposal.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    This project will provide for removal of approximately 5.5 MMBF of
commercial forest products, use of prescribed fire for ecosystem
maintenance burning, shrub/grassland maintenance, reduction of
hazardous fuels, and provide personal-use wood products for the local
community.

Scoping Process

    Public and internal scoping for this proposal is being initiated by
the publication of this Notice of Intent to prepare an environmental
impact statement for the Cooney McKay Project in the Federal Register.
The Forest Service scoping for the proposal includes the publishing of
a legal notice in the paper of record, which will coincide with a
mailing of information about the proposal to interested parties during
January 2007. Multiple mailings to other government agencies, the
public and organizations are planted to insure that interested parties
are aware of and have an opportunity to comment on the proposal. The
Forest Service plans on issuing news releases periodically during the
development of this proposal. In addition the proposal will be included
in the Schedule of Proposed Actions, which is updated quarterly and
available on the National Forest Service Web site. A public meeting and
field trip are tentatively planned for the June-July 2007 timeframe,
the location of both of these scoping events will be at the Forest
Service Condon Work Center, Condon, Montana.

Preliminary Issues

    Preliminary issues identified to-date include concerns that the
implementation of the proposed action could result in the loss of
white-tailed deer winter habitat and could also potentially reduce
habitat for wildlife species associated with closed forest canopy
communities.

Comment Request

    This Notice of Intent initiates the scoping process, which guides
the development of the environmental impact statement.

Early Notice of Importance of Public Participation in Subsequent
Environmental Review

    A draft environmental impact statement will be prepared for
comment. 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, 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 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 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.
    Comments received, including the names and addresses of those who
comment, will be considered part of the public record on this proposal
and will be available for public inspection.

(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; Forest Service Handbook
1909.15, Section 21)

    Dated: December 15, 2006.
Cathy Barbouletos,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 06-9821 Filed 12-21-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M

 
 

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