Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Eastside Township Fuels and Vegetation Project, 39126-39127 [E6-10784]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• Bureau of Land Management
• Land Management Bureau

[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 132 (Tuesday, July 11, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39126-39127]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-10784]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[ID-420-2824-DD-FM04]


Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
for the Eastside Township Fuels and Vegetation Project

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) of 1969 and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) 
of 1976, the BLM has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
(DEIS) to analyze and undertake the Eastside Township Fuels and 
Vegetation Project, and by this notice is announcing the opening of the 
comment period.

DATES: Written comments on the Draft EIS will be accepted for 60 days 
following publication of the Environmental Protection Agency's Notice 
of Availability for this Draft EIS in the Federal Register. Future 
public meetings and any other public involvement activities will be 
announced at least 15 days in advance through public notices, local 
media news releases, and/or mailings, and on the BLM Web site (https://
www.id.blm.gov/offices/cottonwood/index.htm).
    Addresses/Comments: Written comments should be sent to Eastside 
Township Fuels and Vegetation Project Lead, BLM Cottonwood Field 
Office, 1 Butte Drive, Cottonwood, ID 83522; faxed to (208) 962-3275, 
or e-mailed to robbin_boyce@blm.gov.

[[Page 39127]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information and/or to have 
your name added to our mailing list, contact Robbin Boyce at (208) 962-
3594 or e-mail: robbin_boyce@blm.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The project area is located in north central 
Idaho, near the southern part of the Idaho Panhandle in Idaho County, 
near the small, isolated town of Elk City. The Eastside Township Fuels 
and Vegetation Project (Eastside) project is located in the American 
River watershed, within the larger upper South Fork Clearwater River 
watershed. The project area, which encompasses approximately 3,300 
acres, borders the town of Elk City and includes the surrounding 
wildland urban interface (WUI) areas. Actual BLM-administered lands to 
be treated total approximately 1,300.
    This is a landscape level project developed to address the 
increasing fuel load resulting from the combined effects of long-term 
fire suppression and an ongoing mountain pine beetle epidemic in the 
Elk City area. The purpose of this project is to manage the fuels and 
vegetation conditions in the Elk City WUI area. The project objectives 
are:
     Reduce the risk of high intensity wildland fire to life, 
property and natural resources in the Elk City area;
     Reduce the likelihood of severe local fire effects by 
removing dead, dying, and downed trees that would otherwise result in 
high fuel loading;
     Manage forest stands to create conditions that will 
contribute to sustaining long-lived fire tolerant tree species by 
regenerating to western larch, Douglas-fir, and by retaining most 
Douglas-fir, western larch, and ponderosa pine;
     Create an upward trend in fish habitat condition; and
     Contribute to the economic and social well being of area 
users and local residents.
    The Eastside project proposes to reduce existing and potential fuel 
loads through a combination of vegetation manipulation and fuels 
treatments while supporting a long term upward trend in fish habitat 
condition. Vegetation manipulation includes removing mainly dead and 
dying trees and selectively harvesting other trees in both lodgepole 
pine and mixed conifer stands. Fuels treatments include thinning, 
piling and burning, prescribed burning, and biomass utilization.
    The DEIS analyzes four alternatives, including a no action 
alternative and the agency preferred alternative, Alternative B. These 
alternatives were developed using issues identified during the scoping 
process. Issues include hazardous fuels, watershed, fisheries, and 
road/trail access-transportation system. The preferred alternative 
proposes to treat approximately 1,300 acres requiring approximately 
15.1 miles of temporary road construction. Upon completion of the 
project, including road decommissioning, there would be no net change 
of road density per square mile in the American River watershed and a 
decrease of 2.12 miles of permanent road in the project area.
    The preferred alternative also proposes watershed improvement 
activities that would provide for an upward trend in aquatic habitat 
and water quality. These include riparian planting along 4.8 miles of 
the American River; decommissioning of 1.9 miles of existing road; 
constructing 0.57 miles of new permanent road along the American River; 
improving stream crossings (two ford closures, one ford hardening, and 
two ATV bridge replacements); reconnecting Queen Creek with the 
American River; converting 1.6 miles of road to ATV trail; and 
recontouring 1.2 miles of streambank along the American River.
    The Nez Perce National Forest (NPNF) is a cooperating agency that 
has specific expertise or interest in the project. The BLM proposes to 
use and construct roads on the NPNF. The NPNF may authorize the use and 
construction of roads based on the analysis in this DEIS.
    When submitting comments, your full name and address should be 
included. Comments, including names, street addresses, and other 
contact information of respondents, will be available for public 
review. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish 
to request that BLM consider withholding your name, street address and 
other contact information such as Internet address, fax or phone number 
from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information 
Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comment. 
The BLM will honor requests for confidentiality on a case-by-case basis 
to the extent allowed by law. The BLM will make available for public 
inspection in their entirety all submissions from organizations or 
businesses and from individuals identifying themselves as 
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses.
    Copies of the DEIS will be sent to affected Federal, Tribal, State 
and local government agencies, and to interested publics, and will be 
available at the BLM Cottonwood Field Office. The supporting record for 
the analysis for the DEIS is available for inspection at the Cottonwood 
Field Office during normal business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 
Monday through Friday, except holidays).

    Dated: April 25, 2006.
Greg M. Yuncevich,
Cottonwood Field Office Manager.
 [FR Doc. E6-10784 Filed 7-10-06; 8:45 am]
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