Black Hills National Forest Travel Management Plan, 51772-51775 [07-4427]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
• Forest Service

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 175 (Tuesday, September 11, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51772-51775]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-4427]


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Notices
                                                Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
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Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 175 / Tuesday, September 11, 2007 / 
Notices

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Black Hills National Forest Travel Management Plan

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service proposes to designate which routes (roads 
and trails) on federal lands administered by the Forest Service within 
the Black Hills National Forest are open to motorized travel. In so 
doing, the agency will comply with requirements of the Forest Service 
2005 Travel Management Rule. Some areas were considered for cross-
country travel designation, but no areas are included in this proposal. 
As a result of these travel management decisions, the Forest Service 
will produce a Motorized Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) depicting those routes 
on the Black Hills National Forest that will remain open to motorized 
travel. The MVUM will be the primary tool used to determine compliance 
and enforcement with motorized vehicle use designations on the ground. 
Those existing routes and other user-created routes not designated open 
on the MVUM will be legally closed to motorized travel. The decisions 
on motorized travel do not include over-snow travel or existing winter-
use recreation.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by November 9, 2007. The draft environmental impact statement is 
expected to be released in April 2008 and the final environmental 
impact statement is expected in September 2008.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Travel Management, Black Hills 
National Forest, 1019 North 5th Street, Custer, SD 57730. Electronic 
comments may be sent to comments-rocky-mountain-black-hills@fs.fed.us, 
with ``Travel Management'' in the subject line. Comments must be 
readable in Microsoft Word, rich text or pdf formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Willems, Team Leader, at 
twillems@fs.fed.us or (605) 673-9200.

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose and need for this action is to improve management of 
motorized vehicle use on National Forest System lands within the Black 
Hills National Forest in accordance with provisions of 36 CFR Parts 
212, 251, 261, and 295 Travel Management; Designated Routes and Areas 
for Motor Vehicle Use; Final Rule.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action is to designate selected roads and trails open 
to motorized travel (wheeled vehicles only) on lands administered by 
the Black Hills National Forest. Where it is appropriate and necessary, 
the designations will also set specific seasons of use and type of use 
for those roads and trails. In doing so, the Forest will comply with 
requirements of the Forest Service 2005 Travel Management Rule (36 CFR 
part 212). Some areas were considered for cross-country travel 
designation, but no areas are included in this proposal. As a result of 
these travel management decisions, the Black Hills National Forest will 
produce a Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) depicting those routes and areas 
on the Forest that will remain open to motorized travel. The MVUM will 
be the primary tool used to determine compliance and enforcement with 
motorized travel designations on the ground. Those existing Forest 
Service routes, as well as other user-created routes, not designated 
open on the MVUM will be legally closed to motorized travel.
    In order to implement the proposed action, it would be necessary to 
amend some existing direction and terminology in the Revised Forest 
Plan for the Black Hills National Forest. These changes to Plan 
direction would be enduring changes and would apply to this decision 
and all subsequent project decisions unless and until further modified.
    Proposed travel management-related changes to the 1997 Black Hills 
National Forest Revised Land and Resource Management Plan are based on 
elements of the travel management rule, public meeting comments, 
District and Core Travel Management Team recommendations, Forest 
Leadership Team decisions, and the Black Hills National Forest Advisory 
Board (NFAB), Travel Management Subcommittee, recommendations. The goal 
is to provide a transportation system that is within the Black Hills 
National Forest's ability to manage (operate and maintain) and provides 
a variety of users with a diverse experience while minimizing impacts 
to resources.
    The proposed transportation system open to motorized travel under 
this proposal would be a total of 3,998 miles. This is a change of 298 
miles from the existing condition of approximately 3,700 miles. New 
project decisions could change this system without amending the Forest 
Plan.
    The proposed transportation system was developed with extensive 
public input over a period of three years and addresses a variety of 
concerns, including access to private lands within the National Forest 
boundary, funding, access to the Forest for motorized and non-motorized 
recreation, and roads under the jurisdiction of county, state, and 
other federal agencies. Specifically, this transportation system would 
allow for a balance between various recreational uses of the Forest. It 
would provide for various forms of reasonable motorized use on a 
designated system of routes.
    The proposed transportation system is depicted in detail on the 
Black Hills National Forest Travel Management Plan Proposed Action map 
(Map) located on the Forest Web site: https://www.fs.fed.us/r2/
blackhills/recreation/travel_management/ohv.shtml. Other existing 
routes not shown on this map would not be open to public motorized 
travel. New routes would not be created except by written decision of 
an authorized Forest Service official. Unauthorized new routes would 
not be approved for public motorized travel. If this proposal is 
selected for implementation, the information on this map would become 
the Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) required by regulation and agency 
policy.
    A proposed Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) trail system is a significant 
element of the total transportation system in this proposal. It would 
accommodate the desire for a mix of

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different motorized recreation uses by a variety of motorized vehicles 
including All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs), motorcycles, and full-size off-
road vehicles. The system would provide for a variety of different 
uses, including multi-scale looped routes, destination sites, and 
challenges such as rock crawling. This proposal follows the 
recommendation of the NFAB Travel Subcommittee.
    This proposal is preparatory to a system of looped routes at 
several scales, with some dead-end routes leading to destination sites 
(such as cultural or special activity sites), or portal sites at 
municipal boundaries. Some of these loops are single-type use, but the 
majority are designated for mixed use. Mixed use is defined as use of a 
designated route by both highway legal and non-highway legal motor 
vehicles.
    The proposed OHV trail system is depicted on the Map. Some roads 
and trails on this system are designated to accommodate more than one 
type of use. These mixed-use routes are designated on the Map. If this 
proposal is selected for implementation, the information on this map 
would become the Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) required by regulation 
and agency policy. Only those routes shown on the MVUM would be 
authorized for motorized travel.
    Under this proposal most of the route mileage would occur on 
existing Forest System routes currently open to motorized travel. 
However, this proposal also includes construction of short connector 
routes and designation of some currently unauthorized routes between 
existing Forest System routes.
    It is our long-term goal to locate the majority of these designated 
routes away from communities and subdivisions. This would help reduce 
noise impacts to residents, as well as reduce the occurrence of single 
or privileged access by adjacent landowners. However, use on some 
routes would probably be audible to those living nearby.
    Approximately 2,213 miles of Forest System roads would be 
designated for mixed-use, as ``roads open to all vehicles,'' and 
considered part of the proposed OHV Trail System. Forest System roads 
not considered for mixed-use would be designated as ``roads open to 
highway legal vehicles only.'' This would apply to approximately 1,075 
miles of Forest Service roads that were not proposed to be part of the 
OHV Trail System.
    This proposal would allow cross-country motorized game retrieval of 
legally harvested downed elk, within 300 feet from the centerline of 
specific designated routes, providing resource damage does not occur. 
Designated routes would be limited to only those routes located within 
management areas where off-route motorized travel is currently allowed 
by the Forest Plan. This includes and is limited to routes located 
within Management Areas 5.1, 5.1A, 5.3A, and 5.6. Game retrieval would 
not be allowed along routes located in management areas that do not 
currently allow off-route motorized travel, such as Wilderness, Norbeck 
Wildlife Preserve, Research Natural Areas, and Botanical Areas. The 
intent of this proposal would be to provide reasonable access to downed 
elk that are difficult to move long distances without motorized 
assistance. Motorized cross-country retrieval of deer, bighorn sheep, 
mountain goats, pronghorn, turkey, and other game animals would not be 
allowed under this proposal because these animals are small enough to 
retrieve without motorized assistance. This proposal is consistent with 
the recommendation of the NFAB Travel Subcommittee, the Rocky Mountain 
Region Consistency letter, 36CFR Part 212.51(8)(b), and recommendations 
from the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks. Designated 
routes off of which game retrieval would be allowed will be delineated 
on the MVUM.
    This proposal would allow dispersed camping off designated routes, 
in certain areas, under certain conditions. In all cases where allowed, 
motorized vehicles would be restricted to within 100 feet for dispersed 
camping from the centerline of specific designated routes, using the 
most direct route to the camp site. This would allow for reasonable 
recreational use of the Forest while minimizing the potential for 
resource damage. This proposal follows the recommendation of the NFAB 
Travel Subcommittee. Designated routes along which dispersed camping 
would be allowed will be shown on the MVUM.
    Under this proposal, off-road parking would be allowed along 
designated routes under certain conditions. Primary considerations in 
designating this policy were user safety and resource protection. Draft 
proposed FSM direction would allow parking off designated routes, not 
to exceed a distance of one vehicle length.
    Public comments by other recreationists and private landowners 
during the past three years have identified excessive OHV sound as a 
major concern within the Forest. To adequately address these potential 
user conflicts in the future, a stationary sound limit of 96 dB(A) is 
proposed for OHVs operating on lands administered by the Black Hills 
National Forest. The Society of American Engineers (SAE) J1287 
stationary sound test procedure will be used for determining compliance 
with OHV sound-level standards.

Responsible Official

    The Responsible Official is Craig Bobzien, Forest Supervisor, Black 
Hills National Forest, 1019 North Street, Custer, SD 57730.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    Based on the purpose and need for the proposed action, the Forest 
Supervisor will evaluate the Proposed Action and other alternatives in 
order to make the following decisions for the specific National Forest 
System lands under his authority:

     Whether to designate certain routes as open to the public 
for motorized use;
     Whether to allow game retrieval; dispersed camping; off-
road parking;
     The conditions of any such use, including the allowed 
season and/or type of use for those routes open to motorized travel;
     Whether to amend the Forest Plan direction for travel 
management.
    Federal land managers are directed (Executive Order 11644, 36 CFR 
212, and 43 CFR 8342.1) to ensure that the use of motorized vehicles 
and off-road vehicles will be controlled and directed so as to protect 
the resources of those lands, to promote the safety of users, minimize 
conflicts among the various uses of the federal lands, and to provide 
for public use of routes designated as open.

Public Involvement

    Preliminary public involvement was initiated in 2003 in an effort 
to familiarize the public and stakeholders throughout the Black Hills 
region with the objectives of travel management. Between 2003 and 2007, 
the Black Hills National Forest hosted and participated in numerous 
public meetings and workshops in Wyoming and South Dakota.
    Between 2004 and 2006, the OHV and Travel Management subcommittees 
of the Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board conducted a number of 
public meetings to solicit general comments on travel management. The 
meetings were held in South Dakota and Wyoming to discuss and review 
Subcommittee objectives and the current Forest Service national OHV 
policy direction, and outline plans for the future. The purpose of 
these meetings was to gather input to help develop recommendations for 
future OHV policy planning.
    The Travel Management subcommittee also distributed a User

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Needs Assessment Questionaire solicit comments from both OHV and non-
OHV users to evaluate the potential for establishing a designated Off-
Highway Vehicle (OHV) trail system on the Black Hills National Forest. 
The 559 comments submitted helped the Subcommittee define opportunities 
for an OHV trail system and understand potential conflicts with other 
users.
    The National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council (NOHVCC) in 
cooperation with the Black Hills National Forest conducted an OHV Route 
Designation Workshop in October 2006 for agency personnel and the 
public. The purpose of this workshop was to assist the Forest Service 
and the public in effective implementation of the USFS Travel 
Management Rule.
    Four ``Travelways'' Workshops were conducted by the Forest during 
November, 2006. The purpose of these workshops was to gather public 
input and ideas for the development of a proposed action. A product 
from these workshops was a collection of forest site specific 
information from participants after they completed a mapping exercise.
    The public was also asked to provide input to the Forest Service on 
routes they wanted to remain open and/or those routes that may be in 
conflict with other desired conditions sought by the public on National 
Forest System lands. This initial public involvement ended in 2007 with 
the agency receiving numerous comments on individual routes, a large 
number of general comments, and some area-wide comments. This 
preliminary public input helped the Forest Service to develop this 
proposed action.

Scoping Process

    The Forest Service will conduct meetings to solicit comments from 
the public and interested parties on this proposal.
    The meetings are scheduled from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the following 
locations:

Sundance, WY--September 10, 2007 (Monday), Crook County Courthouse, 309 
Cleveland Street.
Rapid City, SD--September 11, 2007 (Tuesday), Best Western Ramkota 
Hotel (Rushmore Room), 2111 North LaCrosse Street.
Spearfish, SD--September 12, 2007 (Wednesday), Wilbur S. Tretheway 
Pavilion, 115 South Canyon Street.
Custer SD--September 13, 2007 (Thursday), Crazy Horse Memorial 
(Mountain View Room), Avenue of the Chiefs.

    Notices of those meetings and requests for comments have been 
published in local newspapers.
    Based on comments received as a result of this notice and after the 
Forest Service has conducted public meetings and afforded the public 
sufficient time to respond to the proposed action, the agency will use 
the public scoping comments along with resource related input for the 
interdisciplinary team and other agency resource specialists to develop 
a set of significant issues to carry forward into the environmental 
analysis process.

Preliminary Issues

    The agency has received some indications of potential issues from 
the initial public involvement process conducted during the last 
several years. Those expected issues include:
    (1) Resource damage caused by inappropriate types of vehicle use: 
(e.g. motorized vehicles in fragile or steep terrain), Proliferation of 
routes (e.g. parallel trails or roads, illegal travel off designated 
routes), and unrestricted season of use (e.g. routes open to motorized 
travel too long into the wet or muddy seasons).
    (2) Disturbing or harming wildlife by using routes in important or 
critical wildlife habitat areas, too many roads in wildlife habitat 
areas, and disturbance to wildlife during critical lifecycle periods.
    (3) Concerns about recreational opportunities, including loss of 
recreational opportunities when existing routes are closed to motorized 
travel, loss of semi-primitive and primitive recreational opportunity 
if more routes or areas are open to motorized travel, and how to 
appropriately and reasonably accommodate the fast growing number of 
motorized users desiring to use federal lands for recreational riding 
of OHVs.
    (4) Concerns on how the system might be designed to facilitate 
effective enforcement.
    (5) Safety concerns on routes where multiple vehicle types (e.g. 
full-sized trucks and cars, ATVs, motorcycles) are allowed.
    The Forest Service recognizes that this list of issues is not 
complete and will be further defined and refined as scoping continues. 
The Forest service intends to develop a comprehensive list of 
significant issues before the full range of alternatives is developed 
and the environmental analysis is begun.

Comment Requested

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process which guides 
the development of the environmental impact statement for the Black 
Hills National Forest Travel Management Plan.

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 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 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 of 
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.


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

    Dated: September 5, 2007.
Dennis Jaeger,
Deputy Forest Supervisor, Black Hills National Forest.
[FR Doc. 07-4427 Filed 9-10-07; 8:45 am]
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