Intermountain Region, Boise National Forest; Emmett Ranger District, Idaho; Scriver Creek Integrated Restoration Project, 36251-36253 [2012-14657]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
• Forest Service

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 117 (Monday, June 18, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36251-36253]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-14657]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Intermountain Region, Boise National Forest; Emmett Ranger 
District, Idaho; Scriver Creek Integrated Restoration Project

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare a Supplemental Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) to disclose the environmental 
consequences of implementing alternatives considered for the Scriver 
Creek Integrated Restoration Project. Following the public review 
period for the SDEIS, the Forest Service will issue the Final EIS and 
Record of Decision (ROD) which will identify the alternative selected 
by the Responsible Official for implementation.
    The need for a SDEIS is to allow the Forest Service to clearly 
identify all permits, licenses and other entitlements which may be 
needed to implement the proposed activities that were not otherwise 
identified in the DEIS released December 30, 2011 (FR Vol. 76, No. 251; 
NOA for EIS No. 20110438). Specifically, an SDEIS is needed to identify 
that a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit 
may be required and comments on the SDEIS will be requested from the 
appropriate regulatory agencies and public to help assess whether such 
a permit is required.
    There have also been modifications made to the proposed action 
identified in the DEIS released December 30, 2011 concerning road 
systems, logging systems and watershed restoration opportunities as a 
result of updated field information. Additional alternatives may also 
be developed in response to comments received on the DEIS. Thus, the 
Responsible Official has determined that the purpose of the act [NEPA] 
would be furthered by issuing a SDEIS for additional review and comment 
prior to completion of the Final EIS.

DATES: Project scoping occurred in May 2010. No additional scoping 
efforts will occur as part of the SDEIS preparation process. The SDEIS 
is expected to be published on or about August 3, 2012. A 45-day 
comment period will begin the day following publication of the notice 
of availability (NOA) of the SDEIS in the Federal Register. The 
publication date in the Federal Register is the only means for 
calculating the comment

[[Page 36252]]

period for the SDEIS. Based on an anticipated NOA publication date of 
August 3, 2012, comments on the SDEIS must be received on or before 
September 18, 2012. The Final EIS and ROD are anticipated to be 
released within 30 days following the close of the SDEIS comment 
period.

ADDRESSES: To request copies of the SDEIS or Final EIS and/or send 
written comments please write to Randall Hayman, Forest Planner, Boise 
National Forest; 1249 South Vinnell Way, Suite 200; Boise, Idaho 83709; 
or by fax at 208-373-4111; or you may hand-deliver your comments or 
requests to the Boise Forest Supervisor's Office, located at 1249 South 
Vinnell Way, Suite 200, Boise, during normal business hours from 7:30 
a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. 
Electronic requests or comments must be submitted in a format such as 
an email message, plain text (.txt), rich text format (AO, or Word 
(.doc) to: comments-intermtn-boise@fs.fed.us.
    Comments or requests received in response to this publication, 
including names and addresses of those who respond, will be part of the 
public record for this proposed action.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Randall Hayman, Forest Planner, Boise 
National Forest at the address above.
    Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The project area covers approximately 11,500 
acres in the Scriver Creek subwatershed. The Scriver Creek subwatershed 
is a tributary to the Middle Fork Payette River drainage, approximately 
6 miles north of Crouch, Idaho. The project area is located entirely on 
National Forest System (NFS) lands in Sections 3-10, 15-18, and 20, T. 
10 N., R. 4 E.; Sections 21-23, and 26-34, T. 11 N., R. 4 E., Boise 
Meridian, Boise and Valley Counties, Idaho.
    Purpose and Need for Action: Three purposes have been identified 
for the project: (1) Manage forest structure, density and species 
composition to accelerate development of large tree and old forest 
habitat dominated by early seral tree species (e.g. Ponderosa pine) 
that will contribute to or achieve desired vegetation and associated 
wildlife habitat conditions within the project area; (2) Improve 
watershed conditions by reducing road-related impacts to wildlife, 
fish, soil, and water resources while providing for the transportation 
system necessary to meet long term management needs. (Scriver Creek 
Subwatershed Travel Analysis Process (TAP) Report (USDA Forest Service 
2011b)); and (3) Utilize wood products resulting from restoration 
treatments to support local and regional economies.
    Proposed Action: Vegetation restoration utilizing commercial timber 
harvest activities would be conducted on about 3,265 acres utilizing 
tractor/off-road jammer (1,212 acres), skyline (969 acres), and 
helicopter (1,084 acres) logging systems. In addition to the tractor/
off-road jammer acres, mechanized feller bunchers (track mounted) would 
be used on acreage designated as skyline or helicopter yarding where 
ground slope is less than 35 percent; thinning of noncommercial trees 
would occur on approximately 3,265 acres following commercial timber 
harvest activities; and, noncommercial thinning of small diameter trees 
would also occur on an additional 839 acres of existing plantations. 
Approximately 163 acres of these plantation thinning activities would 
occur within riparian conservation areas (RCAs).
    Activity fuel treatments would occur on approximately 4,104 acres, 
including: (1) Lopping of activity fuels on approximately 839 acres of 
non-commercially thinned plantations, slash would be lopped to a depth 
of no greater than 36 inches; (2) manipulation of activity fuels on 
approximately 1069 acres in lower elevation ponderosa pine forests 
including whole tree yarding with burning of landing piles (543 acres) 
and lopping of slash to a depth of no greater than 36 inches (526 
acres); (3) prescribed underburn would occur on about 962 acres 
following activity fuels treatments; and (4) manipulation of activity 
fuels on approximately 2,196 acres in mid-elevation mixed conifer 
forests including whole tree yarding with burning of landings (627 
acres), whole tree yarding with top haul back into units (1,011 acres), 
and lopping of slash to a depth of no greater than 36 inches (558 
acres).
    Road activities would occur on approximately 43.6 miles of roads in 
order to facilitate commercial timber harvest. Activities include: (1) 
Construction of about 2.7 miles of new specified NFS road; (2) 
construction of approximately 1.0 mile of temporary road; (3) 
realignment of a segment of NFS Road 696D (note, realignment would 
utilize approximately 0.4 miles of an existing unauthorized road prism 
and require about 0.1 miles of new road prism construction, and once 
relocation construction is completed approximately 0.1 miles of the 
relocated segment of NFS Road 696D would be decommissioned); and (4) 
road maintenance activities would occur on about 39.3 miles of NFS 
roads consistent with approved road management objectives (note, road 
maintenance activities may include but are not limited to road prism 
blading, spot aggregate placement, drainage improvements, roadway 
clearing, and roadway ditch/culvert inlets cleaning).
    To improve watershed conditions approximately 16.1 miles of 
additional road activities would occur, including (1) decommissioning 
12.8 miles of NFS roads and 3.3. miles of unauthorized routes; (2) NFS 
Road 696 would be realigned to provide long-term, year-long, access and 
eliminate segments of the road within the RCA corridors (note, 
realignment would utilize approximately 3.5 miles of existing NFS roads 
and require about 4.3 miles of new road prism construction, and once 
relocation construction is completed approximately 3.8 miles of the 
relocated segments of NFS Road 696 would be decommissioned); (3) road 
reconstruction activities would occur to upgrade the road surface type 
through placement of new surface aggregate on about 2.8 miles of NFS 
roads; (4) placement of new aggregate for up to 300 feet on both sides 
of perennial stream crossings along NFS roads to be used for commercial 
harvest activities, except on NFS roads proposed to be decommissioned; 
and (5) three road/stream crossings would be replaced in order to 
provide aquatic organism passage.
    The proposed action would provide approximately 16.5 million board 
feet (mmbf) as sawlogs to local and/or regional processing facilities 
to support regional and local economies.
    Possible Alternatives: Additional alternatives may be developed 
that include: (1) Adding acres for vegetation restoration over that 
identified in the proposed action in areas accessible from the existing 
transportation system to improve management efficiency and economic 
return to support other restoration work; (2) greater retention of late 
seral large diamter trees throughout the project area; (3) using 
termporary roads rather than constructing new permanent NFS roads to 
facilitate timber harvest; (4) removal of commercial treatment units 
adjacent to Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRA) to reduce visual impacts 
as seen from recreationists using the IRA; and (5) replacement of 
additional road/stream crossing to provide aquatic organism passage.

[[Page 36253]]

    Responsible Official: The Responsible Official is the Forest 
Supervisor for the Boise National Forest, Cecilia R. Seesholtz.
    Nature of Decision To Be Made: The decisions to be made include (1) 
Should vegetation restoration in the project area be done, and if so, 
which forested stands should be treated and what silvicultural 
treatments should be applied? (2) Should activity fuel treatments be 
completed at this time in the project area, and if so, which treatments 
should be applied? (3) Should modifications be made to the NFS 
transportation system as recommended by the Scriver Creek Subwatershed 
Travel Analysis Process (TAP) Report (USDA Forest Service 2011b), and 
if so, which road activities should occur? (4) What design features, 
mitigation measures, and/or monitoring should be applied to the 
project?
    Preliminary Issues: Five preliminary issues have been identified: 
(1) Restoration can be expensive; to improve efficiency and funding 
support of restoration efforts within the Scriver drainage, additional 
acres in need of vegetation restoration that are accessible from the 
existing transporation system should be included; (2) Commercial 
treatments adjacent to IRAs may impact visual values as viewed by 
recreationists within the IRA, thus commercial harvest treatments 
adjacent to IRAs should be eliminated; (3) Permanent national forest 
system (NFS) roads can increase long term resource impacts and road 
maintenance funding needs; permanent NFS roads should not be 
constructed to support timber harvest where temporary roads could meet 
the access need; (4) To ensure funding for restoration can be 
capitalized upon when it becomes available, all known soil and water 
restoration needs within the project area should be identified and 
included to ensure the NEPA decision is in place to support their 
immediate implementation; and, (5) Some wildlife species will be 
impacted by proposed restoration activities which include removal of a 
portion of the large diameter late seral tree species (e.g. grand fir) 
in order to promote restoration objectives for early seral tree species 
(e.g. ponderosa pine); because large diameter trees within low to mid-
elevation forests are believed to be relatively scarce on the landscape 
compared to historic levels, all large diameter trees, regardless of 
tree species, should be retained to support wildlife species associated 
with the existing mix of large tree species.
    Permits and Licenses That May Be Required: The following permits 
may be required to implement the Proposed Action under the Clean Water 
Act: (1) Part 401 Compliance from the Idaho Department of Environmental 
Quality; (2) Part 401 Stream Alteration Permit from the Idaho 
Department of Water Resources; (3) Part 404 Permit from the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers; and, (4) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination 
System (NPDES) permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
    Early notice of importance of public participation in subsequent 
environmental review: Project scoping occurred in May 2010. No 
additional scoping efforts will occur as part of the SDEIS preparation 
process. A Notice of Availability (NOA) will be published in the 
Federal Register and a legal notice will be published in the newspaper 
of record for the Boise National Forest, the Idaho Statesman, to inform 
the public when the SDEIS is available for review and comment. The 
SDEIS will be distributed to all parties who responded during the 
scoping process in May 2010, to the DEIS released in December 2011, or 
who otherwise notified the Agency at some point, including following 
publication of this NOI to prepare a SDEIS, of their interest to 
continue to receive information pertaining to this proposal.
    The SDEIS is expected to be published on or about August 3, 2012. 
The comment period on the SDEIS will end 45 days following the date of 
publication of the notice of availability (NOA) in the Federal 
Register. The publication date in the Federal Register is the only 
means for calculating the comment period for the SDEIS. Based on an 
anticipated SDEIS NOA publication date of August 3, 2012, comments on 
the SDEIS must be received on or before September 18, 2012. The Final 
EIS and ROD are anticipated to be released within 30 days following the 
close of the SDEIS comment period.
    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 EISs, including SDEISs, 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 EIS, or 
SDEIS, 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 SDEIS should be as 
specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to specific 
pages or chapters of the SDEIS. Comments may also address the adequacy 
of the SDEIS 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.
    In the final EIS, the Forest Service is required to respond to 
substantive comments received during the comment periods for both the 
DEIS released in December 2011 and the SDEIS anticipated to be released 
in August 2012.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1502.9; Forest Service Handbook 1909.15, 
Section 18.2.

    Dated: June 11, 2012.
Cecilia R. Seesholtz,
Forest Supervisor, Boise National Forest.
[FR Doc. 2012-14657 Filed 6-15-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M