Malheur National Forest, Blue Mountain and Prairie City Ranger Districts and Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Whitman Ranger District, Oregon; Austin Project, 32401-32403 [2019-14388]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
• Forest Service

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 130 (Monday, July 8, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32401-32403]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-14388]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Malheur National Forest, Blue Mountain and Prairie City Ranger 
Districts and Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Whitman Ranger District, 
Oregon; Austin Project

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The USDA Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) to disclose the environmental effects of watershed and 
fisheries restoration, upland restoration activities, unique habitat 
restoration, hazardous fuels buffer treatments, prescribed burning and 
unplanned ignitions, road activities, and recreation system changes in 
the Austin planning area. The Forest Service identified the potential 
need for a project-specific Forest Plan amendment. This notice 
identifies the Planning Rule provisions likely to be directly related 
to the plan amendments.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by August 7, 2019. The draft EIS is expected in the spring of 2020 and 
the final EIS is expected in the fall of 2020.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Robert Foxworth, District Ranger, 
Blue Mountain Ranger District, c/o Kate Cueno, P.O. Box 909, John Day, 
OR 97845. Comments may also be sent via email to [email protected], or via facsimile to 
541-575-3319.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kate Cueno, National Environmental 
Policy Act Planner, Blue Mountain Ranger District, 431 Patterson Bridge 
Road, P.O. Box 909, John Day, OR 97845. Phone: 541-575-3031. Email: 
[email protected].
    Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339

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between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Austin planning area encompasses 
approximately 78,200 acres in the the Bridge Creek-Middle Fork John Day 
watershed and the headwaters of the Middle Fork John Day River. The 
legal description for the planning area includes Townships 10 through 
13 South, Ranges 35, 35 \1/2\, and 36 East, Willamette Meridian, Grant 
County, Oregon. The full scoping package is available on the Malheur 
National Forest website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=53678.

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose and need for the Austin Project was developed by 
comparing management objectives and desired conditions in the Malheur 
Forest Plan to the existing conditions in the Austin Project planning 
area related to forest and watershed resiliency and biophysical 
processes and function. Where the Forest Plan information was not 
explicit, best available science and local research were used in a 
collaborative setting with stakeholders. The purpose and need is to: 
(1) Promote watershed health and resiliency, including improved water 
quality and flow characteristics, riparian vegetation communities, and 
aquatic habitats to maintain healthy ecological function and process; 
(2) Maintain and improve diverse forest composition and stocking levels 
to promote landscape resiliency within a complex disturbance regime of 
wildfire, drought, insects, and diseases; (3) Improve wildlife habitat, 
including critical wildlife habitat types, big game security areas, and 
old forest habitat; (4) Promote forest conditions that allow for the 
reintroduction of fire upon the landscape where naturally occurring 
fire has been excluded. Create conditions conducive to firefighter and 
public safety to improve the ability to protect the public and private 
land interface, and natural resource values; (5) Move toward a safe and 
sustainable minimum road system that is environmentally and 
economically sustainable, including consideration of the interaction of 
the road network and the stream network; and (6) Contribute to the 
region's social and economic vitality by promoting multiple uses in the 
Austin planning area, such as providing a variety of wood products, 
improving conditions of grazing allotments, enhancing recreational 
opportunities, and preserving local cultural history.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action to address the purpose and need includes:
    (1) Watershed and fisheries restoration (approximately 3,710 acres) 
to promote watershed health and resiliency. Activity types include 
thinning along perennial and seasonally flowing streams with or without 
anadromous fish habitat, tipping and felling trees directly into 
streams, and removing encroaching conifers from 30 riparian meadow 
areas.
    (2) Upland restoration activites (approximately 35,720 acres) to 
maintain and improve diverse forest composition and stocking to promote 
landscape resiliency. Activities include commercial thinning (dry 
forest ponderosa pine, dry forest mixed conifer, and moist forest 
restoration), biomass treatment, and non-commercial thinning.
    (3) Unique habitat restoration (approximately 840 acres) to improve 
critical wildlife habitat. Activities include aspen, mountain mahogany, 
and upland meadow restoration which would include tipping, felling, 
jackstrawing, hinging, and/or removing conifers that are encroaching 
into these habitat types.
    (4) Hazardous fuels buffer treatments (approximately 3,240 acres) 
to promote forest conditions that allow for the reintroduction of fire 
on the landscape and create conditions conducive to firefighter and 
public safety. Activities include hazardous fuels buffer treatments 
(commercial harvest, post and pole or firewood sales, non-commercial 
thinning, piling, mastication, chipping, pile burning, underburning, 
jackpot burning, and biochar) along the boundaries of public and 
private lands, US Highway 26, and Oregon Highway 7.
    (5) Prescribed burning and unplanned ignitions (approximately 
76,700 acres) to allow for the reintroduction of fire on the landscape 
and create conditions conducive to firefighter and public safety. 
Approximately 790 acres of prescribed burning would occur outside the 
Austin planning area, including 110 acres on the Wallowa-Whitman 
National Forest, in order to incorporate roads and natural barriers for 
containment to reduce resource damange and increase firefighter safety. 
Treated stands would see a combination of burning piled material and 
underburning. Stands not mechanically treated would be managed 
primarily with the use of prescribed burning. As conditions and stand 
characteristics allow, unplanned ignitions within the planning area 
would be used to meet the objectives of prescribed burning.
    (6) Road activities and road system changes to facilitate 
restoration activities, improve road conditions, and promote watershed 
health. Road maintenance and road construction for haul would occur on 
open and closed National Forest System roads to provide safe access and 
adequate drainage; some state highways may also be used. Temporary 
roads (approximately 43 miles) would be constructed to access some 
timber harvest units, which would be rehabilitated following use. The 
following road system changes are proposed: Closing 57 miles of 
currently open road, confirming the previous administrative closure of 
31 miles of road, returning 11 miles of existing roadbed to the system 
as closed roads, opening 6.5 miles of road, relocating 1.2 miles of 
road out of a stream floodplain, decommissioning 13 miles of road (and 
providing alternate route access by opening roads as already described 
and with 0.3 miles of new road construction), and converting 1.2 miles 
of open road to trail. Disposal sites for excess material from road 
work and expansion of two rock pits are also proposed.
    (7) Recreation system changes to enhance recreational opportunties 
and interpret local history. Activities include recreation site and 
trail developments, intepretive sign installation, and Dixie Campground 
hazard fuels reduction.
    Preliminary wildlife connectivity corridors and security areas have 
been identified between late and old structure stands to allow for 
movement of old-growth dependent species and provide security for big 
game.
    The Austin Project will also include a variety of project design 
criteria that serve to mitigate impacts of activities to forest 
resources, including: Wildlife, soils, watershed condition, aquatic 
species, riparian habitat conservation areas, heritage resources, 
visuals, rangeland, botanical resources, and invasive plants. The 
proposed action may also amend plan components in the Malheur Forest 
Plan, as amended: Dedicated old growth unit changes, reduce 
satisfactory and/or total cover, removal of trees greater than or equal 
to 21 inches diameter at breast height, harvest within late and old 
structure stands, and not maintaining connectivity between all late and 
old structure and old growth stands.
    When proposing a Forest Plan amendment, the 2012 planning rule (36 
CFR 219), as amended, requires the responsible official to provide in 
the initial notice ``which substantive requirements of 36 CFR 219.8 
through 219.11 are likely to be directly related to an amendment'' (36 
CFR 219.13(b)(2)). The following substantive requirements of the 36 CFR 
219

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planning regulations would likely be directly related to the proposed 
amendment:
    Sec.  219.8(a)(1)(ii) Contributions of the plan area to ecological 
conditions within the broader landscape influenced by the plan area;
    Sec.  219.8(a)(1)(iii) Conditions in the broader landscape that may 
influence the sustainability of resources and ecosystems within the 
plan area;
    Sec.  219.8(a)(1)(iv) [. . .] the ability of terrestrial and 
aquatic ecosystems on the plan area to adapt to change;
    Sec.  219.8(a)(1)(v) [. . .] opportunities to restore fire adapted 
ecosystems;
    Sec.  219.8(a)(1)(vi) Opportunities for landscape scale 
restoration;
    Sec.  219.9(a)(1) Ecosystem integrity. [. . .maintain or restore 
the ecological integrity of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and 
watersheds in the plan area, including plan components to maintain or 
restore their structure, function, composition, and connectivity];
    Sec.  219.9(a)(2) Ecosystem diversity. [. . . maintain or restore 
the diversity of ecosystems and habitat types throughout the plan 
area];
    Sec.  219.9(a)(2)(i) Key characteristics associated with 
terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem types;
    Sec.  219.10(a)(1) [. . . to provide for ecosystem services and 
multiple uses in the plan area the responsible official shall consider: 
Aesthetic values, habitat and habitat connectivity, timber, vegetation, 
viewsheds, and other relevant resources and uses];
    Sec.  219.10(a)(5) Habitat conditions, subject to the requirements 
of Sec.  219.9, for wildlife, fish, and plants commonly enjoyed and 
used by the public; for hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, 
observing, subsistence, and other activities (in collaboration with 
federally recognized Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, other Federal 
agencies, and State and local governments);
    Sec.  219.10(a)(7) Reasonably foreseeable risks to ecological, 
social, and economic sustainability.
    Sec.  219.10(a)(8) [. . .] the ability of the terrestrial and 
aquatic ecosystems on the plan area to adapt to change (Sec.  219.8).
    If the proposed project-specific amendments are determined to be 
directly related to the substantive rule requirements, the responsible 
official must apply those requirements within the scope and scale of 
the amendment (36 CFR 219.13(b)(5) and (6)).

Responsible Official

    The Forest Supervisor of the Malheur National Forest is the 
Responsible Official.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    Based on the purpose and need, the Responsible Official will review 
the proposed action, the other alternatives, the environmental 
consequences, and public comments in order to make the decision: (1) 
Whether to implement the proposed activities; and if so, how much and 
at what specific locations; (2) What, if any, specific project 
monitoring requirements are needed to assure project design criteria 
and mitigation measures are implemented and effective, and to evaluate 
the success of the project objectives.

Scoping Process

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process, which guides 
the development of the environmental impact statement. The 
interdisciplinary team will continue to seek information and comments 
from Federal, State, and local agencies, Tribal governments, and other 
individuals or organizations that may be interested in, or affected by, 
the proposed action. There is a collaborative group in the area that 
the interdisciplinary team will interact with during the analysis 
process.
    It is important that reviewers provide their comments at such times 
and in such manner that they are useful to the agency's preparation of 
the environmental impact statement. Therefore, comments should be 
provided prior to the close of the comment period and should clearly 
articulate the reviewer's concerns and contentions.
    Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names 
and addresses of those who comment, will be part of the public record 
for this proposed action. Comments submitted anonymously will be 
accepted and considered, however, anonymous comments will not afford 
the Agency with the ability to provide the respondent with subsequent 
environmental documents, nor will those who submit anonymous comments 
have standing to object to the subsequent decision under 36 CFR 218.

    Dated: May 16, 2019.
Frank R. Beum,
Acting Associate Deputy Chief, National Forest System.
[FR Doc. 2019-14388 Filed 7-5-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3411-15-P