[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Page 33390]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13669]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest; Montana; Supplemental EIS
for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Land and Resource
Management Plan To Comply With District of Montana Court Order
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact
statement.
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SUMMARY: The Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest will prepare a
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to the 2009
Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Revised Land and Resource
Management Plan (Forest Plan) environmental analysis in response to an
April 2, 2012 Order, from the U.S. District Court for the District of
Montana. The Court directed the Forest Service to apply the
minimization criteria mandated by Executive Order (EO) 11644 ``at the
route-specific level where specific snowmobile routes are designated.''
The supplement will evaluate the effects of specific snowmobile routes
delineated on maps in the 2009 Forest Plan in order to make an informed
decision in accordance with EO 11644.
DATES: Under 40 CFR 1502.9(c)(4), there is no formal scoping period for
this proposed action. The Draft SEIS is expected June, 2012 and the
Final SEIS is expected September, 2012.
ADDRESSES: The line officer responsible for the decision is Northern
Region Regional Forester Faye Krueger.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Noelle Meier, Beaverhead-Deerlodge
National Forest, 420 Barrett Street, Dillon, MT 59725, (406) 683-3900.
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 2009 Forest Plan provides management
direction for activities on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest
for the next 10 to 15 years, including direction on eight revision
topics (vegetation, wildlife, aquatic resources, recreation and travel
management, fire management, livestock grazing, timber and recommended
wilderness). In 2010, Wildlands CPR, Inc., Friends of the Bitterroot
Inc., and Montanans for Quiet Recreation filed a complaint in U.S.
District Court for the District of Montana (Case 9:10-cv-00104-DWM)
alleging inadequate analysis of the impacts of winter motorized travel
when developing the Forest Plan and failure to analyze criteria
intended to minimize off-road vehicle impacts. In an April 2, 2012
Order, the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana found the
Forest Service had adequately applied the minimization criteria of EO
11644 for areas generally open to snowmobile use. However, the court
found ``to the extent that specific routes have been designated for
snowmobile use'', the Forest Service failed to show it adequately
applied the minimization criteria at the route-specific level. The
court ordered as follows: ``that this case is remanded to the Forest
Service for the limited purpose of applying the minimization criteria
mandated by EO 11644 at the route specific level where specific
snowmobile routes are designated. The Forest Service shall perform this
analysis and updated the Revised Forest Plan by September 30, 2012. A
failure to do so will result in the suspension of the winter travel
management portion of the Revised Forest Plan as of October 1, 2012.''
The SEIS will provide additional environmental analysis of three
routes delineated in the Forest Plan as exceptions to winter, non-
motorized areas. These routes are: (1) Snowmobile use in the vicinity
of Thunderbolt Creek and Cottonwood Lake (Jefferson County, Montana) as
delineated on page 94 of the Forest Plan, (2) snowmobile use through
the non-motorized area on the Road 056 corridor in the
vicinity of Antelope Basin (Beaverhead County, Montana) as delineated
on page 128 of the Forest Plan, and (3) snowmobile use on the route to
Antone Cabin (open to motorized vehicles yearlong) in the southwest
portion of the Snowcrest Mountains (Beaverhead County, Montana) as
delineated on page 152 of the Forest Plan. The analysis will evaluate
the potential effects from these routes on soil, watershed, vegetation,
wildlife, and recreation users. This analysis will be used to determine
if snowmobile use on these routes complies with EO 11644 or whether a
change is warranted.
A Draft SEIS is expected to be available for public review and
comment in late June 2012; and a Final SEIS in September 2012. The
comment period for the Draft SEIS 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 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 supplemental
environmental impact statement.
Dated: May 31, 2012.
Victoria C. Christiansen,
Regional Forester.
[FR Doc. 2012-13669 Filed 6-5-12; 8:45 am]
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