Couverden timber sales : record of decision

2005·111.1 MB·English

Historic, archived document

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USDA ROD
United States RECORD OF DECISION
Department of
Agriculture
FEIS
Forest Service
Tongass National Forest
FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL
R10-MB-532a
IMPACT STATEMENT
COUVERDEN
TIMBER SALES
Tongass National Forest
July 2005

Couverden Timber Sales
Record of Decision
Tongass National Forest
USDA Forest Service
Alaska Region

Lead Agency: Tongass National Forest
648 Mission Street
Ketchikan, Alaska 99901

Responsible Official: Forrest Cole, Forest Supervisor
Tongass National Forest

For More Information: Dave Carr
Tongass National Forest
Juneau Ranger District
8465 Old Dairy Road
Juneau, Alaska 99801-8041
[phone]

Record of Decision

Couverden Timber Sales
Record of Decision
Introduction
This Record of Decision (ROD) documents my decision to select Alternative
3 with modifications from the Couverden Timber Sales Final Environmental
Impact Statement (FEIS). The selection includes the specific location and
design of timber harvest units, roads, and the log transfer facility (LTF).
Timber harvest units designed for small sales are identified in this ROD. In
addition, this Decision includes road access management measures,
mitigation and monitoring requirements, and a determination regarding
effects on subsistence uses. This ROD also makes a decision concerning a
non-significant amendment to the 1997 Tongass Land and Resource
Management Plan (Forest Plan) to adjust the size and configuration of one
of the small old-growth reserves (OGRs) in the project area.
The Couverden project area is on the south Chilkat Peninsula, within the
Juneau Ranger District, Tongass National Forest, Alaska, and encompasses
approximately 49,500 acres on the Chilkat Peninsula. It is approximately 30
air miles west of Juneau, 20 air miles southeast of Gustavus, and 13 miles
northeast of Hoonah, Alaska. The project area lies within Townships 41 and
42 South, and Ranges 61, 62, and 63 West, Copper River Meridian (Figure
1-1 in the FEIS).
Background
The proposed project is a component of the overall timber sale program on
the Tongass National Forest. Timber sales are allowed by the Forest Plan in
order to maintain a supply of timber from National Forest System lands for
Southeast Alaska.
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for the Couverden
Timber Harvest began in July 2002. A proposed action for the Couverden
project area was first published in the Federal Register as a Notice of Intent
on July 23, 2002, when it was decided that an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) was to be undertaken for the project. This Notice of Intent
and Proposed Action were consistent with the 1997 Forest Plan.
After the notice in the Federal Register, public scoping, data collection and
analysis, and documentation began. A Draft Environmental Impact
Statement (DEIS) was distributed in December 2003. Public review and
comments on the DEIS were collected until March 29, 2004. Each of the
substantive comments has been reviewed and responded to, and the FEIS
has been prepared.
When the DEIS was published, six alternatives were considered in detail.
Alternative 2 contained unit boundaries that included some unroaded and
roadless areas that were being considered for wilderness recommendation
in the 2003 Forest Plan Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
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Record of Decision

(SEIS). Alternative 3 was developed to avoid any roadless and unroaded
areas being reviewed in the 2003 SEIS. I identified Alternative 3 as the
Preferred Alternative.
The Forest Plan SEIS, which evaluated roadless areas for wilderness
consideration, was completed and signed in February 2003. The No Action
Alternative of the SEIS was selected, continuing management under the
1997 Forest Plan, with no new wilderness recommendations. The Roadless
Area Conservation Rule (Roadless Rule, January 2001) generally prohibited
timber harvest and road construction in Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs)
on National Forest System lands. In July 2003, the U.S. District Court for the
District of Wyoming set aside the Roadless Rule and permanently enjoined
its implementation. On May 11, 2004, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
agreed to hear the appeal of the Wyoming District Court’s July 14, 2003,
order to permanently enjoin and set aside the roadless rule. On July 12,
2004, the USDA announced that it was publishing for public review and
comment a proposed rule that would replace the 2001 roadless rule with a
petitioning process that would allow Governors an opportunity to seek
establishment of management requirements for National Forest System
inventoried roadless areas within their States. In addition, the Forest Service
announced that it was reinstating the interim protection measures for
inventoried roadless areas that expired on June 14, 2003.
This project is consistent with current agency policy and procedures, and
has been designed to meet the management direction (goals and objectives,
standards and guidelines) in the Forest Plan.
Effective May 13, 2005, The Department of Agriculture revised the 2001
Roadless Area Conservation Rule (Subpart B of Title 36, Code of Federal
Regulations, Protection of Inventoried Roadless Areas) by adopting a new
rule, Special Areas; State Petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area
Management. This 2005 Roadless Rule establishes a petitioning process
that provides Governors an opportunity to seek establishment of or
adjustment to management requirements for National Forest System
inventoried roadless areas within their States. Submission of a petition is
strictly voluntary. Management requirements for inventoried roadless areas
are guided by the Tongass Forest Plan until and unless these management
requirements are changed through a State-specific rulemaking. If the
Secretary of Agriculture accepts a petition, the Forest Service shall be
directed to initiate notice and comment rulemaking to address the petition.
Further details on the history of the Roadless Rule and how it affected
development of this project are available in the project record.
In December 2003, as part of a settlement agreement reached in the State
of Alaska v. USDA, the Department adopted a final rule that temporarily
withdrew the Tongass National Forest from the provisions of the 2001
roadless rule. Under the approach established in this 2005 final rule,
management of inventoried roadless areas on the Tongass will continue to
be governed by the existing Forest Plan, unless changed through a State-
specific rulemaking as described above. This 2005 rule negates the need
for further Tongass-specific rulemaking anticipated in the 2003 temporary
withdrawal.
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Record of Decision

Purpose and Need
The Couverden project is proposed at this time to respond to goals and
objectives of the Forest Plan, and to help move the project area towards
desired future conditions described in that plan. The Forest Plan includes
forest-wide goals and objectives, and area-specific (Land Use Designation
[LUD]) goals, objectives, and desired future conditions. Applicable forest-
wide goals and objectives include the following:
♦ Manage the timber resource for production of saw timber and other
wood products from suitable timber lands made available for timber
harvest on an even-flow, long-term sustained yield basis and in an
economically efficient manner.
♦ Seek to provide a timber supply sufficient to meet the annual market
demand for Tongass National Forest timber, and the market demand
for the planning cycle.
♦ Provide a diversity of opportunities for resource uses that contribute
to the local and regional economies of Southeast Alaska.
♦ Support a wide range of natural resource employment opportunities
within Southeast Alaska’s communities.
Goals, objectives, and desired future conditions of the LUDs within the
project area are described in Chapter 1 of the FEIS in the section titled
“Relationship to the Forest Plan.”
Appendix A of the FEIS provides information on how this project relates to
the overall Tongass Timber Sale program, and why the project is being
scheduled at this time.
Section 101 of the Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990 (TTRA) directs the
USDA Forest Service “to the extent consistent with providing for the multiple
use and sustained yield of all renewable forest resources, seek to provide a
supply of timber from the Tongass National Forest which (1) meets the
annual market demand for timber from such forest, and (2) meets the market
demand from such forest for each planning cycle.”
Section 101 of TTRA specifies that Forest Service efforts to seek to meet
market demand is subject to appropriations, National Forest Management
Act requirements, and other applicable laws. Providing timber from the
Tongass National Forest benefits a sustained local wood products industry,
contributes employment and related economic and social benefits, and helps
meet the Forest Plan’s objective of supporting a wide range of natural
resource employment opportunities within Southeast Alaska’s communities.
National forest planning takes place at several levels, including national,
regional, forest, and project levels. The Couverden EIS is a project-level
analysis. Its scope is confined to addressing the significant issues and
possible environmental consequences of the project. It does not attempt to
address decisions made at higher levels. It does, however, implement
direction provided at those higher levels.
Couverden Timber Sales ROD R ■ 3
Record of Decision

The Forest Plan embodies the provisions of the National Forest
Management Act, its implementing regulations, and other guiding
documents. The Forest Plan sets forth in detail the direction for managing
the land and resources of the Tongass National Forest. The Forest Plan is
the result of extensive analysis, which is addressed in the Forest Plan FEIS
and the May 1997 Forest Plan ROD. The 2003 Forest Plan SEIS also
refreshed many of the analyses in the 1997 Forest Plan FEIS. Where
appropriate, the Couverden EIS tiers to the Forest Plan FEIS and SEIS, as
encouraged by 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1502.20.
Decision
This ROD documents my decision to make timber available from the
Couverden project area. It is my decision to choose Alternative 3 from the
FEIS with modifications (referred to as the Selected Alternative) that
incorporate some of the design features of Alternative 2 (inclusion of
unroaded areas). With the 2003 SEIS now concluded, there is good reason
to select units based on their original configuration. Harvesting complete
settings will avoid leaving isolated parcels of timber. My decision identifies
several small sales opportunities as part of the Selected Alternative. My
decision also includes a non-significant Forest Plan amendment to enlarge
the small OGR in Value Comparison Unit (VCU) 1180 as shown in Appendix
1 of the ROD. This decision reflects the recommendations of an interagency
review team to extend the current boundary farther up the east side of
Swanson Creek along the 800-foot contour.
I hereby authorize the actions necessary to implement my decision in the
Couverden project area.
This decision meets the purpose and need for the project, is consistent with
the Forest Plan, and is responsive to the issues raised during scoping and to
the public comment on the DEIS. The Selected Alternative will harvest
approximately 23 million board feet (mmbf) of timber, construct 3.8 miles of
classified road (2.2 miles new; 1.6 miles on existing road bed), and 3.6 miles
of temporary road. (Note: All acres and miles used in this document are
estimates based on GIS mapping.)
The following modifications to Alternative 3 are included in this decision:
♦ Boundaries of harvest Units HS5, HS7, H12, H15, H18, H25, and
H26 are based on unit configurations from Alternative 2. These
boundaries include unroaded and roadless areas identified in the
2003 SEIS to the Forest Plan (see Introduction of Appendix C of the
Forest Plan SEIS and Figure 3-1 of the Couverden FEIS). These unit
configurations do not include areas within Inventoried Roadless Area
# 304.
♦ The following changes were made:
− HS5 – Net change from Alternative 3 = + 6 acres.
− HS7 – Net change from Alternative 3 = + 4 acres.
− HS12 – Net change from Alternative 3 = + 15 acres.
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Record of Decision

− H15 – Net change from Alternative 3 = + 3 acres.
− H18 – Net change from Alternative 3 = + 1 acre.
− H25 – Net change from Alternative 3 = + 45 acres. An additional
0.4 mile of classified road will be needed (as analyzed for
Alternative 2).
− H26 – Net change from Alternative 3 = + 28 acres.
♦ Net increase of 102 acres.
♦ The boundaries of these units were chosen to avoid isolating small
areas of suitable land that would not be accessible using
conventional logging systems, unless these small areas were
included at this time.
♦ Road 8550 will be closed at the Class I stream south of Unit HS7 in
response to comments regarding wildlife habitat (Issue 2) to protect
an important bear feeding area. This will reduce open road mileage
from current conditions by 0.8 mile.
♦ All new roads will be placed in storage after completion of the timber
sale and will not be suitable for normal vehicle traffic. Also, all new
temporary roads will be obliterated after use. This will reduce the
exposure of wildlife populations to increased hunting and trapping
resulting from increased road density and reductions in habitat
quality.
My decision identifies several small sale opportunities (see ROD Appendix 2,
Unit Cards, and Figure R-2). Comments on the DEIS indicated a need for
small sales in the Couverden area.
I have decided to make meeting the needs of smaller mills a priority from the
project area. Over the next several years, the entire volume offered may not
equal the total volume cleared for harvest in this decision. If we continue to
meet the small mills’ volume needs, I am willing to accept that outcome.
This decision virtually guarantees a wood supply for local small mills over the
next ten years if they choose to take advantage of it. One of the benefits of
this decision is that owners of small mills may be able to secure financing to
invest in their operations to better utilize the volume we will make available.
If these small, economically attractive timber sales are not purchased,
whether for lack of interest or lack of market, I do reserve the right to offer
larger economic timber sales to meet the demand for timber within the
region. Even then, if we take that approach, it does not preclude the
opportunity for small roadside timber sales that could provide smaller
volumes desirable for small mills.
Features of the Selected Alternative
The Selected Alternative includes the following features:
♦ The Selected Alternative will harvest timber from approximately 861
acres in the project area using cable and ground-based yarding
systems. No helicopter harvest is included because of the increased
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