Draft supplement to the 2004 final supplemental environmental impact statement to remove or modify the survey and manage mitigation measure standards and guidelines : Forest Service National Forests in Regions 5 and 6 and Bureau of Land Management distric

2006·42.7 MB·English

BLM LIBRARY splement to the 2004 Final SEIS
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Forest Service National Forests in Regions 5 and 6
and Bureau of Land Management Districts
in Washington, Oregon, and California
Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl
Public Lands USA: USE, Share, Appreciate
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color,
national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual
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public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative
means for communication of program infonnation (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center
at [phone] (voice and TDD). To fde a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400
Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call [phone] (voice) or [phone] (TDD). USDA is
an equal opportunity provider and employer.
As the Nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has responsibility for most of our nationally owned
public lands and natural resources. This includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fish and
wildlife, preserving the environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historical places, and providing for the
enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. The department assesses our energy and mineral resources and works to assure that
their development is in the best interest of all our people. The Department also has a major responsibility for American Indian
reservation communities and for people who live in Island Territories under U.S. administration.
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Cover artwork compliments of Elizabeth I. Gayner. Drawing includes the Great gray owl (Strix
nebulosa), an orchid (Cypripedium montanum), a mushroom (Gyromitra californica), and a snail
(Monadenia fidel is).
BLM/ORAV A/PL-06/37+1792
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United States Forest R-6 OR/ Bureau of United States
Department of Service WA Land Department of
Agriculture Management Interior
Reply Refer To: 1950 (FS)/ 1736 (BLM) (OR-930) Date: July 7, 2006
Dear Reader:
Attached is the Draft Supplement to the 2004 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement (FSEIS) To Remove or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards
and Guidelines. The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service (the Agencies) prepared
this Draft Supplement to address three deficiencies in the 2004 FSEIS identified by the District
Court of the Western District of Washington. Any new information pertinent to the proposed
action and the alternatives that has become available since the 2004 FSEIS has been added to this
Supplement so that it contains the most current information.
You may wish to have a copy of the 2004 FSEIS so you can consider the Supplement in context.
A copy is available on line at http://www.reo.gov/s-m2006 or may be requested in CD or printed
version by writing to Kathy Anderson at U.S. Forest Service, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, OR
97208-3623 or emailing your request to [email protected].
The 90-day comment period begins with publication of the Notice of Availability in the Federal
Register, expected to be on July 7, 2006, and is expected to close October 5, 2006. Changes in
these dates will be published on the above website. The Agencies ask that those submitting
comments on the Draft Supplement make them as specific as possible.
Reviewers should provide their comments during the comment period. This will enable the
Agencies to analyze and respond to the comments at one time and to use information acquired in
the preparation of the Final Supplement, thus avoiding undue delay in the decision-making
process. Reviewers have an obligation to ‘“structure their participation in the National
Environmental Policy Act process so that it is meaningful and alerts the agency to the reviewer’s
position and contentions.’ Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 552
(1978).” Dept, of Transportation v. Public Citizen, 541 U.S. 752, 764 (2004). Therefore,
environmental concerns that could have been raised at the draft stage may be forfeitED if not
raised until after completion of the Final Supplement. Comments on the Draft Supplement
should be specific and should address the adequacy of the Draft Supplement and the merits of the
alternatives discussed (40 CFR 1503.3).
Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names and addresses, will be
considered part of the public record on this Draft Supplement and are available for public
inspection. Comments, including names and addresses, may be published as part of the Final
Supplement. If you wish to withhold your name or address from public review, or from
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), you must state this prominently at the
beginning of your written comments. Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any person may
request that submissions be withheld from the public record by showing how the FOIA permits
such confidentiality. Persons requesting such confidentiality should be aware that under FOIA,

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confidentiality may be granted in only very limited circumstances, such as to protect trade
secrets. The requester will be informed of the Agencies’ decision regarding the request for
confidentiality. Where the request is denied, the comments will be returned to the requester, and
the requester will be notified that the comments may be resubmitted with or without name and
address. Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted and considered. Anonymous
comments do not create standing or a record of participation. All submissions from
organizations and business, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or
officials of organizations or businesses, will be available for public inspection in their entirety.
For further information on this Supplement, contact Kathy Anderson, U.S. Forest Service-NR,
P.O. Box 3623, Portland, OR 97208-3623; or via telephone at 503-808-2256.
CALVIN N. JOYNER MICHAEL S. MOTTICE
Director, Natural Resources Deputy State Director for Resource
Region 6 Planning, Use & Protection
USDA-Forest Service OregonAV ashington
USDI Bureau of Land Management
1 Attachment
1 - Draft Supplement to 2004 FSEIS
Draft Supplement to the
2004 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
To Remove or Modify the
Survey and Manage
Mitigation Measure
Standards and Guidelines
Forest Service National Forests in Regions 5 and 6
and Bureau of Land Management Districts
in Washington, Oregon, and California
Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl
July 2006
Lead Agencies: Forest Service - U.S. Department of Agriculture
Bureau of Land Management - U.S. Department of the Interior
Responsible Officials: Mike Johanns, Secretary of Agriculture
Dirk Kempthome, Secretary of the Interior
Information Contact: Kathy Anderson
US Forest Service-NR
P.O. Box 3623
Portland, OR 97208-3623
503-808-2256
The Draft Supplement is available for public review for 90 days beginning with publication of the Notice
of Availability in the Federal Register, expected to take place on July 7, 2006. Actual publication date
will be noted on the web site below. Assuming publication on July 7, the 90-day public comment period
would extend to October 5, 2006.
MAIL COMMENTS TO:
Survey and Manage SEIS Team
P.O. Box 2965
Portland, OR 97208-2965
Or submit them email to:
[email protected]
Printed copies or a CD version of this document can be obtained by contacting Kathy Anderson at U.S.
Forest Service, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, OR 97208-3623 or emailing [email protected]. Copies of
this document are also available on line at http://www.reo.gov/s-m2006.
'
Abstract
This Draft Supplement to the 2004 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
(FSEIS) to Remove or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and
Guidelines provides additional analysis in response to three deficiencies identified by the
District Court of the Western District of Washington, on August 1, 2005. To respond to the
deficiencies identified by the Court, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest
Service (the Agencies) have:
a. analyzed potential impacts to Survey and Manage species if they are not added to or
are removed from the Forest Service's and BLM's respective programs for special
status species;
b. provided a thorough analysis of their assumption that the late-successional reserves
would adequately protect species that the Survey and Manage standard was
introduced to protect, considering previous positions in earlier environmental
impact statements, and;
c. disclosed and analyzed flaws in their methodology for calculating the acreage in
need of hazardous fuel treatments. Revised the cost analysis was similarly flawed
where it relied on the acreage in need of hazardous fuel treatments in calculating the
cost of the Survey and Manage standard.
The Supplement also responds to new information about species and revises affected
sections of the 2004 analysis. A new Record of Decision will be prepared following release
of a Final Supplement.
The Purpose and Need, Proposed Action, and Alternatives remain unchanged from the
2004 document. The Agencies propose to remove the Survey and Manage Standards and
Guidelines of the Northwest Forest Plan. For 52 of the 296 species analyzed, the analysis
determined that while the Survey and Manage Program would provide sufficient habitat
to support stable populations in the Northwest Forest Plan area, the proposed action
would not. Another 11 species would not be stable in a portion of the range. Recognizing
there is much that remains unknown about many of the species, for 131 species there
would be insufficient habitat (including known sites) to support stable populations in the
Northwest Forest Plan area under all alternatives due to factors beyond the control of the
Agencies.
Alternatives 2 and 3 reduce fuel treatments costs and increased fuel treatment efficacy
when compared to Alternative 1. Alternative 2 and 3 decrease annual timber production
constraints by 70 and 60 million board feet per year, respectively when compared to
Alternative 1.
Notice
Readers should note that the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Interior are the
responsible officials for this proposed action. Therefore, no administrative review (appeal)
through the Forest Service will be available on the Record of Decision under 36 CFR 217,
and no administrative review (protest) through the Bureau of Land Management will be
available on the Record of Decision under 43 CFR 1610.5-2. Because there is no
administrative review of the decision, the Record of Decision will not be signed until 30
days after the Notice of Availability for the Final SEIS appears in the Federal Register (see
40 CFR 1506.10(b)).
2006 Draft Supplement to the 2004 FSEIS to Remove or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines
Acronyms and Abbreviations
AMA Adaptive Management Area
As Bureau Assessment
ASR Annual Species Review
BE Biological Evaluation
BLM Bureau of Land Management
BO Biological Opinion
CEQ Council on Environmental Quality
CVS Continuous Vegetation Survey
ESA Endangered Species Act
FEMAT Forest Ecosystem Management Assessment Team
FIA Forest Inventory and Analysis
FLPMA Federal Land Policy and Management Act
FRCC Fire Regime Condition Class
FSEIS Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
GeoBOB Geographic Biotic Observations database
ha hectare
ISMS Interagency Species Management System database
MMBF million board feet
NEPA National Environmental Policy Act
NFMA National Forest Management Act
NFPORS National Fire Plan Operations & Reporting System
NWFP Northwest Forest Plan
LSOG Late-Successional and Old-Growth
O&C Act Oregon and California and the Coo Bay Wagon Road Grant Lands Act
O&C lands lands that are subject to the O&C Act
ONHP Oregon Natural Heritage Program
ONHIC Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center
PSQ Probable Sale Quantity
RA Rapid Assessment
RDS Random Double Sample
RMS Random Multi Species
REO Regional Ecosystem Office
RIEC Regional Interagency Executive Committee
ROD Record of Decision
SE Standard Error
SSSP Special Status Species Programs(s)
ss
Forest Service or BLM Sensitive
USDA United States Department of Agriculture
USDA United States Department of the Interior
WFU Wildland Fire Use
WUI Wildland Urban Interface
How to Use This Supplement
How to Use This Supplement
This Draft Supplement is not designed for stand-alone use. It contains insert and
replacement sentences, paragraphs, tables and one entire section for the 2004 Final
Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS), and is intended for use as a side-by-side
supplement to that document. Unless otherwise changed or amended by this
Supplement (other than minor edits of information obviously changed by the new
information), information in the 2004 FSEIS continues to apply. The Purpose and
Need, the Proposed Action, and the Alternatives described in the 2004 FSEIS all
remain unchanged. Species outcomes and other effects remain unchanged unless
specifically changed by this document.
The location where enclosed tables and text are to be inserted as additions, or
treated as replacements, is described at the start of each new section or table in this
Supplement. Page and section references are always assumed to be in the 2004
FSEIS unless stated otherwise. Fleading levels and section titles in this
Supplement are designed to match the 2004 FSEIS as closely as possible to avoid
confusion and facilitate review. Reviewers needing a CD or printed version of the
2004 FSEIS may obtain copies by writing to Kathy Anderson at U.S. Forest Service,
P.O. Box 3623, Portland, OR 97208-3623 or emailing your request to
[email protected]. A copy is available also on line at http://www.reo.gov/s-
m2006.
Table and Figure Numbering
Table and Figure numbers that are whole numbers followed by an "S" (for
Supplement) (e.g. Table 2-14S) supplement or replace the like-numbered tables in
the 2004 FSEIS. Completely new tables and figures always include decimals,
building on the nearest previous table in the 2004 FSEIS (e.g. Table 3&4-4.1S).
For the purposes of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Agency
Planning Regulations, this document is itself a Draft Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement for Proposed Amendments to 28 Forest Service and BLM Land
and Resource Management Plans, and applicable NEPA and Planning regulations
apply. This Draft Supplement will be available for public review and comment for
90 days, after which the Agencies plan to issue a Final Supplement and then a new
Record of Decision.
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2006 Draft Supplement to the 2004 FSEIS to Remove or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines
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