Regulacje i polityka gospodarcza · 3.11.1999

Gunflint Corridor Fuels Reduction Environmental Impact Statement

On August 24, 1999, the Council on Environmental Quality granted alternative arrangements for the immediate actions needed to address public safety concerns within the Gunflint Trail Corridor as a result of the 4th of July Blowdown Event. These alternative arrangements are effective until close of business on Friday, December 24, 1999. Subsequent actions which the Agency (Forest Service) proposed to take over the ``longer term'' were to be addressed through the normal NEPA process. Therefore, the Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to reduce the fire hazard and restore damaged components of the ecosystem within the Gunflint Corridor. The objectives of the project are to: (1) Reduce fuel and fire hazard, (2) Provide and improve land-based infrastructure needs for fire suppression or public evacuation, (3) Increase the acreage and component of longer lived species, particularly pine, (4) Improve long term visual quality, and (5) Reforest blown-down areas. The Record of Decision will disclose how the Forest Service has decided to treat more than 11,000 acres of blowdown fuels. The proposed action is to treat an estimated 8400