[Federal Register: April 6, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 66)]
[Notices]
[Page 17435-17437]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr06ap06-33]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Umatilla National Forest Invasive Plants Treatment, Umatilla
National Forest, Oregon and Washington
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The Umatilla National Forest proposes to treat approximately
25,000 acres of invasive plants located across the 1.4 million acre
National Forest. It is anticipated that approximately 4,000
[[Page 17436]]
acres of both existing and newly discovered sites would be treated in
any year. The proposed treatment methods includes: Manual pulling or
use of hand tools, use of mechanical hand tools, herbicide, cultural
methods such as grazing or mulching, and biological controls. The
method used would depend on resource protection concerns for a given
site.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received
by May 17, 2006. The draft environmental impact statement is expected
in March 2007 and the final environmental impact statement is expected
in September 2007.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments about this project to Kevin D. Martin,
Forest Supervisor, Umatilla National Forest, 2517 SW. Hailey Avenue,
Pendleton, OR 97801. Electronic comments can be mailed to:
comments-pacificnorthwest-umatilla@fs.fed.us.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Glen Westlund, Project Leader, Walla
Walla Ranger District, 1415 West Rose Street, Walla Walla, WA 99362.
Phone: 509-522-6009 or e-mail: gwestlund@fs.fed.us.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Purpose and Need for Action
The purpose of this action is to provide a rapid and more
comprehensive, up to date approach for the control and eradication of
invasive plants that occur on the National Forest. The purpose of
controlling or eradicating weed infestations is to maintain or improve
the diversity, function, and sustainability of desired native plant
communities and other natural resources that can be adversely impacted
by invasive plant species. Specifically, there is an underlying need on
the Forest to: (1) Implement treatment actions to contain and reduce
the extent of invasive plants at existing inventoried sites, and (2)
rapidly respond to new or expanded invasive plant sites as they may
occur in the future.
Proposed Action
A detailed project description can be found on the Umatilla
National Forest Web page in the NEPA reading room; http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/uma/projects/readroom.
Various types of treatments
would be used to contain, control, or eradicate invasive plants
including the use of herbicides, physical, and biological methods.
Treatments are proposed for existing or new infestations including new
plant species that currently are not found on the Forest. Potential
treatments based on existing mapped sites include: Biological or
physical methods used on approximately 3,920 acres; approximately
17,300 acres of uplands would utilize chemical, physical, or biological
methods; approximately 3,400 acres of riparian areas would be treated
with chemical, physical, or biological methods, and physical methods on
50 acres. Any use of chemicals would be done in accordance with USDA
Forest Service policies, regulations and Forest Plan Standards as well
as product label requirements. Chemicals approved for use, within or
outside riparian areas, are listed in the Pacific Northwest Region
Invasive Plant Program Preventing and Managing Invasive Plants FEIS
(Regional Invasive Plant EIS), April 2005 and ROD. Monitoring of
treated sites would determine what follow-up treatments would be
needed. Ground based or aerial application methods would be used based
on accessibility, topography, and the size of treatment area and may
include spot spraying, wicking, stem injection, hand broadcast and boom
broadcast. Aerial application is proposed on approximately 1,420 acres
covering 20 sites ranging in size from 1 to 418 acres. When needed to
facilitate recovery, native seed would be used to recover the site and
increase competition. Physical methods include manual control, hand
mechanical and cultural methods. Biological weed control activities
typically include the release of parasitic and ``host specific''
insects. Presently, insects are the primary biological control agent in
use.
Responsible Official
The Forest Supervisor, Kevin Martin, will be the responsible
official for making the decision and providing direction for the
analysis. He can be contacted at the address listed above.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
The responsible official will decide what type of methods and how
they will be used to control invasive plants on the Umatilla National
Forest.
Scoping Process
The public is asked to provide the responsible official with
written comments describing their concerns about this project. At this
time, no public meetings are being planned.
Comment Requested
This notice of intent initiates the scoping process which guides
the development of the environmental impact statement. When reviewing
the proposed action, bear in mind that the Forest has been operating
under the 1995 Umatilla National Forest Environmental Assessment for
the Management of Noxious Weeds and herbicides were used only on a
limited basis. Monitoring has indicated that this approach is not
successful. In 2005 the Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Region
completed and implemented the Pacific Northwest Region Invasive plant
Program FEIS providing new direction and updating the hercides that
would be permitted for use in the Region. The new hercides offer many
advantages over the more limited set allowed previously, including
greater selectivity, less harm to desired vegetation, reduced
application rates, and lower toxicity to animals and people. The
proposed treatments will be guided by this FEIS. The most useful
comments to developing or refining the proposed action would be site
specific concerns and those that can help us develop treatments that
would be responsive to our goal to control, contain, or eradicate
invasive plants as well as being cost effective. Prevention measures
have already been built into the Regional Invasive Plant FEIS and will
be implemented with all actions occurring on the Forest. The purpose of
this proposed action is to begin treatments on known invasive plant
sites and provide a mechanism to respond rapidly when new infestations
are discovered.
Early Notice of Importance of Public Participation in Subsequent
Environmental Review
A draft environmental impact statement will be prepared for
comment. The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement
will be 45 days from the date of 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
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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 meaningful consider them and
respond to them in the final environmental impact statement.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying an considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft
environmental impact statement should be as specific as possible. It is
also helpful if comments refer to specific pages or chapters of the
draft statement. Comments may also address the adequacy of the draft
environmental impact statement or the merits of the alternatives
formulated and discussed in the statement. Reviewers may wish to refer
to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing
the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at
40 CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.
Comments received, including the names and addresses of those who
comment, will be considered part of the public record on this proposal
and will be available for public inspection.
(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; Forest Service Handbook
1909.15, Section 21)
Dated: March 30, 2006.
Kevin D. Martin,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 06-3281 Filed 4-5-06; 8:45 am]
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