[Federal Register: May 19, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 97)]
[Notices]
[Page 28794-28795]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr19my08-23]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Lassen National Forest, Almanor Ranger District, CA, Creeks II
Forest Restoration Project
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The Forest Service proposes to address fuels and firefighter
safety, forest health issues, and focus on the specific concerns of
wildlife habitat and habitat connectivity by developing a network of
defensible fuel profile zones (DFPZ's), establish group selection
harvest units, and conduct area thinnings on the Almanor Ranger
District in the Lassen National Forest. These management activities
were developed to implement and be consistent with the Lassen National
Forest (LNF) Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP, 1993), as amended
by the Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group Forest Recovery Act FEIS,
FSEIS, and RODs (1999, 2003), and the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan
Amendment FEIS, FSEIS, and RODs (2001, 2004).
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be received
in writing within 30 days of the date of publication of this Notice of
Intent in the Federal Register. The expected filing date with the
Environmental Protection Agency for the draft EIS is October 8, 2008.
The expected filing date for the final EIS is February 11, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted to: Alfred Vazquez, District
Ranger, Almanor Ranger District, at P.O. Box 767, Chester, CA 96020 or
(530) 258-5194 (fax) during normal business hours. The Almanor Ranger
District business hours are from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through
Friday. Electronic comments, in acceptable plain text (.txt), rich text
(.rtf), or Word (.doc) formats, may be submitted to: comments-
pacificsouthwest-lassenalmanor@fs.fed.us using Subject: Creeks II
Forest Restoration Project.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Al Vazquez, District Ranger, or John
Zarlengo, Interdisciplinary Team Leader, may be contacted by phone at
(530) 258-2141 for more information about the proposed action and the
environmental impact statement or at the Almanor Ranger District, P.O.
Box 767, Chester, CA 96020.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
A proposal to address forest health conditions throughout the
Creeks Forest Health Recovery Project (Creeks) area of the Lassen
National Forest (LNF) was placed on the LNF Schedule of Proposed
Actions in February 2004. The project was sent to the public for
scoping in 2004 and the Responsible Official, Forest Supervisor Laurie
Tippin, signed the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Creeks Forest
Health Recovery Project in September 2005. A lawsuit was filed and in
August 2006, the Decision was remanded to Forest Supervisor Tippin. On
May 30, 2007, the Forest Supervisor agreed to cancel the original
Creeks project. A Cancellation of the Notice of Intent to prepare a
Supplement to the Environmental Impact Statement for this project was
published in the Federal Register on June 14, 2007. A new project was
placed on the LNF Schedule of Proposed Actions on July 1, 2007, and a
public meeting to discuss the project was held on February 28, 2008. A
new purpose and need statement was developed and a new proposed action
was crafted to address the specific concerns of wildlife habitat and
habitat connectivity, taking action to improve the overall forest
health, and reducing the risk of large, intense wildfires highlighted
within the original Creeks analysis area. The new project is known as
the Creeks II Forest Restoration Project (Creeks II).
Purpose and Need for Action
Conditions fostered by past fire suppression, a climate favorable
for conifer regeneration and growth, and past management activities
have contributed to current dense stands conditions in the Creeks II
project area. Existing high stand densities in the Creeks II project
area place the large tree component of late-seral stands at increased
risk of mortality from insects and disease, especially during times of
prolonged drought. Dense stand conditions also increase the likelihood
that wildfire will move into the forest canopy and result in a high-
intensity fire that destroys large areas of forest. The existing
habitat considered suitable for both California spotted owl and
American marten is composed of densely forested stands and is at
increased risk of loss to wildfire.
Modification of the fire regime has also affected the health of the
area's aspen communities. In the Sierra Nevada, aspen communities are
rare on the landscape, increasing their value in a vastly conifer
dominated ecosystem. There is also a need in the Creeks II project area
to protect aquatic habitats and their adjacent areas, specifically to
recruit large trees, improve vegetative diversity, and reduce ladder
fuels in riparian habitat conservation areas (RHCAs).
Proposed Action
Creeks II proposes to utilize site-specific prescriptions to meet
the objectives of maintaining and developing long-term sustainable
late-seral attributes that provide habitat connectivity and vegetation
heterogeneity across the landscape; reducing conifer density to better
withstand the rigors of extended periods of low soil moisture; reducing
the potential for large, intense wildfire; providing firefighters a
safe area from which to attack fire; reducing stand density to lower
individual large tree mortality during fires; promoting desired future
conditions for vegetation diversity in aspen stands; moving toward
desired conditions for water quality by reducing sediment delivery from
area roads; and, improving vegetative conditions in RHCAs to protect
aquatic habitats and adjacent areas. Work in the project area includes
DFPZs (4,092 acres), group selection harvest units (708 acres), aspen
enhancement (688 acres), area thinning (3,003 acres), and work in
riparian habitat conservation areas (400 acres) to total an estimated
8,891 acres of treatment and would be spread over a 33,000 acre project
area. Included in this proposal are the use of National
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Forest system roads, the use of temporary roads, and the
decommissioning of some system and temporary roads. The project would
be implemented through a combination of commercial timber sales,
service contracts, and agency crews.
Alternatives
Alternatives proposed to date are the Proposed Action as described
above and the No Action.
Responsible Official and Mailing Address: Kathleen Morse, Forest
Supervisor, 2550 S. Riverside Drive, Susanville, CA 96130 is the
responsible official.
Nature of Decision to Be Made: The decision to be made is whether
to implement the proposed action as described above, to meet the
purpose and need for action through some other combination of
activities, or to take no action at this time.
Scoping Process
The environmental analysis will be documented in an environmental
impact statement. This notice of intent initiates the scoping process
which guides the development of the environmental impact statement. The
scoping process will be used to identify issues regarding the proposed
action. An issue is defined as a point of dispute, debate, or
disagreement related to a specific proposed action based on its
anticipated effects. Significant issues brought to our attention are
used during an environmental analysis to develop alternatives to the
proposed action. Some issues raised in scoping may be considered non-
significant because they are: (1) Beyond the scope of the proposed
action and its purpose and need; (2) already decided by law,
regulation, or the Land and Resource Management Plan; (3) irrelevant to
the decision to be made; or (4) conjectural and not supported by
scientific or factual evidence.
Reviewer's Obligation to Comment
On December 27, 2007, the Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group
(HFQLG) Forest Recovery Act was amended by H.R. 2764 to utilize the
analysis and appeal process identified under H.R. 1904, known as the
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA). Provisions 104-106 of
the HFRA apply to HFQLG projects with a fuels reduction component. The
Creeks II Forest Restoration Project is authorized under the HFRA and
is subject to the use of notice, comment, and objection process as
described under 36 CFR 218. The comment period on the draft EIS will be
45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes the
notice of availability of the draft EIS in the Federal Register. To be
eligible to object to an EIS, an individual or organization must submit
specific written comments related to a project during the comment
period for the draft EIS. A 30-day objection period prior to a decision
being made will be provided for this project, rather than an appeal
process after decision. Objections will receive administrative review
and will be responded to within 30 days and before a decision is made.
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 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 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
environmental impact statement.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and 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.
Jack T. Walton,
Acting Lassen National Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. E8-11063 Filed 5-16-08; 8:45 am]
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