[Federal Register: February 18, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 31)]
[Notices]
[Page 7585-7587]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18fe09-24]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Ochoco National Forest, Lookout Mountain Ranger District; Oregon;
Canyon Fuels and Vegetation Management Project EIS
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The Ochoco National Forest is preparing an environmental
impact statement (EIS) to analyze the effects of managing fuels and
vegetation within the 31,500-acre Canyon project area, which is
approximately 20 miles east of Prineville, Oregon. The project area
includes National Forest System lands in the Upper Ochoco Creek
Watershed. The alternatives that will be analyzed include the proposed
action, no action, and additional alternatives that respond to issues
generated through the scoping process. The Ochoco National Forest will
give notice of the full environmental analysis and decision making
process so interested and affected people may participate and
contributes to the final decision.
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DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received
by March 20, 2009. The draft environmental impact statement is expected
to be completed and available for public comment in September 2009. The
final environmental impact statement is expected to be completed in
December 2009.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Bill Queen, District Ranger,
Lookout Mountain District, Ochoco National Forest, 3160 NE Third
Street, Prineville, Oregon 97754. Alternately, electronic comments may
be sent to comments-pacificnorthwest-ochoco@fs.fed.us. Electronic
comments must be submitted as part of the actual e-mail message, or as
an attachment in plain text (.txt), Microsoft Word (.doc), rich text
format (.rtf), or portable document format (.pdf).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rob Rawlings, Project Leader, or Marcy
Boehme, Environmental Coordinator, at 3160 NE Third Street, Prineville,
Oregon 97754, or at (541) 416-6500, or by e-mail at rrawlings@fs.fed.us
or nboehrne @J.fed.us. Responsible Official: The responsible official
will be Jeff Walter, Forest Supervisor, Ochoco National Forest, 3160
NE., Third Street, Prineville, Oregon 97754.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Purpose and Need. The Lookout Mountain Ranger District has
determined that there is a need for fuels and vegetation management
activities in the project area by comparing the existing condition to
the desired conditions described in the Ochoco National Forest Land and
Resource Management Plan. The existing condition of the Upper Ochoco
Creek Watershed was evaluated in 2004 and documented in the Upper
Ochoco Creek Watershed Analysis. Generally speaking, the Watershed
Analysis determined that vegetation conditions in the watershed have
departed from the historic condition in several ways. Important
departures include changes in timber species compositions, a reduction
in singlestratum late and old structured forest, an increased risk of
large-scale loss of forest to wildfire, an increased risk of insect
infestation and/or disease that can impact timber stands, and a decline
in the condition of riparian vegetation.
The purpose and need for this proposal is to (1) Maintain and
increase the abundance of late and old structure (LOS) stands; (2)
reduce fuels and the potential for high-intensity wildfires; (3)
maintain conditions that currently support low-intensity fires; (4)
reduce the susceptibility of the landscape to large-scale infestation
by insects and disease; (5) enhance hardwood communities, such as aspen
and cottonwood; (6) increase riparian vegetation and large tree
structure in Riparian Habitat Conservation Areas (RHCAs); and (7)
increase earlyseral species composition.
Proposed Action. The proposed action includes a variety of
management strategies and activities, including commercial thinning
with follow-up precommercial thinning and/or slash treatment (4,859
acres), precommerical thinning with slash treatment (5,494 acres),
juniper cutting with slash treatment (1,397 acres), hardwood and
riparian vegetation treatment (236 acres), and underbuming where no
other treatments are proposed (1,989 acres). Implementation of the
proposed action would require some connected actions; these include
headcut repair and stream restoration at five locations, road
construction (19.5 miles) and road reconstruction (13.2 miles).
Issues. Preliminary issues identified include the potential effect
of the proposed action on wildlife habitat, water quality, fish
habitat, visual quality, and recreational use. In addition, the team
will analyze the cumulative effects of this proposed action where it
overlaps with the effects of other activities.
Comment. Public comments about this proposal are requested in order
to assist in identifying issues, determine how to best manage the
resources, and to focus the analysis. Comments received to this notice,
including names and addresses of those who comment, will be considered
part of the public record on this proposed action and will be available
for public inspection. Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted
and considered; however, those who submit anonymous comments will not
have standing to appeal the subsequent decision under 36 CFR parts 215
and 217. Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any person may
request the agency to withhold a submission from the public record by
showing how the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permits such
confidentiality. Persons requesting such confidentiality should be
aware that, under FOIA, confidentiality may be granted in only very
limited circumstances, such as to protect trade secrets. The Forest
Service will inform the requester of the agency's decision regarding
the request for confidentiality, and where the request is denied, the
agency will return the submission and notify the requester that the
comments may be resubmitted with or without name and address within a
specified number of days.
A draft EIS will be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and available for public review by September, 2009. The EPA will
publish a Notice of Availability (NOA) of the draft EIS in the Federal
Register. The final EIS is scheduled to be available December, 2009.
The comment period on the draft EIS will be 45 days from the date
the EPA 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
a draft EIS 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 EIS stage but that are not
raised until after completion of the final EIS may be waived or
dismissed by the courts [City of Angoon 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 substantive 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 EIS.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft EIS 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 EIS of 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.
In the final EIS, the Forest Service is required to respond to
substantive comments received during the comment period for the draft
EIS. The Forest Service is the lead agency and the responsible official
is the Forest Supervisor, Ochoco National Forest. The responsible
official will decide whether and how to conduct fuels and vegetation
management activities in the Canyon planning area. The responsible
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official will also decide how to mitigate impacts of these actions and
will determine when and how monitoring of effects will take place.
The Canyon Fuels and Vegetation Management Project decision and the
reasons for the decision will be documented in the record of decision.
That decision will be subject to Forest Service Appeal Regulations (35
CFR Part 215).
Dated: February 11, 2009.
William R. Queen,
District Ranger.
[FR Doc. E9-3363 Filed 2-17-09; 8:45 am]
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