Umatilla National Forest Invasive Plants Treatment, Umatilla National Forest, Oregon and Washington, 17435-17437 [06-3281]
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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 66 / Thursday, April 6, 2006 / Notices
for accessing Regulations.gov). You may
also request paper copies of the
evaluation by calling or writing to the
person listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT. Please refer to the
title of the evaluation when requesting
copies.
The evaluation is also available for
review in our reading room (information
on the location and hours of the reading
room is provided under the heading
ADDRESSES at the beginning of this
notice).
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 7701–7772 and 7781–
7786; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.3.
Done in Washington, DC, this 3rd day of
April 2006.
W. Ron DeHaven,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. E6–5015 Filed 4–5–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–34–P
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service
[Docket No. FSIS–2006–0006]
Exemption for Retail Store Operations
Food Safety and Inspection
Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of adjusted dollar
limitations.
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The Food Safety and
Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing
new dollar limitations on the amount of
meat and meat food products and
poultry products that a retail store can
sell to hotels, restaurants, and similar
institutions without disqualifying itself
for exemption from Federal inspection
requirements. By reason of FSIS’
regulations, for calendar year 2006 the
dollar limitation for meat and meat food
products has been increased from
$54,500 to $55,100 and for poultry
products has been reduced from $45,800
to $45,200. FSIS is changing the dollar
limitations from calendar year 2005
based on price changes for these
products evidenced by the Consumer
Price Index.
DATES: Effective Date: This notice is
effective April 6, 2006.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John
O’Connell, Regulations and Petitions
Policy Staff, Office of Policy, Program,
and Employee Development, FSIS, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Room 112,
Cotton Annex Building, 300 12th Street,
SW., Washington, DC 20250–3700;
telephone (202) 720–0345, fax (202)
690–0486.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
19:52 Apr 05, 2006
Jkt 208001
Background
The Federal Meat Inspection Act (21
U.S.C. 601 et seq.) and the Poultry
Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451
et seq.) provide that the statutory
provisions requiring inspection of the
slaughter of livestock or poultry, and the
preparation or processing of meat and
meat food and poultry products, do not
apply to the types of operations
traditionally and usually conducted at
retail stores and restaurants, when those
operations are conducted at any retail
store or restaurant or similar retail-type
establishment for sale in normal retail
quantities (21 U.S.C. 454(c)(2)and 661
(c)(2)). In Title 9 of the Code of Federal
Regulations §§ 303.1(d) and 381.10(d),
FSIS regulations address the conditions
under which requirements for
inspection do not apply to retail
operations involving the preparation or
processing of meat or poultry products.
Under these regulations, sales to
hotels, restaurants, and similar
institutions disqualify a store for
exemption if they exceed either of two
maximum limits: 25 percent of the
dollar value of total product sales or the
calendar year dollar limitation set by the
Administrator. The dollar limitation is
adjusted automatically during the first
quarter of the year if the Consumer Price
Index (CPI), published by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics, indicates an increase or
decrease of more than $500 in the price
of the same volume of product for the
previous year. FSIS publishes a notice
of the adjusted dollar limitations in the
Federal Register. (See paragraphs
(d)(2)(iii)(b) of both §§ 303.1 and
381.10.)
The CPI for 2005 reveals an average
annual price increase for meat and meat
food products of 1.1 percent and an
annual average price decrease for
poultry products of 1.3 percent. When
rounded off to the nearest $100.00, the
price increase for meat and meat food
products is $600 and the price decrease
for poultry products is $600. Because
the price of meat and meat food
products and the price of poultry
products have changed by more than
$500, in accordance with §§ 303.1
(d)(2)(iii)(b) and 381.10 (d)(2)(iii)(b) of
the regulations, FSIS is increasing the
dollar limitation on sales to hotels,
restaurants, and similar institutions to
$55,100 for meat and meat food
products and decreasing the dollar
limitation to $45,200 for poultry
products for calendar year 2006.
Additional Public Notification
Public awareness of all segments of
rulemaking and policy development is
important. Consequently, in an effort to
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
17435
ensure that the public and in particular
minorities, women, and persons with
disabilities, are aware of this notice,
FSIS will announce it on-line through
the FSIS Web page located at https://
www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations/
2006_Notices_Index/.
FSIS also will make copies of this
Federal Register publication available
through the FSIS Constituent Update,
which is used to provide information
regarding FSIS policies, procedures,
regulations, Federal Register notices,
FSIS public meetings, recalls, and other
types of information that could affect or
would be of interest to our constituents
and stakeholders. The update is
communicated via Listserv, a free e-mail
subscription service consisting of
industry, trade, and farm groups,
consumer interest groups, allied health
professionals, scientific professionals,
and other individuals who have
requested to be included. The update
also is available on the FSIS Web page.
Through Listserv and the web page,
FSIS is able to provide information to a
much broader and more diverse
audience.
In addition, FSIS offers an email
subscription service which provides an
automatic and customized notification
when popular pages are updated,
including Federal Register publications
and related documents. This service is
available at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/
news_and_events/email_subscription/
and allows FSIS customers to sign up
for subscription options across eight
categories. Options range from recalls to
export information to regulations,
directives and notices. Customers can
add or delete subscriptions themselves
and have the option to password protect
their account.
Done at Washington, DC, on: April 3, 2006.
Barbara J. Masters,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. E6–5011 Filed 4–5–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–DM–P
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Umatilla National Forest Invasive
Plants Treatment, Umatilla National
Forest, Oregon and Washington
Forest Service, USDA.
Notice of intent to prepare an
environmental impact statement.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
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
E:\FR\FM\06APN1.SGM
06APN1
17436
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 66 / Thursday, April 6, 2006 / Notices
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: commentspacificnorthwest-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:
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
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;
https://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
VerDate Aug<31>2005
19:52 Apr 05, 2006
Jkt 208001
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
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Frm 00003
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
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
E:\FR\FM\06APN1.SGM
06APN1
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 66 / Thursday, April 6, 2006 / Notices
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]
BILLING CODE 3410–11–M
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Eastern Washington Cascades
Provincial Advisory Committee and the
Yakima Provincial Advisory Committee
Forest Service, USDA.
Notice of meeting.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
The Eastern Washington
Cascades Provincial Advisory
Committee and the Yakima Provincial
Advisory Committee will meet on
Wednesday, May 3, 2006 and Tuesday,
May 23, 2006 at the Okanogan and
Wenatchee National Forests
Headquarters office, 215 Melody Lane,
Wenatchee, WA. These meetings will
begin at 9 a.m. and continue until 3 p.m.
During these meting Provincial
Advisory Committee members will
continue the collaboration process on
forest plan issues relating to the
preparation of a revised forest plan for
the Okanogan and Wenatchee National
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
19:52 Apr 05, 2006
Jkt 208001
Forests. All Eastern Washington
Cascades and Yakima Province
Advisory Committee meetings are open
to the public.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Direct questions regarding this meeting
to Paul Hart, Designated Federal
Official, USDA, Wenatchee National
Forest, 215 Melody Lane, Wenatchee,
Washington 98801, 509–664–9200.
Dated: March 6, 2006.
Paul Hart,
Designated Federal Official, Okanogan and
Wenatchee National Forests.
[FR Doc. 06–3302 Filed 4–5–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–11–M
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Eastern Washington Cascades
Provincial Advisory Committee and the
Yakima Provincial Advisory Committee
Forest Service, USDA.
Notice of meeting.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
SUMMARY: The Eastern Washington
Cascades Provincial Advisory
Committee and the Yakima Provincial
Advisory Committee will meet on
Thursday, April 20, 2006 at the
Sunnyslope Fire Station Rural County
Fire District #1 office, 206 Easy Street,
Wenatchee, WA. The meeting will begin
at 9 a.m. and continue until 3 p.m.
During this meeting we will continue
the collaboration process on forest plan
issues relating to the preparation of a
revised forest plan for the Okanogan and
Wenatchee National Forests. All Eastern
Washington Cascades and Yakima
Province Advisory Committee meetings
are open to the public.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Direct questions regarding this meeting
to Paul Hart, Designated Federal
Official, USDA, Wenatchee National
Forest, 215 Melody Lane, Wenatchee,
Washington 98801, 509–664–9200.
Dated: March 6, 2006.
Paul Hart,
Designated Federal Official, Okanogan and
Wenatchee National Forests.
[FR Doc. 06–3303 Filed 4–5–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–11–M
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Okanogan and Wenatchee National
Forests Resource Advisory Committee
Forest Service, USDA.
Notice of meeting.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
17437
SUMMARY: The Wenatchee-Okanogan
Resource Advisory Committee will meet
on Tuesday, May 2, 2006, Tuesday, May
9, 2006, and Wednesday, May 17, 2006
at the Okanogan and Wenatchee
National Forest Headquarters Office,
215 Melody Lane, Wenatchee, WA.
These meetings will begin at 9 a.m. and
continue until 3 p.m. On May 2, 2006,
committee members will review
Okanogan County projects, on May 9,
2006 committee members will review
Chelan County projects, and on May 17,
2006 committee members will review
Kittitas and Yakima Counties projects
proposed for Resource Advisory
Committee consideration under Title II
of the Secure Rural Schools and
Community Self-Determination Act of
2000. All Wenatchee-Okanogan
Resource Advisory Committee meetings
are open to the public. Interested
citizens are welcome to attend.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Direct questions regarding this meeting
to Paul Hart, Designated Federal
Official, USDA, Wenatchee National
Forest, 215 Melody Lane, Wenatchee,
Washington 98801, (509) 664–9200.
Dated: March 31, 2006.
Paul Hart,
Designated Federal Official, Okanogan and
Wenatchee National Forests.
[FR Doc. 06–3304 Filed 4–5–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–11–M
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Natural Resources Conservation
Service
Notice of Request for Nominations for
the Agricultural Air Quality Task Force
Natural Resources
Conservation Service, Agriculture.
ACTION: Notice of Request for
Nominations.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The Secretary of Agriculture
intends to renew the Agricultural Air
Quality Task Force and requests
nominations for qualified persons to
serve as members.
DATES: Nominations must be received in
writing (see SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section) by May 19, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Send written nominations
to: Chief, USDA/Natural Resources
Conservation Service, Post Office Box
2890, Washington DC 20013–2890.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.
Diane Gelburd, Designated Federal
Official, USDA/Natural Resources
Conservation Service, telephone: (202)
720–2587, fax: (202) 720–2646, e-mail:
Diane.Gelburd@wdc.usda.gov.
E:\FR\FM\06APN1.SGM
06APN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 66 (Thursday, April 6, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17435-17437]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-3281]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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; https://
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
[[Page 17437]]
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]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M
