Flathead National Forest, Swan Lake Ranger District, Montana; Cooney McKay Project Environmental Impact Statement, 76963-76964 [06-9821]
Download as PDF
<![CDATA[
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 246 / Friday, December 22, 2006 / Notices
jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
markets/em-markets.asp. Form AD–755
is required and is available on the EMP
home page at https://www.fas.usda.gov/
mos/em-markets/Form%20AD–755.doc.
Form SF–181 is requested, but optional,
and is available at https://www.opm.gov/
forms/pdf_fill/sf181.pdf. The members
of the Committee are appointed by the
Secretary of Agriculture and serve at the
discretion of the Secretary. Committee
members serve without compensation,
but can receive reimbursement for travel
expenses to attend committee meetings,
if requested, in accordance with USDA
travel regulations.
The Committee has a balanced
membership of up to 20 members,
representing a broad cross-section of the
U.S. agricultural and agribusiness
industry. All appointments will expire
two years from the date of appointment.
The Secretary may renew an
appointment for one or more additional
terms.
Most meetings will be held in
Washington, DC, though other locations
may be selected on an occasional basis.
Committee meetings will be open to the
public, unless the Secretary of
Agriculture determines that the
Committee will be discussing issues, the
disclosure of which justify closing all or
a portion of a meeting, in accordance
with 5 U.S.C. 552b(c).
Nominations are open to all
individuals without regard to race,
color, religion, sex, national origin, age,
physical handicap, marital status, or
sexual orientation. To ensure that the
work of the Committee takes into
account the needs of the diverse groups
served by USDA, membership shall
include, to the extent practicable,
individuals with demonstrated ability to
represent the interest of minorities,
women, and persons with disabilities.
Members should have experience,
expertise, and knowledge of
international agriculture and of trade
and development issues as they affect
emerging markets. No persons,
company, producer, farm organization,
trade association, or other entity has a
right to representation on the
Committee. In making selections, every
effort will be made to maintain balanced
representation of the various broad
industries within the United States as
well as geographic diversity.
W. Kirk Miller,
Acting Administrator, Foreign Agricultural
Service.
[FR Doc. 06–9828 Filed 12–21–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–10–M
VerDate Aug<31>2005
17:45 Dec 21, 2006
Jkt 211001
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service.
Flathead National Forest, Swan Lake
Ranger District, Montana; Cooney
McKay Project Environmental Impact
Statement
Forest Service, USDA.
Notice of intent to prepare an
environmental impact statement.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
SUMMARY: The Forest Service will
prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) for a proposal to harvest
timber, reduce hazardous forest fuels,
and construct temporary roads within
the Cooney McKay Project area. The
project area is approximately 35 miles
southeast of Bigfork, Montana, in the
vicinity of the community of Condon,
Montana. The Forest Service is seeking
further information and comments from
Federal, State, and local agencies and
other individuals or organizations that
maybe interested in or affected by the
proposed actions. These comments will
be used to prepare the draft EIS.
DATES: The draft environmental impact
statement is expected in March 2007
and the final environmental impact
statement is expected in May 2007.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to
Steve Brady, District Ranger, Swan Lake
Ranger District, 200 Ranger Station
Road, Bigfork, MT 59911.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sue
Tebay, Project Writer-Editor, Swan Lake
Ranger District, 200 Ranger Station
Road, Bigfork, MT 59911.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Forest Plan
The EIS will tier to the Flathead
National Forest Land and Resource
Management Plan (LRMP) and EIS of
January, 1986, and its subsequent
amendments, which provide overall
guidance of all land management
activities on the Flathead National
Forest.
Background and Existing Condition
Information
The Forest Services believes that a
combination of factors such as natural
succession processes, extended regional
drought patterns, introduction of
invasive plants, human development
patterns, along with unintended
consequences of past management
practices (e.g., fire suppression policies)
have crated and continue to lead to
vegetative conditions that do not wholly
meet the desired future condition for the
project area, as described in the Forest
Plan. The consequences of these
environmental changes and past
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
76963
management practices place portions of
the forested landscape at an elevated
risk to unwanted disturbances such as
insect epidemics, wide-scale disease
infections, and high-severity wildfire.
Purpose and Need for Action
The purpose and need for the Cooney
McKay project include: (1) Improving
the general health, resiliency, and
sustainability of forest vegetative
communities within the project area; (2)
reducing the risk of insect epidemics
and disease infestations within the
project area; (3) reducing the hazardous
forest fuels buildup on National Forest
System lands adjacent to private lands
within the project area; (4) providing for
a safer environment for the public and
firefighters should a wildfire occur
within the project area; increase the
probability of stopping wildfires on
National Forest Services lands before
they burn onto private lands; and (5)
providing commercial and personal-use
wood products for the local
communities.
Proposed Action
To move toward the desired future
(vegetative) condition of restoring and
maintaining a healthy forest in the
project area, the Cooney McKay
proposal includes mechanical and/or
hand vegetation treatments of mature
and immature forest, ecosystem
maintenance burning on approximately
2,500 acres of upper elevation forest and
shrubland stands; hand planting of
approximately 302 acres; and invasive
plants/noxious weed treatment on
traveled roadways. In addition,
approximately 900 acres may be
understory or jackpot burned following
treatment. The proposal includes the
construction and subsequent
reclamation of approximately 2 miles of
temporary roads on National Forest
System lands to access treatment units.
Best Management Practices would be
applied to all temporary roads
constructed and roads temporarily
opened, as well as all system roads used
in association with this project for
access and product removal.
The proposed management actions
summarized above are being considered
together because they represent either
connected or cumulative actions as
defined by the Council on
Environmental Quality (40 CFR
1508.25).
Possible Alternatives
Alternatives may be developed to
respond to concerns that the proposed
action could potentially result in
adverse impacts to white-tailed deer
winter habitat or that the proposed
E:\FR\FM\22DEN1.SGM
22DEN1
76964
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 246 / Friday, December 22, 2006 / Notices
action could potentially impact wildlife
species associated with closed canopy
forest communities.
Early Notice of Importance of Public
Participation in Subsequent
Environmental Review
(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22;
Forest Service Handbook 1909.15, Section
21)
Responsible Official
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 the
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 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 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
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.
Dated: December 15, 2006.
Cathy Barbouletos,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 06–9821 Filed 12–21–06; 8:45 am]
Cathy Barbouletos, Forest Supervisor,
Flathead National Forest, 1935 3rd
Avenue East, Kalispell, MT 59901, is the
responsible official for the preparation
of the EIS and will make a decision
regarding this proposal.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
This project will provide for removal
of approximately 5.5 MMBF of
commercial forest products, use of
prescribed fire for ecosystem
maintenance burning, shrub/grassland
maintenance, reduction of hazardous
fuels, and provide personal-use wood
products for the local community.
Scoping Process
Public and internal scoping for this
proposal is being initiated by the
publication of this Notice of Intent to
prepare an environmental impact
statement for the Cooney McKay Project
in the Federal Register. The Forest
Service scoping for the proposal
includes the publishing of a legal notice
in the paper of record, which will
coincide with a mailing of information
about the proposal to interested parties
during January 2007. Multiple mailings
to other government agencies, the public
and organizations are planted to insure
that interested parties are aware of and
have an opportunity to comment on the
proposal. The Forest Service plans on
issuing news releases periodically
during the development of this
proposal. In addition the proposal will
be included in the Schedule of Proposed
Actions, which is updated quarterly and
available on the National Forest Service
Web site. A public meeting and field
trip are tentatively planned for the
June–July 2007 timeframe, the location
of both of these scoping events will be
at the Forest Service Condon Work
Center, Condon, Montana.
Preliminary Issues
jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
Preliminary issues identified to-date
include concerns that the
implementation of the proposed action
could result in the loss of white-tailed
deer winter habitat and could also
potentially reduce habitat for wildlife
species associated with closed forest
canopy communities.
Comment Request
This Notice of Intent initiates the
scoping process, which guides the
development of the environmental
impact statement.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
17:45 Dec 21, 2006
Jkt 211001
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
BILLING CODE 3410–11–M
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Lake Tahoe Basin Federal Advisory
Committee
AGENCY:
ACTION:
Forest Service, USDA.
Notice of meeting.
SUMMARY: The Lake Tahoe Basin Federal
Advisory Committee will hold a
meeting on January 17, 2007 at The
Creekside Room, Lake Tahoe
Community College, One College Drive,
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. This
Committee, established by the Secretary
of Agriculture on December 15, 1998 (64
FR 2876), is chartered to provide advice
to the Secretary on implementing the
terms of the Federal Interagency
Partnership on the Lake Tahoe Region
and other matters raised by the
Secretary.
The meeting will be held January
17, 2007, beginning at 9 a.m. and ending
at 4 p.m.
DATES:
The meeting will be held at
The Creekside Room, Lake Tahoe
Community College, One College Drive,
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150.
ADDRESSES:
Arla
Hains, Lake Tahoe Basin Management
Unit, Forest Service, 35 College Drive,
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. (530)
543–2773.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Items to
be covered on the agenda include: (1)
The Lake Tahoe Federal Advisory
Committee Communications Plan; (2)
the Southern Nevada Public Land
Management Act Round 8; and (3)
Public Comment. All Lake Tahoe Basin
Federal Advisory Committee meetings
are open to the public. Interested
citizens are encouraged to attend at the
above address. Issues may be brought to
the attention of the Committee during
the open public comment period at the
meeting or by filing written statements
with the secretary for the Committee
before or after the meeting. Please refer
any written comments to the Lake
Tahoe Basin Management Unit at the
contact address stated above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
E:\FR\FM\22DEN1.SGM
22DEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 246 (Friday, December 22, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76963-76964]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-9821]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service.
Flathead National Forest, Swan Lake Ranger District, Montana;
Cooney McKay Project Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) for a proposal to harvest timber, reduce hazardous
forest fuels, and construct temporary roads within the Cooney McKay
Project area. The project area is approximately 35 miles southeast of
Bigfork, Montana, in the vicinity of the community of Condon, Montana.
The Forest Service is seeking further information and comments from
Federal, State, and local agencies and other individuals or
organizations that maybe interested in or affected by the proposed
actions. These comments will be used to prepare the draft EIS.
DATES: The draft environmental impact statement is expected in March
2007 and the final environmental impact statement is expected in May
2007.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Steve Brady, District Ranger, Swan
Lake Ranger District, 200 Ranger Station Road, Bigfork, MT 59911.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sue Tebay, Project Writer-Editor, Swan
Lake Ranger District, 200 Ranger Station Road, Bigfork, MT 59911.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Forest Plan
The EIS will tier to the Flathead National Forest Land and Resource
Management Plan (LRMP) and EIS of January, 1986, and its subsequent
amendments, which provide overall guidance of all land management
activities on the Flathead National Forest.
Background and Existing Condition Information
The Forest Services believes that a combination of factors such as
natural succession processes, extended regional drought patterns,
introduction of invasive plants, human development patterns, along with
unintended consequences of past management practices (e.g., fire
suppression policies) have crated and continue to lead to vegetative
conditions that do not wholly meet the desired future condition for the
project area, as described in the Forest Plan. The consequences of
these environmental changes and past management practices place
portions of the forested landscape at an elevated risk to unwanted
disturbances such as insect epidemics, wide-scale disease infections,
and high-severity wildfire.
Purpose and Need for Action
The purpose and need for the Cooney McKay project include: (1)
Improving the general health, resiliency, and sustainability of forest
vegetative communities within the project area; (2) reducing the risk
of insect epidemics and disease infestations within the project area;
(3) reducing the hazardous forest fuels buildup on National Forest
System lands adjacent to private lands within the project area; (4)
providing for a safer environment for the public and firefighters
should a wildfire occur within the project area; increase the
probability of stopping wildfires on National Forest Services lands
before they burn onto private lands; and (5) providing commercial and
personal-use wood products for the local communities.
Proposed Action
To move toward the desired future (vegetative) condition of
restoring and maintaining a healthy forest in the project area, the
Cooney McKay proposal includes mechanical and/or hand vegetation
treatments of mature and immature forest, ecosystem maintenance burning
on approximately 2,500 acres of upper elevation forest and shrubland
stands; hand planting of approximately 302 acres; and invasive plants/
noxious weed treatment on traveled roadways. In addition, approximately
900 acres may be understory or jackpot burned following treatment. The
proposal includes the construction and subsequent reclamation of
approximately 2 miles of temporary roads on National Forest System
lands to access treatment units. Best Management Practices would be
applied to all temporary roads constructed and roads temporarily
opened, as well as all system roads used in association with this
project for access and product removal.
The proposed management actions summarized above are being
considered together because they represent either connected or
cumulative actions as defined by the Council on Environmental Quality
(40 CFR 1508.25).
Possible Alternatives
Alternatives may be developed to respond to concerns that the
proposed action could potentially result in adverse impacts to white-
tailed deer winter habitat or that the proposed
[[Page 76964]]
action could potentially impact wildlife species associated with
closed canopy forest communities.
Responsible Official
Cathy Barbouletos, Forest Supervisor, Flathead National Forest,
1935 3rd Avenue East, Kalispell, MT 59901, is the responsible official
for the preparation of the EIS and will make a decision regarding this
proposal.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
This project will provide for removal of approximately 5.5 MMBF of
commercial forest products, use of prescribed fire for ecosystem
maintenance burning, shrub/grassland maintenance, reduction of
hazardous fuels, and provide personal-use wood products for the local
community.
Scoping Process
Public and internal scoping for this proposal is being initiated by
the publication of this Notice of Intent to prepare an environmental
impact statement for the Cooney McKay Project in the Federal Register.
The Forest Service scoping for the proposal includes the publishing of
a legal notice in the paper of record, which will coincide with a
mailing of information about the proposal to interested parties during
January 2007. Multiple mailings to other government agencies, the
public and organizations are planted to insure that interested parties
are aware of and have an opportunity to comment on the proposal. The
Forest Service plans on issuing news releases periodically during the
development of this proposal. In addition the proposal will be included
in the Schedule of Proposed Actions, which is updated quarterly and
available on the National Forest Service Web site. A public meeting and
field trip are tentatively planned for the June-July 2007 timeframe,
the location of both of these scoping events will be at the Forest
Service Condon Work Center, Condon, Montana.
Preliminary Issues
Preliminary issues identified to-date include concerns that the
implementation of the proposed action could result in the loss of
white-tailed deer winter habitat and could also potentially reduce
habitat for wildlife species associated with closed forest canopy
communities.
Comment Request
This Notice of Intent initiates the scoping process, which guides
the development of the environmental impact statement.
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 the 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 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
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 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.
(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; Forest Service Handbook
1909.15, Section 21)
Dated: December 15, 2006.
Cathy Barbouletos,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 06-9821 Filed 12-21-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M
