Kootenai National Forest, Rexford Ranger District, Montana; Young-Dodge Environmental Impact Statement, 39784-39786 [07-3519]
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39784
Notices
Federal Register
Vol. 72, No. 139
Friday, July 20, 2007
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.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Office of the Secretary
Roadless Area Conservation National
Advisory Committee
Office of the Secretary, USDA.
Notice; request for nominations.
AGENCY:
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
ACTION:
SUMMARY: The current terms of the
members of the Roadless Area
Conservation National Advisory
Committee (RACNAC) will expire in
September 2007. The Secretary invites
nominations of persons to serve on this
committee for a two year period, to run
from September 2007 to September
2009. Nominations should describe and
document the proposed member’s
qualifications for membership.
DATES: Nomination packages must
include a signed and dated copy of form
AD–755—Advisory Committee
Membership Background Information.
Form AD–755 may be obtained at
https://www.ocio.usda.gov/forms/
ocio_forms.html. Nominations must be
received in writing by August 20, 2007.
ADDRESSES: Nominations for
membership on the RACNAC may be
sent via fax to the Director, Ecosystem
Management Coordination at 202–205–
1012, or via mail to the Director,
Ecosystem Management Coordination,
USDA Forest Service, 1400
Independence Ave., SW., Mail Stop
1104, Washington, DC 20250.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jessica Call, RACNAC Coordinator, at
jessicacall@fs.fed.us or (202) 205–1056,
USDA Forest Service, 1400
Independence Avenue, SW., Mailstop
1104, Washington, DC 20250.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
purpose of the RACNAC is to provide
advice and recommendations to the
Secretary on the management and
conservation of roadless areas,
including, but not limited to, petitions
by the States to the Secretary, or his
designee, under the authority of the
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:19 Jul 19, 2007
Jkt 211001
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C.
553(e) and 7 CFR 1.28). The RACNAC
reviews submitted petitions and
provides advice and recommendations
to the Secretary. The RACNAC also
provides advice and recommendations
to the Secretary on any subsequent
State-specific rulemakings.
The RACNAC consists of up to 15
members appointed by the Secretary of
Agriculture. Officers or employees of
the Forest Service may not serve as
members of the Committee. The
Committee chair shall be elected by the
members. The RACNAC shall be
composed of a balanced group of
representatives of diverse national
organizations who can provide insights
into the major contemporary issues
associated with the conservation and
management of inventoried roadless
areas. Members operate in a manner
designed to establish a consensus of
opinion in order to develop
recommendations that reflect relevant
needs and perspectives. Members seek
to reach mutual agreement on a course
of action on issues. Collectively, the
members should represent a diversity of
organizations and perspectives.
Members will work together to draft
recommendations that are
representative of the diverse values and
interests represented in the Committee.
Appointment to the RACNAC will be
made by the Secretary of Agriculture.
Equal opportunity practices will be
followed in all appointments to the
RACNAC. To ensure the
recommendations of the RACNAC have
taken into account the needs of the
diverse groups served by the
Department, membership will include,
to the extent practicable, individuals
with demonstrated ability to represent
minorities, women and persons with
disabilities.
Dated: July 13, 2007.
Gilbert L. Smith Jr.,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Administration.
[FR Doc. E7–14016 Filed 7–19–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–11–P
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Kootenai National Forest, Rexford
Ranger District, Montana; YoungDodge Environmental Impact
Statement
Forest Service, USDA.
Notice of intent to prepare an
environmental impact statement.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
SUMMARY: The USDA—Forest Service
will prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) to disclose the
environmental effects of timber harvest,
prescribed burning, road management,
recreation improvements, and special
use permits in the Young-Dodge
Decision Area (Decision Area) on the
Rexford Ranger District of the Kootenai
National Forest. The Forest Service is
seeking comments from Federal; State,
and local agencies and individuals and
organizations that may be interested in
or affected by the proposed actions. The
comments will be used to prepared the
draft EIS (DEIS).
DATES: Written comments concerning
the scope of the analysis must be
postmarked by or received within 30
days following publication of this
notice. The draft environmental impact
statement is expected in April 2008.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments
concerning the proposed action to Glen
M. McNitt, District Ranger, Rexford
Ranger District, 1299 U.S. Highway 93
N, Eureka, MT 59917. All comments
received must contain: name of
commenter, postal service mailing
address, and date of comment.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Chris Fox, Interdisciplinary Team
Leader, Rexford Ranger District, 1299
U.S. Highway 93N, Eureka, MT 59917.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Decision Area is located approximately
15 miles northwest of Eureka, Montana,
and contains approximately 37,900
acres of land within the Kootenai
National Forest. Proposed activities
include all or portions of the following
areas: T.37N R.28W and part of T.37N
R.29W, PMM, Lincoln County,
Montana.
All proposed activities are outside the
boundaries of any areas considered for
inclusion to the National Wilderness
System as recommended by the
Kootenai National Forest Plan or by any
E:\FR\FM\20JYN1.SGM
20JYN1
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 139 / Friday, July 20, 2007 / Notices
past or present legislative wilderness
proposals. A prescribed burn is
proposed within the boundary of the
Robinson Mountain Inventoried
Roadless Area.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
Purpose and Need for Action
The purpose and need for the project
is to: (1) Reduce fuel accumulations,
both inside and outside the WildlandUrban Interface, to decrease the
likelihood that fires would become
stand-replacing wildfires; (2) Restore
historical vegetation species and stand
structure; and (3) Restore historical
patch sizes. Other consideration are: (4)
Identify the minimum transportation
system necessary to provide safe,
reasonable, and efficient access for
Forest Service administrative activities
and fire suppression, recreation use and
public access, and private land owners
and utility companies; (5) Manage the
transportation system to reduce effects
to threatened, endangered, sensitive,
and management indicator species
habitat and security; streams, riparian
areas, and wetlands; big game winter
range; and old growth habitat, and to
minimize road maintenance costs; (6)
Evaluate recreation facilities and
opportunities to meet growing and
anticipated demand; and (7) Evaluate
existing and proposed Special Use
Permits.
Proposed Action
The Forest Service proposes to use
regeneration harvest (shelterwood and
seedtree prescriptions) on
approximately 2,000 acres, and
commercial thinning on approximately
1,120 acres.
The Proposed Action would result in
26 openings over 40 acres, ranging from
41 to 1,121 acres. A 60-day public
review period and approval by the
Regional Forester for exceeding the 40acre limitation for regeneration harvest
would be required prior to the signing
of the Record of Decision. This 60-day
period is initiated with this Notice of
Intent.
The Proposed Action includes
approximately 2,660 acres of
underburning following timber harvest,
460 acres of excavator piling and
burning, and approximately 2,050 acres
of prescribed burning without timber
harvest. Approximately 1,650 acres will
be mechanically pre-treated followed by
prescribed burning. Additionally, the
Proposed Action includes 31 acres of
post and pole harvest, 366 acres of
roadside salvage, and up to 200 acres of
salvage of incidental mortality
associated with prescribed burning.
The Proposed Action includes
maintenance activities on portions of
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:19 Jul 19, 2007
Jkt 211001
approximately 70 miles of road to meet
Best Management Practices;
decommissioning approximately 12
miles of roads currently restricted yearlong to motorized vehicles; placing
approximately 26 miles of roads, which
are currently restrict year-long to motor
vehicles, in intermittent stored service;
placing seasonal restrictions on
motorized vehicle use on approximately
6 miles of roads; adding approximately
9 miles of ‘‘unauthorized’’ roads to the
National Forest Road System; and
realigning and reconstructing
approximately .25 miles of a road which
is of poor standard and receiving heavy
use.
The Proposed Action includes the
construction of a boat ramp and
installation of a rest room, and
improvements to a trail.
The Proposed Action also includes a
number of special use permits which
will expire during the period this
project will be implemented, and two
proposed special use permits for utility
lines.
The Proposed Action may require
several project-specific Forest Plan
amendments to meet the project’s
objectives:
An amendment to allow harvest in
units adjacent to existing openings in
Management Area (MA) 12 (Big Game
Summer Range). The amendment would
be needed to suspend Wildlife and Fish
Standard #7 and Timber Standard #2 for
this area. These standards state the
movement corridors and adjacent hiding
cover be retained.
The resulting opening sizes more
closely correlate to natural disturbance
patterns. Snags and down woody
material would be left to provide
wildlife habitat and maintain soil
productivity.
A third amendment to allow the open
road density in MA 12 to be managed
at greater than 0.75 miles/square mile
during project implementation may be
required. The amendment would be
necessary to suspend Facilities Standard
#3, which states that open road density
should be maintained at 0.75 miles/
square mile.
Possible Alternatives
The Forest Service will consider a
range of alternatives. One of these will
be the ‘‘no action’’ alternative, in which
none of the proposed activities will be
implemented. Additional alternatives
will be considered to achieve the
project’s purpose and need for action,
and to respond to specific resource
issues and public concerns.
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39785
Responsible Official
Paul Bradford, Forest Supervisor,
Kootenai National Forest, 1101 Highway
2 West, Libby, MT 59923.
Nature of the Decision To Be Made
This project will provide
approximately 10 MMBF of commercial
forest products, reduce hazardous fuels
within and outside the wildland-urban
interface, provide for recreation
facilities, and evaluate special-use
permits.
Scoping Process
In March 2007, efforts were made to
involve the public in considering
management opportunities within the
Decision Area. Open houses were held
on March 14 and 15, 2007. A scoping
package was mailed for public review
on May 4, 2007. An open house was
held on May 16, 2007, and field trips
were held on May 17, 2007 and June 28,
2007. The proposal will be included in
the quarterly Schedule of Proposed
Actions. Comments received prior to
this notice will be included in the
documentation for the EIS.
Preliminary Issues
A preliminary issue identified reflects
concern over the amount of regeneration
harvest (approximately 2,000 acres)
proposed in watersheds were logging
has occurred and grizzly bears and lynx
may be present.
Comment Requested
This Notice of intent initiates the
scoping process which guides the
development of the environment impact
statement. At this stage of the planning
process, site-specific public comments
are being requested to determine the
scope of the analysis, and identify
significant issues and alternatives to the
Proposed Action.
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 will be 45 days
from the date the Environmental
Protection Agency published the notice
of availability in the Federal Register.
The Forest Service believes it is
important to give reviewers notice of
several court rulings related to public
participating in the environmental
review process. First, reviewers of DEIS’
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
E:\FR\FM\20JYN1.SGM
20JYN1
39786
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 139 / Friday, July 20, 2007 / Notices
Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553
(1978). Also, environmental objections
that could be raised at the draft
environmental impact statement stage
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, 1339 (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 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 statements.
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: July 10, 2007.
Paul Bradford,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 07–3519 Filed 7–19–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–11–M
COMMITTEE FOR PURCHASE FROM
PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR
SEVERELY DISABLED
Procurement List; Proposed Additions
and Deletions
Proposed Additions to and
Deletions from the Procurement List.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
ACTION:
The Committee is proposing
to add to the Procurement List a product
and a service to be furnished by
nonprofit agencies employing persons
who are blind or have other severe
disabilities, and to delete a product and
SUMMARY:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:19 Jul 19, 2007
Jkt 211001
a service previously furnished by such
agencies.
Comments Must Be Received On or
Before: August 19, 2007.
ADDRESSES: Committee for Purchase
From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled, Jefferson Plaza 2, Suite 10800,
1421 Jefferson Davis Highway,
Arlington, Virginia 22202–3259.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR TO SUBMIT
COMMENTS CONTACT: Kimberly M. Zeich,
Telephone: (703) 603–7740, Fax: (703)
603–0655, or e-mail
CMTEFedReg@jwod.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This
notice is published pursuant to 41
U.S.C. 47(a) (2) and 41 CFR 51–2.3. Its
purpose is to provide interested persons
an opportunity to submit comments on
the proposed actions.
Additions
If the Committee approves the
proposed additions, the entities of the
Federal Government identified in this
notice for each product or service will
be required to procure the products and
services listed below from nonprofit
agencies employing persons who are
blind or have other severe disabilities.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
I certify that the following action will
not have a significant impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
The major factors considered for this
certification were:
1. If approved, the action will not
result in any additional reporting,
recordkeeping or other compliance
requirements for small entities other
than the small organizations that will
furnish the products and services to the
Government.
2. If approved, the action will result
in authorizing small entities to furnish
the products and services to the
Government.
3. There are no known regulatory
alternatives which would accomplish
the objectives of the Javits-WagnerO’Day Act (41 U.S.C. 46–48c) in
connection with the products and
services proposed for addition to the
Procurement List.
Comments on this certification are
invited. Commenters should identify the
statement(s) underlying the certification
on which they are providing additional
information.
End of Certification
The following products and service
are proposed for addition to
Procurement List for production by the
nonprofit agencies listed:
Products:
Portfolio, Writing, CAMO (ACU Digitized):
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NSN: 7510–00–NIB–0753—Memo size;
NSN: 7510–00–NIB–0764—Letter Size;
NSN: 7510–00–NIB–0765—Memo Size;
NSN: 7510–00–NIB–0766—Letter Size;
NSN: 7510–00–NIB–0805—US Army Logo.
Memo Size;
NSN: 7510–00–NIB–0808—Pocket Size.
Coverage: A-List for the total Government
requirements as specified by the General
Services Administration.
Portfolio, Writing, Custom Color and Logo:
NSN: 7510–00–NIB–0806—Memo Size.
Coverage: B-List for the requirements of the
General Services Administration.
NPA: New York City Industries for the Blind,
Inc., Brooklyn, NY.
Contracting Activity: General Services
Administration, Office Supplies & Paper
Products Acquisition Ctr, New York, NY.
Service:
Service Type/Location: Commissary
Warehousing, Warehouse Building 3335,
3335 Central Avenue, Suite 100, Eielson
AFB, AK.
NPA: Fairbanks Resource Agency, Fairbanks,
AK.
Contracting Activity: Defense Commissary
Agency, Fort Lee, VA.
Deletions
Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification
I certify that the following action will
not have a significant impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
The major factors considered for this
certification were:
1. If approved, the action may result
in additional reporting, recordkeeping
or other compliance requirements for
small entities.
2. If approved, the action may result
in authorizing small entities to furnish
the services to the Government.
3. There are no known regulatory
alternatives which would accomplish
the objectives of the Javits-WagnerO’Day Act (41 U.S.C. 46–48c) in
connection with the services proposed
for deletion from the Procurement List.
End of Certification
The following product and service are
proposed for deletion from the
Procurement List:
Product:
Tube, Mailing and Filing:
NSN: 8110–00–969–5406—Tube, Mailing
and Filing.
NPA: MacDonald Training Center, Inc.,
Tampa, FL.
Contracting Activity: General Services
Administration, Office Supplies & Paper
Products Acquisition Ctr, New York, NY.
Service:
Service Type/Location: Commissary Shelf
Stocking, Custodial & Warehousing,
Marine Corps Base, Twenty-Nine Palms,
CA.
NPA: PRIDE Industries, Inc., Roseville, CA.
Contracting Activity: Defense Commissary
E:\FR\FM\20JYN1.SGM
20JYN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 139 (Friday, July 20, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39784-39786]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-3519]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Kootenai National Forest, Rexford Ranger District, Montana;
Young-Dodge Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The USDA--Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) to disclose the environmental effects of timber
harvest, prescribed burning, road management, recreation improvements,
and special use permits in the Young-Dodge Decision Area (Decision
Area) on the Rexford Ranger District of the Kootenai National Forest.
The Forest Service is seeking comments from Federal; State, and local
agencies and individuals and organizations that may be interested in or
affected by the proposed actions. The comments will be used to prepared
the draft EIS (DEIS).
DATES: Written comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be
postmarked by or received within 30 days following publication of this
notice. The draft environmental impact statement is expected in April
2008.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments concerning the proposed action to Glen
M. McNitt, District Ranger, Rexford Ranger District, 1299 U.S. Highway
93 N, Eureka, MT 59917. All comments received must contain: name of
commenter, postal service mailing address, and date of comment.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Fox, Interdisciplinary Team
Leader, Rexford Ranger District, 1299 U.S. Highway 93N, Eureka, MT
59917.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Decision Area is located approximately
15 miles northwest of Eureka, Montana, and contains approximately
37,900 acres of land within the Kootenai National Forest. Proposed
activities include all or portions of the following areas: T.37N R.28W
and part of T.37N R.29W, PMM, Lincoln County, Montana.
All proposed activities are outside the boundaries of any areas
considered for inclusion to the National Wilderness System as
recommended by the Kootenai National Forest Plan or by any
[[Page 39785]]
past or present legislative wilderness proposals. A prescribed burn is
proposed within the boundary of the Robinson Mountain Inventoried
Roadless Area.
Purpose and Need for Action
The purpose and need for the project is to: (1) Reduce fuel
accumulations, both inside and outside the Wildland-Urban Interface, to
decrease the likelihood that fires would become stand-replacing
wildfires; (2) Restore historical vegetation species and stand
structure; and (3) Restore historical patch sizes. Other consideration
are: (4) Identify the minimum transportation system necessary to
provide safe, reasonable, and efficient access for Forest Service
administrative activities and fire suppression, recreation use and
public access, and private land owners and utility companies; (5)
Manage the transportation system to reduce effects to threatened,
endangered, sensitive, and management indicator species habitat and
security; streams, riparian areas, and wetlands; big game winter range;
and old growth habitat, and to minimize road maintenance costs; (6)
Evaluate recreation facilities and opportunities to meet growing and
anticipated demand; and (7) Evaluate existing and proposed Special Use
Permits.
Proposed Action
The Forest Service proposes to use regeneration harvest
(shelterwood and seedtree prescriptions) on approximately 2,000 acres,
and commercial thinning on approximately 1,120 acres.
The Proposed Action would result in 26 openings over 40 acres,
ranging from 41 to 1,121 acres. A 60-day public review period and
approval by the Regional Forester for exceeding the 40-acre limitation
for regeneration harvest would be required prior to the signing of the
Record of Decision. This 60-day period is initiated with this Notice of
Intent.
The Proposed Action includes approximately 2,660 acres of
underburning following timber harvest, 460 acres of excavator piling
and burning, and approximately 2,050 acres of prescribed burning
without timber harvest. Approximately 1,650 acres will be mechanically
pre-treated followed by prescribed burning. Additionally, the Proposed
Action includes 31 acres of post and pole harvest, 366 acres of
roadside salvage, and up to 200 acres of salvage of incidental
mortality associated with prescribed burning.
The Proposed Action includes maintenance activities on portions of
approximately 70 miles of road to meet Best Management Practices;
decommissioning approximately 12 miles of roads currently restricted
year-long to motorized vehicles; placing approximately 26 miles of
roads, which are currently restrict year-long to motor vehicles, in
intermittent stored service; placing seasonal restrictions on motorized
vehicle use on approximately 6 miles of roads; adding approximately 9
miles of ``unauthorized'' roads to the National Forest Road System; and
realigning and reconstructing approximately .25 miles of a road which
is of poor standard and receiving heavy use.
The Proposed Action includes the construction of a boat ramp and
installation of a rest room, and improvements to a trail.
The Proposed Action also includes a number of special use permits
which will expire during the period this project will be implemented,
and two proposed special use permits for utility lines.
The Proposed Action may require several project-specific Forest
Plan amendments to meet the project's objectives:
An amendment to allow harvest in units adjacent to existing
openings in Management Area (MA) 12 (Big Game Summer Range). The
amendment would be needed to suspend Wildlife and Fish Standard
7 and Timber Standard 2 for this area. These
standards state the movement corridors and adjacent hiding cover be
retained.
The resulting opening sizes more closely correlate to natural
disturbance patterns. Snags and down woody material would be left to
provide wildlife habitat and maintain soil productivity.
A third amendment to allow the open road density in MA 12 to be
managed at greater than 0.75 miles/square mile during project
implementation may be required. The amendment would be necessary to
suspend Facilities Standard 3, which states that open road
density should be maintained at 0.75 miles/square mile.
Possible Alternatives
The Forest Service will consider a range of alternatives. One of
these will be the ``no action'' alternative, in which none of the
proposed activities will be implemented. Additional alternatives will
be considered to achieve the project's purpose and need for action, and
to respond to specific resource issues and public concerns.
Responsible Official
Paul Bradford, Forest Supervisor, Kootenai National Forest, 1101
Highway 2 West, Libby, MT 59923.
Nature of the Decision To Be Made
This project will provide approximately 10 MMBF of commercial
forest products, reduce hazardous fuels within and outside the
wildland-urban interface, provide for recreation facilities, and
evaluate special-use permits.
Scoping Process
In March 2007, efforts were made to involve the public in
considering management opportunities within the Decision Area. Open
houses were held on March 14 and 15, 2007. A scoping package was mailed
for public review on May 4, 2007. An open house was held on May 16,
2007, and field trips were held on May 17, 2007 and June 28, 2007. The
proposal will be included in the quarterly Schedule of Proposed
Actions. Comments received prior to this notice will be included in the
documentation for the EIS.
Preliminary Issues
A preliminary issue identified reflects concern over the amount of
regeneration harvest (approximately 2,000 acres) proposed in watersheds
were logging has occurred and grizzly bears and lynx may be present.
Comment Requested
This Notice of intent initiates the scoping process which guides
the development of the environment impact statement. At this stage of
the planning process, site-specific public comments are being requested
to determine the scope of the analysis, and identify significant issues
and alternatives to the Proposed Action.
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 will be
45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency published the
notice of availability in the Federal Register.
The Forest Service believes it is important to give reviewers
notice of several court rulings related to public participating in the
environmental review process. First, reviewers of DEIS' 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
[[Page 39786]]
Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978). Also, environmental
objections that could be raised at the draft environmental impact
statement stage 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, 1339 (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 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 statements. 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: July 10, 2007.
Paul Bradford,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 07-3519 Filed 7-19-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M
