Pinaleño Ecosystem Restoration Project, Safford Ranger District, Coronado National Forest, Graham County, Arizona, 43225-43228 [07-3812]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
• Forest Service

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 149 (Friday, August 3, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43225-43228]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-3812]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Pinale[ntilde]o Ecosystem Restoration Project, Safford Ranger 
District, Coronado National Forest, Graham County, Arizona

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the President's Council on Environmental 
Quality (CEQ) Regulations Implementing the Procedural Provisions of the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, the U.S. Department 
of Agriculture, Forest Service, Coronado National Forest, announces its 
intent to prepare an

[[Page 43226]]

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate a proposed action to 
thin dense forests, remove standing dead trees and down woody debris, 
and use prescribed fire on approximately 3,705 acres in the 
Pinale[ntilde]o Mountains in Graham County, Arizona, within Townships 8 
and 9 South, Ranges 23 and 24 East, Gila and Salt River Meridian. These 
treatments would be carried out over a 10-year period for the purposes 
of restoring a fire-adapted ecosystem and aiding in the recovery of the 
Mount Graham red squirrel population and habitat.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the EIS analysis must be 
received by 30 days following the publication of this notice. The Draft 
EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA) in the spring of 2008. At that time, EPA will publish a Notice of 
Availability (NOA) of the Draft EIS in the Federal Register, which will 
begin a period of public review of the Draft EIS. The review period 
will comprise 45 days from the date of publication of the NOA in the 
Federal Register. The Final EIS is scheduled to be completed in the 
summer of 2008.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on this notice may be mailed to the Craig 
Wilcox, Forest Silviculturist, Coronado National Forest, Safford Ranger 
District, 711 S. 14th Ave., Suite D, Safford, AZ 85546. Written 
comments may also be sent by facsimile to Mr. Wilcox at (928) 428-2393. 
Comments may be submitted by electronic mail to cpwilcox@fs.fed.us. 
Envelopes and the subject line of electronic mail messages or faxes 
should be labeled ``Pinale[ntilde]o Ecosystem Restoration Project 
EIS.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the Pinale[ntilde]o 
Ecosystem Restoration Project, please contact Mr. Craig Wilcox, Forest 
Silviculturist, Coronado National Forest, at the above address, and 
telephone (928) 348-1961. Questions on the Forest Service NEPA process 
may be directed to Ms. Andrea Wargo Campbell, Forest NEPA Coordinator, 
at 300 W. Congress St., Tucson, AZ 85701, and telephone (520) 388-8352.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Over the past 100 years, fire suppression and other factors have 
diminished the natural ecological role of fire in the Pinale[ntilde]o 
Mountains on the Safford Ranger District of the Coronado National 
Forest, resulting in a higher than average stand density and a heavy 
accumulation of dead and downed trees (fuel load). Both of these forest 
conditions increase the probability and consequences of severe wildland 
fire occurrence in the area.
    In 1996 and 2004, large-acreage, high-intensity wildland fires 
exacerbated a reduction in the population of the Federally endangered 
Mount Graham red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus grahamensis) through 
habitat loss and mortality. Also, since 1996, progressive insect 
infestations have defoliated and killed trees in the spruce-fir and 
mixed-conifer forests of the Pinale[ntilde]o Mountains. Tree mortality 
associated with these outbreaks has exacerbated the probability of 
wildland fire and contributed further to a decline in the red squirrel 
population through habitat loss. Today, the population of the red 
squirrel is at its lowest point since censuses were initiated in 1986, 
and the viability of the species is of paramount concern to both the 
Forest Service and other Federal and state wildlife management 
agencies.
    In May 2005, the Forest Service developed a tentative proposal to 
treat this area of the Forest to decrease the probability of severe 
wildland fire and improve general forest health. At that time, a 
scoping notice was distributed to the public requesting comments on the 
proposal, and two open house meetings were held to explain the nature 
of the treatments that were planned to be implemented. Based on public 
input and a continued decline in the squirrel population, the Forest 
Service has since recognized the need for further refinement of the 
proposed action to achieve a balance between short-term protection of 
squirrel habitat and long-term forest restoration. Thus, in 2007, a 
refined proposed action was developed to emphasize a concurrent 
reduction in the potential for severe wildland fire impacts and insect 
and disease outbreaks, while managing for long-term sustainability of 
red squirrel habitat. Given the sensitive nature of any proposed Forest 
treatments to the red squirrel and its habitat, the Forest Service 
decided to prepare an EIS that would provide a robust analysis to the 
decisionmaker, cooperating agencies and the public.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action that will be evaluated in this EIS includes 
both on-the-ground treatments to improve Forest health and improve or 
protect red squirrel habitat; and administrative actions to incorporate 
amendments to the governing Forest Land and Resource Management Plan 
(Forest Plan), the latter of which will allow on-the-ground treatments 
to be implemented.
    On the ground, approximately 3,705 acres of Forest would receive 
various combinations of silvicultural prescriptive treatments and/or 
fuel reduction actions, which include mechanical treatments and 
prescribed fire. To accomplish the proposed action, the Forest Plan 
must be amended to allow Christmas tree removal and public fuelwood 
gathering and to establish less restrictive Visual Quality Objectives 
(VQO) in the project area. Thus, the EIS will also evaluate proposed 
action of amending the Forest Plan to change current standards and 
guidelines for the project area.
    The proposed action would implement more than 50 combinations of 
vegetation treatment options, depending on stand density and other 
physical conditions. These combinations will follow two general 
treatment strategies tiered from management guidance for the Mount 
Graham red squirrel and the Mexican spotted owl.
    Live-tree thinning, using a combination of variable density, 
thinning from below, and group selection thinning techniques, is 
proposed as a silvicultural treatment on approximately 2,862 acres. In 
this treatment area, no live or dead trees larger than 18-inches 
diameter at breast height (dbh) would be removed on 1,773 acres; larger 
than 12-inches dbh on 47 acres; and larger than 9 inches dbh on 1,042 
acres. Pockets of standing dead trees (up to 18-inches dbh) would be 
removed in areas where high tree mortality has occurred because of 
wildland fire and/or insect infestations.
    Forest fuel reduction treatments would generally occur in the same 
areas where silvicultural treatments are proposed. These actions 
include masticating small trees (461 acres); lopping and scattering of 
trees less than 9 inches diameter (3,092 acres); underburning (2,642 
acres); hand piling and burning small trees (1,612 acres); and pruning 
trees in treatment units that are along major roads.
    Vegetation that is not mechanically reduced onsite would be removed 
from treatment units and transferred to collection points (landings) 
using ground-based mechanical removal equipment, cable logging systems, 
and/or manual, hand-based labor. The transfer method for each treatment 
unit would depend upon topography, availability of road access, cost, 
and resource protection needs. After material is removed from treatment 
units and taken to landings, it would be processed into sawlogs, 
firewood, or chips, and trucked from the project area. Some material 
may be piled and burned at the landing site.

[[Page 43227]]

    All proposed treatments would include resource-specific design 
criteria to guide the manner in which the actions are implemented in 
order to minimize or reduce anticipated effects. Treatments are 
expected to continue in the project area for up to a period of ten 
years.

Purpose of and Need for Action

    The purpose of this proposed action is to restore Forest ecosystem 
health and to protect habitat or restore degraded habitat for the 
endangered Mount Graham red squirrel.
    Current fuel loads and stand densities in the project area are much 
greater than historic forest conditions, leaving the forest 
increasingly vulnerable to disease, insect infestations, and fire. The 
ecological implications of these shifts have led to increased 
susceptibility of the Forest to insect outbreaks and stand-replacing 
fires. Therefore, there is a need to initiate restoration of natural 
ecological processes and to treat the causes of declining ecosystem 
health by reducing stand densities, changing understory species 
composition, and reducing fuel loading. Restoration seeks to return 
forests, or to initiate an ecological trajectory to return forests, to 
a condition that is self-sustaining and compatible with the conditions 
under which they naturally evolved.
    According to the Mount Graham Red Squirrel Recovery Plan (USDI Fish 
and Wildlife Service, 1993, Arizona Ecological Services State Office, 
Phoenix, AZ), the main threats to this endangered subspecies are 
habitat loss and catastrophic wildland fire. Over the past 20 years, 
approximately 50% of previously occupied red squirrel habitat has been 
rendered unsuitable due to insect outbreaks and fire. Associated with 
this reduction in habitat, there is an accompanying decline in 
population size; the current population estimate is 216 squirrels. As 
such, the remaining habitat, most of which falls within the project 
area, is of high importance. Therefore, a need exists to protect red 
squirrel habitat within the project area from losses due to fire, 
insect outbreaks, and diseases, and to restore areas of degraded 
habitat for this subspecies.

Preliminary Identification of Issues

    Based on a preliminary review of the proposed action, the following 
issues were identified:
    1. Short term impacts to the Mexican spotted owl may occur.
    2. The efficacy of fuel reduction treatments proposed in this 
project is limited by the need to protect the Mount Graham red 
squirrel.
    3. An increase of interspecies competition from the introduced 
Abert's squirrel with the Mount Graham red squirrel may result due to 
an increase in pine species.
    4. An increase of avian predation on the Mount Graham red squirrel 
may result due to a reduction in hiding cover.

Responsible Official

    Jeanine Derby, Forest Supervisor, Coronado National Forest, will be 
the Responsible Official who prepares the Record of Decision at the 
conclusion of this NEPA review. The address for the Coronado National 
Forest is 300 W. Congress St., Tucson, AZ 85701.

Nature of NEPA Decision To Be Made

    The Coronado National Forest Supervisor's decision will address 
implementation of: (1) The proposed action, including Forest Plan 
amendments, (2) (an) alternative(s) to the proposed action and/or 
amendments if any exist, or (3) the no-action alternative; and approve 
or disapprove each of three proposed amendments to the Forest Plan.

Comments Requested

    The Forest Service encourages citizens to express issues, concerns, 
and suggestions they may have about this proposed action. Comments 
should be directly related to the proposed action to best assist us in 
our environmental impacts analysis. Although comments are welcome at 
any time, they will be most useful to us if they are received by 30 
days following the publication of this notice If you have any questions 
about this notice or the comment process, please contact Craig Wilcox, 
Forest Silviculturist, Coronado National Forest, Safford Ranger 
District, at telephone (928) 348-1961, prior to submitting your 
comments.
    Written comments on this notice may be mailed to Craig Wilcox, 
Forest Silviculturist, Coronado National Forest, Stafford Ranger 
District, 711 S. 14th Ave., Suite D, Safford, AZ 85546. You may also 
submit written comments by facsimile to Mr. Wilcox at (928) 428-2393. 
Comments may be submitted by electronic mail to cpwilcox@fs.fed.us. 
Envelopes and the subject line of electronic mail messages or faxes 
should be labeled ``Pinale[ntilde]o Ecosystem Restoration Project 
EIS.''
    Comments and personal information associated with them, such as 
names and addresses, will become part of the administrative project 
record for this NEPA review. As such, they may be made available to a 
third-party upon request pursuant to the Freedom of Infomation act 
(FOIA). If you do not wish your personal information to be subject to 
release under FOIA, you may choose not to include it with your 
comments. Alternatively, you may request an exemption from FOIA with 
your comments submittal. Should you choose the latter, you will be 
informed by the Forest Service as to whether or not your request 
qualifies for an exemption. If it does not, you will be afforded the 
opportunity to resubmit your comments without personal information or 
to withhold them.

Early Notice of the Importance of Public Participation in the NEPA 
Process

    Following the 30-day scoping period announced in this notice, the 
Forest Service will prepare a draft environmental impact statement 
(DEIS). Upon completion, the DEIS will be made available for a 45-day 
public review and comment period that will begin on the date that the 
EPA publishes a Notice of Availability of the DEIS in the Federal 
Register. The Forest Service believes that, at this early stage, it is 
important to provide the public with notice about several court rulings 
related to public participation in the NEPA environmental review 
process.
    First, reviewers of a DEIS must structure their participation in 
the NEPA review so that it is meaningful and alerts the 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 DEIS stage but are not raised until after 
completion of the final environmental impact statement (FEIS) 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. Wisc. 1980)]. Because of these court rulings, 
it is very important that those parties who are interested in this 
proposed action participate before the close of a public comment period 
so that substantive comments and objections are available to the Forest 
Service in a timely manner that will allow them to be meaningfully 
considered and subsequently addressed in the FEIS.
    To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues 
and concerns about the proposed action, comments on a DEIS should be as 
specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to specific 
line numbers, pages, and/or chapters of the DEIS. Comments may address 
the adequacy of the DEIS or the merits of the alternatives formulated 
and

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discussed in it. For comments of this nature, reviewers may choose to 
refer to CEQ regulations at 40 CFR 1503.3.
    Comments received, including the names and addresses of those who 
comment, will be considered part of the public record of this NEPA 
review and will be available for public inspection (Authority: 40 CFR 
1501.7 and 1508.22; FSF 1909.15, Section 21).
    Authorization: National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 as amended 
(42 U.S.C. 4321-4346); Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 
CFR parts 1500-1508); U.S. Department of Agriculture NEPA Policies and 
Procedures (7 CFR part 1b).

    Dated: July 30, 2007.
Jeanine A. Derby,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 07-3812 Filed 8-2-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M