Information Collection; Special Areas; State Petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area Management, 65288-65289 [E7-22668]

Download as PDF 65288 Notices Federal Register Vol. 72, No. 223 Tuesday, November 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. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board; Update U.S. Agency for International Development, Office of Inspector General. ACTION: Notice. Senior Executive Services (SES) Performance Review Board: Update. pwalker on PROD1PC71 with NOTICES AGENCY: SUMMARY: This notice is hereby given of the appointment of members of the updated USAID OIG SES Performance Review Board. DATES: November 15, 2007. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paula F. Hayes, Assistant Inspector General for Management, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Room 8.08– 029, Washington, DC 20523–8700; telephone 202–712–0010; Fax 202–216– 3392; Internet e-mail address: phayes@usaid.gov (for e-mail messages, the subject line should include the following reference—USAID OIG SES Performance Review Board). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 5 U.S.C. 4314(b)(c) requires each agency to establish, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the office of Personnel Management at 5 CFR part 430, subpart C and Section 430.307 thereof in particular, one or more Senior Executive Service Performance Review Boards. The board shall review and evaluate the initial appraisal of each USAID OIG senior executive’s performance by his or her supervisor, along with any recommendations to the appointing authority relative to the performance of the senior executive. This notice updates the membership of the USAID OIG’s SES Performance Review Board as it was last published on May 31, 2007. Approved: November 15, 2007. VerDate Aug<31>2005 17:01 Nov 19, 2007 Jkt 214001 The following have been selected as regular members of the SES Performance Review Board of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Office of Inspector General: Michael G. Carroll, Deputy Inspector General. Adrienne Rish, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations. Paula F. Hayes, Assistant Inspector General for Management. Lisa S. Goldfluss, Legal Counsel. Alvin A. Brown, Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Audit. Howard I. Hendershot, Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations. Winona Varnon, Director, Security Services, Department of Education. Pauline K. Brunelli, Director, Federal Voting Assistance Program Department of Defense. Aletha Brown, Inspector General, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Mark Bialek, Counsel to the Inspector General, Environmental Protection Agency. Theodore P. Alves, Assistant Inspector General Financial Information, Department of Transportation. Dated: November 15, 2007. Donald A. Gambatesa, Inspector General. [FR Doc. 07–5771 Filed 11–19–07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6116–01–M DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Information Collection; Special Areas; State Petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area Management Forest Service, USDA. Notice; request for comment. AGENCY: ACTION: SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Forest Service is seeking comments from all interested individuals and organizations on the extension of a currently approved information collection, State Petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area Management. DATES: Comments must be received in writing on or before January 22, 2008 to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date will be considered to the extent practicable. ADDRESSES: Comments concerning this notice should be addressed to Forest PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 Service, USDA Assistant Director for Planning, Ecosystem Management Coordination, Mail Stop 1104, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250–1104. Comments also may be submitted via facsimile to (202) 205–1012 or by e-mail to: bsupulski@fs.fed.us. The public may inspect comments received at the Ecosystem Management Coordination Office, 201 14th St., SW., Washington, DC 20250–1104 during normal business hours. Visitors are encouraged to call ahead to (202) 205– 0895 to facilitate entry to the building. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bill Supulski, Ecosystem Management Coordination, (202) 205–0948. Individuals who use TDD may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1–800– 877–8339, 24 hours a day, every day of the year, including holidays. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Special Areas; State Petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area Management OMB Number: 0596–0178 Expiration Date of Approval: May 31, 2008 Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection Abstract: On May 13, 2005, the Forest Service published a final rule 36 CFR part 294 creating an individual state petitioning process for state and territorial governors to seek establishment of management requirements for National Forest System inventoried roadless areas within their States. On September 19, 2006, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order setting aside the state petitions rule. (People of the State of California, ex rel Lockyer v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, No. C05–03508–EDL (N.D. Cal.). This decision is currently under appeal. The petitions will only be collected and used if this injunction is lifted. If the injunction is lifted, the petitions would be evaluated and if accepted by the Secretary of Agriculture, the Forest Service would initiate subsequent State-specific rulemaking for the management of inventoried roadless areas in cooperation with the state or territory involved in the petitioning process. Estimate of Annual Burden: This is estimated to be as high as 1,000 hours for a single petition, depending on the number of roadless areas within a State and the extent of adjustment to roadless E:\FR\FM\20NON1.SGM 20NON1 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 223 / Tuesday, November 20, 2007 / Notices Dated: November 15, 2007. Gloria Manning, Associate Deputy Chief, NFS. [FR Doc. E7–22668 Filed 11–19–07; 8:45 am] regime condition class to re-create conditions that are consistent with the historic range of variability for forests of the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon, and to capture the commercial value of forest raw materials for the benefit of local economies. The Farley Analysis Area encompasses the Desolation Creek watershed which covers 69,672 acres of diverse mountainous, mostly forested landscapes ranging in elevation from 7,765 ft at its headwaters to 2810 ft at its confluence with the North Fork John Day River near Dale, Oregon. It includes both National Forest and privatelyowned lands; private lands comprise about 18 percent of the total area, mostly at lower elevations at the western end of the watershed. Development and implementation of these actions will be conducted in accordance with the National Forest Management Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Council on Environmental Quality regulations, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, and with the Umatilla National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan and scientific recommendations of the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project. DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received by December 12, 2007. The Draft EIS is expected to be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and be available to the public for review by February 2008. The Final EIS is scheduled to be completed by April 2008. BILLING CODE 3410–11–P ADDRESSES: area management recommended in an individual petition. Type of Respondents: State and territorial governors. Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 36; if all affected states and territories submit petitions. Estimated Annual Number of Responses per Respondent: 1. Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: Up to 36,000 hours. Comment is invited on: (1) Whether this collection of information is necessary for the stated purposes and the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical or scientific utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the burden of the collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology. All comments received in response to this notice, including names and addresses when provided, will be a matter of public record. Comments will be summarized and included in the request for Office of Management and Budget approval. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Umatilla National Forest, Grant County, OR Farley Analysis Area Vegetation Management Project Forest Service, USDA. Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement. AGENCY: pwalker on PROD1PC71 with NOTICES ACTION: SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture—Forest Service proposes to conduct vegetation management activities on approximately 17,500 acres of upland forest sites in the Farley Analysis Area to restore sustainable forest conditions in the Desolation Creek watershed. The proposed action will use a range of mechanical harvest and non-harvest thinning and prescribed fire activities to alter species composition, stand structure, and fire VerDate Aug<31>2005 17:01 Nov 19, 2007 Jkt 214001 Send written comments to the Responsible Official, Kevin D. Martin, Forest Supervisor, Umatilla National Forest, 2517 S.W. Hailey Avenue, Pendleton, OR 97801. Send electronic comments to: commentspacificnorthwestumatilla@fs.fed.us. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael A. Beckwith, Technical WriterEditor, North Fork John Day Ranger District, 401 Main Street, Ukiah, OR 97880, phone (541) 427–5335. E-mail: mabeckwith@fs.fed.us. Purpose and Need. Since the early 1900s, fire has been aggressively excluded from forest ecosystems throughout the Nation. From the mid to late 1900s, timber harvest practices in the interior Columbia Basin have emphasized removal primarily of mature ponderosa pine. The result has been a shift in forest conditions toward dense stands of Douglas and grand fir containing large amounts of dead and decaying wood SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 65289 that now are subject to insect infestations, disease, and very large wildfires, in contrast to the more open stands of fire-adapted species (such as ponderosa pine) that would be expected to occur historically. In addition, in 1996 the Bull, Summit and Tower wildfires in and near the Farley Analysis Area involved mature lodgepole pine forests that had experienced substantial insect mortality. These fires were uncharacteristically intense and covered large areas (over 130,000 acres) because, as a result of past fire suppression and timber harvest practices, the forests had become more dense (more trees per acre) and contained a larger amount of dead wood than would have existed historically. These fires resulted in greater loss of old forest structure, wildlife cover and habitat, riparian structure and vegetation, erosion and detrimental effects to soils over very large areas than would have been anticipated historically. The Desolation Watershed Analysis (1999) found that almost 60 percent of upland-forest sites in the Farley area exhibit moderate or high departures from the characteristic species composition, structure and stand density conditions than would have existed historically. These conditions are outside the range of historic variability for forests in the Blue Mountains and are not sustainable over the long-term, with the end result likely to be very large, destructive wildfires. Therefore, the purpose and need for the Farley Vegetation Management Project is to improve the long-term sustainability of upland forests by reducing stand densities and fuel loads, restoring appropriate species composition, altering forest structure and fire regime condition class, regenerating mature lodgepole stands that currently exist, and to capture the commercial value of raw wood materials for the benefit of local economies. Proposed Action. The Forest Service proposes to conduct mechanical harvest and non-harvest thinning, prescribed fire, fuels treatment, and reforestation activities on approximately 17,460 acres in the Farley Analysis Area in accordance with the resource management objectives and standards set forth in the Umatilla National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (1990) and the scientific recommendations of the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project (1996). These activities are anticipated to yield approximately 60,000 hundred cubic feet of merchantable material. Approximately 100 miles of open and seasonally open E:\FR\FM\20NON1.SGM 20NON1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 223 (Tuesday, November 20, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65288-65289]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-22668]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Information Collection; Special Areas; State Petitions for 
Inventoried Roadless Area Management

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice; request for comment.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Forest Service is seeking comments from all interested individuals and 
organizations on the extension of a currently approved information 
collection, State Petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area Management.

DATES: Comments must be received in writing on or before January 22, 
2008 to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date 
will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Comments concerning this notice should be addressed to 
Forest Service, USDA Assistant Director for Planning, Ecosystem 
Management Coordination, Mail Stop 1104, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20250-1104.
    Comments also may be submitted via facsimile to (202) 205-1012 or 
by e-mail to: bsupulski@fs.fed.us.
    The public may inspect comments received at the Ecosystem 
Management Coordination Office, 201 14th St., SW., Washington, DC 
20250-1104 during normal business hours. Visitors are encouraged to 
call ahead to (202) 205-0895 to facilitate entry to the building.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bill Supulski, Ecosystem Management 
Coordination, (202) 205-0948. Individuals who use TDD may call the 
Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339, 24 hours a day, every 
day of the year, including holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Special Areas; State Petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area 
Management
    OMB Number: 0596-0178
    Expiration Date of Approval: May 31, 2008
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection
    Abstract: On May 13, 2005, the Forest Service published a final 
rule 36 CFR part 294 creating an individual state petitioning process 
for state and territorial governors to seek establishment of management 
requirements for National Forest System inventoried roadless areas 
within their States. On September 19, 2006, the United States District 
Court for the Northern District of California issued an order setting 
aside the state petitions rule. (People of the State of California, ex 
rel Lockyer v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, No. C05-03508-EDL (N.D. 
Cal.). This decision is currently under appeal. The petitions will only 
be collected and used if this injunction is lifted. If the injunction 
is lifted, the petitions would be evaluated and if accepted by the 
Secretary of Agriculture, the Forest Service would initiate subsequent 
State-specific rulemaking for the management of inventoried roadless 
areas in cooperation with the state or territory involved in the 
petitioning process.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: This is estimated to be as high as 1,000 
hours for a single petition, depending on the number of roadless areas 
within a State and the extent of adjustment to roadless

[[Page 65289]]

area management recommended in an individual petition.
    Type of Respondents: State and territorial governors.
    Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 36; if all affected states 
and territories submit petitions.
    Estimated Annual Number of Responses per Respondent: 1.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: Up to 36,000 hours.
    Comment is invited on: (1) Whether this collection of information 
is necessary for the stated purposes and the proper performance of the 
functions of the agency, including whether the information will have 
practical or scientific utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's 
estimate of the burden of the collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance 
the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; 
and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or 
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    All comments received in response to this notice, including names 
and addresses when provided, will be a matter of public record. 
Comments will be summarized and included in the request for Office of 
Management and Budget approval.

    Dated: November 15, 2007.
Gloria Manning,
Associate Deputy Chief, NFS.
 [FR Doc. E7-22668 Filed 11-19-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-P

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.