Intermountain Region, Boise, Payette, and Sawtooth National Forests; ID; Amendment to the 2003 Land and Resource Management Plans: Wildlife Conservation Strategy (Forested Biological Community), 38767-38768 [2010-16275]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
• Forest Service

[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 128 (Tuesday, July 6, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38767-38768]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-16275]



[[Page 38767]]

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Intermountain Region, Boise, Payette, and Sawtooth National 
Forests; ID; Amendment to the 2003 Land and Resource Management Plans: 
Wildlife Conservation Strategy (Forested Biological Community)

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Third correction of notice of intent (NOI) to prepare an 
environmental impact statement (EIS).

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SUMMARY: On September 14, 2007, the Forest Service published an NOI to 
prepare an EIS to disclose the environmental effects of proposed non-
significant amendments to the three Southwest Idaho Ecogroup (SWIE) 
2003 Land and Resource Management Plans (Forest Plans). The September 
2007 NOI noted that amendments to the 2003 Forest Plans for the Boise, 
Payette, and Sawtooth National Forests (NFs) will add and/or modify 
existing management direction, as needed, to implement a comprehensive, 
Forest Plan-level, wildlife conservation strategy (WCS). A correction 
to the September 14, 2007 NOI was published on December 8, 2008. The 
December 2008 correction was published to reflect a delay of more than 
a year in filing the draft EIS. The December 2008 correction also 
provided notice of a change in the approach to the amendment process, 
dividing the WCS and amendment process into four phases, each with an 
individual environmental impact statement. The December 8, 2008 NOI was 
corrected on April 22, 2009 to reflect that three EISs will be prepared 
(one for each Forest) instead of one EIS addressing all three Forests. 
This NOI corrects the April 22, 2009 NOI to reflect a change in the 
level of documentation from an EIS to an environmental assessment (EA) 
and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the analysis of the 
proposed amendment for the Sawtooth Forest Plan. Analysis for the Boise 
and Payette Plan amendments will continue to be documented in 
individual EIS's.

DATES: Comments concerning this correction must be received within 30 
days following the date of publication of this NOI. The final EIS for 
the Boise Forest and the draft EIS for the Payette Forest are expected 
to be available in the summer of 2010. The EA and FONSI for the 
Sawtooth NF are expected to be available in the late summer/early fall 
of 2010.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Sharon LaBrecque, Planning Staff 
Officer, Sawtooth National Forest; 2647 Kimberly Road East, Twin Falls, 
ID 83301; or by fax at (208) 737-3236; or you may hand-deliver your 
comments to the Sawtooth Forest Supervisor's Office, located at 2647 
Kimberly Road East, Twin Falls, during normal business hours from 8 
a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. 
Electronic comments must be submitted in a format such as an e-mail 
message, plain text (.txt), rich text format (.rtf), or Word (.doc) to: 
comments-intermtn-sawtooth@fs.fed.us.
    Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names 
and addresses of those who comment, will be part of the public record 
for this proposed action. Comments submitted anonymously will be 
accepted and considered; however, anonymous comments will not provide 
the respondent with standing to appeal the subsequent decision.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sharon LaBrecque, Planning Staff 
Officer, Sawtooth National Forest, 2647 Kimberly Road East, Twin Falls, 
ID 83301, telephone 208-737-3200. Individuals who use telecommunication 
devices for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay 
Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern 
Time, Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Separate RODs for revised Forest Plans were 
issued in July 2003 for the Boise, Payette, and Sawtooth NFs. The RODs 
implemented Alternative 7, as identified in the single 2003 final EIS 
that disclosed the environmental effects of the seven alternatives. 
Implementation of the three revised Forest Plans began in September 
2003. Assessments supporting the 2003 Forest Plan revision identified 
more habitat areas in need of restoration for a variety of species 
within each planning unit than could be moved toward desired conditions 
by natural processes or management activities within the 10- to 15-year 
planning period. As a result, the 2003 Forest Plans for the Boise, 
Payette, and Sawtooth NFs identified that maintaining and restoring 
habitats for species of concern should be prioritized based upon the 
greatest risks to the persistence of certain species (Boise and Payette 
Forest Plans, p. 11-10 and Sawtooth Forest Plan, p. 11-9). To address 
this need, each Forest Plan included a wildlife objective, WIOB03, to 
prioritize wildlife habitat to be restored at a mid- or Forest-scale, 
using information from sources such as species habitat models and fine 
scale analyses. On September 14, 2007, the Forest Service published an 
NOI to prepare an EIS to disclose the environmental effects of proposed 
non-significant amendments to the three SWIE 2003 Forest Plans (Federal 
Register, Vol. 72, No. 178, pp. 52540-52542). The intent of the 
amendments was to address wildlife objective WIOB03 to prioritize 
wildlife habitat to be restored at a mid- or Forest-scale. A correction 
to the September 14, 2007 NOI was published on December 8, 2008 to 
reflect a delay of more than a year in filing the draft EIS. Given the 
complexity of species and associated habitats found across the three 
Forests, the December 2008 correction also provided notice of a change 
in the approach to the amendment process, dividing the WCS amendments 
into four phases. The first phase addresses the forested biological 
community, with subsequent phases slated to address rangeland; unique 
combinations of rangeland and forest; and riparian/wetland biological 
communities. The WCS amendments will include a prioritization framework 
for implementation of the 2003 Forest Plan direction that managers can 
use to help focus limited resources and funds for restoration on areas 
most important to species of concern. The December 2008 NOI correction 
stated that one EIS would be published for each phase of the WCS. On 
April 22, 2009, a correction to the December 2008 NOI was published to 
reflect that three EISs will be prepared (one for each Forest) instead 
of one EIS addressing all three Forests.
    Assessments completed to date for the forested biological community 
WCS indicate that fewer changes to the Sawtooth Forest Plan direction 
are needed to implement a prioritized WCS than the Boise and Payette 
forest plans will require. This is in part due to that fact that the 
Sawtooth does not have the low elevation pine forests found on the 
Boise and Payette. Across southwest Idaho, it is the low elevation pine 
forests that are the most highly departed from historic conditions; 
pose the highest need for restoration; and affect the greatest need for 
change in management direction to be addressed in the forested 
biological community WCS plan amendments. The mid- to high elevation 
forests more typical of the Sawtooth National Forest are less departed. 
The Sawtooth Forest Plan did not include the MPC (Management 
prescription Category) 5.2 allocation unit that emphasized commodity 
production that resulted in forest conditions substantially outside 
their historic range of variation. And finally, management direction in 
the 2003

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Sawtooth Forest Plan already provides most of the specific restoration 
objectives for many of the Forest's species of greatest conservation 
concern associated with the forested biological communities. Because of 
this, the Sawtooth Forest Plan will require only the identification of 
priority watersheds for restoration and minor amendments to management 
direction. Preliminary assessment results indicate that the effects of 
implementing the proposed plan amendment should have only minor 
environmental effects to the forested biological community on the 
Sawtooth NF, as well as outputs and services envisioned under the 2003 
Forest Plan.

    Dated: June 28, 2010.
Terence O. Clark, III,
Acting Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 2010-16275 Filed 7-2-10; 8:45 am]
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