Department of Agriculture September 29, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are adopting as a final rule, with one change, an interim rule that amended the regulations by restricting the importation of pine shoot beetle host material into the United States from Canada. Under the regulations established by the interim rule, as amended by this document, pine nursery stock, as well as pine products that consist of pine bark or have pine bark attached, must meet certain requirements relating to documentation, treatment, handling, and utilization as a condition of importation into the United States from Canada. The interim rule was necessary to help prevent the introduction and spread of pine shoot beetle, a pest of pine trees, into noninfested areas of the United States.

The USDA Forest Service will prepare a Supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (Supplement) for the 2002 Nebraska National Forest Revised Land and Resource Management Plan (as amended) (LRMP) for black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) management on the Nebraska National Forest and associated units (NNF). The NNF includes the Buffalo Gap and Fort Pierre National Grasslands in South Dakota and the Oglala National Grassland, Samuel R. McKelvie National Forest, and Nebraska National Forest in Nebraska. The proposed action is to amend current management direction in the LRMP to meet various multiple use objectives by: (1) Specifying the desired range of acres of prairie dog colonies that will be provided on the NFF; and (2) allowing use of toxicants if the acreage exceeds the desired range and or multiple use objectives.