Department of Agriculture October 25, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are amending the imported fire ant regulations by designating as quarantined areas all or portions of 2 counties in Arkansas, 3 in North Carolina, and 3 in Tennessee, by expanding the quarantined area in 1 county in Arkansas and 15 in Tennessee, and by designating the entire State of South Carolina as a quarantined area. As a result of this action, the interstate movement of regulated articles from those areas will be restricted. This action is necessary to prevent the artificial spread of imported fire ant to noninfested areas of the United States.

The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact statement on a proposal to use multiple vegetation treatments focused on creating a landscape condition more adapted to fire and that reduces potential for high severity wildfire near at-risk communities and in the wildland-urban interface, and reduce the threat to ecosystem components including forest resources from an existing insect epidemic. The proposal is being planned for the 44,100 acre Upper Spring Creek Project Area that includes about 39,700 acres of National Forest System land and about 4,300 acres of interspersed private land. The project area generally extends westward from west of Hill City, South Dakota encompassing the Upper Spring Creek watershed. This project will be conducted as an authorized project under section 102 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA). Actions proposed for the Upper Spring Creek Project Area include the following: Remove conifers from hardwood stands such as aspen and birch and by restoring meadows (est. 3,800 acres). Reduce the amount of fuel that currently exists and that created by vegetation treatment activities. Treatment could include lopping, crushing, piling and burning; creating fuel breaks along roads and adjacent to private property, particularly those properties with houses and subdivisions. Prescribed broadcast burning of up to 14,200 acres is also planned to not only reduce fuel levels, but also benefit big game and other wildlife resources. Thin and harvest approximately 23,500 acres of pine stands using a variety of treatments to reduce the overall density of pine trees and create a mosaic of structural stages across the landscape. Both commercial harvest and non-commercial thinning will be sued to reduce the stand density, associated fuel hazard conditions and susceptibility to Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) infestations.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is adopting, as a final rule, without change, an interim final rule that modifies the term of office provision of the Mango Promotion, Research, and Information Order (Order) so that the term of office and term limit for the two wholesaler and/or retailer positions of the National Mango Board (Board) be the same as that of other members. Specifically, the amendment modifies the term of office from one year to three years, and modifies the term limit for these positions from a maximum of three consecutive one-year terms to a maximum of two consecutive three-year terms in order to conform to the requirements of the commodity Promotion, Research, and Information Act of 1996 (Act).