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

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Rural Business-Cooperative Service's (RBS) intention to request an extension of a currently approved information collection in support of the program for 7 CFR part 1951, subpart R, ``Rural Development Loan Servicing.''

On October 10, 2007, the Federal Register published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Motorized Travel Management Plan on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests (72 FR 57514-57517). That document indicated that the proposed transportation system is depicted in detail on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests Travel Management Plan Proposed Action Map located on the Forests Web site and that the Forests transportation system open to motorized travel under this proposal would be approximately 2,892 miles. Correction of both of these statements is necessary. Correction: In the Federal Register of October 10, 2007, in FR Doc. 72-195, on page 57515, correct the proposed Action caption, second column, last paragraph, first and second sentence to read:

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety and the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are sponsoring a public meeting on January 17, 2008. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft United States positions that will be discussed at the 8th Session of the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products (CCMMP) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Queenstown, New Zealand, February 4-8, 2008. The Under Secretary for Food Safety and the AMS recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 8th Session of the CCMMP and to address items on the agenda.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, United States Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are sponsoring a public meeting. The meeting will be held on November 1, 2007, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. to discuss the agenda items coming before the 16th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) and present draft positions on the agenda items. The 16th Session of the CCFICS will be held November 26-November 30, 2007, in Queensland, Australia. The Under Secretary and FDA recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to comment on the agenda items that will be debated at this forthcoming Session of the CCFICS.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces that the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) intends to request an extension for a currently approved information collection procedure for entry of specialty sugars into the United States as described in 15 CFR part 2011.

The Boise National Forest is planning to charge fees at 22 recreation sites. Fees are assessed based on the level of amenities and services provided, cost of operation and maintenance, market assessment, and public comment. The fees listed are currently proposed and will be determined upon further analysis and public comment. Funds from fees would be used for the continued operation and maintenance of these recreation sites. Swanholm and Rice Peak Lookouts, along with cabins at the Landmark Ranger Station and Johnson Creek Guard Station will be available for overnight rental. A fee study, financial analysis, and public involvement efforts were completed. As a result, cabin rental fees would range between $30 and $50 per night. Lookout, ranger, and guard station rentals offer a unique experience and are a widely popular offering on National Forests. The Landmark Ranger Station is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and is being restored to its original purpose as a working Forest Service administrative site, and to adapt the compound for public use and enjoyment. Fees would continue to help protect and maintain all these administrative structures and their historic integrity. The cabin rentals would be available once a final decision is made and they are listed with the National Recreation Reservation Service which would be in May of 2008 at the earliest. New $5 day use fees are also proposed for the Arrowrock and Campbell Creek boating access sites and the Granite Creek picnic site. These fees will help address the deferred maintenance needs, such as substandard boat docks at both of the boating sites as well as general operation and maintenance needs at all three sites. The Granite Creek picnic site also serves as a trailhead for an important interpretive trail in the summer and groomed snowmobile trail access in the winter. Amenities include covered picnic shelters, a toilet, and interpretive exhibits. Fees are proposed at 15 campgrounds including Badger Creek, Castle Creek, Cottonwood, Evans Creek, Little Roaring River Lake, Troutdale, Bald Mountain, Neinmeyer, Powerplant, Queens River, Riverside, Golden Gate, Ice Hole, Penny Springs, and Yellow Pine campgrounds. Many of these sites have been improved with new toilets and picnic tables over the last 8 to 10 years and additional income is needed for their continued operation and maintenance. A fee study, financial analysis, and public involvement efforts were completed in the spring and summer of 2007 in an effort to determine campground fees across the Boise National Forest, including both existing fee campgrounds as well as those proposed for new fees. Fees at campgrounds are proposed to be $15 at sites that provide both drinking and water and trash removal and $12 at sites that do not provide both of these amenities. A $5 day use fee is also proposed at some sites.

We are reopening the comment period for our proposed rule that would amend the regulations on importing nursery stock by providing a new option for the postentry quarantine growing period for articles of Chrysanthemum spp., Leucanthemella serotina, and Nipponanthemum nipponicum and amending the definition of from. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et. seq.) and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. 1701 et. seq.), the DOI Bureau of Land Management (Lead Agency) and the USDA Forest Service (Co-lead Agency) announce the availability of the FEIS for the Smoky Canyon Mine, Panels F and G Mine Expansion Project.

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).

This notice invites State and local agencies involved in the administration of The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the general public to comment on the intent of the Department to modify the data sources used to calculate the formula for allocating TEFAP commodities and administrative funds among State agencies. Data sources currently used to allocate these resources have been used for a number of years. However, more accurate, reliable, and up-to-date data sources for gauging poverty and unemployment and, ultimately, each State's need for TEFAP commodities and administrative funds, are now available. Therefore, unless comments reveal a significant disadvantage to implementing these changes, the Department intends to allocate TEFAP commodities and administrative funds for fiscal year 2008 using these new data sources.

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. App., the Agricultural Research Service is requesting nominations for qualified persons to serve as members of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture (AC21). The charge for the AC21 is two-fold: To examine the long-term impacts of biotechnology on the U.S. food and agriculture system and USDA; and to provide guidance to USDA on pressing individual issues, identified by the Office of the Secretary, related to the application of biotechnology in agriculture.

The meeting room is changed for the Forestry Research Advisory Council. The meeting will take place in Berkeley, California, November 15-16, 2007. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss emerging issues in forestry research.

The Forest Service is reopening the comment period for an additional 30 days and invites written comments on this proposed rule. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on May 10, 2007 (72 FR 26578), and should be referenced when preparing responses. This proposed rule would allow, if necessary, a criminal citation to be issued for unauthorized mineral operations on National Forest System lands.

The Pacific Southwest Recreation Resource Advisory Committee (Recreation RAC) will hold its first meeting in Sacramento, California. The purpose of this initial meeting is to receive an orientation of the Recreation Enhancement Act, RRAC roles and responsibilities and to develop the process for making recommendations concerning recreation fee proposals on lands managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in California.

The Ravalli County Resource Advisory Committee will be meeting to choose monitors for the projects that were awarded and a presentation on Education Weed Trunks. The meeting is being held pursuant to the authorities in the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463) and under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self- Determination Act of 2000 (Pub. L. 106-393). The meeting is open to the public.

We are advising the public of our decision to begin issuing permits for the importation into the continental United States of husked, silk-free baby corn from Kenya. Based on the findings of a pest risk analysis, which we made available to the public for review and comment through a previous notice, we believe that the application of one or more designated phytosanitary measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks of introducing or disseminating plant pests or noxious weeds via the importation of husked, silk-free baby corn from Kenya.

We are advising the public of our decision to begin issuing permits for the importation of eggplant and okra from Ghana into all areas of the United States and the importation of peppers from Ghana into the continental United States. Based on the findings of a pest risk analysis, which we made available to the public for review and comment through a previous notice, we believe that the application of one or more designated phytosanitary measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks of introducing or disseminating plant pests or noxious weeds via the importation of eggplant, okra, and peppers from Ghana.

This final rule revises regulations at Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, part 223, on noncompetitive disposal of timber and other forest products based on the Secretary of Agriculture's determination that extraordinary conditions exist. A notice with request for comment on an interim final rule was published in the Federal Register on June 16, 2006. The Forest Service made appropriate changes to the rule in response to the public comments.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is adopting, as a final rule, without change, an interim final rule that established final volume regulation percentages for 2006-07 crop Natural (sun-dried) Seedless (NS) raisins covered under the Federal marketing order for California raisins (order). The order regulates the handling of raisins produced from grapes grown in California and is locally administered by the Raisin Administrative Committee (Committee). The volume regulation percentages are 90 percent free and 10 percent reserve. The percentages are intended to help stabilize raisin supplies and prices, and strengthen market conditions.

Notice is hereby given that the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is extending the public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Dry Fork Station and Hughes Transmission Line. The Draft EIS was prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (U.S.C. 4231, et seq.) in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500 through 1508) and RUS regulations (7 CFR part 1794). The Draft EIS is to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of and alternatives to the Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (Basin Electric) application for a loan guarantee to construct a generation facility referred to as the Dry Fork Station, consisting of a single maximum net 385 Megawatt (MW) unit, at a site near Gillette, Wyoming, along with other proposed pollution controls collectively known as Best Available Control Technology (BACT). In addition, Basin Electric also proposes to construct and operate 136 miles of 230 kilovolt (kV) transmission line in Campbell and Sheridan counties, referred to as the Hughes Transmission Project. Basin Electric is not, however, requesting a loan guarantee from RUS for this action. However, the Hughes Transmission Project is evaluated as a connected action for this EIS because the Dry Fork Station would interconnect with it if the Station is built. The Draft EIS was filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on August 24, 2007. Requests for extension of public comment periods may be honored per 40 CFR 1506.10. The initial 45-day public comment period was to end on October 15, 2007. With the 30-day extension, the new deadline for public comments is now November 19, 2007.