Department of Agriculture October 16, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), are sponsoring a public meeting on October 30, 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 40th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Guatemala City, Guatemala, from December 1-5, 2008. The Under Secretary for Food Safety and the FDA, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 40th Session of the CCFH and to address items on the agenda.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA or Department) is adopting a state-specific, final rule establishing management direction for designated roadless areas in the State of Idaho. The final rule designates 250 Idaho Roadless Areas (IRAs) and establishes five management themes that provide prohibitions with exceptions or conditioned permissions governing road construction, timber cutting, and discretionary mineral development. The final rule takes a balanced approach recognizing both local and national interests for the management of these lands. The Department and Forest Service are committed to the important challenge of protecting roadless areas and their important characteristics. The final rule achieves this through five land classifications that assign various permissions and prohibitions regarding road building, timber cutting, and discretionary mineral activities. The final rule also allows the Forest Service to continue to be a good neighbor and reduce the risk of wildland fires to at-risk communities and municipal water supply systems. The rule does not authorize the building of a single road or the cutting of a single tree; instead it establishes permissions and prohibitions that will govern what types of activities may occur in IRAs. Any decision to build a road, allow mineral activities, harvest a tree, or conduct any other activity permissible under this final rule will require appropriate site-specific analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other applicable laws. Projects will also be consistent with the applicable land management plan (LMP) components. This final rule supersedes the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule (2001 roadless rule) for National Forest System (NFS) lands in the State of Idaho.

The Forest Service is issuing these interim final directives as an amendment to Forest Service Manual 2350, Trail, River, and Similar Recreation Opportunities, and Forest Service Handbook 2309.18, the Trail Management Handbook, to incorporate revisions to the agency's national trail classification system (TCS), consisting of the Trail Classes and Design Parameters. Chapters 30 and 40 in the Trail Management Handbook have not been included in these interim final directives because these chapters do not relate directly to the TCS and Design Parameters and because the agency plans to update them significantly. The comments on these chapters will be addressed in preparation of final directives. The agency is providing a 60-day public comment period on these interim final directives and will review timely comments in developing final directives. Trail Classes are general categories reflecting trail development scale, arranged along a continuum. Managed Uses are the modes of travel that are actively managed and appropriate on a trail, based on its design and management. Designed Use is the Managed Use of a trail that requires the most demanding design, construction, and maintenance parameters and that, in conjunction with the applicable Trail Class, determines which Design Parameters will apply to a trail. The Design Parameters are technical guidelines for the survey, design, construction, maintenance, and assessment of a trail, based on its Designed Use and Trail Class.