Department of Agriculture December 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of a forthcoming teleconference meeting of the Plant Variety Protection Board. Notice of this meeting is required under section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. This document is intended to notify the general public of their opportunity to attend the meeting.

This rule revises the administrative rules and regulations governing nominations for the California Walnut Board (Board). The Board locally administers the marketing order that regulates the handling of walnuts grown in California (order). This rule removes references to independent handlers, revises specifications under which groups of growers may submit nominations for certain grower positions on the Board, and corrects numerical references to other sections of the order. This change is needed to bring the administrative rules and regulations into conformance with recently enacted amendments to the order concerning Board structure and nomination procedures.

We are correcting errors in our notice to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for privately owned quarantine facilities for ruminants. The notice was published in the Federal Register on November 5, 2008 (73 FR 65821- 65822, Docket No. APHIS-2008-0116).

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, intends to grant to Cherokee Fabrication of Salem, Alabama, an exclusive license to U.S. Patent No. 7,078,913, ``Multipath Resistant Microwave Moisture Sensor'', issued on July 18, 2006.

This rule amends the regulations for the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) Program, as authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (the 2008 Farm Bill), to extend the program from October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2012. This rule also increases the percentage rate for the payment calculation after fiscal year (FY) 2008 and increases the payment quantity limitation of eligible pounds of milk per operation beginning in FY 2009. This rule also provides for an adjustment to the MILC payment rate if feed costs increase above a specified level. This rule is needed to extend the MILC program, which is designed to stabilize and generally enhance milk producer revenue, through FY 2012 and to make changes to that program authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill. This rule also adjusts the milk price support program regulations to specify that support purchases will only be made from manufacturers and not from third parties such as brokers.

In April 2006 the Forest Service received a proposal from Western Pacific Timber LLC (WPT) in which a major exchange of land was proposed. The WPT proposal included approximately 40,000 acres of checkerboard land intermingled with the Clearwater National Forest near Powell, Idaho. These checkerboard lands are of interest to the Forest Service because they encompass the headwaters of the Lochsa River and hold outstanding values for many fish and wildlife species. The checkerboard lands also hold significant cultural resources including the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and Nez Perce Tribe treaty area. In September 2008 the Clearwater National Forest completed a feasibility analysis of the proposed exchange as a first level screen to review forest management plans, identify public benefit, identify availability of resources to complete the proposed exchange, identify title and property descriptions and identify potential support and opposition. The outcome of the feasibility analysis was a recommendation to enter into an Agreement to Initiate a land exchange with WPT. The agreement, signed by both parties in September, specifies the roles and responsibilities of each party involved in the exchange. In the proposed land exchange the Forest Service would acquire approximately 39,371 acres of land in the upper Lochsa River drainage in exchange for up to approximately 28,212 acres of National Forest System (NFS) land. It is anticipated that this is more than adequate federal acreage to complete an equal value land exchange. The NFS lands are located on the Clearwater, Nez Perce and Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

This proposed rule would amend the regulations used to administer the Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) program by increasing the amount of funding per proposal to $500,000 in a given year, extending the allowable length of an activity to 5 years; and by allowing up to five approved projects for any one TASC participant at any given time.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, this constitutes notice of the upcoming meeting of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) Grain Inspection Advisory Committee (Advisory Committee). The Advisory Committee meets twice annually to advise the GIPSA Administrator on the programs and services that GIPSA delivers under the U.S. Grain Standards Act. Recommendations by the Advisory Committee help GIPSA better meet the needs of its customers who operate in a dynamic and changing marketplace.

The Lake Tahoe Basin Federal Advisory Committee will hold a meeting on December 15, 2008 at the U.S. Forest Service Office, 35 College Drive, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. This Committee, established by the Secretary of Agriculture on December 15, 1998 (64 FR 2876), is chartered to provide advice to the Secretary on implementing the terms of the Federal Interagency Partnership on the Lake Tahoe Region and other matters raised by the Secretary.

GIPSA requests comments on the applicants for designation to provide official services in the unassigned areas of east Texas. Central Illinois Grain Inspection d/b/a Lone Star Grain Inspection (Central Illinois). Gulf Country Inspection Service, Inc. (Gulf Country).