Department of Agriculture December 18, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Agriculture (the Department) is issuing this final rule to comply with a June 30, 2009, Federal District Court order that has the effect of reinstating the National Forest System Land and Resource Management Planning Rule of November 9, 2000, as amended (2000 rule). This action announces the court's decision and takes the ministerial (formal) action of reinstating the rule in the Code of Federal Regulations. This action also makes technical amendments to that rule, including the interpretative rules issued in 2001 and 2004, to update transition provisions that will be in effect until a new planning rule is issued, as announced elsewhere in today's Federal Register.

We are amending the bovine tuberculosis regulations to adjust the boundaries of the modified accredited and modified accredited advanced tuberculosis risk classification zones for the State of Michigan. We have determined that Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Crawford, Emmet, and Otsego Counties, MI, which are currently designated as modified accredited, now meet our requirements for modified accredited advanced status. Therefore, we are removing these six counties from the list of modified accredited zones and adding them to the list of modified accredited advanced zones. This action lessens restrictions on the interstate movement of cattle and bison from these areas of Michigan.

The National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council, (NUCFAC) will be filling four positions that will be expiring at the end of December 2009, and one interim term position. Interested applicants may download a copy of the application and position descriptions from the U.S. Forest Service's Urban and Community Forestry Web site: https://www.fs.fed.us/ucf/.

The USDA Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to document the analysis and disclose environmental impacts of proposed actions to continue long-term research on the Fernow Experimental Forest, and to manage the Fernow Experimental Forest for long-term ecological research. The purpose of the proposed research is to evaluate the effectiveness of silvicultural tools that include harvesting, herbicide control of vegetation, fertilization and prescribed burning on central Appalachian forests, to better understand ecological dynamics within these forest ecosystems, and to develop management tools, practices and guidelines for central Appalachian hardwood forests.