Department of Agriculture April 6, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is changing the annual standard, appeal, overtime, and holiday hourly fee rates for fiscal years 2010-2012 for Science and Technology (S&T) Laboratory Services in order to recover anticipated laboratory program costs. The Agency is raising these rates to reflect, among other factors, national and locality pay increases for Federal employees and inflation, operating costs, instrumentation and training, equipment maintenance costs, and program and agency administrative overhead costs. The

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared an evaluation of the animal health status of the Czech Republic and Sweden relative to the H5N1 subtype of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The evaluation presents our assessment of the HPAI H5N1 detection, control, and eradication measures in place in the Czech Republic and Sweden following the outbreaks of HPAI in Sweden during 2006, and in the Czech Republic during 2007, as well as our assessment of the present status of the Czech Republic and Sweden with respect to HPAI H5N1. We are making this evaluation available to the public for review and comment. If, after the close of the comment period, we can identify no additional risk factors that would indicate that domestic poultry in the Czech Republic and Sweden continue to be affected with HPAI H5N1, we will remove those regions from our list of regions affected with HPAI H5N1.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is requesting applications for competitive cooperative agreement funds for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 for the credit outreach initiative targeted to American Indian and Alaska Native farmers, ranchers, and youth residing primarily on Indian reservations within the contiguous United States and in Alaska. There is $400,000 available in funding for the remainder of FY 2010. FSA will make one award to a successful applicant through a cooperative agreement. FSA requests proposals from eligible nonprofit organizations, land-grant institutions, and federally-recognized Indian tribal governments interested in a competitively-awarded cooperative agreement to create and implement a mechanism that will provide credit outreach and promotion, pre-loan education, and one-on-one loan application preparation assistance to American Indian and Alaska Native farmers, ranchers, and youth. Successful proposals may include other innovative services intended to enhance participation by American Indians and Alaska Natives in specific FSA Agricultural Credit Programs and other relevant credit programs available to American Indian and Alaska Native producers.

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 & Pub. L. 110-343) the Lolo and Kootenai National Forests' Sanders County Resource Advisory Committee will meet on April 29 at 7 p.m. in Thompson Falls, Montana for a business meeting. The meeting is open to the public.