Department of Agriculture September 12, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents
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Notice of Intent To Request Revision and Extension of a Currently Approved Information Collection
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection, the Cotton Ginning Survey. Revision to burden hours will be needed due to changes in the size of the target population, sampling design, and/or questionnaire length.
Interstate Movement of Sharwil Avocados From Hawaii
We are amending the Hawaii quarantine regulations to allow the interstate movement of untreated Sharwil avocados from Hawaii into the continental United States. As a condition of movement, Sharwil avocados from Hawaii will have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that includes requirements for registration and monitoring of places of production and packinghouses, an orchard trapping program, grove sanitation, limits on harvest periods and distribution areas, and harvesting and packing requirements to ensure that only intact fruit that have been protected against infestation are shipped. This action will allow for the interstate movement of Sharwil avocados from Hawaii into other States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.
National Environmental Policy Act: Categorical Exclusions for Soil and Water Restoration Activities
The U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, gives notice of revised procedures for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act and Council on Environmental Quality regulations. These final implementing procedures are being issued in regulations concerning National Environmental Policy Act Compliance, which describes categorical exclusions. Categorical exclusions (CE) are categories of actions that normally will not result in individual or cumulative significant impacts on the quality of the human environment and, therefore, do not require analysis or documentation in either an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement. The revision adds three new categorical exclusions for activities that restore lands negatively impacted by water control structures, disturbance events, and roads and trails. Activities that restore lands occupied by National Forest System Roads and National Forest System Trails are excluded from this final rule. These will allow the Forest Service to more efficiently analyze and document the potential environmental effects of soil and water restoration projects that are intended to restore the flow of waters into natural channels and floodplains by removing water control structures, such as dikes, ditches, culverts, and pipes; restore lands and habitat to pre- disturbance conditions, to the extent practicable, by removing debris and sediment following disturbance events; and restore lands occupied by roads and trails to natural conditions. These categorical exclusions will not apply where resource conditions related to the potential effect of a proposed action constitute an extraordinary circumstance. Activities conducted under these categorical exclusions must be consistent with Agency procedures and applicable land management plans and must comply with all applicable Federal and State laws for protecting the environment. The road and trail restoration category will be used for restoring lands impacted by roads and trails that are not needed, not maintained, and/or where public access is prohibited. This category will not be used to make access decisions about which roads and trails are to be designated for public use.
Ecological Restoration Policy
The Forest Service proposes to issue a permanent Ecological Restoration Policy in Forest Service Manual (FSM) 2020. The proposed directive would provide broad direction for restoring National Forest System lands and associated resources to achieve sustainable management and ecological integrity. This policy would recognize the adaptive capacity of ecosystems, the role of natural disturbances, and uncertainty related to climate and other environmental change. On September 22, 2008, the Forest Service issued an interim directive, FSM 2020 Ecological Restoration and Resilience. The interim directive was reissued on March 3, 2010, a third time on August 30, 2011, and a fourth time on May 13, 2013, and is now proposed as permanent policy.
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