[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 201 (Wednesday, October 16, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53897-53898]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-26503]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 201 / Wednesday, October 16, 1996 /
Notices
[[Page 53897]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Notice of the Preparation of the Ozark/Ouachita Highlands
Assessment and the Beginning of Forest Plan Revision Efforts for the
Ouachita, Ozark-St. Francis, and Mark Twain National Forests
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This Notice announces the U.S. Forest Service's participation
in the preparation of the Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment (OOHA).
The Assessment is being prepared by the Southern and Eastern Regions of
the National Forest System, the Southern Research Station, and the
North Central Forest Experiment Station, in cooperation with other
Federal and State agencies, in order to compile information about
regional conditions and trends relevant to upcoming revisions of the
land and resource management plans of three National Forests.
Assessment findings will help establish the need for any changes in
National Forest land and resource management plans and, possibly, land
management plans of some other public lands in the Ozark/Ouachita
Highlands. National Forest lands within the study area include those of
the Ouachita, Ozark-St. Francis, and Mark Twain National Forests,
totalling nearly 4.5 million acres. Other federal lands within the
assessment area include National Park Service lands (Hot Springs
National Park, the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Buffalo National
River, and several smaller untis); more than 20 reservoirs managed by
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including Lake Ouachita, Greers Ferry
Lake, Eufala Lake, Bull Shoals Lake, and Table Rock Lake; and at least
six National Wildlife Refuges administered by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service. State Parks, natural areas, and wildlife management
areas are found in each of the three states--Arkansas, Missouri, and
Oklahoma--in the assessment area. The majority of the land within the
analysis area is in private ownership of many types and sizes. Several
forest product companies have expansive holdings that are managed
primarily for timber production.
This Notice also announces the beginning of efforts to revise the
Land and Resource Management Plans (Forest Plans) for the Ouachita,
Ozark-St. Francis, and Mark Twain National Forests. This is not the
``Notice of Intent'' (NOI) for the Environmental Impact Statements
(EISs) that will accompany the Revised Forest Plans. Those NOIs will be
issued at a later date.
The Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment will support and facilitate
land and resource management decisions to be made in Forest Plan
revisions. As the National Forests are providing information for the
Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment, they will also be conducting local
efforts to complete each National Forest's Analysis of the Management
Situation (AMS).
The Assessment will be used to help develop each National Forest's
``Need for Change'' section in the AMS. This information will then be
used to publish the NOIs to prepare the Environmental Impact
Statements, which will begin the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) processes associated with each Forest Plan revision.
Public involvement is critical throughout these processes and will
be requested and accepted continually throughout these efforts. Formal
public involvement with the Forest Plan revision efforts will also be
conducted through ``Scoping'', following the issuance of the National
Forests' NOIs.
DATES: The Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment is scheduled to be
completed by January 1998.
The Ouachita, Ozark-St. Francis, and the Mark Twain National
Forests are scheduled to complete the drafts of their Analyses of the
Management Situation by mid-1998. During this same time period, these
Forests are scheduled to issue NOIs to Prepare Environmental Impact
Statements for Revised Forest Plans.
ADDRESSES: Requests for information, and comments concerning this
Notice can be sent to Team Leader, Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment,
USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 1270, Hot Springs, Arkansas 71902.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. Preparation of the Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessments
The Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment includes approximately 45
million acres within the states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
Federal lands make up less than 15 percent of the area; but their
importance for recreation, plant and animal diversity, forest cover,
local economic development, wood products, water and minerals is
substantial. The region as a whole is undergoing fairly rapid change,
marked by population growth in many counties; market shifts; increased
pressures on timber, water, mineral, and recreational resources;
expanding transportation networks; and changing agricultural and
silvicultural practices. Future decisions about public land management
in the Ozark/Ouachita Highlands must be made within this context of
social, economic, and environmental change. The Assessment will provide
a synthesis of available information, including databases, maps, and
research findings, that supports an interagency approach to ecosystem
management on federal lands in the Ozark/Ouachita Highlands area.
Collection of existing broad-scale data concerning the Ozark/
Ouachita Highlands is organized around three ``themes''--(1) Social and
Economic (Human Dimensions)--which includes social conditions and
trends, economic conditions and trends, attitudes and values, and
roadless areas and wilderness; (2) Terrestrial--which includes the
Health of Forest Ecosystems, and Plant and Animal Resources; and (3)
Aquatic/Atmospheric--which includes the present status and trends in
water and air quality.
Public comment on the OOHA process began with a meeting of the
Ouachita National Forest's Ecosystem Management Advisory Committee in
Little Rock, Arkansas, March 28, 1996, and another meeting of the
committee in Fort Smith, Arkansas, May 17, 1996. A public announcement
and related press notice concerning the Assessment were
[[Page 53898]]
distributed on July 15, 1996. As the Assessment progresses, continued
public involvement will be facilitated through additional meetings,
newsletters, and electronic media.
2. Beginning of the Forest Plan Revision Efforts for the Ouachita,
Ozark-St. Francis, and Mark Twain National Forests
This Notice announces that the Ouachita, Ozark-St. Francis, and
Mark Twain National Forests have already started or are beginning
efforts to revise their Forest Plans. These Forests are each in the
very early stages of preparing an AMS, one of the first steps in the
revision process. This step includes updating resource inventories,
defining the current situation, estimating supply capabilities and
resource demands, and determining the ``Need for Change'' (36 CFR
219.12(e)(5)).
3. Public Involvement in Developing the ``Need for Change'' in an
AMS
Determining the concerns and expectations of National Forest
constituents and getting public input on how well current Forest Plans
are working, or not working, are critical elements of describing the
``need to change'' a Forest Plan. An integral part of determining the
need for change is public involvement. Each of the National Forests
described above either have already, or will soon contact its
interested publics to solicit their participation in this step of the
Forest Plan revision process.
4. Relationship Between the AMS and a Notice of Intent to Prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement
In the past, a ``Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental
Impact Statement'' was issued at the beginning of the forest planning
process, including before the development of the AMS.
This time, we are first defining the current situation and an
initial ``need for change'' in a Draft AMS, and then issuing a NOI
prior to developing alternatives. This will allow us to incorporate a
more definable ``Proposed Action'' and ``Purpose and Need'' into our
NOIs, which will begin the formal NEPA process of preparing the EISs
that will accompany the Revised Forest Plans.
5. Relationship Between the Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment and the
Process for Revising the Forest Plans for Each National Forest
Some individuals may be concerned that the Ozark/Ouachita
Assessment will ``delay'' revising Forest Plans in the Ozark/Ouachita
Highlands. However, the OOHA is being conducted concurrently, and in
support of, the Forest Plan revisions.
Many of the information needs for the Forest AMSs and for the OOHA
are the same. The Assessment will support the revision of the Forest
Plans by determining how the lands, resources, people and management of
the National Forests interrelate within the larger context of the
Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Area. The OOHA, however, will not be a
``decision document'' and it will not involve the NEPA process. As
broad-scale issues are identified and addressed at the sub-regional
level in the Assessment, the individual National Forest's role in
resolving those broad-scale issues will become a part of the ``need for
change'' at the Forest level.
6. Issuing the Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS
The National Forests identified above will issue their NOI once
they have developed the ``Need for Change'' section of their respective
Draft AMSs. The Draft AMSs are scheduled to be completed by mid-1998;
NOIs are also scheduled to be issued during this same time period.
Each NOI will include a description of a preliminary ``Proposed
Action'', based on the ``Need for Change'' analysis in the Draft AMS,
the preliminary issues, and some preliminary alternatives. Scoping to
receive public comments on the preliminary propose action, issues and
preliminary alternatives will begin following the publication of the
NOIs. These public comments will be used to further refine the
``Proposed Action'', the preliminary issues and the preliminary
alternatives, to possibly identify additional alternatives, and to
complete the AMS and the ``Need for Change.''
7. The Responsible Official
The Responsible Official for this notice is Bill Pell, Assessment
Team Leader, USDA Forest Service, 100 Reserve Street, Box 1270, Federal
Building, Hot Springs, Arkansas 71902.
Dated: October 9, 1996.
Bill Pell,
Assessment Team Leader.
[FR Doc. 96-26503 Filed 10-15-96; 8:45 am]
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