[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
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
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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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