[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 77 (Tuesday, April 22, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19542-19543]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-10314]


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 Notices
                                                 Federal Register
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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. 62, No. 77 / Tuesday, April 22, 1997 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Southwestern Region, Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas and 
Oklahoma; Proposed Projects in the Agua/Caballos Analysis Area, Carson 
National Forest, Rio Arriba County, NM

AGENCY: Forest Service.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a new draft environmental impact 
statement.

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SUMMARY: The Carson National Forest, El Rito Ranger District will 
prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to disclose the 
environmental consequences of the Agua/Caballos Proposed Projects. 
These projects include the allocation of old growth, harvesting of 
trees for sawtimber and forest products, prescribed burning, thinning, 
construction of new roads and closure of existing roads.
    A Notice of Intent (NOI) was published for this project in December 
1992, and a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was published 
in April 1995. Since the DEIS was distributed to the public a Forest 
Plan Amendment went into effect, which changed the standards and 
guidelines of the Carson Forest Plan. This notice is to disclose the 
Forest Service's intention to issue a new DEIS for Agua/Caballos by the 
end of June 1997.

DATES: Comments in response to this NOI should be received by June 1, 
1997.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Carson Forest Supervisor's Office, 
112 Cruz Alta Road, Taos, NM 87571, Attn: Carson Core Team.

RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL: The Forest Supervisor, Carson National Forest, 
will be the responsible official and will decide on what, where, how 
and when projects will be implemented by the Forest Service in the 
Agua/Caballos analysis area.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Carson Core Team, Carson Forest Supervisor's Office (505) 758-6200.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Action

    The Forest Service is planning to manage the existing vegetation 
through the allocation old growth, harvesting of trees for sawtimber 
and forest products (e.g., fuelwood, vigas and latillas), prescribed 
burning, and thinning of forested stands. The proposal also includes 
the construction of new roads and the closure of existing roads.

Location

    The Agua/Caballos analysis area is in Rio Arriba County in northern 
New Mexico, northeast of the village of El Rito. It is 23,767 acres and 
makes up one-third of the Vallecitos Federal Sustained Yield Unit 
(VFSYU).

Purpose

    The purpose of allocating old growth is to preserve large, old 
vegetation structure for old growth dependent wildlife species. It is 
also necessary to provide a regular, sustained flow of saw logs to the 
Vallecitos sawmill and forest products, such as fuelwood, vigas and 
latillas, to small, local operators to be consistent with the stated 
purpose of the VFSYU and standards identified in the Carson Forest 
Plan. Prescribed burning is needed to create openings and maintain 
meadows as part of the natural variation and to support grasses and 
forbs for wildlife. Burning is also needed to produce conditions 
suitable for natural pine and aspen regeneration. In the pine/oak type, 
prescribed fire is needed to stimulate the growth of oak and other 
shrubs, which provide important habitat for turkey and browse for mule 
deer. Prescribed fire is also needed to reduce unnatural fuel buildup 
and decrease the possibility of a catastrophic fire in the analysis 
area. The purpose of thinning dense, forested stands is to reduce tree 
competition, therefore increasing the growth rate of trees left behind. 
The construction of new roads will access stands to be harvested and 
the closure of roads will move the analysis area to a desired density 
of 1 mile per square mile (Carson Forest Plan).

Decisions

    The decisions to be made are:

--Whether additional areas should be allocated to old growth. If so, 
where and how much?
--Whether a timber sale(s) should be used to help achieve the desired 
condition. If so, which stands in the Agua/Caballos analysis area 
should be harvested and what vegetation conditions should be created in 
the harvest areas?
--Whether forest products should be offered. If so, what type of 
products (firewood, vigas, poles, etc.) and how much?
--Whether prescribed fire should be used. If so, where and how much 
area should be burned?
--Whether areas should be thinned. If so, where?
--Whether new roads ought to be built. If so where and how much?
--Whether roads should be closed. If so, which ones and where should 
the closures be?

Scoping

    The Agua/Caballos project proposal has been through initial 
analysis in a DEIS (4/96). Comments of the draft and its preferred 
alternative (Alternative B) were received from the public and other 
federal and state agencies. These comments will be used in the 
development of new alternatives for a new draft document. Also, during 
the period between the issuance of the first DEIS and the present, new 
issues about the proposal have surfaced and will be incorporated into 
the new DEIS. Issues include preserving old growth vegetation 
structure, improving forest health through the cutting of trees and the 
use of fire, providing sawtimber and forest products to sustain the 
local economy, the use of prescribed burning close to communities, the 
construction of more roads and the closure of existing roads.

Alternatives

    Alternatives will include the no action alternative and Alternative 
B from the first DEIS: Alternative B was the preferred alternative and 
will be used to demonstrate how the analysis has changed since the 
issuance of the first draft document. New alternatives will be 
developed based on the issues that surfaced during the comment period 
of the first DEIS and any new issues that have become apparent over the 
past year. The new action alternatives will also comply with the

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new Forest Plan Amendment (6/96) guidelines on managing habitat for the 
Mexican spotted owl and northern goshawk.

Supplemental Information for Public Participation

    There will be a 45 day comment period on the new draft 
environmental impact statement beginning when the legal notice of 
availability appears in The Taos News, the paper of record for the 
Carson National Forest. Comments received in response to this NOI or 
the DEIS, including names and addresses of those who comment, will be 
considered part of the public record on this proposed action and will 
be available for public inspection. Comments submitted anonymously will 
be accepted and considered; however, those who submit anonymous 
comments will not have standing to appeal the subsequent decision under 
36 CFR Parts 215 or 217. Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any 
person may request the agency to withhold a submission from the public 
record by showing how the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permits 
such confidentiality. Persons requesting such confidentiality should be 
aware that, under the FOIA; confidentiality may be granted in only very 
limited circumstances, such as to protect trade secrets. The Forest 
Service will inform the requester of the agency's decision regarding 
the request for confidentiality, and where the request is denied, the 
agency will return the submission and notify the requester that the 
comments may be resubmitted with or without name and address within 10 
days.
    The Forest Service believes it is important to give reviewers 
notice of several court rulings related to public participation in the 
environmental review process. To be the most helpful, comments on the 
DEIS should be as specific as possible and may address the adequacy of 
the statement or the merits of the alternatives discussed (see Council 
of Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing the procedural 
provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40 CFR 1503.3).
    In addition, Federal Court decisions have established that 
reviewers of draft environmental impact statements must structure their 
participation in the environmental review of the proposal so that it is 
meaningful and alerts the agency to the reviewer's position and 
contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. versus NRDC, 435 US 
519, 533 (1978). Environmental objections that could have been raised 
at the draft stage may be waived if not raised until after completion 
of the final environmental impact statement. City of Angoon versus 
Hodel (9th Circuit, 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. versus Harris, 
490 F. Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). The reason for this is to 
ensure that substantive comments and objections are made available to 
the Forest Service at a time when it can meaningfully consider them and 
respond to them in the final environmental impact statement.

    Dated: April 14, 1997.
Leonard L. Lucero,
Forest Supervisor, Carson National Forest.
[FR Doc. 97-10314 Filed 4-21-97; 8:45 am]
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