[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 227 (Wednesday, November 25, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65167-65168]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-31199]


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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 
 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 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 227 / Wednesday, November 25, 1998 / 
Notices  

[[Page 65167]]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Department of the Interior

Bureau of Land Management


Survey and Manage Strategy for National Forests and Bureau of 
Land Management Districts Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl

AGENCIES: Forest Service, USDA; Bureau of Land Management, USDI.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) to be used in 
considering a proposal to make changes in two of the mitigation 
measures first adopted in the Standards and Guidelines for Management 
of Habitat for Late-Successional and Old-Growth Forest Related Species 
Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl (Northwest Forest Plan), 
and then incorporated into subsequent planning documents of the Forest 
Service and BLM. These changes affect the Survey and Manage and 
Protection Buffer species provisions of the Standards and Guidelines 
and are based on new information that has been collected in the past 
four years of implementation. The purpose of these proposed changes is 
to update the conservation strategies in the Northwest Forest Plan and 
to continue to meet all of the objectives articulated in the Northwest 
Forest Plan. The selected alternative may result in amendment to agency 
land and resource management plans for National Forests and BLM 
Districts within the range of the northern spotted owl.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis should be received 
in writing by December 24, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments concerning this proposal to Bill 
Torgersen, Project Manager, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, Oregon 97203.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Cynthia Henchell, EIS Team Leader, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, Oregon 
97203, phone (503) 808-2490.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This EIS will evaluate the Survey and Manage 
and Protection Buffer species Standards and Guidelines as they are 
applied to National Forest System Lands (NFS) and public lands 
administered by the BLM within the range of the northern spotted owl. 
The selected alternative may result in an amendment to Land Management 
Plans (LMPs) for the Gifford Pinchot, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie, Mount 
Hood, Olympic, Rogue River, Siuslaw, Siskiyou, Six Rivers, Umpqua, and 
Willamette National Forests and portions of the Deschutes, Okanogan, 
Wenatchee, Winema, Klamath, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, and Shasta-
Trinity National Forests implementing the Northwest Forest Plan.
    The Record of Decision for this EIS would amend the BLM Resource 
Management Plans (RMPs) for the Salem, Eugene, Coos Bay, Roseburg, and 
Medford Districts, and the Klamath Falls Field Office of the Lakeview 
District in Oregon. In addition, the Record of Decision for this EIS 
would amend the plans for the Redding Field Office, Arcata Field 
Office, King Range National Conservation Area, and Ukiah Field Office 
within the grouping of independent Northern California Field Offices 
known as NORCAL.
    New information, such as the range and abundance of species listed 
in Table C-3 of the Survey and Manage and Protection Buffer species 
Standards and Guidelines of the Northwest Forest Plan, continues to be 
compiled from surveys and analyzed following four years of 
implementation of these provisions. This new information indicates that 
adhering to some of the present Standards and Guidelines for Survey and 
Manage and Protection Buffer species may not fully meet both the need 
to protect old growth-related species and the need for forest products, 
which are the dual goals of the Northwest Forest Plan. The present 
Standards and Guidelines for Survey and Manage and Protection Buffer 
species require substantial reductions in the availability of resources 
from Federal lands; including recreation, timber, prescribed fire, 
mining, grazing and restoration activities, while providing little 
corresponding benefit to the species the provisions were designed to 
protect. Moreover, there is a need to clarify the Survey and Manage and 
Protection Buffer species (Standards and Guidelines to design an 
orderly and credible adaptive management process to change or revise 
the status of species and management of Survey and Manage and 
Protection Buffer species as we gain new insights to their needs.
    The proposed action would alter certain procedures under the Survey 
and Manage provisions so that the agencies can more rapidly respond to 
new information concerning the population status and habitat 
requirements of species associated with late-successional and old-
growth forest habitat of the Pacific Northwest. The proposed action 
would merge Protection Buffer species into the protective measures 
provided under the Survey and Manage provisions established under the 
Northwest Forest Plan. The proposed action may include the initial 
changes to species' categorization which would be made under the new 
adaptive management procedures to be adopted for the Survey and Manage 
mitigation measure, such as moving a species from one Component to 
another. These changes would be based on the information which has been 
developed since adoption of the Northwest Forest Plan.
    Alternatives other than the proposal and the ``no action'' 
alternative have not been developed. The public is invited to propose 
alternatives for consideration during the scoping process.
    The scoping process as defined in the Council of Environmental 
Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing 
regulations will be used to identify issues for developing a range of 
alternatives that consider the underlying need for this action. A 
scoping notice will be prepared and circulated to mailing lists of 
individuals and organizations previously expressing an interest in 
National Forest LMPs and BLM RMPs within the range of the northern 
spotted owl. The scoping notice along with background information will 
also be posted on the Internet: http://or.blm.gov/information.htm. A 
scoping meeting will not be held. For comments to be

[[Page 65168]]

most useful in this analysis, they should be submitted in writing 
before December 24, 1998.
    The Forest Service and BLM will be joint lead agencies for this 
analysis. The two agencies will consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service and National Marine Fisheries Service pursuant to the 
Endangered Species Act. Other Federal agencies, such as the Pacific 
Northwest and Pacific Southwest Research Station, Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Natural Resources Conservation Service, 
the U.S. Geological Survey Biological Resources Division, EPA Research 
Laboratory, and Tribal, local, and state governments will also be 
involved.
    The responsible officials for NFS lands will be the Regional 
Forester, Pacific Northwest Region, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, Oregon 
97208 and the Regional Forester, Pacific Southwest Region, 630 Sansome 
Street, San Francisco, CA 94111. The responsible official for public 
lands administered by the BLM will be the State Director for Oregon and 
Washington, P.O. Box 2965, Portland, Oregon 97208 and the State 
Director for California, 2135 Butano Drive, Sacramento, CA 95825.
    The draft EIS is expected to be filed with the EPA approximately 
February 1999 and will be available for public review at that time. The 
comment period on the draft EIS will be 90 days from the date the EPA 
publishes the notice of availability in the Federal Register.
    The Forest Service and BLM believe it is important to give 
reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public 
participation in the environmental review process. First, reviewers of 
draft EISs must structure their participation in the environmental 
review of the proposal so that it is meaningful and alerts an agency to 
the reviewer's position and contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power 
Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 533 (1978). Also, environmental objections 
that could be raised at the draft EIS stage may be waived or dismissed 
by the courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2nd 1016, 1022 (9th Cir. 
1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 F. Supp. 1334, 1338 
(E.D. Wis. 1980). Because of these court rulings, it is important that 
those interested in this proposed action participate by the close of 
the 90-day comment period on the draft EIS so that substantive comments 
and objections are made available to the Forest Service and BLM at a 
time when the agencies can meaningfully consider substantive comments 
and objectives and respond to them in the final EIS.
    To assist the Forest Service and BLM in identifying and considering 
issues and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft EIS 
should be as specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer 
to specific pages or chapters of the draft statement. Comments may also 
address the adequacy of the draft EIS or the merits of the alternatives 
formulated and discussed in the statement. Reviewers may wish to refer 
to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing 
the procedural provisions of NEPA at 40 CFR 1503.3 in addressing these 
points.
    It is expected that the final EIS will be filed with the EPA 
approximately October 1999. There will be two Records of Decisions 
issued; one for NFS lands and one for BLM public lands in Oregon, 
Washington and California. The decision for National Forest System 
Lands will be subject to Forest Service appeal regulations (36 CFR 
217). The decision in regard to lands managed by the BLM would be 
subject to the protest procedures in BLM's planning regulations (43 CFR 
1610.5-2).

    Dated: November 16, 1998.
Robert W. Williams,
Regional Forester, R-6, Forest Service.

    Dated: November 16, 1998.
William L. Bradley,
Deputy State Director, Resource Planning, Use & Protection, Bureau of 
Land Management.
[FR Doc. 98-31199 Filed 11-24-98; 8:45 am]
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