[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 124 (Wednesday, June 27, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34190-34191]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-16121]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6997-5]


Notice of Availability of National Management Measures To Control 
Nonpoint Source Pollution From Forestry and Request for Comments

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: EPA has developed and is requesting comment on draft technical 
guidance for managing nonpoint source pollution from forestry. This 
guidance is intended to provide technical assistance to State program 
managers and others on the best available, economically achievable 
means of reducing nonpoint source pollution of surface and ground water 
from forestry. The guidance provides background information about 
nonpoint source pollution from forestry, including where it comes from 
and how it enters the Nation's waters. It discusses the broad concepts 
of assessing and addressing water quality problems on a watershed 
level, and it presents up-to-date technical information about how to 
reduce nonpoint source pollution from forestry.
    Reviewers should note that the draft technical guidance is entirely 
consistent with the Guidance Specifying Management Measures for Sources 
of Nonpoint Pollution in Coastal Water (EPA 840-B-92-002), which EPA 
published in January 1993 under the authority of section 6217(g) of the 
Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments of 1990 (CZARA). The draft 
document does not supplant or replace the requirements of the 1993 
document. It enhances the technical information contained in the 1993

[[Page 34191]]

coastal guidance to include inland as well as coastal context and to 
provide updated technical information based on current understanding 
and implementation of best management practices (BMP) controls. It does 
not set new or additional standards for either CZARA section 6217 or 
Clean Water Act section 319 programs.
    EPA will consider comments on this draft guidance and will then 
issue final guidance.

DATES: Written comments should be addressed to the person listed 
directly below by September 25, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Chris Solloway, Assessment and 
Watershed Protection Division (4503-F), U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. Non-US 
Postal Service comments should be sent to Chris Solloway, Assessment 
and Watershed Protection Division, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, Room 200, 499 S. Capitol Street, SW., Washington, DC 20003. 
Faxes should be sent to (202) 260-7024.
    The complete text of the draft guidance is available on EPA's 
Internet site on the Nonpoint Source Control Branch's homepage at 
http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps>. Copies of the complete draft can also be 
obtained by request from Chris Solloway at the above address, by E-mail 
at [email protected]>, or by calling (202) 260-3008.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact Chris Solloway at (202) 260-3008.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    In 1993, under the authority of section 6217(g) of the Coastal Zone 
Act Reauthorization Amendments, EPA issued Guidance Specifying 
Management Measures for Sources of Nonpoint Pollution in Coastal 
Waters. That guidance document details management measures appropriate 
for the control of five categories of nonpoint sources of pollution in 
the coastal zone: Agriculture, forestry, urban areas, marinas and 
recreational boating, and hydromodification. The document also includes 
management measures for wetlands, riparian areas, and vegetated 
treatment systems because they are important to the abatement of 
nonpoint source pollution in coastal waters. States and territories 
were required to adopt measures ``in conformity'' with the coastal 
management measures guidance for their Coastal Nonpoint Pollution 
Control Programs.
    State, territory, and tribal water quality assessments continue to 
identify nonpoint source pollution as a major cause of degradation in 
surveyed waters nationwide. In 1987 Congress enacted section 319 of the 
Clean Water Act to establish a national program to control nonpoint 
sources of water pollution. Under section 319, States, territories, and 
tribes address nonpoint source pollution by assessing the nonpoint 
source pollution problems within the State, territory, or tribal lands; 
identifying the sources of pollution; and implementing management 
programs to control the pollution. Section 319 also authorizes EPA to 
award grants to States, territories, and tribes to assist them in 
implementing management programs that EPA has approved. Program 
implementation includes nonregulatory and regulatory programs, 
technical assistance, financial assistance, education, training, 
technology transfer, and demonstration projects. In fiscal year 2000, 
Congress appropriated and EPA awarded $200 million for nonpoint source 
management program grants. EPA has awarded a total of $1 billion to 
States, territories, and Indian tribes since 1990.
    The 1993 management measures guidance focused on conditions and 
examples of management measure implementation from the coastal zone. To 
date, technical guidance on the best available, economically achievable 
measures for controlling nonpoint sources with a national focus has not 
been released. The draft national management measures guidance for 
forestry is intended to partially address this gap. Although the 
practices detailed in the 1993 coastal guidance apply generally to 
inland areas, EPA has recognized the utility of developing and 
publishing technical guidance that explicitly addresses nonpoint source 
pollution on a nationwide basis. Moreover, additional information and 
examples from research and experience to date with implementation of 
the management measures are available to enrich the national guidance. 
These changes have helped to prompt the revision and expansion of the 
forestry chapter of the 1993 guidance.

II. Scope of the Draft Forestry Guidance--Sources of Nonpoint 
Source Pollution Addressed

    The draft technical guidance continues to focus on the major 
sources of pollution from forestry identified for the 1993 coastal 
guidance by EPA in consultation with a number of other Federal agencies 
and other leading national experts, including several experts from the 
U.S. Forest Service. Specifically, the guidance identifies management 
measures for the following:
    i. Preharvest planning;
    ii. Streamside management areas;
    iii. Road construction and reconstruction;
    iv. Road management;
    v. Timber harvesting;
    vi. Site preparation and forest regeneration;
    vii. Fire management;
    viii. Revegetation of disturbed areas;
    ix. Forest chemical management; and
    x. Wetlands forest management.

III. Approach Used To Develop Guidance

    The draft national management measures guidance is based in large 
part on the 1993 coastal guidance. The coastal guidance was developed 
using a workgroup approach to draw upon technical expertise within 
other Federal agencies as well as State water quality and coastal zone 
management agencies.
    The 1993 text has been expanded to include information on the 
application and effectiveness of forestry BMPs from recent research, 
the cost of installing BMPs, watershed-scale and ecological impacts of 
forestry activities, technological advances that affect BMP use and 
installation, State BMP monitoring programs, logger education and 
certification programs, and BMP installation and use considerations for 
nonindustrial private forest landowners.

IV. Request for Comments

    EPA is soliciting comments on the draft guidance on management 
measures to control nonpoint source pollution from forestry. The Agency 
is soliciting additional information and supporting data on the 
measures specified in this guidance and on additional measures that may 
be as effective or more effective in controlling nonpoint source 
pollution from forestry. EPA requests that commenters focus their 
comments on the technical soundness of the draft management measures 
guidance.

Diane C. Regas,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Water.
[FR Doc. 01-16121 Filed 6-26-01; 8:45 am]
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