[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 142 (Tuesday, July 24, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38419-38421]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-18379]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

National Nuclear Security Administration


Floodplain Statement of Findings for the Wildfire Hazard 
Reduction and Forest Health Improvement Program Projects at Los Alamos 
National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico

AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos Area 
Office, DOE.

ACTION: Floodplain statement of findings.

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SUMMARY: This is a Floodplain Statement of Findings for the 
implementation of individual projects using mechanical and manual 
thinning methods to treat the forests at Los Alamos National Laboratory 
(LANL), in an effort to reduce fuel loading and wildfire hazards, and 
to improve the overall forest health. This Statement of Findings is 
prepared in accordance with 10 CFR Part 1022. The National Nuclear 
Security Administration (NNSA) plans to implement ecosystem-based 
management program projects over the next 18 to 36 months, or until 
completed, that will be followed by periodic maintenance projects to 
retain the desired end-state for wildfire risk reduction with 
enhancements to improve forest health. The projects will include 
construction of access roads and fuel breaks as treatment measures. 
Wood materials generated by the treatment measures will be either 
donated or salvaged; wood waste materials will primarily be disposed of 
through chipping and use on-site or by burning in pits with the use of 
an air curtain destructor. Implementation of these projects will 
include areas of forest located on mesa tops, along canyon sides, and 
in canyon bottoms, including floodplain areas (but excluding wetland 
areas), located within LANL boundaries in Los Alamos and Santa Fe 
Counties, New Mexico. NNSA prepared a floodplain assessment describing 
the effects, alternatives, and measures designed to avoid or minimize 
potential harm to or within the affected floodplains.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Withers, Department of 
Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos Area 
Office, 528 35th Street, Los Alamos, NM 87544. Telephone: (505) 667-
8690; Facsimile: (505) 667-9998; electronic address: 
[email protected]. For further information on general DOE floodplain 
environmental review requirements, contact: Carol M. Borgstrom, 
Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance, EH-42, Department of 
Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington DC 20585-0119. 
Telephone (202) 586-4600 or (800) 472-2756; facsimile (202) 586-7031.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A Notice of Floodplain Involvement was 
published in the Federal Register on June 29, 2001; this Notice 
announced that the Floodplain Assessment to be prepared would be 
available in hard copy upon request or electronically at: http://libwww.lanl.gov/pubs/Environment.htm.
    The LANL program projects will be composed of a series of 
strategically planned projects located over most of LANL (see figure). 
These program projects will be implemented in three phases, which will 
treat about 10,000 acres, representing about 35 percent of the total of 
LANL. The phases are as follows: Phase 1 (high priority strategic 
projects, primarily fuel breaks, in heavily forested urban interface 
areas to reduce the wildfire hazard to the public, LANL employees, and 
key facilities and infrastructure); Phase 2 (moderate priority, larger 
forest fuels reduction projects in heavily forested areas to reduce the 
general wildfire hazard and improve forest health); and Phase 3 (lower 
priority, larger forest fuels reduction projects in more moderately 
forested and remote areas to reduce wildfire hazard in general and 
improve forest health). Each project as it is developed will follow 
certain planning steps that include formulating a plan of action that 
will identify and assess potential risks and environmental concerns and 
formulating a reasoned treatment plan. These plans will include 
facility and forest fire hazard assessment, identification of resource 
issues, coordination with neighboring land management agencies and land 
owners, development of end-state conditions, and formulation of 
treatment and environmental protection measures. Treatment measures 
will be identified for each project including the equipment and 
involved job performances, and types of treatment measures to be 
performed based on the forest and site conditions in the project area. 
Integral to treatment measures will be complementary measures to 
protect public health and welfare and to protect and enhance cultural 
and natural resources. Worker protection and health and safety 
measures, cultural resource protection measures, air quality protection 
measures, water quality protection measures, threatened and endangered 
species protection measures, as well as other biological resources 
protection measures will be employed on each project. Wood materials 
generated from the treatment activities will be disposed of by donation 
or salvage, or may be contracted for to offset program operational 
costs; wastes will be disposed of on-site by chipping and reuse as 
mulch, by burning within pits using air curtain destructor devices to 
enhance the burning process, or at on-site or off-site waste disposal 
facilities. Post-treatment assessments will be conducted for each 
project area that will include some or all of the following: end-state 
conditions assessment, fuel load inventories, ecological field studies, 
watershed assessment and monitoring, and data analysis and modeling. 
Maintenance measures will be implemented on project areas at least once 
every 5 years (or as necessary) to maintain the desired end-state 
conditions of the forests at LANL. These maintenance measures will 
include the type of treatment measures used to initially treat an area 
and may also include periodic mowing and the maintenance of access 
roads.
    The forest thinning project actions are proposed to be located 
within floodplains due to the need to reduce fuel loading in the canyon 
areas, especially near LANL facilities and

[[Page 38420]]

areas of urban interface. Thinning within the canyon floodplains will 
be conducted in a mosaic pattern to reduce the likelihood of 
catastrophic wildfires while maintaining the beneficial floodplain 
properties with regards to wetlands protection and soil erosion 
retardation. The Final Environmental Assessment for the Wildfire Hazard 
Reduction and Forest Health Improvement Program at Los Alamos National 
Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (DOE/EA 1329) considered three 
alternatives, all of which included thinning actions in floodplains: 
the Proposed Action (the No Burn Alternative); the Limited Burn 
Alternative (Waste Only); and the Burn Alternative (Both Treatment and 
Forest Waste). The NNSA has issued Findings of No Significant Impacts 
(FONSI's) for the No Burn and the Limited Burn Alternatives and now 
plans to implement the Limited Burn Alternative. The only other 
alternative considered was the No Action Alternative. Both the No Burn 
and the Limited Burn Alternatives conform to applicable State or local 
floodplain protection standards.

    Issued in Los Alamos, New Mexico on July 17, 2001.
David A. Gurule, P.E.,
Area Manager, Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security 
Administration, Los Alamos Area Office.

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BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
[FR Doc. 01-18379 Filed 7-23-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-C