[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 211 (Friday, October 31, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62050-62051]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-27304]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[OR-930-6333 DT]


Notice of Availability (NOA) of Final Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement (FSEIS) for the Clarification of Language in the 1994 
Record of Decision for the Northwest Forest Plan; National Forests and 
Bureau of Land Management Districts Within the Range of the Northern 
Spotted Owl (Proposal To Amend Wording About the Aquatic Conservation 
Strategy); Western Oregon and Washington, and Northwestern California

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

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The USDI Bureau of Land Management and the USDA Forest Service 
have prepared a FSEIS to consider an amendment of selected portions of 
the Aquatic Conservation Strategy (ACS) (part of the Northwest Forest 
Plan) to clarify guidance intended to protect and restore watersheds. 
The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior propose limited changes 
to language about how to demonstrate that projects follow the ACS. 
Projects needed to achieve Northwest Forest Plan goals have been 
delayed or stopped due to misapplication of certain passages in the 
ACS. The agencies are responding to the underlying need for increased 
agency success in planning and implementing projects, to the extent 
that the current wording has hindered the agencies' ability to follow 
Northwest Forest Plan principles and achieve its goals. The goals of 
the Northwest Forest Plan cannot be achieved without project 
implementation. Copies of the FSEIS may be requested from the address 
below or access on line at http:///www.reo.gov/acs/.

DATES: Publication of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Notice 
of Availability and filing of the FSEIS in the Federal Register 
initiates a 30-day review period. Comments will be accepted at the 
addresses below. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If 
you wish to withhold

[[Page 62051]]

your name or address from public review or from disclosure under the 
Freedom of Information Act, you must state this prominently at the 
beginning of your written comment. Such requests will be honored to the 
extent allowed by law. All submissions from organizations or businesses 
will be made available for public inspection in their entirety. No 
public meetings have been scheduled.

ADDRESSES: To request copies of the document, add your name to the 
mailing list, or submit written comments. Contact: ACS EIS, 333 SW. 
First Avenue, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, Oregon 97208; FAX: (503) 326-
2396 (please address fax to ``ACS EIS'').

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joyce Casey; phone (503) 326-2430; E-
mail: [email protected] or Leslie Frewing-Runyon; phone (503) 808-
6088; E-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed amendment would make limited 
changes to language within Attachment A of the 1994 Record of Decision 
(ROD) for the Northwest Forest Plan. These changes would amend Forest 
Service and Bureau of Land Management plans throughout the Northwest 
Forest Plan area. The limited changes clarify that the proper scale for 
federal land managers to evaluate progress toward achievement of the 
ACS objectives is the fifth-field watershed and broader scales. The 
changes would also document requirements for land managers to 
demonstrate that projects follow the ACS. It would remove the 
expectation that all projects must achieve all ACS objectives, but 
would reinforce the role of watershed analysis in providing context for 
project planning. Current land allocations, standards and guidelines, 
and Northwest Forest Plan goals and objectives would be retained.
    Three alternatives are considered in the FSEIS: No Action, the 
Proposed Action, and Alterative A. The No Action Alternative would not 
change existing language within the ACS. The Proposed Action and 
Alternative A would make limited changes to clarify documentation 
requirements. Alternative A is the Preferred Alternative. If the 
Preferred Alternative is approved, implementation of the range of 
projects envisioned under the Northwest Forest Plan would be more 
likely. Land managers would more successfully demonstrate that projects 
follow the ACS.
    The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior propose limited 
changes to language about how to implement the ACS. The ACS is intended 
to maintain and restore the ecological health of watersheds and aquatic 
ecosystems within the Northwest Forest Plan area. The ACS includes 
language that has been interpreted to mean that decision-makers must 
demonstrate that a proposed project will attain all of the ACS 
objectives. These objectives were never intended to be site-specific 
standards; rather, they were intended to be achieved at the fifth-field 
watershed scale and broader, over the long term. Confusion related to 
the existing language has hindered federal land managers' ability to 
plan and implement projects needed to achieve Northwest Forest Plan 
goals.
    Readers should note that the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
Secretary of the Interior are the responsible officials for this 
proposed action. Therefore, no administrative review (``appeal'') 
through the Forest Service will be available on the ROD under 36 CFR 
217, and no administrative review (``protest'') through the Bureau of 
Land Management will be available on the ROD under 43 CFR 1610.5-2. 
Because there is no administrative review of the decision, the ROD will 
not be signed until 30 days after the EPA Notice of Availability for 
the FSEIS appears in the Federal Register.

    Dated: October 22, 2003.
Charles E. Wassinger,
Associate State Director, Oregon/Washington State Office.
Michael Ash,
Deputy Regional Forester, Pacific Northwest Region.
[FR Doc. 03-27304 Filed 10-30-03; 8:45 am]
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