[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 204 (Friday, October 22, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62076-62077]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-23742]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Fire Management Plan, Final Environmental Impact Statement, 
Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Shasta County, CA; Notice of 
Approved Record of Decision

    Summary: Pursuant to Sec.  102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (Pub. L. 91-190, as amended) and the implementing 
regulations promulgated by the Council of Environmental Quality (40 CFR 
part 1505.2), the Department of the Interior, National Park Service has 
prepared and approved a Record of Decision concerning the revision of 
the Fire Management Plan for Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. The 
purpose of the fire management plan is to provide comprehensive 
direction for park fire management activities over the next 10 years. 
The selected plan prescribes goals to be achieved and the methods for 
achieving them during this period. The formal no-action period was 
officially initiated June 18, 2004, with the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency's Federal Register notification of the filing and 
availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement.

[[Page 62077]]

    Decision: As soon as practical the park will begin to implement as 
its updated Fire Management Plan the ``multiple strategy'' alternative 
(identified and analyzed in the Draft and Final EIS as Alternative IV). 
The selected plan will focus on restoring high elevation logged plant 
communities and reducing the risk of high severity wildland fire by 
decreasing forest stand density, reducing surface fuels, and attempting 
to restore fire as a natural disturbance process to the greatest extent 
feasible. Implementation of these strategies combines use of prescribed 
fire and mechanical treatment, and includes both pile and broadcast 
burns.
    Project sizes may range from 0.5 to 1,000 acres, and will occur in 
all vegetation types. Up to 2,200 acres could be treated in each year 
of implementation. To facilitate these operations, the park's fire 
operations cache will be centrally located at the Oak Bottom area.
    An additional component of the Draft and Final EIS was the amending 
of the 2001 General Management Plan (GMP), to allow for future 
consideration of replacing or modernizing the existing park 
administrative center within the park. Under the selected alternative, 
the park's GMP is amended to allow the park to consider construction a 
new administrative building at the existing park headquarters site on 
Kennedy Memorial Drive (subsequent environmental compliance, with 
opportunity for public involvement, would be necessary to address this 
option within a full range of alternatives).
    The selected plan was determined to be the ``environmentally 
preferred'' alternative. Since the Fire Management Plan/Final 
Environmental Impact Statement is programmatic in nature, project- or 
site-specific mitigations may need to be developed and implemented to 
ensure resource protection efforts reduce or avoid adverse effects. 
During the fire management planning phase, subject matter experts will 
review evaluate existing databases and maps, and, if necessary, conduct 
additional surveys to field verify natural or cultural resource 
conditions. Additional consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, the California State Historic Preservation Officer, the 
Redding Rancheria, and others may be required and will be documented in 
the project planning phase.
    This selected plan and three alternatives were identified and 
analyzed in the Draft and Final EIS. In addition to the selected 
alternative, the environmental analysis addressed: Alternative/No 
Action (the current fire management program); Alternative II Prescribed 
Fire Dominated (the fire program would have focused on the intentional 
use of fire through the application of prescribed fire to meet 
ecological restoration and maintenance objectives, and to reduce 
hazardous fuels throughout the park); and Alternative III Suppression 
Dominated (all natural and human-ignited wildland fires would have been 
suppressed). The full spectrum of foreseeable environmental 
consequences was assessed, and appropriate mitigation measures 
identified for each alternative.
    Conclusion: The selected plan (Alternative IV) provides the most 
comprehensive and effective method among the alternatives considered 
for meeting the NPS purposes, goals, and criteria for managing fire and 
fire risks in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area and for meeting 
national environmental and fire policy goals. The selection of 
Alternative IV, as detailed in the Fire Management Plan/Final 
Environmental Impact Statement, will not result in the impairment of 
park resources nor violate the Organic Act of 1916, and will allow the 
park to most effectively conserve park resources and provide for the 
long term enjoyment of visitors.
    Interested parties desiring to review the Record of Decision may 
obtain a complete copy by contacting the Superintendent, Whiskeytown 
National Recreation Area, P.O. Box 188, Whiskeytown, CA 96095 (530) 
242-3400.

    Dated: August 25, 2004.
Jonathan B. Jarvis,
Regional Director, Pacific West Region.
[FR Doc. 04-23742 Filed 10-21-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P