[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 149 (Thursday, August 4, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44884-44885]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-15424]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Revision of Land Management Plan, Dixie and Fishlake National 
Forests, Located in Southwest Utah.

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION:  Notice of adjustment to Federal Register Notice of Vol. 67, 
No. 90, p. 31178, May 9, 2002, and Vol. 67, No. 91, p. 31761, May 10, 
2002, and transition to the 2005 Planning Rule at 36 CFR 219 (FR Vol. 
70, No. 3./January 5, 2005, 1023).

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SUMMARY: The Dixie and Fishlake National Forests will exercise their 
option to adjust the land management plan revision process from 
compliance with the 1982 planning regulations, to conform with new 
planning regulations adopted in January 2005.
    This adjustment will have the following effects:
    1. The new rule redefines forest plans to be more strategic and 
flexible to

[[Page 44885]]

better facilitate adaptive management and public collaboration.
    2. The new rule focuses more on the goals of ecological, social, 
and economic sustainability and less on prescriptive means of producing 
goods and services.
    3. The Responsible Official who will approve the final plan will 
now be the Forest Supervisor instead of the Regional Forester.
    4. The forests will establish an environmental management system 
(per ISO 14001:2004(E)) prior to completion of the revised forest plan.
    5. The emphasis of public involvement will be a collaborative 
effort between the public and the Forest Service to incorporate the 
most desirable management options into a single broadly supported 
management direction package that will become the Forest Plan.
    6. Administrative review will change from a post-decision appeals 
process to a predecision objection process.
    Public Involvement:
    There has been a great deal of public participation and 
collaborative work on this planning process over the past few years, 
including more than 75 public meetings. Results of this work and a 
preliminary proposed action are available for review and comment. 
Current information and details of public participation opportunities 
are posted on our Web site: http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/dixie/projects/FParea/HomePage.htm. Contact Ellen Row at (435) 896-9233, or email at, 
[email protected] to be placed on our mailing list.

ADDRESSES: Mailing address: Dixie and Fishlake Forest Plan Revision, 
115 E 900 North, Richfield UT, 84701.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frank Fay, Planning Team Leader, 
Fishlake National Forest, (435) 896-9233 or email: [email protected]; or 
view our Web site at http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/dixie/projects/FParea/HomePage.htm.

DATES: Transition is effective immediately upon publication of this 
notice in the Federal Register.
    Responsible Officials: Robert A. Russell, Forest Supervisor, Cedar 
City, Dixie National Forest, 1789 N. Wedgewood Lane, Cedar City UT, 
84720. Mary C. Erickson, Forest Supervisor, Richfield, Fishlake 
National Forest, 115 E 900 North, Richfield UT, 84701.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Dixie and Fishlake National Forests are 
separate administrative units with separate forest plans. However, due 
to similar ecology, interested publics, and financial resources, the 
two forest plans are being revised with a single planning team. In May 
of 2002, the forests formally initiated a land management plan revision 
process with publication of a notice of intent to prepare an 
environmental impact statement for plan revision. The forests began an 
extensive public participation and collaboration process. The planning 
team has been working on comprehensive analyses of conditions and 
trends for the ecological, social and economic components of the plan 
area and related scales of analysis.
    The first phase of public participation was focused primarily on 
development of ``vision'' statements, desired conditions, management 
issues, and suitable land uses to be incorporated into the preliminary 
proposed action. Over sixty community meetings were conducted in this 
effort. During the second phase, the planning team met with the public 
to review the content of the preliminary proposal and to get feedback 
as to its desirability and feasibility. The review and feedback phase 
is ongoing. The planning team will draft a summary of findings from the 
analyses of ecological, social, and economic conditions in the form of 
a Comprehensive Evaluation Report. Many of these analyses have already 
been developed with and reviewed by public participants. We are still 
accepting feedback on the preliminary proposed action and the analyses. 
We will use these comments to further modify the plan proposal. The 
planning team will take additional collaborative steps to finish the 
draft plan components and to identify potential options. Remaining work 
includes drafting a summary of condition and trend analyses, plan 
components for formal review and comment, a monitoring program, and an 
environmental management system.
    This is an open planning process with numerous opportunities for 
the public to obtain information, provide comment, or participate in 
collaborative stakeholder activities. The focal points of future 
collaborative work will be: (1) Review and adjustment of the 
preliminary proposed action (2) identification and development of 
management objectives to assist in attaining or maintaining desired 
conditions, (3) formulation of guidelines to serve as operational 
controls to help ensure projects move toward or maintain desired 
conditions, and (4) development of the plan monitoring framework and 
environmental management system to guide adaptive management. We expect 
to complete this phase of collaboration by early Fall of 2005. Our 
remaining forest plan revision schedule will be approximately as 
follows:

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Release of Draft Forest Plan and start of   Winter 2005-06
 90-day public comment period.
Release of Final Plans and start of 30-day  Summer 2006
 objection period.
Final decision and start of plan            Fall 2006
 implementation.
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    Please see our website to review proposed management direction in 
progress and other details.

    Dated: July 25, 2005.
Robert A. Russell,
Forest Supervisor, Dixie National Forest.
    Dated: July 22, 2005.
Mary C. Erickson,
Forest Supervisor, Fishlake National Forest.
[FR Doc. 05-15424 Filed 8-3-05; 8:45 am]
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