[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 14, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7721-7723]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-1346]


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 Notices
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 14, 2006 / 
Notices  

[[Page 7721]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


Tahoe National Forest; Yuba River Ranger District; California; 
South Yuba Canal Maintenance Project

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: The USDA Forest Service, Tahoe National Forest, Yuba River 
Ranger District, gives notice of the Agency's intent to prepare an 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to remove hazardous trees located 
within approximately 150 feet of either side of the centerline of the 
South Yuba Canal, within the public lands of the Tahoe National Forest.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by 30 days from the date of publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is expected 
to be completed in April of 2006, and the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (FEIS) is expected to be completed in July of 2006.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Dennis Stevens, USDA Forest 
Service, Yuba River Ranger District, 15924 Highway 49, Camptonville, CA 
95922, office hours 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday; telephone 530 
478-6253; FAX 530 288-0727; e-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis Stevens or Patrick Farrell at 
the above address and phone number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pacific Gas and Electric Company's (PG&E) 
South Yuba Canal System is part of the Drum-Spaulding Hydro System 
(License 2310), currently issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission (FERC) through the year 2013. The South Yuba Canal System 
operates primarily for the delivery of domestic and agricultural water 
use within the communities of Nevada City and Grass Valley, California. 
Additionally, the water delivered through the system is used to 
generate electricity for the people of Northern California from the 
Spaulding No. 2 and Deer Creek Powerhouses. The South Yuba Canal System 
is approximately nineteen miles long and traverses both private and 
National Forest Lands. Approximately 11.6 miles of the system are 
located within the Yuba River Ranger District of the Tahoe National 
Forest.
    The Nevada Irrigation District (NID) utilizes PG&E's South Yuba 
Canal to import water into the Deer Creek watershed where it becomes 
the primary water supply for NID's Cascade Canal System. Approximately 
97 percent of the water used in the Cascade Canal System originates 
from water diverted from the South Yuba Canal. The remaining three 
percent comes from natural flow within the Deer Creek drainage. 
Currently, over 30,000 people are served by this canal system. Along 
with the residential and agricultural use, water is also provided to 
fire stations, county and city hydrant systems, schools, the Sierra 
Nevada Memorial Hospital, and the USFS/CDF Emergency Command Center/
Air-Attack Base.
    The Cascade Canal system supplies raw water to three of the 
District's treatment plants in the areas surrounding Grass Valley and 
Nevada City. There are 10,420 service connections for domestic water 
from these treatment plants. There are also 1,450 service connections 
for agricultural and domestic customers that are served directly from 
the Cascade Canal system.
    A list of routine canal maintenance work is identified by PG&E, and 
except for emergencies, all work is scheduled for completion during an 
annual outage. During this annual outage, the canal system is 
dewatered. This allows for the entire system to be inspected in order 
to plan for future work. Flume sections are checked for wood integrity, 
open ditch sections are checked for deterioration and hazard trees are 
identified.
    The yearly outage occurs during the month of April, and is 
scheduled at that time because it causes the least disruption to water 
deliveries while providing a weather window to complete the work. The 
annual outage is typically two weeks long, commencing around the first 
of April and ending by the second week of the month. During this period 
all major routine work to the canal system as well as annual 
maintenance to Spaulding No. 2 and Deer Creek Powerhouses must be 
accomplished.

Purpose and Need for Action

    The Hydrological Division of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company 
requested the Tahoe National Forest consider a project proposal that 
would remove trees on public land that currently threaten, or may 
threaten within the foreseeable future (five to ten years), the 
structural integrity of the South Yuba Canal. PG&E structural engineers 
believe that a preventive maintenance strategy is needed at this time 
due to the following conditions:
     The winter of 2004-2005 caused significant maintenance 
problems for PG&E due to tree windthrow and breakage along the canal. 
Damage and repairs resulted in a disruption of flow and threatened the 
supply of water to consumers.
     Currently, there are numerous trees within falling 
distance of the canal that, due to their physical condition and 
location, pose a threat to the canal and its associated facilities.
     The winter storms of 2005-2006 have already resulted in 
structural damage along the canal. Blown-over, unstable trees and 
snapped tree-tops from nearby trees were the primary cause of damage to 
the canal.
     The population residing within the local Sierra Nevada 
foothill communities has more than doubled in the past 35 years and the 
number of people currently living within the PG&E and NID service area 
is forecasted to triple by 2040.
     Millions of visitors continue to travel to western Nevada 
County to enjoy aquatic recreational pursuits. Annual increases in 
local residents and tourist visitor-days continue to strain the 
capability of the current water supply infrastructure to meet customer 
demands.
     If the current annual maintenance strategy of clearing 
only trees after they have caused damage continues, the results will be 
continued breeches along the canal, continued disruptions in water 
deliveries, and escalating maintenance costs that inevitably must be 
passed along to consumers.

[[Page 7722]]

    Because of the large number and various types of clientele served 
by the South Yuba Canal System, there is a critical need to develop a 
long-range (5-10 years) protection strategy that will better ensure the 
integrity of the primary facility for delivering water to western 
Nevada County residents. During the last three decades, Nevada County 
has experienced a steady growth in population. This population 
expansion has lead to a greater demand in maintaining a reliable water 
system. Interruption of flow compromises both PG&E and NID's ability to 
provide dependable service.
    The greatest threat to maintaining uninterrupted flows to the South 
Yuba Canal is the stands of mixed conifers and hardwoods that grow 
within an approximate one hundred fifty foot strip on either side of 
the canal's centerline. Due to limited accessibility and the difficulty 
of removing these trees from close proximity to the canal, many trees 
that currently pose a hazard to the canal have not been harvested 
during past ground-based logging activities. Numerous trees within 
falling distance of the canal show signs of stress, disease, 
instability and damage. Many of these trees are presently growing 
directly into the canal berm and have grown large enough to cause 
cracking within the concrete linings. The root structures continue 
growing and create pathways for water to leak through the berm, 
providing a mechanism for future canal failure.
    Additionally, damage to the canal's infrastructure occurs when 
trees located along the canal uproot, break-off or breech the flume 
during storms or high wind events. When a tree falls into a wooden 
flume it will often cause major damage that results in complete 
structural failure. If a tree falls into an open ditch section, it 
usually will not completely destroy the berm. However, the limbs and 
debris will dam the water in the canal, potentially creating an ``over-
topping'' situation. This situation can lead to a berm washout 
depending upon the flows and the length of time the situation exists. 
These types of incidents are often discovered by PG&E's system 
operators monitoring the alarm stations.
    Therefore, the primary goal of this proposal is to develop a 
protection strategy along the South Yuba Canal that will reduce the 
annual amount of damage to the canal's infrastructure that routinely 
results in interrupted flows due to uprooting and breakage from trees 
located along the canal. The intent is to provide a preventative, 
longer-term (5-10 years) approach to lessen the amount and intensity of 
damage to the canal.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action is to remove hazardous trees located within 
approximately 150 feet of either side of the centerline of the South 
Yuba Canal, within the public lands of the Tahoe National Forest. Trees 
within falling distance of the canal, canal maintenance structures or 
canal electronic monitoring equipment that exhibit the following 
characteristics will be evaluated for removal:
     Dead/dying trees.
     Trees and dead tops of sufficient length to pose a threat 
of breakage.
     Trees with significant signs of rot or decay.
     Severely forked trees whose tops, boles or large limbs 
encroach upon the canal.
     Trees weakened by insects and disease.
     Trees where the root system is sufficiently exposed to 
indicate instability.
     Trees where the root system is currently penetrating, or 
will likely penetrate the berm or fill of the canal, thus jeopardizing 
structural integrity.
     Trees having a decisive lean towards the canal, canal 
maintenance structures or canal electronic equipment.
    The project area extends along both sides of an estimated 11.6 
miles of canal located on public lands within the Tahoe National 
Forest. Currently, it is estimated that maintenance tree removal would 
involve a ground based harvest system on approximately 20 percent of 
the project area, while the remaining 80 percent would require an 
aerial harvest system.
    Only trees that currently threaten, or would likely threaten the 
structural integrity of the canal system over the next 5-10 years, will 
be assessed for risk, be designated, and removed under this proposal.
    The project area includes portions of several California spotted 
owl and northern goshawk Protected Activity Centers (PACs). While the 
project will be designed to minimize impacts to these species, removal 
of certain hazard trees (specifically those that could cause structural 
damage to the canal through felling activities) can only be done during 
the annual dewatering period in April. In order to implement this 
project, the responsible official may not be able to fully implement 
Standard and guideline No. 75 for the California spotted owl and No. 76 
for the northern goshawk, which require a limited operating period for 
vegetation treatments within approximately \1/4\ mile of nest sites 
during the breeding season, from March 1 through August 31 for the 
California spotted owl and February 15 through September 15 for the 
northern goshawk (USDAS Forest Service, Sierra Nevada Forest Plan 
amendment Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement Record of 
Decision, 2004, p. 60). In order for this project to comply with 
existing laws and regulations, it would necessitate a non-significant 
amendment to the Tahoe National Forest Land Management Plan (TNFLMP), 
to lift the requirement to apply Standard and Guideline Nos. 75 and 76, 
for implementation of this project.

Responsible Official

    The responsible Official for this decision is the forest Supervisor 
of the Tahoe National Forest, Steven T. Eubanks; Tahoe National Forest 
Supervisors Office, 631 Coyote Street, Nevada City, CA 95959. As the 
responsible official, he will document the decision and reasons for the 
decision in the Record of Decision (ROD), which will be published along 
with the FEIS.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    The decision to be made is whether to implement the proposed action 
as described above, to vary the location or design of the project to 
meet the purpose and need while addressing issues raised in public 
scoping, or to take no action at this time.

Scoping Process

    Public participation is viewed as an integral part of the 
environmental analysis. The Forest Service will be seeking points of 
dispute, disagreement or debate from Federal, State, and local 
governmental agencies as well as from individuals or organizations that 
may be potentially interested or affected by the proposed action. A 
scoping letter will be mailed to persons who have expressed interest in 
the proposed action based on notifications in the Tahoe National Forest 
Quarterly Schedule of Proposed actions and by notification through a 
published legal notice in Grass Valley's The Union (the newspaper of 
record for this project), Grass Valley, California. In addition, 
adjacent land owners will be mailed scoping letters.

Comment Requested

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process which guides 
the development of the environmental impact statement. Comments 
submitted during the scoping process should be in

[[Page 7723]]

writing or e-mail, and should be specific to the proposed action. The 
comments should describe as clearly and completely as possible any 
points of dispute, debate or disagreement the commenter has with the 
proposal. Once scoping letters are received, the District shall 
identify all potential issues, eliminate non-significant issues or 
those covered by another environmental analysis, identify significant 
issues to analyze in depth, develop additional alternatives to address 
those significant issues, and identify potential environmental effects 
of the proposed action as well as all fully analyzed alternatives.

Early Notice of Importance of Public Participation in Subsequent 
Environmental Review

    A draft environmental impact statement will be prepared for 
comment. The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement 
will be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency 
publishes the notice of availability in the Federal Register.
    The Forest Service believes, at this early stage, it is important 
to give reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public 
participation in the environmental review process. First, reviewers of 
draft environmental impact statements must structure their 
participation in the environmental review of the proposal so that it is 
meaningful and alerts an agency to the reviewer's position and 
contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 
553 (1978). Also, environmental objections that could be raised at the 
draft environmental impact statement stage but that are not raised 
until after completion of the final environmental impact statement may 
be waived or dismissed by the courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2d 
1016, 1022 (9th Cir. 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 
F. Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). Because of these court rulings, 
it is very important that those interested in this proposed action 
participate by the close of the 45-day comment period so that 
substantive comments and objections are made available to the Forest 
Service at a time when it can meaningfully consider them and respond to 
them in the final environmental impact statement.
    To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues 
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft 
environmental impact statement should be as specific as possible. It is 
also helpful if comments refer to specific pages or chapters of the 
draft statement. Comments may also address the adequacy of the draft 
environmental impact statement or the merits of the alternatives 
formulated and discussed in the statement. Reviewers may wish to refer 
to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing 
the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 
40 CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.
    Comments received, including the names and addresses of those who 
comment, will be considered part of the public record on this proposal 
and will be available for public inspection.

    (Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; Forest Service Handbook 
1909.15, Section 21)

    Dated: February 7, 2006.
Steven T. Eubanks,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 06-1346 Filed 2-13-06; 8:45 am]
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