[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 184 (Friday, September 22, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55419-55421]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-8010]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Lincoln National Forest; New Mexico; Perk-Grindstone III 
Hazardous Fuel Reduction Project

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS).

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SUMMARY: The Smokey Bear Ranger District of the Lincoln National Forest 
intends to prepare an environmental impact statement to address the 
Perk-Grindstone III Hazardous Fuel Reduction Project on National Forest 
System lands in Lincoln County, New Mexico. The proposed project is 
located adjacent to or in the immediate vicinity of the Village of 
Ruidoso. The project area is bounded on the west and south by the 
Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation.
    The Village of Ruidoso is listed as a community at high risk from 
wildfire, as defined by the National Fire Plan of 2000 (NFP). The 
proposed project addresses this problem through hazardous fuel 
reduction and related forest health objectives, as directed by the NFP 
and as governed by all applicable laws and public policies. The project 
has been developed through local collaborative processes, continual 
public participation, and interdisciplinary design. It would involve up 
to approximately 4,730 acres of forest management treatments and 
integrated conservation measures within a gross project area of 
approximately 5,920 acres.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis are requested 
within 14 days following the publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register. The draft EIS is expected to be available for public review 
in February 2007 and the final EIS is expected to be published in May 
2007.

ADDRESSES: Send written, oral, or e-mail scoping comments to the 
project leader by: (1) mail--Perk-Grindstone III Hazardous Fuel 
Reduction Project, Attn: Paul Klug--Project Leader, c/o USDA Forest 
Service--Smokey Bear Ranger District, 901 Mechem Drive, Ruidoso, NM 
88345; (2) telephone--(406) 752-6400; or (3) [email protected]. 
If you choose to comment by e-mail, please include your name and 
regular mailing address with the scoping comment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Klug, Forester, TEAMS Planning 
Enterprise, USDA Forest Service, (406) 752-6400. Individuals who use 
telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 8 
p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Purpose and Need for Action

    This proposal is being prepared to meet the intent of the Healthy 
Forests Restoration Act of 2003 for authorized hazardous fuel reduction 
projects. The purpose of the Perk-Grindstone III Hazardous Fuel 
Reduction Project is to moderate potential wildfire intensity on 
National Forest System lands surrounding the Village of Ruidoso, New 
Mexico, an area that local cooperative planning has identified and 
prioritized for treatment: The project area is immediately adjacent to 
the community, which is listed as being at high risk from wildfire as 
defined by the National Fire Plan of 2000. The surrounding area is a 
topographically complex, densely forested landscape with current and 
future potential for high intensity wildfire. Although portions of the 
area received fuel reduction treatments between 1994 and 2004, a high-
intensity wildfire in untreated areas could exceed the capability of 
ground-based crews and equipment to use direct-attack firefighting 
methods, and could put at risk the lives of community residents and 
firefighters, private property, public facilities, and natural-resource 
values of the area targeted for conservation by the Forest Plan--
including recreation, scenery, and wildlife habitat.
    To serve the purpose of moderating potential wildfire intensity in 
this area and thereby reduce the risk of severe impacts from wildfire, 
particular forest management needs are indicated, to change current 
conditions toward desired conditions. These needs are as follows:
     Reduce the tonnage and continuity of woody debris on the 
forest floor that provides the basic fuel for wildfires.
     Reduce the density of lower- and mid-level trees that can 
help wildfires climb and torch the crowns of upper-level trees.
     In selected stands, reduce the density and continuity of 
upper-level trees that can help sustain a crown fire.
     Interrupt forest insect and disease trends that are 
currently killing large trees and adding to the fuel hazard.
     Create forest conditions that would allow the health and 
vigor of surviving large trees to improve and become more fire-
resilient.
     Implement standards of resource management and 
environmental protection applicable to the area.

Proposed Action

    Proposed forest management work includes noncommercial thinning, 
commercial thinning involving removal of logs and slash by ground-based 
skidding or helicopter, ground-based machine work and hand work to pile 
thinning slash, and slash-pile burning or broadcast burning to dispose 
of or reduce woody fuels. On existing roads used to support these 
treatments, maintenance work including forestry best management 
practices would be performed. No new permanent roads are proposed; 
however, new temporary roads would be developed to facilitate proper 
ground-based skidding and access log-landing areas, especially sites 
used to receive logs by helicopter. Upon completion of logging and 
other mechanized treatments, temporary roads would be rehabilitated and 
closed. The proposed forest management treatments and roadwork 
integrate various detailed design-features to conserve cultural or 
historical sites, air quality, soil, water quality, wildlife, native 
plants and trees, scenery, and recreation.
    To achieve desired conditions for the area, the proposed action 
involves some removal of commercial-size trees from areas of protected 
habitat of the Mexican spotted owl, a threatened species. Under the 
current forest plan as amended, these treatments to reduce fuels near 
urban areas are anticipated; nonetheless, they are a departure from the 
forestwide standards and guidelines adopted to implement the recovery 
plan for this species. Therefore, to ensure project consistency with 
the forest plan, the plan would be amended at the same time as and in 
conjunction with the approval of an action alternative, should one be 
selected, that involves similar departure from current standards and 
guidelines to conserve the Mexican spotted owl. The plan amendment 
would be limited to apply only to the Perk-Grindstone III hazardous 
fuel reduction project area and its approved activities (36 CFR 
219.8(e)).

[[Page 55420]]

Responsible Official

    The responsible official for the Perk-Grindstone III Hazardous Fuel 
Reduction Project is S.E. ``Lou'' Woltering, Forest Supervisor, Lincoln 
National Forest, 1101 New York Avenue, Alamogordo, NM 88310-6692.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    The EIS will inform both the public and responsible Forest Service 
officials so that the following decisions can be made: (1) Whether the 
Forest Service has met procedural requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act to study and disclose effects of the proposed 
action and alternatives on the quality of the human environment; (2) 
whether any proposed or alternative activities or their predicted 
effects are inconsistent with Forest Plan standards and guidelines or 
other applicable laws, regulations, and policies; (3) whether to amend 
the Forest Plan as previously described; and (4) whether to approve and 
implement the proposed action or an alternative.
    If, on the basis of the final EIS, the responsible official decides 
to approve and implement the proposed action or an alternative, it is 
anticipated that project operations could begin in mid-to-late summer 
2007, and continue intermittently for at least three additional years 
(through 2010 or beyond).

Scoping Process

    In December 2004, the Forest Service issued an earlier version of 
the proposed action. Comments were received and considered, a preferred 
alternative was developed, and the environmental effects of no action, 
the original proposed action, and the preferred alternative were 
compared and reported in an environmental assessment (EA) issued in 
July 2005. Subsequently, an objection was submitted by an eligible 
party in accordance with 36 CFR Part 218, and the response to the 
objection by the Forest Service's southwestern regional office 
instructed the Forest Supervisor to further analyze and disclose 
particular environmental effects of the proposed action and 
alternatives in a revised EA. In this process, the Forest Supervisor 
decided to feature as the proposed action the previously identified 
preferred alternative, which involves more commercial cutting to 
achieve desired conditions and, as a result, departs from current 
forestwide standards and guidelines for managing Mexican spotted owl 
habitat. Given this situation and the need for a forest plan amendment, 
the Forest Supervisor determined that an EIS would be prepared.
    Since the project developed to this current status through an early 
and ongoing collaborative process involving meetings and correspondence 
with a wide range of public interests, organizations, agencies and 
individuals, and since this collaborative process and comments on the 
original proposal helped shape and define the current proposal, all 
past collaboration and public comments still apply. Additional comments 
received at this stage of the process will also be considered, and 
there will also be opportunity to comment on the draft EIS. Considering 
the amount of public involvement and analysis performed to date and the 
desire of local partners and community members to expedite the project, 
the scheduled scoping comment period has been limited to two weeks.

Preliminary Issues

    Based on scoping completed to date, the known environmental, 
economic, and social concerns related to the proposed action are as 
follows:
     Conservation of scenery and recreation opportunities 
within the project area;
     Truly effective reduction of the current fuel hazard and 
potential wildfire intensity;
     Integration of project activities with related fuel-
reduction work planned or already in process on neighboring lands;
     Protection of private property during prescribed burning 
operations;
     Protection of soil, water and air quality;
     Conservation of federally listed threatened species 
including the Mexican spotted owl and northern goshawk;
     Conservation of old-growth forest conditions;
     Prevention or control of non-native plant invasion;
     Supply of raw materials to area forest-products industries 
resulting from trees removed to achieve desired conditions; and
     Protection of important archaeological sites or historic 
properties present in the project area.
    The EIS will address these preliminary issues through the proposed 
action and its integrated design features and conservation measures, 
through mitigation to avoid, minimize, rectify, reduce, or compensate 
for possible impacts, or through other reasonable courses of action 
(alternatives) that might remedy issues while still serving the project 
purpose and meeting the indicated forest-management needs.

Comment Requested

    This notice of intent initiates the final phase of the scoping 
process which guides the development of the EIS. The Forest Service is 
requesting any new scoping comments related to the current proposed 
action and its potential effects on the quality of the human 
environment. All information, ideas, and concerns previously submitted 
for the proposal of December 2004 are being retained and considered as 
potentially relevant to the current proposed action; such comments do 
not need to be resubmitted unless there are changes or additions.

Early Notice of Importance of Public Participation in Subsequent 
Environmental Review

    A draft EIS will be prepared for notice and comment in February 
2007. The comment period on the draft EIS 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 EISs 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 EIS stage but that are not raised until after completion of the 
final EIS 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 
on the draft EIS 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 EIS.
    To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues 
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft EIS 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 EIS or the merits of the alternatives 
formulated and discussed in the statement. Reviewers may wish to refer 
to the Council on

[[Page 55421]]

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: September 15, 2006.
S.E. ``Lou'' Woltering,
Forest Supervisor, Lincoln National Forest.
[FR Doc. 06-8010 Filed 9-21-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-P