[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 32 (Friday, February 16, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7599-7600]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-717]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Bull Run Watershed Management Unit Agreement, Multnomah County, 
OR

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Draft Agreement.

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SUMMARY: The Mt. Hood National Forest (Forest) in coordination with the 
City of Portland Water Bureau (City) is preparing a new Bull Run 
Watershed Management Unit Agreement pursuant to Public Law 95-200, 
Section 2(d). This Agreement will guide and be applicable to all 
occupancy, use, and management of the Bull Run Watershed Management 
Unit by the City and the Forest. This Agreement will replace the 
existing 1979 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The new Agreement will 
provide the revised administrative direction and agreements needed to 
structure the parties' roles, responsibilities, business processes and 
working relationships for the coming decades. Consideration and 
approval of the Agreement is scheduled for June 2007. The Forest and 
the City invite written comments on the content and scope of the 
Agreement. A copy of the draft Agreement is available on the following 
Internet Web sites, 
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mthood or http://www.potlandonline.com/water/. 
Hard copies of the draft Agreement may be obtained by contacting the 
contact person listed below. 
DATES: Comments concerning the content and scope of analysis should be 
postmarked by April 16, 2007. Two Public meetings are scheduled. The 
meeting dates are: 
    1. March 20, 2007, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Portland, OR.
    2. March 21, 2007, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Sandy, OR.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments and suggestions concerning the 
Agreement to Gary Larsen, Forest Supervisor, Mt. Hood National Forest, 
16400 Champion Way, Sandy, Oregon 97055-7248. Comment may also be 
emailed to: [email protected]. Include your 
name and mailing address with your comments so documents pertaining to 
this Agreement may be mailed to you. The meeting location are:
    1. Portland--Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center--Billy Frank Jr. 
Conference Center, 721 NW., 9th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209.
    2. Sandy--Mt Hood National Forest Headquarters, 16400 Champion Way, 
Sandy, OR 97030.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions about the Agreement or 
requests for copies should be directed to Rick Acosta, Mt. Hood 
National Forest, Public Affairs Officer, 16400 Champion Way, Sandy, 
Oregon, 97055-7248, (e-mal: [email protected]), or phone: 503-668-1791, 
or Terry Black, City of Portland Water Bureau, Outreach Specialist, 
1120 SW., 5th Avenue, Portland, OR 97204, (e-mail: 
[email protected]), or phone: 503-823-1168.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Bull Run watershed, located in the Mt. 
Hood National Forest, is the largest and oldest of the several water 
supplies serving the Portland metropolitan area. Its role in the 
region's past, present and future, along with its unprecedented level 
of water quality, make it a high priority for both the City and the 
Forest Service to take the steps necessary to ensure its continuing 
quality, productivity and protection.
    As the City and the Forest Service began to look closely at the 
administrative and policy frameworks that guided their interactions 
they noted that much of that framework dated from the late 1970s and 
arose from the direction provided in the 1977 Bull Run Management Act 
(Pub. L. 95-200). As little of that framework had been updated over 
time, its applicability to current issues and needs is limited. Thus, 
this Agreement replaces the existing 1979 MOU, aligns practice with 
existing legislation, and provides the revised administrative direction 
and agreements needed to structure the parties' roles, 
responsibilities, business process and working relationships for the 
coming decades.
    The City and the Forest Service, along with community interests in 
the greater Portland metropolitan area, have had a long and sometimes 
contentious history of working together to protect and manage the 
valuable ecological and water resources of the Bull Run watershed. But 
with the coming of the 21st century, the issues and conflicts in policy 
and direction that held attention for the last fifty years have all but 
disappeared. Now, the parties are turning to the future, responding to 
new fiscal realities, and working together to frame the structures, 
processes, roles and responsibilities that will allow them to act 
effectively as joint stewards of this valuable regional and national 
resource, in concert with citizens who increasingly desire to redeem 
their responsibilities in stewardship of their lands.
    Officials from the City of Portland and the Mount Hood National 
Forest are

[[Page 7600]]

proposing a new Agreement between the City and the Forest Service to 
identify preferred administrative arrangements for their joint 
management of the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit. The purpose and 
hope of the Agreement is to document a new and more relevant 
relationship between the City and the Forest Service for the long-term 
stewardship of the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit that is built on 
a firm foundation of citizen involvement.
    The final Agreement is scheduled to be available in June 2007. In 
completing the Agreement, the Forest and the City will respond to 
comments received during the comment period. The Agency officials are 
Gary Larsen, Forest Supervisor, Mt. Hood National Forest for the Forest 
Service, and the City official is Randy Leonard, Commissioner-in-
Charge, City of Portland Water Bureau for the City of Portland.
    (Authority: Sec. 2, Pub. L. 95-200, 91 Stat. 1425 (16 U.S.C. 482b)

    Dated: February 12, 2007.
Gary L. Larsen,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 07-717 Filed 2-15-07; 8:45 am]
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