[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 117 (Tuesday, June 19, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33737-33738]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-3041]


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

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[OR-930-6310-PN-LITU; HAG 07-0097]


Notice of Availability of the Final Supplement to the 2004 Final 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement To Remove or Modify the 
Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines.

AGENCIES: U.S. Forest Service (FS), Agriculture; Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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

SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), and the 
National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA, 16 U.S.C. 1600-1614 et 
seq.), the FS and BLM (collectively the Agencies) have prepared a Final 
Supplement to the 2004 Final Environmental Impact Statement To Remove 
or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and 
Guidelines (2004 FSEIS). The Agencies are supplementing the analyses 
contained in the 2004 FSEIS, which proposes to amend Land and Resource 
Management Plans on National Forests and BLM Districts within the range 
of the northern spotted owl in western Oregon, western Washington and 
northwestern California.
    The Final Supplement is now available. Requests to receive copies 
of the Final Supplement should be sent to

[[Page 33738]]

the addresses listed below. Alternately, the Final Supplement is 
available on the Internet at http://www.reo.gov/s-m2006. Copies are 
also available for inspection at FS and BLM offices in western 
Washington, western Oregon and northwestern California.

DATES: Readers should note that the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
Secretary of the Interior are the responsible officials for this 
proposed action. Therefore, no administrative review (``appeal'') 
through the FS will be available on the Record of Decision (ROD) under 
36 CFR part 217. Also no administrative review (``protest'') through 
the BLM will be available on the Final Supplement under 43 CFR 1610.5-
2. Because there is no administrative review of the decision and 
because of the review period described above, the ROD(s) will not be 
signed until at least 30 days after the Environmental Protection Agency 
Notice of Availability for the Final Supplement appears in the Federal 
Register (see 40 CFR 1506.10(b)).

ADDRESSES: You may request copies of the Final Supplement, add your 
name to the mailing list, or submit written comments by either of the 
following methods. Submit mail to the agencies Survey and Manage Team, 
PO Box 2965, Portland, OR 97208, or submit e-mail to [email protected].
    Comments may be submitted for 30 days.
    Before including your address, phone numbers, e-mail address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so. No public meetings have been scheduled. All comments 
received within 30 days will be considered by the decisionmakers.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Haske, Chief, Branch of Forest 
Resources and Special Status Species, Bureau of Land Management, P.O. 
Box 2965, Portland, Oregon 97208, telephone (503) 808-6066 or Alan 
Christensen, Group Leader, Wildlife, Fisheries, Watershed, Soils and 
Range, Forest Service, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, Oregon 97208, telephone 
(503) 808-2922.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In January 2004 the Agencies released a 
Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (2004 FSEIS) 
analyzing a proposal to remove the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure 
from the Northwest Forest Plan. The Agencies subsequently released a 
ROD adopting that proposal. In August 2005 the U.S. District Court of 
the Western District of Washington found the 2004 FSEIS failed to: (1) 
``* * * analyze potential impacts to Survey and Manage species if they 
are not added to or are removed from the FS's and BLM's respective 
programs for special status species;'' (2) ``* * * provide a thorough 
analysis of their assumption that the late-successional reserves would 
adequately protect species that the Survey and Manage standard was 
introduced to protect, particularly in light of their previous 
positions in earlier environmental impact statements;'' and (3) ``* * * 
disclose and analyze flaws in their methodology for calculating the 
acreage in need of hazardous fuel treatments. Part of the cost analysis 
was similarly flawed because it relied on the acreage in need of 
hazardous fuel treatments in calculating the cost of the Survey and 
Manage standard.'' The Final Supplement provides the additional 
information and analysis to address the deficiencies noted by the 
court, and it provides and analyzes new information available since 
publication of the 2004 FSEIS. In November 2006, in a different court 
case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found the 
Agencies' 2001 decision to change the category of the red tree vole and 
the subsequent 2003 removal of red tree vole from Survey and Manage 
following processes described in the Survey and Manage Standards and 
Guidelines constituted a BLM plan amendment that should have followed 
NEPA and applicable planning processes. To address this decision and 
its potential implications on other 2001 to 2003 species removals and 
category changes, the Final Supplement includes another no-action 
alternative that considers all species on Survey and Manage, and their 
assigned categories, when the previous Survey and Manage Record of 
Decision was signed in January 2001.
    No sooner than 30 days following release of the Final Supplement, 
the Agencies will prepare a new ROD. A decision to select one of the 
action alternatives would amend the management direction in all 28 FS 
and BLM land and resource management plans in the Northwest Forest Plan 
area.

Lisa Freedman,
Director of Resource Planning & Monitoring, Region 6, USDA Forest 
Service.

James G. Kenna,
Associate State Director, Oregon/Washington, Bureau of Land Management.
[FR Doc. 07-3041 Filed 6-18-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-33-P