[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 197 (Friday, October 12, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58048-58050]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-5033]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Sierra National Forest, Bass Lake Ranger District, California, 
Sugar Pine Adaptive Management Project

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The Sierra National Forest, Bass Lake Ranger District is 
proposing to conduct a comprehensive series of treatments centered on a 
Wildland Urban Intermix area known as the community of Sugar Pine. 
Strategically Placed Area Treatments (SPLATs) have been initially 
identified to provide a means to reduce the intensity and spread of 
wildland fires across the landscape and near communities. Additional 
treatments within these SPLATs have been identified where forest stands 
are densely stocked and thinning is needed. This thinning is needed to 
reduce inter-tree competition and improve tree vigor and increase stand 
resistance to drought conditions, insect and disease attack. The 
effects of implementing the treatments called for in the final decision 
will be studied by the University of California as they relate to fire 
and fuels, water quality and quantity, wildlife (specifically the 
Pacific Fisher) and public involvement. Depending on the results of 
this study, future management actions on other similar ecosystems may 
be changed. This approach to monitoring and feedback is called Adaptive 
Management and is a primary reason for the descriptive title.

DATES: To be most effective, comments concerning the scope of this 
analysis should be received by October 31, 2007. Public scoping for 
this analysis, originally expected to be documented in an Environmental 
Assessment, began on April 1, 2007. Unless response to this notice 
raises concerns not yet expressed, the draft environmental impact 
statement (DEIS) is expected in November 2007 and the final 
environmental impact statement (FEIS) is expected in January 2008.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to the Forest Service at the following 
addresses. Hardcopy mail: U.S. Forest Service, Sierra National Forest, 
Bass Lake Ranger District, 57003 Road 225, North Fork, CA 93643, ATTN: 
David Martin. Electronic mail: [email protected]. Use Rich Text format (.rtf) or Word format (.doc).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Lemon, Interdisciplinary Team 
Leader, at Sierra National Forest, Bass Lake Ranger District, 57003 
Road 225, North Fork, CA 93643.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Background Information: The Sugar Pine Adaptive Management Project 
(Madera and Mariposa Counties, California) lies within the Fresno River 
watershed, where during the period before significant Euro-American 
influence, natural fires occurred frequently and were of low intensity 
with return intervals ranging from every 5 to 10 years. During the past 
century, management activities (including harvesting operations, fire 
exclusion/suppression, etc.) and increased human habitation, have 
changed the composition of vegetation. Currently, vegetation within the 
Sugar Pine Adaptive Management Project has changed from one where 
frequent, low intensity fires occurred to one with increased 
suseptability to infrequent moderate to high intensity wildland fire. 
Forest stand densities are above that which can be sustained, with 
inter-tree competition increasing and tree vigor beginning to decline. 
Pockets of insect and disease attack are beginning to show in the 
stands as well as the drought induced mortality. Non-native plant 
species and noxious weeds, that were absent in the area, now are 
growing in small pockets.
    The Sugar Pine Adaptive Management Project was originally to be 
documented in an Environmental Assessment (EA). The Sugar Pine Adaptive 
Management Project lies within the elevational bands for the Southern 
Sierra Fisher Conservation Area. Public concern and management review 
surrounding the

[[Page 58049]]

significance of potential impacts to the Pacific fisher, a candidate 
threatened and endangered species and the California spotted owl, a 
sensitive species, during past projects, has led to the decision to 
document the environmental analysis with an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) for this project.

Purpose and Need for Action

    The Sierra National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (as 
amended in January 2004) has identified wildland urban intermix areas 
as places where human habitation is mixed with areas of flammable 
wildland vegetation and has the highest priority for treatment. As 
directed in the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment (2004), national 
forests are to integrate fire and fuels management objectives with 
other resource management objectives and address the role of wildland 
fire in the ecosystem. The forest-wide standards and guidelines state 
that ``vegetation within treatment areas should be modified to meet 
desired surface, ladder and crown fuel conditions as well as stand 
densities necessary for healthy forest during drought conditions''.
    The community of Sugar Pine (Madera Counties, California) lies in 
the center portion of the project area. On the northern portion of the 
project boundary is a large area of private land known as Yosemite 
Mountain Ranch as well as the community of Fish Camp. Most of the homes 
in these communities do not have sufficient clearance to protect them 
if a fast moving wildland fire were to move into the subdivision.
    Vegetation in the Sugar Pine Adaptive Management Project area 
includes conifer stands consisting of ponderosa pine and mixed conifer, 
where insect and drought induced mortality is beginning to appear in 
pockets within both natural stands and conifer plantations. In lower to 
mid-elevations of the project area, on the steeper slopes, brush 
(manzanita/ceanothus) is the main vegetation. Scattered in pockets 
throughout the project area are heavy accumulations of dead and down 
material (branches, limbs and logs) resulting from natural accumulation 
and past management activities.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action includes vegetation treatment areas designed to 
create SPLATs to reduce the intensity and spread of wildland fire 
across the landscape and near communities and reduce inter-tree 
competition to improve tree vigor and increase stand resistance to 
drought induced mortality, insect and disease attack. Additional areas 
for treatment are proposed to create a defensible fuels profile near 
key transportation corridors and within the Defense zones of the 
wildland urban intermix. The treatments proposed include: Thinning in 
conifer stands, either pre-commercially or commercially to reduce lower 
level canopy crown densities; mastication of brush and shrub patches; 
perscribed burning, both understory and piles; manual and/or prescribed 
burning treatment of noxious weed infestations; prepare and plant 
failed conifer plantations.

Possible Alternatives

    To comply with NEPA, the Forest Service will evaluate additional 
alternatives to the proposed action, including the no action 
alternative within the EIS. Additional alternatives suggested through 
public comment will also be considered. Each alternative will be 
rigorously explored and evaluated, or rationale will be given for 
eliminating an alternative from detailed study. A range of alternatives 
may be considered.

Responsible Official

    The Responsible Deciding Official is Edward Cole, Forest 
Supervisor, Sierra National Forest, 1600 Tollhouse Road, Clovis, CA 
93612.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    The Responsible Deciding Official will use the EIS to make an 
informed decision as to which alternative best meets the purpose and 
need for this project or to take no action at this time, in accordance 
with applicable laws, regulations, and Forest Service Manual/Handbook 
direction.

Scoping Process

    The public will be invited to participate in the scoping process, 
and review of the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). Comments 
from the public and other agencies will be used in preparation of the 
DEIS. A public meeting was held on September 5, 2007. A public field 
trip is currently scheduled for September 29, 2007. Additional public 
meetings may be scheduled as requested or needed, but no dates have 
been set. The DEIS is expected to be available for public review and 
comment on November 2007 and a FEIS in January 2008.

Comment Requested

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process which guides 
the development of the environmental impact statement.
    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, 
533 (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)


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    Dated: September 27, 2007.
Edward Cole,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 07-5033 Filed 10-11-07; 8:45 am]
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