[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 71 (Friday, April 11, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19805-19806]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-7692]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Bend/Ft. Rock Ranger District; Deschutes National Forest; Oregon; 
EXF Thinning, Fuels Reduction, and Research Project EIS

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service, will prepare an environmental impact 
statement (ETS) on a proposed action to address forest health and 
hazardous fuels concerns as well as facilitating research within the 
3,535-acre planning area known as the Lookout Mountain Unit of the 
Pringle Falls Experimental Forest. The planning area is located about 
30 miles southwest of Bend, Oregon; it is located in Township 20 South, 
Range 9 East, and Township 21 South, Range 9 East. The alternatives 
will include the proposed action, no action, and additional 
alternatives that respond to issues generated through the scoping 
process. The agency will give notice of the full environmental analysis 
and decision making process so interested and affected people may 
participate and contribute to the final decision.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by 30 days following the date that this notice appears in the Federal 
Register.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Phil Cruz, District Ranger, Bend/
Ft. Rock Ranger District, 1230 NE 3rd St., Suite A-262, Bend, OR 97701.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beth Peer, Environmental Coordinator, 
Bend/Ft. Rock Ranger District, 1230 NE 3 St., Suite A-262, Bend, 
Oregon, 97701, phone (541) 383-4769. E-mail [email protected].
    Responsible Official. The responsible official will be John Allen, 
Forest Supervisor, Deschutes National Forest, P.O. Box 1645 Hwy 20 
East, Bend, OR 97701.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose and Need. Forest and scientific 
studies being conducted in the experimental forest are threatened by 
wildfire and forest health problems. This important site could be lost 
if stand densities are not reduced.
    The proposed action is needed to reduce stand density to lower 
susceptibility to catastrophic loss to insects, disease, or fire, as 
well as to protect the long-term studies and future research 
opportunities represented by the residual stand and create new stand 
structures as a requirement for the new studies. Treatment is needed 
to:
     Reduce stand density and ground fuels in a buffer 
surrounding the Levels-of Growing-Stock Study and surrounding the 
Ponderosa Pine-Grand Fir Spacing Study to prevent loss from insects and 
wildfire.
     Reduce stand density and ground fuels in stands belonging 
to ponderosa pine and mixed conifer plant associations dominated by 
ponderosa pine to maintain high growth rates and reduce susceptibility 
to insect infestation.
     Reduce stand density and ground fuels in mixed conifer 
stands that include mountain hemlock to reduce the risk of wildfire 
moving downslope into ponderosa pine stands.
     Provide operational scale research opportunities through a 
series of thinning and fuel reduction treatments applied across the 
landscape that facilitate studies of the interaction of climate change 
and vegetation dynamics, fire ecology of giant chinquapin, processes 
for converting even-aged stands to uneven-aged stands, and the effect 
of stand manipulation on wind patterns and wind residual tree blowdown.
     Protect and enhance future research opportunities.
    The proposed activities provide a platform for a suite of new 
studies that address the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station's 
goals for climate change and vegetation dynamics research. Scientists 
at the PNW Research Station have identified

[[Page 19806]]

numerous research goals with this proposal including:
     Develop and demonstrate a suite of treatments that 
accelerate the development of large trees while reintroducing natural 
disturbance processes that provide greater ecosystem resiliency.
     Evaluate the influence of climate change on vegetation 
dynamics and forest structure. Develop and demonstrate a process for 
converting even-aged stands to uneven-aged stands.
     Protect ongoing research and provide greater opportunities 
for future research.
     Develop and demonstrate linkages between mid-scale 
(multiple watersheds) and project analyses.
     Refine and demonstrate a burn probability and fire risk 
analysis using a fire modeling/actuarial risk approach.
     Expand the current use of the west-wide pine beetle model 
to incorporate western, mountain, and engraver beetles, and develop a 
means to incorporate red turpentine beetle.
     Evaluate the use of biological control agents to 
manipulate aboveground biomass of the dominant shrub, snowbrush, and 
thereby encourage enhanced herbivory and defoliation to create more 
predictable burning conditions and potentially greater natural 
regeneration of ponderosa pine.
     Create an opportunity to locate and showcase a large body 
of work for the Western Wildlands Environmental Threat Assessment 
Center.
     Refine current understanding of fire ecology for prominent 
plant species such as giant chinquapin.
    Proposed Action. The Forest Service proposes to implement 
activities across approximately 2,603 acres within four different 
treatment blocks. Treatments will reduce stand densities by thinning, 
mow shrubs, and underburn. The blocks delineate areas of homogonous 
elevation and aspect, and incorporate roads for boundaries where 
appropriate. Four levels of treatment are proposed, in addition to 
control (untreated) units. These treatments are randomly assigned to 
one unit within each block.
    Comment. Public comments about this proposal are requested in order 
to assist in identifying issues, determine how to best manage the 
resources, and to focus the analysis. Comments received to this notice, 
including names and addresses of those who comment, will be considered 
part of the public record on this proposed action and will be available 
for public inspection. Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted 
and considered; however, those who submit anonymous comments will not 
have standing to appeal the subsequent decision under 36 CFR parts 215 
and 217. Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any person may 
request the agency to withhold a submission from the public record by 
showing how the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permits such 
confidentiality. Persons requesting such confidentiality should be 
aware that, under FOIA, confidentiality may be granted in only very 
limited circumstances, such as to protect trade secrets. The Forest 
Service will inform the requester of the agency's decision regarding 
the request for confidentiality, and where the request is denied, the 
agency will return the submission and notify the requester that the 
comments may be resubmitted with or without name and address within a 
specified number of days.
    A draft EIS will be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA) and available for public review by October 2008. The EPA will 
publish a Notice of Availability (NOA) of the draft EIS in the Federal 
Register. The final EIS is scheduled to be available January 2009.
    The comment period on the draft EIS will be 45 days from the date 
the EPA 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 
a draft EIS 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)1. 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. Harris, 490 F. Supp. 1334, 
1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980)1. 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 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 of 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.
    In the final EIS, the Forest Service is required to respond to 
substantive comments received during the comment period for the draft 
EIS. The Forest Service is the lead agency and the responsible official 
is the Forest Supervisor, Deschutes National Forest.
    The responsible official will decide where, and whether or not to 
thin stands, and apply natural fuels treatments. The responsible 
official will also decide how to mitigate impacts of these actions and 
will determine when and how monitoring of effects will take place.
    The EXF Project decision and the reasons for the decision will be 
documented in the record of decision. That decision will be subject to 
Forest Service Appeal Regulations (35 CFR Part 215).

Phil Cruz,
Bend/Ft. Rock District Ranger.
 [FR Doc. E8-7692 Filed 4-10-08; 8:45 am]
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