[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 141 (Friday, July 23, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43138-43139]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-17803]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Ochoco National Forest, Lookout Mountain Ranger District; Oregon; 
Howard Elliot Johnson Fuels and Vegetation Management Project EIS

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The Ochoco National Forest is preparing an environmental 
impact statement (EIS) to analyze the effects of managing fuels and 
vegetation within the 44,858-acre Howard Elliot Johnson project area, 
which is approximately 23 miles east of Prineville, Oregon. The project 
area includes National Forest and Bureau of Land Management System 
lands in the Howard, Elliot, and Johnson subwatersheds. The 
alternatives that will be analyzed include the proposed action, no 
action, and additional alternatives that respond to issues generated 
through the scoping process. The Ochoco National Forest will give 
notice of the full environmental analysis and decisionmaking 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 August 23, 2010. The draft environmental impact statement is 
expected to be completed and available for public comment in December, 
2010. The final environmental impact statement is expected to be 
completed in May, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Maurice Evans, Acting District 
Ranger, Lookout Mountain District, Ochoco National Forest, 3160 NE. 
Third Street, Prineville, Oregon 97754.
    Alternately, electronic comments may be sent to [email protected]. Electronic comments must be submitted 
as part of the actual e-mail message, or as an attachment in plain text 
(.txt), Microsoft Word (.doc), rich text format (.rtf), or portable 
document format (.pdf).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristy Swartz, Project Leader, or 
Marcy Anderson, Environmental Coordinator, at 3160 NE. Third Street, 
Prineville, Oregon 97754, or at (541) 416-6500, or by e-mail at 
[email protected] or [email protected].
    Responsible Official: The responsible official will be Jeff Walter, 
Forest Supervisor, Ochoco National Forest, 3160 NE. Third Street, 
Prineville, Oregon 97754.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Purpose and Need. The Lookout Mountain Ranger District has 
determined that there is a need for fuels and vegetation management 
activities in the project area by comparing the existing condition to 
the desired conditions described in the Ochoco National Forest Land and 
Resource Management Plan. The existing condition of the Howard, Elliot, 
and Johnson subwatersheds was evaluated in 2004 and documented in the 
Howard Elliot Johnson Watershed Analysis. Generally speaking, the 
Watershed Analysis determined that vegetation condition in the 
subwatersheds has departed from the historic condition in several ways. 
Important departures include changes in timber species compositions, a 
reduction in single-stratum late and old structured forest (LOS), an 
increased risk of large-scale loss of forest to wildfire, an increased 
risk of insect infestation and/or disease that can impact timber 
stands, and a decline in the condition of riparian vegetation.
    The purpose and need for this proposal is to (1) Maintain and 
increase the abundance of late and old structure (LOS) stands, 
especially single-stratum LOS. (2) Reduce wildfire hazard within areas 
identified as ``at risk of loss.'' (3) Outside of areas identified as 
``at risk of loss,'' maintain or restore vegetative and fuel conditions 
within historic ranges of species composition, structure, and 
condition. (4) Reduce the susceptibility of the landscape to 
infestation by insects and disease. (5) Enhance hardwood communities, 
such as aspen and cottonwood. (6) Increase riparian vegetation and 
large tree structure in Riparian Habitat Conservation Areas (RHCAs).
    Proposed Action. The proposed action includes a variety of 
management strategies and activities, including commercial harvest with 
follow-up precommercial thinning and/or slash treatment (4,138 acres), 
precommercial thinning with slash treatment (2,712 acres), juniper 
cutting with slash treatment (1,204 acres), hardwood and riparian 
vegetation treatment (658 acres), underburning where no other 
treatments are proposed (8,705 acres), riparian planting with no other 
treatment (35 acres). Implementation of the proposed action would 
require the following connected actions: reconstruction of 
approximately four miles of existing roads and construction of 
approximately 15 miles of temporary roads that would be obliterated 
upon conclusion of project activities. No new permanent roads would be 
constructed.

[[Page 43139]]

    Seed tree harvest (198 acres) and shelterwood harvest (71 acres) is 
proposed in nine units ranging in size from 6 to 78 acres. These 
treatments would occur in stands that are impacted heavily by insects 
and disease and are at high risk of stand replacement wildfire. These 
units will continue to decline and will not move toward desired 
conditions until a stand replacement event occurs. Regeneration of 
these units would allow for the establishment of a healthy stand of 
early seral trees, which could then move towards the desired 
conditions. Regeneration treatments in late and old structure stands 
would require a forest plan amendment.
    Issues. Preliminary issues identified include the potential effects 
of the proposed action on wildlife habitat, water quality, fish 
habitat, visual quality, and recreational use. In addition, the 
interdisciplinary planning team will analyze the cumulative effects of 
this proposed action where it overlaps with the effects of other 
activities.
    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 in response 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 ETS will be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA) and available for public review by December, 2010. 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 May, 2011.
    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)]. Also, environmental 
objections that could be raised at the draft ETS 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)]. 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, Ochoco National Forest. The responsible 
official will decide whether and how to conduct fuels and vegetation 
management activities in the Howard Elliot Johnson planning area. 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 Howard Elliot Johnson Fuels and Vegetation Management 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).

    Dated: July 15, 2010.
Maurice Evans,
Acting District Ranger.
[FR Doc. 2010-17803 Filed 7-22-10; 8:45 am]
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