[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 82 (Friday, April 27, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25128-25129]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-9909]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Amended Land Management Plans for the Angeles, Cleveland, Los 
Padres, and San Bernardino National Forests, California

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Agriculture, Forest Service will prepare a 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a proposed 
amendment of the Land Management Plans for the Angeles, Cleveland, Los 
Padres, and San Bernardino National Forests (hereinafter referred to as 
Land Management Plans). This notice describes the specific portions of 
the current Land Management Plans to be amended, estimates dates for 
filing the supplemental environmental impact statement, information 
concerning public participation, and the names and contact information 
of the agency officials who can provide additional information. The 
Forest Service proposes to amend the Land Management Plans to change 
Land Use Zone allocations within select Inventoried Roadless Areas 
(IRAs) in the four southern California National Forests. The amendment 
also proposes to change the Land Management Plan monitoring protocols 
for the four forests. This joint planning process will maintain the 
consistent management direction and format across the four Forests. One 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared with 
a Record of Decision (ROD) for each Land Management Plan.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by June 11, 2012. The draft supplemental environmental impact statement 
is expected November 2012. There will be a 90 day comment period on the 
draft supplemental environmental impact statement. The final 
supplemental environmental impact statement is expected June 2013.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Cleveland National Forest, 10845 
Rancho Bernardo Road, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92127-2107, ATTN: LMP 
Amendment. Comments may also be sent via email to [email protected], or filed through the project web page at http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/fs-usda-pop.php?project=35130.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob Hawkins, Project Manager at 
[email protected], or visit the project Web site at 
http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/fs-usda-pop.php?project=35130.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Southern California National Forests 
(the Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres, and San Bernardino National 
Forests, collectively, ``four forests'') propose to amend the Land 
Management Plans adopted in 2006. The proposed amendment revises land 
use zone allocations for select Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs) 
within the four forests and amends Land Management Plan monitoring 
protocols. This proposed Land Management Plan amendment is a result of 
the Settlement Agreement approved January 3, 2011 for California 
Resources Agency, et al v. United States Department of Agriculture, and 
Center for Biological Diversity, et al v. United States Department of 
Agriculture. The IRAs included in the analysis are: Antimony, Barker 
Valley, Black Mountain, Cactus Springs B, Caliente, Cedar Creek, 
Coldwater, Cucamonga B, Cucamonga C, Cuyama, Diablo, Dry Lakes, Eagle 
Peak, Fish Canyon, Fox Mountain, Garcia Mountain, Juncal, Ladd, 
Machesna Mountain, Malduce Buckhorn, No Name, Pyramid Peak A, Quatal, 
Raywood Flat B, Red Mountain, Salt Creek, Sawmill--Badlands, Sespe--
Frazier, Sill Hill, Spoor Canyon, Tequepis, Trabuco, Tule, Upper San 
Diego River, West Fork, Westfork, White Ledge.

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose of the proposed action is to amend Land Management Plan 
land use zone allocations for select IRAs and to amend Land Management 
Plan monitoring protocols. This action is needed to respond to the 
terms of the Settlement Agreement between the Forest Service, State of 
California, and other settlement parties.
    Land Management Plans are required by the National Forest 
Management Act (NFMA). They are an integrated document that describes 
the goals, objectives, and management direction for each component of 
the National Forest System. The original Land Management Plans for the 
four southern California national forests were adopted between 1986 and 
1989, and revised in 2006 consistent with NFMA requirements. This 
proposed amendment to the 2006 Land Management Plans is limited in 
scope and designed to address the terms of the settlement agreement.

Proposed Action

    The action proposed by the Forest Service to meet the purpose and 
need is to modify the existing land use zones in the identified IRAs to 
include more Back Country Non-Motorized (BCNM) and Recommended 
Wilderness (RW) areas. An alternate monitoring framework is also 
proposed.
    The proposed action would change the LUZ allocation to BCNM on 
approximately 300,000 acres, and change the LUZ allocation to RW on 
approximately 80,000 acres. The majority of the additional BCNM 
allocations are located in IRAs on the Los Padres National Forest, and 
San Bernardino National Forest. Additions to the RW allocations are 
within IRAs on the Angeles and Cleveland National Forests.
    On the Angeles National Forest, the Fish Canyon and Salt Creek IRAs 
were combined to create the proposed 40,000 acre Fish Canyon RW area. 
On the Cleveland National Forest, the proposed 23,000 acre Eagle Peak 
RW area includes portions of the Eagle Peak, Sill Hill, and No Name 
IRAs, along with portions of the Cedar Creek and Upper San Diego River 
undeveloped areas. The 11,000 acre Barker Valley and 5,000 acre 
Caliente RW areas are also proposed on the Cleveland National Forest.
    The proposed action monitoring and evaluation requirements are 
based on the current monitoring framework (Part 3, Appendix C of the 
Land Management Plans). Revisions include updates to the monitoring 
requirements for forest health, riparian condition, and biological 
resource condition. Monitoring indicators were also clarified to 
reflect current inventory methodology in several areas, and an 
indicator was added to track unclassified (unauthorized) roads and 
trails. The revision also include more details on how monitoring will 
be implemented, and how projects will be selected for monitoring.

Lead and Cooperating Agencies

    The Forest Service is the lead federal agency for the Land 
Management Plan Amendment. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National 
Marine Fisheries Service, Environmental Protection Agency, State of 
California Natural Resources Agency (including the Departments of Fish 
and Game, Parks and Recreation, and Forestry and Fire

[[Page 25129]]

Protection), Ventura County, and Orange County Fire Authority have 
agreed to participate as cooperating agencies. Other federal, state, 
and local agencies as well as tribes are invited to join as 
cooperators.

Responsible Official

    Cleveland National Forest Supervisor Will Metz is the lead Forest 
Supervisor for the joint planning effort between the Angeles, 
Cleveland, Los Padres, and San Bernardino National Forests and is the 
Responsible Official for purposes of this notice. If the proposed 
amendment results in a significant change to the LMPs (as described by 
Forest Service policy), Regional Forester Randy Moore will be the 
Responsible Official for the decision. If the proposed amendment does 
not result in a significant change to the LMP, each individual Forest 
Supervisor may act as the Responsible Official for the decision. Refer 
to Forest Service Manual section 1926 for more detail.

Nature and Scope of Decision To Be Made

    Given the purpose and need, the Responsible Official reviews the 
proposed action, the other alternatives, and the environmental 
consequences in order to determine whether the LMPs will be amended as 
proposed, modified by an alternative, or not at all. The decision 
framework is limited in scope to the proposed changes to the land use 
zone allocations for select IRAs and to the monitoring protocols.

Scoping Process

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process, which guides 
the development of the supplemental environmental impact statement. The 
four forests will host a series of open house workshops during the 
scoping period. Forest Service staff will be available during the open 
house workshops to answer questions about the proposed action.
    It is important that reviewers provide their comments at such times 
and in such manner that they are useful to the agency's preparation of 
the environmental impact statement. Therefore, comments should be 
provided prior to the close of the comment period and should clearly 
articulate the reviewer's concerns and contentions.
    Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names 
and addresses of those who comment, will be part of the public record 
for this proposed action. Comments submitted anonymously will be 
accepted and considered, however anonymous comments will not provide 
the Agency with the information needed to provide the respondent with 
subsequent environmental documents.

Planning Process

    The LMP amendment will be developed under the transition provisions 
of the new Forest Service planning rule found at 36 CFR 219.17, which 
provides that plan amendments may be initiated under the provisions of 
the prior planning regulations (see 74 FR 67062, December 18, 2009 for 
more information on the prior planning rule). Under those transition 
provisions, this plan amendment will be conducted under the 1982 
planning rule, however, the pre-decisional administrative review 
process described under 36 CFR 219 subpart B will apply.

Meetings

    The Forest Service will be hosting multiple open house workshops 
during the scoping period. The content and format of each meeting will 
be the same. Forest Service staff will be available to answer questions 
about the proposed action. Maps of the proposed changes will be 
available for viewing. The meeting times and locations are:
    May 29, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Avenue Adult Center, 550 N. Ventura 
Avenue, Ventura, CA 93001 (Hosted by Los Padres National Forest).
    May 30, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Angeles National Forest 
Headquarters, 701 North Santa Anita Avenue, Arcadia, CA 91006.
    May 31, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Santa Maria Red Cross, 3030 Skyway 
Drive, Santa Maria, CA 93455 (Hosted by Los Padres National Forest).
    May 31, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Santa Clara Mojave Rivers Ranger 
District Office, 33708 Crown Valley Road, Acton, CA 93510.
    May 31, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., San Bernardino National Forest 
Headquarters, 602 S. Tippecanoe Ave., San Bernardino, CA 92408.
    May 31, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Palomar Ranger District Office, 
1634 Black Canyon Road, Ramona, CA 92065.
    June 1, 2012, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Frazier Park Library, 3732 Park 
Drive, Frazier Park, CA 93225 (Hosted by Los Padres National Forest).
    June 5, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Descanso Ranger District office, 
3348 Alpine Blvd., Alpine, CA 91901.
    June 5, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Trabuco Ranger District office, 
1147 E. 6th Street, Corona, CA 92879.

    Dated: April 17, 2012.
William Metz,
Forest Supervisor, Cleveland National Forest.
[FR Doc. 2012-9909 Filed 4-26-12; 8:45 am]
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