[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 99 (Thursday, May 22, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29397-29398]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-11847]


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 Notices
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 99 / Thursday, May 22, 2014 / 
Notices  

[[Page 29397]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


PSICC; Colorado; Upper Monument Creek EIS

AGENCY: Pike and San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche 
National Grasslands, Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: The Pike and San Isabel National Forests Cimarron and Comanche 
National Grasslands (PSICC) propose to conduct forest restoration 
activities on 25,000 acres within the 67,000 acre Upper Monument Creek 
(UMC) analysis area. Treatment activities include mechanical thinning, 
mastication, hand thinning, and prescribed fire. The treatments will be 
used singularly or in combination to transition forested plant 
communities across the landscape towards desired future conditions that 
are more characteristic of a resilient forest. Resilient forests are 
better able to respond to large high intensity wildfires, insects and 
disease outbreaks, and extreme water flows that are known to occur in 
the project's location along Colorado's Front Range. By protecting 
against the aforementioned extreme events, resilient forests are better 
equipped to protect the following identified values at risk; adjoining 
private property, water quality and quantity, water conveyance 
facilities, transportation systems, wildlife habitats, heritage sites, 
municipal watersheds and timber resources, Resilient forests also help 
attenuate the impacts of increased noxious weeds, sedimentation, and 
other hydrologic disturbances
    In order to successfully complete the amount and types of 
treatments necessary for the maximum amount of resilience, the PSICC 
might need to amend the PSICC Land and Resource Management Plan to 
adjust plan standards and guidelines. Plan standards and guideline 
amendments might include but are not limited to the following; forest 
regeneration, big game winter range, wildlife habitat, and allowable 
levels and types of fire and fuels treatments. Proposed Land and 
Resource Management Plan amendments will help the PSICC achieve 
resiliency, and protect the values at risk within in each Land and 
Resource Management Plan Management Area in the Upper Monument Creek 
Project Area.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by July 7, 2014. The draft environmental impact statement is expected 
April 2015 and the final environmental impact statement is expected 
August 2015.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Pikes Peak Ranger District, Attn: 
UMC Project, 601 South Weber St., Colorado Springs, CO 80903. Comments 
may also be sent via email to [email protected], or via facsimile to 
719-477-4233.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Allan Hahn, District Ranger, 719-636-
1602, [email protected]; or Mike Picard, Team Leader, 719-530-3959, 
[email protected].
    Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public meeting notices will be published in 
the Colorado Springs Gazette, showing locations, dates and times for 
each public meeting. A Web site is available for current information 
about the project including maps and descriptions of the planned 
activities. http://www.uppermonumentcreek.blogspot.com/.

Purpose and Need for Action

    The size, severity, and behavior of recent wildfires on the Pike 
National Forest and along the Front Range have highlighted the risks 
posed by current forest conditions. The human and environmental costs 
of wildfire suppression and rehabilitation have seen a significant 
increase across the region in recent decades. As a result of increasing 
risks for large fires and extreme water flows, there is a need to make 
strategic investments in vegetative treatments within the UMC 
landscape. Strategically placed vegetative treatments reduce the 
vulnerability of surrounding communities, municipal watersheds, and 
natural resource values at risk to severe fire and excessive water 
flows in the future.

Proposed Action

    In response to the conditions described above, the proposed action 
is to effectively treat up to 25,000 acres within the 67,000 acre 
analysis area. Combinations of mechanical thinning with product 
removal, mastication, hand thinning, and prescribed fire will be used 
to shift forest conditions across the analysis area towards agreed upon 
desired conditions. Emphasis will be on retention of older trees in all 
forest types, opening up densely closed stands of mid to late seral 
classes, creating a more open forest environment and improving shrub 
and grass diversity. The forest ecosystems that will be the primary 
targets for treatments will be the ponderosa pine, dry mixed conifer, 
aspen, and mesic mixed conifer, with some treatments in lodgepole and 
oak/ponderosa types. Vegetative treatments will balance the need to 
protect important values at risk within and adjoing the project area. 
Values at risk include but are not limited to the following; private 
property, utility infrastructure, wildlife habitat and fully 
functioning rivers and streams.
    The Proposed Action includes the use of adaptive management 
principals to enable land managers with public participation to 
identify management treatments that modify forest structure, pattern, 
and composition across the landscape to help improve forest resiliency 
and function in response to the potential for large, high intensity 
fires and excessive water flows within the Upper Monument Project Area. 
Adaptive management relies on monitoring change conditions and the 
result of actions to determine if management changes are needed, and if 
so, what changes and to what degree.

Possible Alternatives

    In this EIS we will use the Iterative Alternative Process, to make 
changes to that action to keep it viable and responsive to our 
analysis, and to public comments. We will conclude the analysis with 
one alternative. The final alternative will reflect the USFS

[[Page 29398]]

accepted proposed changes from internal Forest Service specialist 
analysis and external public comments.

Responsible Official

    The Responsible Official for this decision will be the PSICC Forest 
Supervisor.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    This decision will include the type of treatments expected to 
achieve our objectives, the locations of treatments, the monitoring 
methods to be used, and the adaptive management strategy that will 
provide direction for making future adjustments to this decision. This 
decision will only cover actions within the Upper Monument Creek 
analysis area.

Preliminary Issues

    A primary concern for management of this area is the resiliency of 
the various forest types, and their resistance to large, high intensity 
wildfires, and extreme water flows. Maintaining vegetative cover across 
the landscape will help to minimize the risks to municipal and domestic 
water sources and other resource values within the project area.

Scoping Process

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process, which guides 
the development of the environmental impact statement. There will be 
public meetings held in several municipalities during this scoping 
period. Each of those meetings will be announced in the Colorado 
Springs Gazette with the location, date, and time included. Comments 
can also be made through email to the contacts listed above. A Web site 
is also available for conveying information and submitting comments. 
http://www.uppermonumentcreek.blogspot.com/
    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.

    Dated: May 15, 2014.
Erin Connelly,
Forest and Grassland Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 2014-11847 Filed 5-21-14; 8:45 am]
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