[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 201 (Friday, October 17, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62412-62414]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-24769]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Saguache Ranger District, Rio Grande National Forest; Colorado; 
La Garita Hills Restoration Project

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

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

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SUMMARY: The Saguache Ranger District, Rio Grande National Forest 
(USFS), and San Luis Valley Field Office, Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM), propose to conduct restoration activities on up to 90,000 acres 
within the 187,778 acre La Gartia Hills (LGH) analysis area; 
approximately 145,709 acres are managed by the USFS and 33,294 acres 
are managed by the BLM. All activities would occur only on federal 
lands. The analysis area is located west and northwest of the town of 
La Garita in Saguache County, in south central Colorado. Treatment 
activities could include mechanical thinning, hand thinning, 
mastication, hazard tree removal, salvage, prescribed fire, tree 
planting, and relocation of selected road segments. The treatments will 
be used singularly or in combination to transition the landscape 
towards long-term desired future conditions that are more 
characteristic of a resilient forest, as described in the Rio Grande 
National Forest and San Luis Resource Area Management Plans. Resilient 
landscapes are more resistant to droughts, insect outbreaks, diseases, 
potential large wildfires, and will also offer additional protection to 
identified values at risk including: adjacent private land and 
property, water quality, watershed health, transportation systems, 
recreation sites, wildlife habitats, heritage sites, and timber 
resources. The USFS is the lead agency for the Environmental Impact 
Statement and the BLM is participating as a cooperating agency.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by November 17, 2014. The draft

[[Page 62413]]

environmental impact statement is expected in May 2015 and the final 
environmental impact statement is expected in August 2015.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Diana McGinn, Team Leader, San Luis 
Valley Public Land Center, 1803 W. Hwy 160, Monte Vista, CO 81144. 
Electronic comments may be submitted online using the ``Comment on 
Project'' option on the project Web page (address below) or emailed to: 
[email protected], or via facsimile 
to 719-852-6250, with a subject of LGH Project.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Diana McGinn at 719-852-6241 or visit 
the Forest Web site: http://www.fs.usda.gov/projects/riogrande/landmanagement/projects; look for the La Garita Hills Restoration 
Project. 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:

Purpose and Need for Action

    The recent extended drought and large wildfires on the Forest and 
nearby areas have focused attention on the continual declining vigor 
and health of forests and rangelands in the LGH project area. The 
purpose and need for this project is move toward achieving long-term 
desired conditions as described in the land management plans for this 
area regarding maintaining, improving, or restoring: forest and 
rangeland health, wildlife habitats, stream, riparian, and watershed 
health, while providing personal use wood products, safe recreation 
use, addressing fuel buildup, especially near private lands, and the 
access to forest products in support of the local rural economy. 
Strategic investments in vegetation treatments would be used to address 
these needs.

Proposed Action

    In response to the conditions described above, the proposed action 
is to effectively treat up to 90,000 acres within the 187,778 acre 
analysis area over a 10 to 15 year period. Combinations of mechanical 
harvest with product removal, mastication, hand thinning, and 
prescribed burning will be used to move toward desired conditions 
related to vegetation structure, species composition, patterns, fuel 
loading, and health; recovering merchantable forest products from 
insect or disease mortality areas will also be an objective, as 
appropriate. Tree planting or aspen regeneration would be used to meet 
stocking or species composition/diversity goals in selected areas. The 
overall emphasis will be on reducing conifer density in treated stands 
to increase landscape diversity and patchiness to protect values at 
risk. Values at risk include: adjacent private land and property, water 
quality, watershed health, transportation systems, recreation sites, 
wildlife habitats, heritage sites, and timber resources. Several 
treatment activities may occur on the same acres and treatments will 
occur across a variety of vegetation zones ranging from spruce-fir to 
pi[ntilde]on-juniper. Several sections of open National Forest System 
Roads (NFSRs) would be relocated to improve water quality and protect 
riparian vegetation. No new system roads would be constructed, though 
additional temporary roads would be needed in some areas for commercial 
timber harvest operations. All land management plan standards, 
guidelines, and best management practices will be adhered to and 
incorporated into project designs.

Possible Alternatives

    In this EIS we may use the Iterative Alternative Process to make 
incremental changes to our initial proposed action to ensure that it is 
viable and responsive to our ongoing analysis and public comments. The 
no-action alternative will represent no change from current activities 
and serves as the baseline for the comparison among the action 
alternatives. Based on comments received following the initial 2013 
scoping, part of one alternative will include no salvage harvest, 
except hazard trees, in the spruce or spruce mix zones; these 
vegetation zones are currently being effected by an ongoing spruce 
beetle epidemic.

Lead and Cooperating Agencies

    The USFS is the lead agency for this EIS, the BLM will be a 
cooperating agency.

Responsible Officials

    The Responsible Officials for these decisions will be the USFS 
Saguache District Ranger and BLM San Luis Resource Area Field Manager 
located at 46525 State Hwy 114, Saguache, CO 81149.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    An environmental impact statement (EIS) that discloses the 
environmental consequences of implementing the proposed action or 
alternatives to the proposed action, including No Action, will be 
prepared. Separate Record of Decisions (RODs), prepared by each 
Responsible Official, will explain their decisions regarding the types 
of treatments, if any, that will be implemented, locations of 
treatments, monitoring methods to be used, and any adaptive management 
strategies that will be used to provide future adjustments to the 
decisions.

Scoping Process

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process, which guides 
the development of the environmental impact statement. The purpose of 
the public scoping process is to determine the relevant issues related 
to the proposed actities in the LGH project area that will influence 
the scope of the anlaysis and alternatives. The Forest invites public 
comment and participation for this project by publication of this 
notice. Comments are also invited by: publication in the USFS quarterly 
Schedule of Proposed Actions (SOPA); public notice regarding this 
project in the newspaper of record, the Valley Courier; letters or 
other communications to potentially interested individuals, tribal 
governments, elected officials, and State and other Federal Agencies. 
Information and updates may also be posted on the Rio Grande National 
Forest project Web site as this project progresses. All comments 
received during this scoping period and a previous scoping effort in 
2013 will be considered.
    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 ability to provide the respondent with subsequent 
environmental documents.

Notice of Importance of Public Participation in Subsequent 
Environmental Review

    Since the analysis area includes federal lands managed by both the 
Forest Service and BLM, there will be a combined analysis with separate 
decisions. For the Forest Service, this project will proceed under the 
objection process (36 CFR part 218 (Subparts A and B)) which provides 
for an objection period prior to a final decision being made. In order 
to be eligible to file an objection, specific written comments relating 
to this project must be submitted; comments must be within the scope of 
this project and be directly related to this project and be submitted 
during scoping or other public

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involvement opportunities and should clearly articulate the reviewer's 
concerns and contentions. For this project, opportunities for public 
participation will include this comment period following publication of 
this Notice of Intent and the 45-day comment period on the draft EIS 
following publication by the Enviornmental Protection Agency of the 
Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. It is the 
responsibility of persons providing comments to submit them by the 
close of the comment periods. Only those who submit timely and specific 
written comments will have eligibility (36 CFR 218.5) to file an 
objection under 36 CFR 218.8.

    Dated: October 9, 2014.
James Pitts,
District Ranger.
[FR Doc. 2014-24769 Filed 10-16-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-P