[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 82 (Friday, April 26, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32393-32394]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-08957]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Tongass National Forest; Alaska; Assessment Phase of Revision of 
the Land Management Plan for the Tongass National Forest

AGENCY: Forest Service, Agriculture (USDA).

ACTION: Notice of intent to initiate the assessment phase of the Land 
Management Plan revision for the Tongass National Forest.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, is 
initiating the assessment phase of the Land Management Plan revision 
process for the Tongass National Forest, located in Southeast Alaska. 
The assessment supports the subsequent planning phase, which will 
result in a revised land management plan to guide resource management 
activities on the Tongass National Forest. The assessment will identify 
and consider relevant and readily accessible material about ecological, 
social, and economic conditions and trends in the planning area, and 
will identify best available scientific information including Native or 
Indigenous knowledge. Trends and conditions identified in the 
assessment will inform the need to change the existing plan as well as 
the subsequent revision process.

DATES: The public will be invited to engage and participate in the 
assessment phase of the revision process beginning in the spring of 
2024 through winter of 2025. Engagement opportunities are posted on the 
Tongass National Forest Plan Revision website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/tongass/landmanagement/planning/?cid=fseprd1105492. A draft 
assessment, which will reflect input received, is anticipated to be 
available for review and comment, in January 2025.

ADDRESSES: For questions about Land Management Plan revision or 
comments on initiating the assessment phase of plan revision, please 
address mail to: Tongass National Forest Supervisor's Office, Attn: 
Erin Mathews--Tongass Plan Revision Coordinator, 648 Mission Street, 
Suite 110, Ketchikan, AK 99901-6591, or via email to 
[email protected]. All correspondence, including names and 
addresses, will be part of the public record. More information on the 
planning process can also be found on the Tongass Plan Revision website 
at https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/tongass/landmanagement/planning/?cid=fseprd1105492.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erin Mathews, Plan Revision 
Coordinator, at [email protected] or by phone at 907-419-8347. 
Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) may 
call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339, 24 hours a day, 
every day of the year, including holidays.
    Information will be shared through electronic mailing lists, social 
media, and media outlets. If members of the public are interested in 
learning more, please visit the website listed above and select the 
link to subscribe to updates on the Tongass Plan Revision. The public 
can also sign up to receive regular updates by sending an email to 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 2012 Planning Rule (36 CFR 219), which 
implements the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 1976, provides 
that the Forest Service develop, maintain and revise land management 
plans, often called a Forest Plan, for all national forests and 
grasslands. Land Management Plans provide a programmatic framework for 
management of forest resources and are amended as conditions change 
over time. The Tongass Land Management Plan was first approved in 1979, 
revised in 1997, and later amended in 2003, 2008, 2016, and 2020. The 
2016 Land Management Plan amends the 2008 Tongass Land and Resource

[[Page 32394]]

Management Plan (2008 Forest Plan), incorporating changes made since 
2008.
    This notice announces initiates the assessment phase of the plan 
revision process, during which the Agency will identify and evaluate 
current information regarding the Tongass National Forest from the 
public, Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, other government agencies, 
and non-governmental parties, 36 CFR 219.5(a)(1), 219.6, 219.19. The 
Tongass National Forest has initiated consultation with Tribes and 
Alaska Native Corporations for all phases of the planning process and 
will consult as part of the assessment phase of revision, 36 CFR 219.4. 
The Forest Service, Alaska Region, will build on the engagement efforts 
and the relationships developed as part of the Southeast Alaska 
Sustainability Strategy to ensure that a broad range of local voices 
contribute to the assessment and throughout the planning process. 
Information collected during the formation of the Sustainability 
Strategy will be utilized in the assessment where appropriate.
    The 2012 Planning Rule requires the assessment to include 
information regarding the status and trends of ecological, social, and 
economic conditions within the planning area and across the broader 
landscape. In particular, the Agency must identify and evaluate 
information relevant to the plan area for the following: (1) 
Terrestrial ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems, and watersheds; (2) Air, 
soil, and water resources and quality; (3) System drivers, including 
dominant ecological processes, disturbance regimes, and stressors, such 
as natural succession, wildland fire, invasive species, and climate 
change, and the ability of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the 
plan area to adapt to change; (4) Baseline assessment of carbon stocks; 
(5) Threatened, endangered, proposed, and candidate species, and 
potential species of conservation concern present in the plan area; (6) 
Social, cultural, and economic conditions; (7) Benefits people obtain 
from the National Forest System planning area (ecosystem services); (8) 
Multiple uses and their contributions to local, regional, and national 
economies; (9) Recreation settings, opportunities and access, and 
scenic character; (10); Renewable and nonrenewable energy and mineral 
resources; (11) Infrastructure, such as recreational facilities and 
transportation and utility corridors; (12) Areas of tribal importance; 
(13) Cultural and historic resources and uses; (14) Land status and 
ownership and access patterns; and (15) Existing designated areas 
located in the plan area including wilderness and wild and scenic 
rivers and potential need and opportunity for additional designated 
areas. (36 CFR 219.6.)
    During this assessment phase, the Forest Service invites other 
government agencies, Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, non-
governmental parties, and the public to share information about social, 
economic, and environmental conditions of the Tongass National Forest 
and the broader landscape. Existing information about conditions on the 
Tongass National Forest, including information gathered through public 
engagement and tribal consultation, will be integrated into a draft 
resource assessment.
    At 16.7 million acres, the Tongass National Forest is integral to 
social, ecological, economic and cultural values in Southeast Alaska. 
The Tongass is of immense cultural significance for Alaska Native 
peoples, and is within the traditional homelands of the Tlingit, Haida 
and Tsimshian peoples. It plays an important role in economic 
opportunity and social well-being for people and communities in 
Southeast Alaska. It also represents the largest intact coastal 
temperate rainforest on earth and is considered critical for carbon 
sequestration and carbon storage to help mitigate climate change. 
During this assessment phase, the Forest Service invites input on these 
and other distinctive roles and contributions of the Tongass to the 
local area, region, and nation (36 CFR 219.2(b)).
    The Forest Service will review and incorporate public comments and 
additional information from tribal consultation on the draft assessment 
and produce a final assessment that will inform the Agency's 
understanding of the need to change the plan for the Tongass National 
Forest. The Forest Service may then initiate the planning phase, which 
will include development of an environmental impact statement, pursuant 
to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
    Responsible Official: The responsible official for the revision of 
the land management plan for the Tongass National Forest is Frank 
Sherman, Forest Supervisor.

    Dated: April 22, 2024.
Troy Heithecker,
Associate Deputy Chief, National Forest System.
[FR Doc. 2024-08957 Filed 4-25-24; 8:45 am]
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