[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 128 (Tuesday, July 6, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38767-38768]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-16275]
[[Page 38767]]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Intermountain Region, Boise, Payette, and Sawtooth National
Forests; ID; Amendment to the 2003 Land and Resource Management Plans:
Wildlife Conservation Strategy (Forested Biological Community)
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Third correction of notice of intent (NOI) to prepare an
environmental impact statement (EIS).
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SUMMARY: On September 14, 2007, the Forest Service published an NOI to
prepare an EIS to disclose the environmental effects of proposed non-
significant amendments to the three Southwest Idaho Ecogroup (SWIE)
2003 Land and Resource Management Plans (Forest Plans). The September
2007 NOI noted that amendments to the 2003 Forest Plans for the Boise,
Payette, and Sawtooth National Forests (NFs) will add and/or modify
existing management direction, as needed, to implement a comprehensive,
Forest Plan-level, wildlife conservation strategy (WCS). A correction
to the September 14, 2007 NOI was published on December 8, 2008. The
December 2008 correction was published to reflect a delay of more than
a year in filing the draft EIS. The December 2008 correction also
provided notice of a change in the approach to the amendment process,
dividing the WCS and amendment process into four phases, each with an
individual environmental impact statement. The December 8, 2008 NOI was
corrected on April 22, 2009 to reflect that three EISs will be prepared
(one for each Forest) instead of one EIS addressing all three Forests.
This NOI corrects the April 22, 2009 NOI to reflect a change in the
level of documentation from an EIS to an environmental assessment (EA)
and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the analysis of the
proposed amendment for the Sawtooth Forest Plan. Analysis for the Boise
and Payette Plan amendments will continue to be documented in
individual EIS's.
DATES: Comments concerning this correction must be received within 30
days following the date of publication of this NOI. The final EIS for
the Boise Forest and the draft EIS for the Payette Forest are expected
to be available in the summer of 2010. The EA and FONSI for the
Sawtooth NF are expected to be available in the late summer/early fall
of 2010.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Sharon LaBrecque, Planning Staff
Officer, Sawtooth National Forest; 2647 Kimberly Road East, Twin Falls,
ID 83301; or by fax at (208) 737-3236; or you may hand-deliver your
comments to the Sawtooth Forest Supervisor's Office, located at 2647
Kimberly Road East, Twin Falls, during normal business hours from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays.
Electronic comments must be submitted in a format such as an e-mail
message, plain text (.txt), rich text format (.rtf), or Word (.doc) to:
[email protected].
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 respondent with standing to appeal the subsequent decision.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sharon LaBrecque, Planning Staff
Officer, Sawtooth National Forest, 2647 Kimberly Road East, Twin Falls,
ID 83301, telephone 208-737-3200. 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: Separate RODs for revised Forest Plans were
issued in July 2003 for the Boise, Payette, and Sawtooth NFs. The RODs
implemented Alternative 7, as identified in the single 2003 final EIS
that disclosed the environmental effects of the seven alternatives.
Implementation of the three revised Forest Plans began in September
2003. Assessments supporting the 2003 Forest Plan revision identified
more habitat areas in need of restoration for a variety of species
within each planning unit than could be moved toward desired conditions
by natural processes or management activities within the 10- to 15-year
planning period. As a result, the 2003 Forest Plans for the Boise,
Payette, and Sawtooth NFs identified that maintaining and restoring
habitats for species of concern should be prioritized based upon the
greatest risks to the persistence of certain species (Boise and Payette
Forest Plans, p. 11-10 and Sawtooth Forest Plan, p. 11-9). To address
this need, each Forest Plan included a wildlife objective, WIOB03, to
prioritize wildlife habitat to be restored at a mid- or Forest-scale,
using information from sources such as species habitat models and fine
scale analyses. On September 14, 2007, the Forest Service published an
NOI to prepare an EIS to disclose the environmental effects of proposed
non-significant amendments to the three SWIE 2003 Forest Plans (Federal
Register, Vol. 72, No. 178, pp. 52540-52542). The intent of the
amendments was to address wildlife objective WIOB03 to prioritize
wildlife habitat to be restored at a mid- or Forest-scale. A correction
to the September 14, 2007 NOI was published on December 8, 2008 to
reflect a delay of more than a year in filing the draft EIS. Given the
complexity of species and associated habitats found across the three
Forests, the December 2008 correction also provided notice of a change
in the approach to the amendment process, dividing the WCS amendments
into four phases. The first phase addresses the forested biological
community, with subsequent phases slated to address rangeland; unique
combinations of rangeland and forest; and riparian/wetland biological
communities. The WCS amendments will include a prioritization framework
for implementation of the 2003 Forest Plan direction that managers can
use to help focus limited resources and funds for restoration on areas
most important to species of concern. The December 2008 NOI correction
stated that one EIS would be published for each phase of the WCS. On
April 22, 2009, a correction to the December 2008 NOI was published to
reflect that three EISs will be prepared (one for each Forest) instead
of one EIS addressing all three Forests.
Assessments completed to date for the forested biological community
WCS indicate that fewer changes to the Sawtooth Forest Plan direction
are needed to implement a prioritized WCS than the Boise and Payette
forest plans will require. This is in part due to that fact that the
Sawtooth does not have the low elevation pine forests found on the
Boise and Payette. Across southwest Idaho, it is the low elevation pine
forests that are the most highly departed from historic conditions;
pose the highest need for restoration; and affect the greatest need for
change in management direction to be addressed in the forested
biological community WCS plan amendments. The mid- to high elevation
forests more typical of the Sawtooth National Forest are less departed.
The Sawtooth Forest Plan did not include the MPC (Management
prescription Category) 5.2 allocation unit that emphasized commodity
production that resulted in forest conditions substantially outside
their historic range of variation. And finally, management direction in
the 2003
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Sawtooth Forest Plan already provides most of the specific restoration
objectives for many of the Forest's species of greatest conservation
concern associated with the forested biological communities. Because of
this, the Sawtooth Forest Plan will require only the identification of
priority watersheds for restoration and minor amendments to management
direction. Preliminary assessment results indicate that the effects of
implementing the proposed plan amendment should have only minor
environmental effects to the forested biological community on the
Sawtooth NF, as well as outputs and services envisioned under the 2003
Forest Plan.
Dated: June 28, 2010.
Terence O. Clark, III,
Acting Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 2010-16275 Filed 7-2-10; 8:45 am]
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