§ 215.7 - Legal notice of decision.  


Latest version.
  • (a) The Responsible Official shall promptly mail the Record of Decision (ROD) or the Decision Notice (DN) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) to those who requested the decision document and those who submitted substantive comments during the comment period (§215.6).

    (b) The Responsible Official shall publish a legal notice of any decision documented in a ROD or DN in the applicable newspaper of record (§215.5(b)(2)). The legal notice shall:

    (1) Include the title of the project or activity and a concise description of the action(s) to be taken, the name and title of the Responsible Official, and instructions for obtaining a copy of the DN and FONSI or ROD.

    (2) State that the decision is subject to appeal pursuant to 36 CFR part 215 and include the following:

    (i) Name and address of the Appeal Deciding Officer with whom an appeal is to be filed. The notice shall specify a street, postal, fax, and e-mail address, the acceptable format(s) for appeals electronically filed, and the Appeal Deciding Official's office business hours for those filing hand-delivered appeals.

    (ii) A statement that the publication date of the legal notice in the newspaper of record is the exclusive means for calculating the time to file an appeal (§215.15 (a)) and that those wishing to appeal should not rely upon dates or timeframe information provided by any other source. An actual date shall not be included in the legal notice.

    (iii) A statement that an appeal, including attachments, must be filed (regular mail, fax, e-mail, hand-delivery, express delivery, or messenger service) with the appropriate Appeal Deciding Officer (§215.8) within 45 days following the date of publication of the legal notice.

    (iv) A statement indicating that individuals or organizations who submitted substantive comments during the comment period (§215.6) may appeal.

    (v) A statement specifying, when applicable, that the Chief of the Forest Service, or a designee, has determined that an emergency situation exists (§215.10), and which portion of the project is covered by that determination as provided for in §215.10.

    (vi) A statement indicating how many days following publication of the decision that implementation may begin (§215.9), including those portions covered by an emergency situation determination, if applicable (§215.10).

    (3) When no substantive comments expressing concerns or only supportive comments are received, include a statement indicating that the decision is not subject to appeal pursuant to §215.12.