[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 77 (Tuesday, April 22, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19542-19543]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-10314]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 77 / Tuesday, April 22, 1997 /
Notices
[[Page 19542]]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Southwestern Region, Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas and
Oklahoma; Proposed Projects in the Agua/Caballos Analysis Area, Carson
National Forest, Rio Arriba County, NM
AGENCY: Forest Service.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a new draft environmental impact
statement.
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SUMMARY: The Carson National Forest, El Rito Ranger District will
prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to disclose the
environmental consequences of the Agua/Caballos Proposed Projects.
These projects include the allocation of old growth, harvesting of
trees for sawtimber and forest products, prescribed burning, thinning,
construction of new roads and closure of existing roads.
A Notice of Intent (NOI) was published for this project in December
1992, and a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was published
in April 1995. Since the DEIS was distributed to the public a Forest
Plan Amendment went into effect, which changed the standards and
guidelines of the Carson Forest Plan. This notice is to disclose the
Forest Service's intention to issue a new DEIS for Agua/Caballos by the
end of June 1997.
DATES: Comments in response to this NOI should be received by June 1,
1997.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Carson Forest Supervisor's Office,
112 Cruz Alta Road, Taos, NM 87571, Attn: Carson Core Team.
RESPONSIBLE OFFICIAL: The Forest Supervisor, Carson National Forest,
will be the responsible official and will decide on what, where, how
and when projects will be implemented by the Forest Service in the
Agua/Caballos analysis area.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Carson Core Team, Carson Forest Supervisor's Office (505) 758-6200.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Proposed Action
The Forest Service is planning to manage the existing vegetation
through the allocation old growth, harvesting of trees for sawtimber
and forest products (e.g., fuelwood, vigas and latillas), prescribed
burning, and thinning of forested stands. The proposal also includes
the construction of new roads and the closure of existing roads.
Location
The Agua/Caballos analysis area is in Rio Arriba County in northern
New Mexico, northeast of the village of El Rito. It is 23,767 acres and
makes up one-third of the Vallecitos Federal Sustained Yield Unit
(VFSYU).
Purpose
The purpose of allocating old growth is to preserve large, old
vegetation structure for old growth dependent wildlife species. It is
also necessary to provide a regular, sustained flow of saw logs to the
Vallecitos sawmill and forest products, such as fuelwood, vigas and
latillas, to small, local operators to be consistent with the stated
purpose of the VFSYU and standards identified in the Carson Forest
Plan. Prescribed burning is needed to create openings and maintain
meadows as part of the natural variation and to support grasses and
forbs for wildlife. Burning is also needed to produce conditions
suitable for natural pine and aspen regeneration. In the pine/oak type,
prescribed fire is needed to stimulate the growth of oak and other
shrubs, which provide important habitat for turkey and browse for mule
deer. Prescribed fire is also needed to reduce unnatural fuel buildup
and decrease the possibility of a catastrophic fire in the analysis
area. The purpose of thinning dense, forested stands is to reduce tree
competition, therefore increasing the growth rate of trees left behind.
The construction of new roads will access stands to be harvested and
the closure of roads will move the analysis area to a desired density
of 1 mile per square mile (Carson Forest Plan).
Decisions
The decisions to be made are:
--Whether additional areas should be allocated to old growth. If so,
where and how much?
--Whether a timber sale(s) should be used to help achieve the desired
condition. If so, which stands in the Agua/Caballos analysis area
should be harvested and what vegetation conditions should be created in
the harvest areas?
--Whether forest products should be offered. If so, what type of
products (firewood, vigas, poles, etc.) and how much?
--Whether prescribed fire should be used. If so, where and how much
area should be burned?
--Whether areas should be thinned. If so, where?
--Whether new roads ought to be built. If so where and how much?
--Whether roads should be closed. If so, which ones and where should
the closures be?
Scoping
The Agua/Caballos project proposal has been through initial
analysis in a DEIS (4/96). Comments of the draft and its preferred
alternative (Alternative B) were received from the public and other
federal and state agencies. These comments will be used in the
development of new alternatives for a new draft document. Also, during
the period between the issuance of the first DEIS and the present, new
issues about the proposal have surfaced and will be incorporated into
the new DEIS. Issues include preserving old growth vegetation
structure, improving forest health through the cutting of trees and the
use of fire, providing sawtimber and forest products to sustain the
local economy, the use of prescribed burning close to communities, the
construction of more roads and the closure of existing roads.
Alternatives
Alternatives will include the no action alternative and Alternative
B from the first DEIS: Alternative B was the preferred alternative and
will be used to demonstrate how the analysis has changed since the
issuance of the first draft document. New alternatives will be
developed based on the issues that surfaced during the comment period
of the first DEIS and any new issues that have become apparent over the
past year. The new action alternatives will also comply with the
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new Forest Plan Amendment (6/96) guidelines on managing habitat for the
Mexican spotted owl and northern goshawk.
Supplemental Information for Public Participation
There will be a 45 day comment period on the new draft
environmental impact statement beginning when the legal notice of
availability appears in The Taos News, the paper of record for the
Carson National Forest. Comments received in response to this NOI or
the DEIS, including names and addresses of those who comment, will be
considered part of the public record on this proposed action and will
be available for public inspection. Comments submitted anonymously will
be accepted and considered; however, those who submit anonymous
comments will not have standing to appeal the subsequent decision under
36 CFR Parts 215 or 217. Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any
person may request the agency to withhold a submission from the public
record by showing how the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permits
such confidentiality. Persons requesting such confidentiality should be
aware that, under the FOIA; confidentiality may be granted in only very
limited circumstances, such as to protect trade secrets. The Forest
Service will inform the requester of the agency's decision regarding
the request for confidentiality, and where the request is denied, the
agency will return the submission and notify the requester that the
comments may be resubmitted with or without name and address within 10
days.
The Forest Service believes it is important to give reviewers
notice of several court rulings related to public participation in the
environmental review process. To be the most helpful, comments on the
DEIS should be as specific as possible and may address the adequacy of
the statement or the merits of the alternatives discussed (see Council
of Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing the procedural
provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40 CFR 1503.3).
In addition, Federal Court decisions have established that
reviewers of draft environmental impact statements must structure their
participation in the environmental review of the proposal so that it is
meaningful and alerts the agency to the reviewer's position and
contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. versus NRDC, 435 US
519, 533 (1978). Environmental objections that could have been raised
at the draft stage may be waived if not raised until after completion
of the final environmental impact statement. City of Angoon versus
Hodel (9th Circuit, 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. versus Harris,
490 F. Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). The reason for this is to
ensure that substantive comments and objections are made available to
the Forest Service at a time when it can meaningfully consider them and
respond to them in the final environmental impact statement.
Dated: April 14, 1997.
Leonard L. Lucero,
Forest Supervisor, Carson National Forest.
[FR Doc. 97-10314 Filed 4-21-97; 8:45 am]
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