03-10634. Subsistence Management Regulations for Public Lands in Alaska

AGENCIES:

Forest Service, Agriculture; Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Withdrawal of proposed rule.

SUMMARY:

We, the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are withdrawing a proposed rule that would have made two minor changes to the regulations governing subsistence use of wildlife in Alaska. Because we received no adverse comments on a direct final rule of the same subject and that direct final rule is now effective, we are withdrawing the related proposed rule.

DATES:

The proposed rule is withdrawn effective April 21, 2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For Forest Service questions, contact Ken Thompson, Regional Subsistence Program Manager, USDA-FS Alaska Region, at [phone]. For Fish and Wildlife Service questions, contact Thomas H. Boyd at [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The regulations at 36 CFR part 242 and 50 CFR part 100 (referred to below as “the regulations”), authorized by Title VIII of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3101-3126), implement the Federal Subsistence Management Program on public lands in Alaska. The Department of Agriculture's U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (referred to below as “the Departments”) jointly administer the regulations, which are identical in 36 CFR part 242 and 50 CFR part 100.

On May 7, 2002, the Departments published in the Federal Register a final rule that made changes to the regulations (67 FR 30559). On February 18, 2003, the Departments published a direct final rule (68 FR 7703) that addressed two issues that arose after publication of the May 7, 2002, final rule: We clarified how old a person must be to receive a Federal Subsistence Registration Permit or Federal Designated Harvester Permit and removed a requirement that Regional Councils must have an odd number of members. These changes clarified language that had been unclear and brought the regulations into accord with current policies. We published these changes as a direct final rule because we believed these changes to be noncontroversial and anticipated receiving no adverse public comment on them. However, to prepare for the possibility of receiving adverse comments on the direct final rule, we simultaneously published a proposed rule for public comment in the February 18, 2003, Federal Register (68 FR 7734) that proposed the same two changes to the regulations.

We did not receive any comments on the direct final rule or the proposed rule during the public comment periods provided. Therefore, the direct final rule became effective April 21, 2003, as specified in that rule, and we are withdrawing the associated proposed rule.

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 3, 472, 551, 668dd, 3101-3126; 18 U.S.C. 3551-3586; 43 U.S.C. 1733.

Dated: April 15, 2003.

Thomas H. Boyd,

Acting Chair, Federal Subsistence Board.

Dated: April 15, 2003.

Kenneth E. Thompson,

Subsistence Program Manager, USDA—Forest Service.