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.

Notices Federal Register

2575

Vol. 5, No. 11

Tuesday, January 18, 2000

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Saltwater Shoreline-based Outfitter

Guide Capacity Environmental Impact

Statement

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement.

SUMMARY: The Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service, will prepare

an Environmental Impact Statement

(EIS) to authorize outfitter/guide (O/G)

activities within four Ranger Districts of

the Tongass National Forest for a period

of five years. The analysis will consider

saltwater shoreline-based commercial

recreation use on Admiralty Island

National Monument and Juneau,

Hoonah and Sitka Ranger Districts. The

decision to prepare an EIS is a result of

initial public involvement that began

with a scoping letter in October 1998.

During 1998 and 1999 meetings were

held with six communities and three

organizations within the affected area. A

letter summarizing the results of this

public involvement and requesting

additional comments will be distributed

January 2000. The Record of Decision

will disclose how the Forest Service has

decided to allocate saltwater shorelinebased recreation capacity for O/G and

noncommercial recreation uses. The

Assistant Forest Supervisor will also

decide whether or not to amend the

Tongass Land and Resource

Management Plan to allocate use levels

for long-term management of

commercial outfitting and guiding.

The total recreation capacity of the

study area has been determined via an

analysis of available shoreline capacity

based on the Recreation Opportunity

Spectrum, Tongass Forest Plan

standards and guidelines dealing with

encounters, and physical conditions

such as anchorages, shoreline facilities,

and resource concerns. Proposed

allocations are based on a percentage of

the total recreation carrying capacity of

individual Use Areas, or subunits

within the Use Areas. Use Areas are

geographic areas that correspond to

Guide Use Areas defined by the Alaska

Department of Fish and Game for the

administration of guided hunting.

Under the Proposed Action, allocation

of commercial guided use during the

summer season would range from 10 to

40 percent of the total recreation

carrying capacity and would depend on

considerations such as distance from

communities, subsistence use and

potential impacts to resources. The

Proposed Action would allocate up to

80 percent of this commercial capacity

to brown bear hunting guides during

both spring and fall hunts, and the

remaining commercial capacity to other

non-hunting O/G’s. A No Action

Alternative and other alternatives which

respond to significant issues will be

developed, analyzed and compared in

the Draft EIS.

DATE: To be most useful comments

concerning the scope of this project

should be received by the end of

February 2000.

ADDRESSES: Please send written

comments to: Alaska Regional Office,

Ecosystem Planning Attn.: Julie

Schaefers, Shoreline-based O/G

Capacity EIS, P.O. Box 21628, Juneau,

AK 99802–1628.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julia

Schaefers, Planning Team Leader,

Alaska Regional Office, P.O. Box 21628,

Juneau, AK 99802–1628, telephone

(907) 586–8796 or Marti Marshall,

Recreation Specialist, Tongass National

Forest, 204 Siginaka Way, Sitka, AK

99835, telephone (907) 747–4234.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: During

January and February of 2000 the Forest

Service will be seeking information,

comments, and assistance from Federal,

State and local agencies, tribal

organizations, individuals, and

organizations that may be interested in,

or affected by the proposed activities.

Comments received as a result of both

the earlier public involvement and the

current scoping will be included in this

analysis. All comments will be analyzed

to identify issues to be considered in the

Draft EIS. Issues currently identified for

analysis in the EIS include potential

effects of the allocation to economic

opportunities, conflicts between

commercial operations, displacement of

resident users, impacts to wildlife

habitat, and the effect on subsistence

uses.

Based on the results of scooping,

alternatives will be developed,

analyzed, and compared in the Draft

EIS. The Draft EIS will be filed with the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

in September 2000. Comments on the

DEIS will be considered and responded

to in the Final EIS, to be completed by

January 2001.

The comment period on the draft

environmental impact statement will be

45 days from the date the

Environmental Protection Agency

publishes the notice of availability in

the Federal Register. The Forest Service

believes, at this early stage, it is

important to give reviewers notice of

several court rulings related to public

participation in the environmental

review process. First, reviewers of draft

environmental impact statements must

structure their participation in the

environmental review of the proposal so

that it is meaningful and alerts an

agency to the reviewer’s position and

contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear

Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519,553

(1978). Also, environmental objections

that could be raised at the draft

environmental impact statement stage

but that are not raised until after

completion of the final environmental

impact statement maybe waived or

dismissed by the courts. City of Angoon

v. Hodel, 803 F.2d 1016, 1022 (9th Cir.

1986) and Wisconsin Heritages,Inc. v.

Harris, 490 F. Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D.

Wis. 1980). Because of these court

rulings, it is very important that those

interested in this proposed action

participate by the close of the comment

period so 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. To

assist the Forest Service in identifying

and considering issues and concerns on

the proposed action, comments on the

draft environmental impact statement

should be as specific as possible. It is

also helpful if comments refer to

specific pages or chapters of the draft

statement. Comments may also address

the adequacy of the draft environmental

impact statement or the merits of the

alternatives formulated and discussed in

the statement. Reviewers may wish to

2576 Federal Register / Vol. 5, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 18, 2000 / Notices

refer to the Council on Environmental

Quality Regulations for implementing

the procedural provisions of the

National Environmental Policy Act at 40

CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.

Comments received in response to

this solicitation, 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 and may

be released under FOIA. Comments

submitted anonymously will be

accepted and considered; however,

those who submit anonymous

comments will not have standing to

appeal the subsequent decision (36 CFR

Parts 215 or 217).

Responsible Official: Fred Salinas,

Assistant Forest Supervisor, Tongass

National Forest, 204 Siginaka Way,

Sitka, Alaska 99835–7316, is the

responsible official. In making the

decision, the responsible official will

consider the comments, responses,

disclosure of environmental

consequences, and applicable laws,

regulations, and policies. The

responsible official will state the

rationale for the chosen alternative and

the Record of Decision.

Dated: January 4, 2000.

Fred S. Salinas,

Assistant Forest Supervisor.

[FR DOC. 00–1108 Filed1–14–00;8:45am]

[BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Woodpecker Project Area

Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement.

SUMMARY: The Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service, will prepare

an Environmental Impact Statement

(EIS) to provide timber for the Tongass

National Forest timber sale program, to

enhance recreational opportunities, to

develop a road management plan for the

project area, and to perform watershed

restoration work. The Record of

Decision will disclose where, if any, the

Forest Service has decided to provide

timber harvest units, roads, associated

timber harvesting facilities, dispersed

recreation sites, and watershed

improvements. The proposed action for

timber harvest is to provide multiple

timber sale opportunities for a total of

approximately 13 million board feet

(mmbf) of timber. Timber harvest will

be accomplished using a variety of

silvicultural prescriptions to meet the

standards and guidelines of the Forest

Plan. Recreation opportunity

enhancement includes dispersed sites

for camping and picnicking, and

improved turnouts for parking.

Watershed improvements includes

cordoning exposed roadside banks and

decommissioning roads were drainage

problems exist. A range of alternatives

responsive to significant issues will be

developed and will include a no-action

alternative. These activities were first

identified during the public

involvement and analysis for the Mitkof

Landscape Design. The proposed 33,000

acre project area is located on parts of

Value Comparison Units 447, 448, and

452 on Mitkof Island, Alaska on the

Petersburg Ranger District of the

Tongass National Forest. Part of this

project are is within an Inventoried

Roadless Area (Crystal #224 as

identified by the Tongass Land and

Resource Management Plan).

DATES: Comments concerning the scope

of this project should be received by

February 7, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Please send written

comments to the Petersburg Ranger

District, Tongass National Forest, Attn:

Woodpecker Project Area EIS, PO Box

1328, Petersburg, AK 99833. The FAX

number is (907) 772–5995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Questions about the proposal and EIS

should be directed to Patricia Grantham,

District Ranger, Petersburg Ranger

District, Tongass National Forest, PO

Box 1328, Petersburg, AK 9983;

telephone (907) 772–3871 or Cynthia

Sever, Interdisciplinary Team Leader,

Petersburg Ranger District, PO Box

1328, Petersburg, AK 9983; telephone

(907) 772–3871.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public

participation has been an integral

component of the study process and

will be especially important at several

points during the analysis. The

proposed activities were first identified

during the Mitkof Landscape Design in

1995, which incorporated aspects of

collaborative stewardship. During the

last year, the Forest Service has been

seeking information, comments, and

assistance from Federal, State, and local

agencies, Federally-recognized Indian

tribes, and individuals and

organizations that may be interested in,

or affected by, the proposed activities.

Written scoping comments have been

solicited through an informal scoping

package that was sent to the project

mailing list and available at open

houses in Petersburg, AK, and Kake,

AK. The scoping process will include:

(1) Identification of potential issues; (2)

identification of issues to be analyzed in

depth; and, (3) elimination of

insignificant issues or those which have

been covered by a previous

environmental review. For the Forest

Service to best use the scoping input,

comments should be received by

February 7, 2000.

Based on results of scoping and the

resource capabilities within the project

area, alternatives including a ‘‘no

action’’ alternative will be developed for

the Draft Environmental Impact

Statement. The Draft Environmental

Impact Statement is projected to be filed

with the Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) in March 2000.

Subsistence hearings, as provided for in

Title VIII, Section 810 of the Alaska

National Interest Lands Conservation

Act (ANILCA), will be provided, if

necessary, during the comment period

on the Draft Environmental Impact

Statement. The Final Environmental

Impact Statement and Record of

Decision are anticipated to be published

in July 2000.

The comment period on the Draft

Environmental Impact Statement will be

45 days from the date the

Environmental Protection Agency

publishes the notice of availability in

the Federal Register.

The Forest Service believes, at this

early stage, it is important to give

reviewers notice of several court rulings

related to public participation in the

environmental review process. First,

reviewers of Draft Environmental

Impact Statements must structure their

participation in the environmental

review of the proposed so that it is

meaningful and alerts an agency to the

reviewer’s position and contentions.

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v.

NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553, (1978).

Environmental objections that could

have been raised at the Draft

Environmental Impact Statement stage

may be waived or dismissed by the

courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803

F.2nd 1016, 1022 (9th Cir. 1986) and

Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490

F. Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980).

Because of these court rulings, it is very

important that those interested in this

proposed action participate by the close

of the 45-day comment period so 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.

To assist the Forest Service in

identifying and considering issues and

concerns of the proposed action,

comments during scoping and

comments on the Draft Environmental