Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2011 / Notices 48119 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2011–0089] 

Oral Rabies Vaccine Trial; Availability 

of a Risk Assessment and an 

Environmental Assessment 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of availability and 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: We are advising the public 

that the Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service has prepared an 

environmental assessment relative to an 

oral rabies vaccination field trial in 

West Virginia. The environmental 

assessment, which is based on a risk 

analysis prepared to assess the risks 

associated with an experimental rabies 

vaccine, analyzes the use of that vaccine 

in field safety and efficacy trials in West 

Virginia. The proposed field trial is 

necessary to evaluate a wildlife rabies 

vaccine that will produce sufficient 

levels of population immunity in 

raccoons and striped skunks. We are 

making the environmental assessment 

and risk assessment available to the 

public for review and comment. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before September 

7, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/#!document

Detail;D=APHIS-2011-0089-0001. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Send your comment to Docket No. 

APHIS–2011–0089, Regulatory Analysis 

and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 

3A–03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1238. 

Supporting documents and any 

comments we receive on this docket 

may be viewed at http://www.

regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=

APHIS-2011-0089 or in our reading 

room, which is located in room 1141 of 

the USDA South Building, 14th Street 

and Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC. Normal reading room 

hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except holidays. To be 

sure someone is there to help you, 

please call (202) 6902817 before coming. 

This notice and the proposed 

environmental assessment are also 

posted on the APHIS Web site at (http: 

//www.aphis.usda.gov/regulations/ws/

ws_nepa_environmental_documents.

shtml). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Dennis Slate, Rabies Program 

Coordinator, Wildlife Services, 59 

Chennell Drive, Suite 7, Concord, NH 

03301; (603) 223–9623. To obtain copies 

of the environmental assessment 

discussed in this notice, contact Beth 

Kabert, Environmental Coordinator, 

Wildlife Services, 140–C Locust Grove 

Rd., Pittstown, NJ 08867; (908) 735– 

5654, fax (908) 735–0821, or e-mail 

(beth.e.kabert@aphis.usda.gov). To 

obtain copies of the risk assessment 

(also the manufacturer’s risk analysis 

with confidential business information 

removed), contact Dr. Patricia Foley, 

Risk Manager, Center for Veterinary 

Biologics, Policy, Evaluation, and 

Licensing, 1920 Dayton Avenue, Ames, 

IA 50010; (515) 337–6100, fax (515) 

337–6120, or e-mail 

(patricia.l.foley@aphis.usda.gov). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Wildlife Services (WS) program 

in the Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service (APHIS) cooperates 

with Federal agencies, State and local 

governments, and private individuals to 

research and implement the best 

methods of managing conflicts between 

wildlife and human health and safety, 

agriculture, property, and natural 

resources. Wildlife-borne diseases that 

can affect domestic animals and humans 

are among the types of conflicts that 

APHIS–WS addresses. Wildlife is the 

dominant reservoir of rabies in the 

United States. 

One of the activities undertaken by 

APHIS–WS to address rabies is an Oral 

Rabies Vaccination (ORV) program 

involving the distribution of coated 

sachet baits containing vaccinia-rabies 

glycoprotein (VRG) vaccine to stop the 

spread of specific raccoon (eastern 

States), coyote (Texas), and gray fox 

(Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona) 

rabies virus variants to new areas. While 

this vaccine has proven to be orally 

effective in raccoons, coyotes, and foxes, 

it does not produce detectable levels of 

population immunity in striped skunks. 

Because skunks infected with raccoon 

rabies likely serve as a source of 

perpetuating and maintaining this rabies 

virus variant (i.e., raccoon rabies), they 

may compromise the effectiveness of 

our ORV program. 

APHIS–WS is the lead agency 

regarding a proposed action that will 

test the safety and efficacy of a new 

human adenovirus type 5-rabies 

glycoprotein recombinant vaccine 

(AdRG1.3) rabies vaccine in an effort to 

find a rabies vaccine that will be safe 

and efficacious in a variety of animal 

species including striped skunks, 

raccoons, foxes, and coyotes. APHIS’ 

Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB) 

has prepared a risk assessment that will 

allow for experimental use of the 

AdRG1.3 vaccine. 

The proposed field trial would take 

place within an approximately 559- 

square-mile area of Greenbrier, 

Summers, and Monroe Counties, WV, 

including portions of the USDA Forest 

Service National Forest System lands, 

excluding Wilderness Areas. The 

proposed rabies vaccine field trial is a 

collaborative effort between APHIS–WS, 

the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention, the vaccine manufacturer 

(Artemis Inc.), and the West Virginia 

Departments of Agriculture, Health and 

Human Resources, and Natural 

Resources. 

APHIS’ review and analysis of the 

proposed action are documented in 

detail in an environmental assessment 

(EA) titled ‘‘Field Trial of an 

Experimental Rabies Vaccine, Human 

Adenovirus Type 5 Vector in West 

Virginia’’ (July 2011). The EA analyzes 

a number of environmental issues or 

concerns with the oral rabies vaccine 

and activities associated with ORV field 

trials such as capture and handling 

animals for monitoring and surveillance 

purposes. The EA also analyzes 

alternatives to the proposed action, 

including no action (no Federal funding 

or participation by APHIS–WS). We are 

making the EA available to the public 

for review and comment. We will 

consider all comments that we receive 

on or before the date listed under the 

heading DATES at the beginning of this 

notice. 

The EA and the CVB risk assessment 

may be viewed on the Regulations.gov 

Web site or in our reading room (see 

ADDRESSES above for instructions for 

accessing Regulations.gov and 

information on the location and hours of 

the reading room). You may request 

paper copies of the EA and risk 

assessment by calling or writing to the 

person listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

The EA has been prepared in 

accordance with: (1) The National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 

seq.), (2) regulations of the Council on 

Environmental Quality for 

implementing the procedural provisions 

of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500–1508), (3) 

USDA regulations implementing NEPA 

(7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS’ NEPA 

Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 

372). 

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48120 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2011 / Notices 

Done in Washington, DC, this 4th day of 

August 2011. 

Gregory L. Parham, 

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2011–20177 Filed 8–5–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Black Hills National Forest, Custer, 

SD—Mountain Pine Beetle Response 

Project 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: This project proposes to treat 

areas newly infested by mountain pine 

beetles on approximately 325,000 acres 

of the Black Hills National Forest. 

Treatments would occur in both South 

Dakota and Wyoming, and on all four 

Ranger Districts. Treatments would be 

carried out within the scope of direction 

provided in the Revised Land and 

Resource Management Plan for the 

Black Hills National Forest, as amended. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received by 

September 7, 2011. The draft 

environmental impact statement is 

expected in February 2012, and the final 

environmental impact statement is 

expected in August 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

Craig Bobzien, Forest Supervisor, Black 

Hills National Forest, 1019 N. 5th Street, 

Custer, SD 57730. Comments may also 

be sent via e-mail to comments-rockymountain-black-hills@fs.fed.us, with 

‘‘MPB Response Project’’ in the subject 

line. Electronic comments must be 

submitted in Word (.doc), Rich Text 

(.rtf), or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Katie Van-Alstyne, project team leader, 

Black Hills National Forest, Mystic 

Ranger District, Rapid City, SD 57701, 

phone (605) 343–1567. 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: 

Purpose and Need for Action 

The purposes of the project are to 

reduce the threat to ecosystem 

components including forest resources 

on National Forest System (NFS) lands 

from the ongoing mountain pine beetle 

epidemic, and to help protect local 

communities and resources on adjacent 

lands of other ownerships from largescale wildfire by reducing hazardous 

fuel levels. 

Proposed Action 

Background The Black Hills National 

Forest (the Forest) lies in the Black Hills 

of western South Dakota and eastern 

Wyoming. Of the roughly 1.5 million 

acres in the Black Hills, about 1.2 

million acres are National Forest System 

(NFS) lands, with lands of other 

ownership comprising another 300,000 

acres. The predominant tree species on 

lands of all ownerships in the Black 

Hills is ponderosa pine (Pinus 

ponderosae). Since 1997 the Black Hills 

area has experienced a significant 

increase in pine tree mortality from an 

outbreak of mountain pine beetle 

(Dendroctonus ponderosae). In many 

parts of the Forest beetle populations 

are at or approaching epidemic levels. 

The outbreak in the Black Hills is part 

of a larger bark beetle epidemic which 

has recently affected more than 40 

million acres of forest land in the 

western United States. 

In the Black Hills mountain pine 

beetles (MPB) typically prefer stands of 

dense, mature pine trees. Tree stands in 

this condition are frequent and 

continuous throughout the area. Once 

attacked by beetles, most trees typically 

die, and eventually fall to the ground, 

adding dead and dry fuels within an 

area already rated as having high 

wildfire hazard. Since 1980, due to 

several factors including drought the 

Forest has seen a dramatic increase in 

acreage burned by wildfires. In that 

period over 250,000 acres have burned, 

consuming forest resources and posing 

threats to lands of other ownership 

intermingled with NFS lands. 

Proposal The primary management 

tools for reducing beetle-caused tree 

mortality are removing infested trees, 

and reducing the density of remaining 

trees to lessen the susceptibility to 

attack. The Forest Service is working to 

manage persistent and increasing 

populations of the mountain pine beetle 

across the Forest. As part of that larger 

effort the Forest is proposing the 

Mountain Pine Beetle Response Project 

(MPBRP—the project). The project 

would be conducted as an authorized 

hazardous fuels reduction project under 

the authority of the Healthy Forests 

Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA). The 

proposed action would treat newly 

detected infestations that may occur on 

about 325,000 acres of NFS lands to 

reduce and slow the spread of MPB. 

Specifically, newly infested trees would 

be removed, or made unsuitable for 

occupancy by beetles, before beetles can 

mature and further disperse to other 

trees. Some surrounding mature trees at 

risk of infestation may also be removed. 

A variety of treatment options would be 

available for use depending on 

conditions encountered on infested 

sites. Actual treatments used at any 

specific location would be determined 

at the time of implementation. 

Treatment options would include 

commercial tree removal using groundbased or cable logging equipment, or 

helicopter; non-commercial methods 

such as chipping trees or cutting them 

into short sections; and spraying small 

areas of trees to prevent infestation. 

Some temporary road construction is 

proposed, although generally road 

access would use existing road 

templates where available. Roads would 

be closed after use. 

Possible Alternatives 

The No Action alternative would not 

authorize any actions on the project area 

at this time. Other alternatives may be 

developed in response to public 

comments. 

Lead and Cooperating Agencies 

No cooperating agencies have been 

identified. 

Responsible Official 

The Responsible Official for this 

project is the Forest Supervisor, Black 

Hills National Forest, 1019 North 5th 

Avenue, Custer, South Dakota, 57730. 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

After considering the proposed action 

and any alternatives, the environmental 

analysis, and public comment, the 

Forest Supervisor will decide whether 

to conduct treatments to reduce and 

slow the progress of the beetle 

epidemic. If an action alternative is 

selected, the Supervisor will decide 

where treatments may occur, and what 

actions are appropriate and may be 

taken. Finally, the decision will include 

the scope of monitoring that should 

occur. No Forest Plan amendment is 

proposed. 

Scoping Process 

This notice of intent initiates the 

scoping process, which guides the 

development of the environmental 

impact statement. The Forest Service 

seeks to involve interested parties in 

identifying issues related to responding 

to and managing the ongoing insect 

outbreak. Public comment will help the 

planning team identify key issues and 

opportunities to develop appropriate 

responses and alternatives, and 

monitoring strategies, and to evaluate 

the effects of the proposal. 

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