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

4346 

Vol. 71, No. 17 

Thursday, January 26, 2006 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Red Rock Ranger District, Coconino 

National Forest, AZ, Outfitter and 

Guide Management Plan 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The Coconino National Forest 

is proposing to develop an OutfitterGuide Management Plan for the Red 

Rock Ranger District that will serve the 

public need for outfitting and guide 

activities in ways that protect the area’s 

natural and cultural resources as well as 

the more primitive social settings 

desired for the National Forest by most 

visitors. The area being considered is 

limited to the Red Rock Ranger District 

and the scope of the analysis is limited 

to primarily outfitter and guide 

operations on the ranger district. A few 

general recreation management 

proposals are being considered when 

they are connected with outfitter and 

guide activities. Some changes to 

guidelines and objectives in the 

Coconino National Forest Land and 

Resource Management Plan direction 

are also being considered. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received within 

30 days of the publication of this Notice 

of Intent in the Federal Register. The 

draft environmental impact statement is 

expected May 2006 and the final 

environmental impact statement is 

expected December 2006. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to: 

Outfitter-Guide Team Leader, Red Rock 

Ranger District, PO Box 20249, Sedona, 

AZ 86341. 

For further information, mail 

correspondence to: Outfitter-Guide 

Team Leader, Red Rock Ranger District, 

PO Box 20249, Sedona, AZ 86341. 

More detailed information on this 

project is also posted on the Coconino 

National Forest Web site at: http:// 

www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino link is under 

NEPA/EFOIA 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

William Stafford, Recreation Staff, Red 

Rock Ranger District, Coconino National 

Forest, USDA Forest Service, telephone 

(928) 203–7529, see address above. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need for Action 

The Purpose and Need for this project 

relates to the unique character of the 

Red Rock Ranger District’s landscape, 

particularly around the Sedona, Arizona 

community. It is attracting increasing 

numbers of people; including many 

visitors who look to outfitter-guides to 

assist them have a safe, enjoyable, and 

learning experience on the National 

Forest. Additionally an ever increasing 

number of people living and working 

nearby in adjacent communities are also 

using the same National Forest areas. 

Consequently, the National Forest’s 

natural and cultural resources are 

getting unprecedented pressure (and 

impact), sometimes eliminating, or at 

least diminishing solitude, natural 

quiet, and the natural appearing 

landscapes. 

The red rock landscape around 

Sedona is currently the focus of the 

commercial outfitter-guide services. The 

Forest Service has issued permits to 

these outfitter-guides because they offer 

opportunities that visitors might not 

otherwise have. Outfitter-guides provide 

knowledge, skills, and equipment that 

enhance a visitor’s experience or are 

required for safe participation in an 

activity. For the Forest Service, outfitterguides can assist in the protection of the 

natural and heritage resources (such as 

‘‘Leave no trace’’, etiquette, and 

interpretation/education) and 

management of infrastructure. 

During the last 10 years in particular, 

competition between permit-holders 

and potential permit-holders has 

become evident and continues to grow 

in intensity. The Coconino National 

Forest Land and Resource Management 

Plan for the area around Sedona, where 

interest for permits is most intense, 

states that opportunities for additional 

guided services are very limited. Interest 

in permits for this area currently 

exceeds what the Forest Service has 

been willing to authorize. Compounding 

this issue is the popularity of the area 

and visitation each year by literally 

millions of others involved in a similar 

set of activities but without the services 

of an outfitter. In previous analysis and 

studies for the Forest Plan, Forest users 

in the Sedona area indicated their 

preference for small group, noncommercial activities on the National 

Forest. 

As activities from commercial and 

non-commercial activities have 

increased over the years, local residents 

and neighborhoods have been affected. 

They have developed a high level of 

interest in outfitter-guide activities since 

many of the desirable tour areas on 

national forest lands are within the 

Sedona-area urban interface. Tour and 

general public use often occurs near 

private lands and residential 

subdivisions and sometimes adversely 

impacts these neighborhood areas. 

Additionally, impacts due to high use 

from both groups of users and 

inadequate maintenance are evident 

across the landscape. Physical impacts 

include loss of vegetation due to 

trampling and soil compaction, unplanned roads and trails, and rutting 

affecting water quality and soil erosion. 

Social impacts include reduced quality 

of experience, noise, and dust. These 

impacts are contrary to the direction in 

the current Forest Plan for the areas 

around Sedona. 

Areas of the Red Rock Ranger District 

outside the immediate vicinity of 

Sedona have little outfitter-guide use 

and offer locations and activities that 

could provide services the public and 

assist in management and protection of 

the National Forest. 

The focus of this analysis will be to 

develop an outfitter-guide management 

plan for the Red Rock Ranger District 

that will serve the public need for 

outfitting and guide activities in ways 

that protect the area’s natural and 

cultural resources as well as the more 

primitive social settings desired for the 

National Forest by most visitors. 

Proposed Action 

• The Red Rock Ranger District has 

been divided into 39 Recreation use 

units (RUU’s) that reflect vegetation, 

topography, social settings. 

• Opportunities for types of outfitterguide operations have been identified 

for each RUU as well as the need for 

services in each unit. These 

opportunities would be offered through 

a competitive process in the future if the 

proposed action is selected. Most of the 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 17 / Thursday, January 26, 2006 / Notices 4347 

RUU’s within 1 mile of the Sedona area 

will not have new motorized 

opportunities offered. 

• New opportunities near Sedona 

include: public transit, mountain biking, 

weddings, coach/bus tours, 

metaphysical tours and hiking. 

• New opportunities in the remainder 

of the Red Rock Ranger District include: 

tours of selected heritage sites, 

mountain bike tours, scenic touring (i.e., 

jeeps), ATV tours, rock climbing, 4- 

wheel drive trips, hummer tours, 

equestrian/trail rides, hiking, hot air 

balloons, backpacking, livestock 

packing, hunting, geo-caching, fishing, 

river rafting, winter sports and 

metaphysical tours. 

• All outfitter-guide operations will 

be subject to area-wide and site specific 

mitigation measures to protect natural, 

historic and infrastructure resources of 

the National Forest as well as balance 

use with the general public and 

experiential objectives. 

• Establish local procedures for 

administration of outfitter-guide permits 

as defined in national policy, including 

priority use commensurate with actual 

use, adjustments of permitted use based 

on actual use. 

• Establish Limits of Acceptable 

Change (LAC) for outfitter operations, 

including a monitoring plan. 

• Optimize the availability of Broken 

Arrow for popular outfitter-guide 

activities and help mitigate impacts to 

adjacent residents and to the National 

Forest by: 

1. Installation of a night gate with 

motorized traffic hours of daylight to 

dark. 

2. Requiring private motorized vehicle 

users to have a ‘‘non-fee’’ permit. 

3. Setting an annual cap on the 

historic Pink Jeep Tours permit. 

4. Authorizing additional (new) 

outfitter-guide services at no more than 

2 vehicles per day using an annual 

lottery to select the permit-holder. 

• Optimize the availability of Soldier 

Pass for popular outfitter-guide 

activities and help mitigate impacts to 

adjacent residents and to the National 

Forest by: 

1. Requiring private motorized vehicle 

users to have a ‘‘non-fee’’ permit. 

2. Reducing the at-one-time 4x4 

vehicle limit for outfitter-guides from 10 

to 3 vehicles. 

3. Increasing the annual cap for 

outfitter-guide vehicles. 

4. Authorizing additional (new) 

outfitter-guide services at no more than 

1 vehicle per day using an annual 

lottery to select the permit-holder. 

• Optimize the availability of Greasy 

Spoon and the ‘‘pipeline’’ for popular 

outfitter-guide activities: 

1. Use an annual lottery to offer and 

authorize additional outfitter-guide 

services at no more than 2 vehicles per 

day. 

• Address public’s interest and need 

for outfitter-guides and address 

competitive interest in providing 

outfitter-guide services: 

1. Issue Prospectus to offer new 

outfitter-guide opportunities throughout 

the ranger district. 

2. Issue Temporary Permits for the 

first 5 years to the successful applicants. 

Make priority use permits with a 5-year 

Term available after 5 years if the LAC 

monitoring supports continuation of the 

outfitter-guide service. 

3. Make Permits, with standard/predefined Terms and Conditions, available 

to wedding planners on demand (across 

the counter) as long as LAC monitoring 

supports. Adjust Terms and Conditions 

and availability of Permits 

commensurate with LAC monitoring. 

4. Designate group (60 or less 

participants) recreation event sites and 

make permits with preset Terms and 

Conditions available on-demand (across 

the counter) on a first-come, first serve 

basis. (Designated sites are also 

appropriate for non-commercial group 

activities, i.e. 75 or more people for 

personal wedding activities or 

reunions.) 

5. Annually accept Proposals for 

institutional outfitter-guide activities. 

Make 1-Year Temporary Permits 

available with preset and other (based 

on Proposal and LAC monitoring) Terms 

and Conditions if LAC monitoring 

supports. 

• Mitigate impacts to natural and 

cultural resources on the National 

Forest: 

1. Include terms and conditions in all 

outfitter-guide permits that relate to 

vehicle use of roads, noise mitigation, 

permit identification, wet weather 

procedures, Leave No Trace principles, 

Forest closures and restrictions, First 

Aid and CPR, land stewardship tasks, 

regulation violation notification, 

wildlife mitigation, weed control and 

riparian protection. 

2. Include terms and conditions a part 

of all outfitter-guide permits for 

Wilderness areas that all Wilderness 

activities must be wilderness 

dependent, limit group size provide 

Leave No Trace messages and preserve 

Wilderness values. 

• Address the issue of business 

growth: 

1. Manage unallocated opportunities 

as a ‘‘reserve’’ for ‘‘temporary’’ use and 

business growth potential. Accept 

Proposals for temporary use 

authorization for business growth 

regularly under specified conditions. 

Responsible Official 

District Ranger, Red Rock Ranger 

District is the responsible official related 

to decision on issuance of permits and 

outfitter-guide uses of National Forest. 

There is potential for some minor 

decisions that will result in changes to 

the Coconino National Forest Land and 

Resource Management Plan. Nora 

Rasure, Coconino National Forest 

Supervisor, is the responsible official for 

any decision related to amendments to 

the Coconino National Forest Land and 

Resource Plan. 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

This decision is intended to 

determine the locations, limitations, 

management and terms of outfitterguide permits and opportunities on the 

Red Rock Ranger District for the next 5–

10 years. There are some decisions that 

may result in changes to general public 

recreation use as they relate to outfitterguide activities and locations. A few 

decisions may result in changes to 

recreation use guidance and objectives 

in the Coconino National Forest Land 

and Resource Plan such as recreation 

opportunity spectrum. 

Scoping Process 

Public participation will be especially 

important at several points during the 

analysis. The Forest Service will be 

seeking information, comments and 

assistance from the Federal, State, and 

local agencies and other individuals or 

organizations that may be interested in 

or affected by the proposed action. 

Public comment will be accepted 30 

days following the printing of this 

Notice in the Federal Register. The Red 

Rock Ranger District is sending out 

letters with an executive summary of 

the proposed action to a mailing list of 

parties who have expressed interest in 

these activities asking for comments on 

the proposals. In addition, news releases 

announcing the proposal and public 

open house meeting were sent to media 

resources in northern Arizona. The 

Open House Public Meeting is 

scheduled for February 9, 2006, 4 p.m.–

7 p.m. at the Elks Lodge, 110 Airport 

Road in Sedona, Arizona. Information 

related to the proposed action and 

interdisciplinary specialists will be 

present to answer questions about the 

proposal and the public will be able to 

provide comments at this meeting. 

Comments may also be submitted as 

described above before or after the 

meeting. The Draft EIS is expected to be 

published in May 2006 and a Notice of 

Availability will be published in the 

Federal Register at the time it is 

available for public review and 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES
4348 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 17 / Thursday, January 26, 2006 / Notices 

comment. The final EIS and decision is 

expected in December 2006. Public 

questions and comments regarding this 

proposal are an integral part of the 

environmental analysis process. 

Comments will be used to identify 

issues and develop alternatives to this 

proposal. To assist the Forest Service in 

identifying and considering issues and 

concerns on the proposed action, 

comments should be as specific as 

possible. 

Preliminary Issues 

A. Long standing outfitter guide 

operators have not received 5-year term 

or priority use permits. 

B. Levels of authorized outfitter-guide 

use (too much commercial use for some 

and not enough opportunities for others) 

and limits on the number of permits in 

the popular and highly marketable 

tourist locations: such as, Broken 

Arrow, Soldier Pass, Greasy Spoon, 

Honanki, etc. 

C. The Forest Service has not 

authorized increased opportunities for 

existing outfitter-guides with temporary 

permits. 

D. Sustaining of historic permits, 

versus adjusting/limiting authorizations 

and opening up new competitive 

opportunities. 

E. The Forest Service has not issued 

new outfitter-guide authorizations in the 

greater Sedona area. 

F. Inconsistencies and deficiencies in 

outfitter-guide quality of service and 

performance. 

G. Demand for group and large 

community events on the National 

Forest is inconsistent with current 

emphasis in the Forest Plan. 

H. Lack of permit system for 

commercial wedding planning and 

operations on the National Forest. 

I. Authorization and management of 

recreation events, such as size, location, 

type of event, limitations. 

J. Authorization and management of 

institutional outfitter-guide activities. 

K. Inconsistencies between desire of 

permit holders for unlimited business 

growth and current Forest Plan 

direction for encounter frequencies and 

limited commercial activities. 

L. Perceived monopoly of business 

income related to certain locations. 

M. Concern related to resource and 

infrastructure impacts and damage from 

outfitter-guide activities and general 

recreation use. 

N. Implementation of new 

regulations. 

O. Some existing outfitter guides 

allocations are not used and that nonuse has not been available for others or 

administered under current policy. 

P. Concerns about delay in 

completing reallocation of existing 

permitted guides. 

Q. Displacement of general public use 

of area as a result of outfitter guide use, 

(common wedding or large group use 

locations.) 

Comment Requested 

This notice of intent initiates the 

scoping process which guides the 

development of the environmental 

impact statement. Comments should be 

as specific as possible including 

location of concern area, why the 

concern is important, and data 

supporting any information considered 

not accurate. Comments should also 

indicate interest in being included on a 

mailing list for the project with accurate 

mailing address and contact 

information. 

Early Notice of Importance of Public 

Participation in Subsequent 

Environmental Review: A draft 

environmental impact statement will be 

prepared for comment. 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 may be 

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 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 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 

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, including the 

names and addresses of those who 

comment, will be considered part of the 

public record on this proposal and will 

be available for public inspection. 

(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; 

Forest Service Handbook 1909.15, Section 

21) 

Dated: January 20, 2006. 

Nora B. Rasure, 

Forest Supervisor, Coconino Naitonal Forest. 

[FR Doc. 06–737 Filed 1–25–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

[A–428–602] 

Brass Sheet and Strip from Germany: 

Final Results of the Full Sunset Review 

of the Antidumping Duty Order 

AGENCY: Import Administration, 

International Trade Administration, 

Department of Commerce. 

SUMMARY: On October 28, 2005, the 

Department of Commerce (‘‘the 

Department’’) published a notice of 

preliminary results of the full sunset 

review of the antidumping duty order 

on brass sheet and strip (‘‘BSS’’) from 

Germany (70 FR 62093) pursuant to 

section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, 

as amended (‘‘the Act’’). We provided 

interested parties an opportunity to 

comment on our preliminary results. We 

did not receive comments from either 

domestic or respondent interested 

parties. As a result of this review, the 

Department finds that revocation of this 

order would be likely to lead to 

continuation or recurrence of dumping 

at the levels indicated in the ‘‘Final 

Results of Review’’ section of this 

notice. 

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 26, 2006. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Audrey R. Twyman, Brandon Farlander, 

or David Goldberger, AD/CVD 

Operations, Office 1, Import 

Administration, International Trade 

Administration, U.S. Department of 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES