Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 246 / Friday, December 22, 2006 / Notices 76963 

markets/em-markets.asp. Form AD–755 

is required and is available on the EMP 

home page at http://www.fas.usda.gov/ 

mos/em-markets/Form%20AD–755.doc. 

Form SF–181 is requested, but optional, 

and is available at http://www.opm.gov/ 

forms/pdf_fill/sf181.pdf. The members 

of the Committee are appointed by the 

Secretary of Agriculture and serve at the 

discretion of the Secretary. Committee 

members serve without compensation, 

but can receive reimbursement for travel 

expenses to attend committee meetings, 

if requested, in accordance with USDA 

travel regulations. 

The Committee has a balanced 

membership of up to 20 members, 

representing a broad cross-section of the 

U.S. agricultural and agribusiness 

industry. All appointments will expire 

two years from the date of appointment. 

The Secretary may renew an 

appointment for one or more additional 

terms. 

Most meetings will be held in 

Washington, DC, though other locations 

may be selected on an occasional basis. 

Committee meetings will be open to the 

public, unless the Secretary of 

Agriculture determines that the 

Committee will be discussing issues, the 

disclosure of which justify closing all or 

a portion of a meeting, in accordance 

with 5 U.S.C. 552b(c). 

Nominations are open to all 

individuals without regard to race, 

color, religion, sex, national origin, age, 

physical handicap, marital status, or 

sexual orientation. To ensure that the 

work of the Committee takes into 

account the needs of the diverse groups 

served by USDA, membership shall 

include, to the extent practicable, 

individuals with demonstrated ability to 

represent the interest of minorities, 

women, and persons with disabilities. 

Members should have experience, 

expertise, and knowledge of 

international agriculture and of trade 

and development issues as they affect 

emerging markets. No persons, 

company, producer, farm organization, 

trade association, or other entity has a 

right to representation on the 

Committee. In making selections, every 

effort will be made to maintain balanced 

representation of the various broad 

industries within the United States as 

well as geographic diversity. 

W. Kirk Miller, 

Acting Administrator, Foreign Agricultural 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 06–9828 Filed 12–21–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–10–M 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service. 

Flathead National Forest, Swan Lake 

Ranger District, Montana; Cooney 

McKay Project Environmental Impact 

Statement 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The Forest Service will 

prepare an Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS) for a proposal to harvest 

timber, reduce hazardous forest fuels, 

and construct temporary roads within 

the Cooney McKay Project area. The 

project area is approximately 35 miles 

southeast of Bigfork, Montana, in the 

vicinity of the community of Condon, 

Montana. The Forest Service is seeking 

further information and comments from 

Federal, State, and local agencies and 

other individuals or organizations that 

maybe interested in or affected by the 

proposed actions. These comments will 

be used to prepare the draft EIS. 

DATES: The draft environmental impact 

statement is expected in March 2007 

and the final environmental impact 

statement is expected in May 2007. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

Steve Brady, District Ranger, Swan Lake 

Ranger District, 200 Ranger Station 

Road, Bigfork, MT 59911. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sue 

Tebay, Project Writer-Editor, Swan Lake 

Ranger District, 200 Ranger Station 

Road, Bigfork, MT 59911. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Forest Plan 

The EIS will tier to the Flathead 

National Forest Land and Resource 

Management Plan (LRMP) and EIS of 

January, 1986, and its subsequent 

amendments, which provide overall 

guidance of all land management 

activities on the Flathead National 

Forest. 

Background and Existing Condition 

Information 

The Forest Services believes that a 

combination of factors such as natural 

succession processes, extended regional 

drought patterns, introduction of 

invasive plants, human development 

patterns, along with unintended 

consequences of past management 

practices (e.g., fire suppression policies) 

have crated and continue to lead to 

vegetative conditions that do not wholly 

meet the desired future condition for the 

project area, as described in the Forest 

Plan. The consequences of these 

environmental changes and past 

management practices place portions of 

the forested landscape at an elevated 

risk to unwanted disturbances such as 

insect epidemics, wide-scale disease 

infections, and high-severity wildfire. 

Purpose and Need for Action 

The purpose and need for the Cooney 

McKay project include: (1) Improving 

the general health, resiliency, and 

sustainability of forest vegetative 

communities within the project area; (2) 

reducing the risk of insect epidemics 

and disease infestations within the 

project area; (3) reducing the hazardous 

forest fuels buildup on National Forest 

System lands adjacent to private lands 

within the project area; (4) providing for 

a safer environment for the public and 

firefighters should a wildfire occur 

within the project area; increase the 

probability of stopping wildfires on 

National Forest Services lands before 

they burn onto private lands; and (5) 

providing commercial and personal-use 

wood products for the local 

communities. 

Proposed Action 

To move toward the desired future 

(vegetative) condition of restoring and 

maintaining a healthy forest in the 

project area, the Cooney McKay 

proposal includes mechanical and/or 

hand vegetation treatments of mature 

and immature forest, ecosystem 

maintenance burning on approximately 

2,500 acres of upper elevation forest and 

shrubland stands; hand planting of 

approximately 302 acres; and invasive 

plants/noxious weed treatment on 

traveled roadways. In addition, 

approximately 900 acres may be 

understory or jackpot burned following 

treatment. The proposal includes the 

construction and subsequent 

reclamation of approximately 2 miles of 

temporary roads on National Forest 

System lands to access treatment units. 

Best Management Practices would be 

applied to all temporary roads 

constructed and roads temporarily 

opened, as well as all system roads used 

in association with this project for 

access and product removal. 

The proposed management actions 

summarized above are being considered 

together because they represent either 

connected or cumulative actions as 

defined by the Council on 

Environmental Quality (40 CFR 

1508.25). 

Possible Alternatives 

Alternatives may be developed to 

respond to concerns that the proposed 

action could potentially result in 

adverse impacts to white-tailed deer 

winter habitat or that the proposed 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
76964 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 246 / Friday, December 22, 2006 / Notices 

action could potentially impact wildlife 

species associated with closed canopy 

forest communities. 

Responsible Official 

Cathy Barbouletos, Forest Supervisor, 

Flathead National Forest, 1935 3rd 

Avenue East, Kalispell, MT 59901, is the 

responsible official for the preparation 

of the EIS and will make a decision 

regarding this proposal. 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

This project will provide for removal 

of approximately 5.5 MMBF of 

commercial forest products, use of 

prescribed fire for ecosystem 

maintenance burning, shrub/grassland 

maintenance, reduction of hazardous 

fuels, and provide personal-use wood 

products for the local community. 

Scoping Process 

Public and internal scoping for this 

proposal is being initiated by the 

publication of this Notice of Intent to 

prepare an environmental impact 

statement for the Cooney McKay Project 

in the Federal Register. The Forest 

Service scoping for the proposal 

includes the publishing of a legal notice 

in the paper of record, which will 

coincide with a mailing of information 

about the proposal to interested parties 

during January 2007. Multiple mailings 

to other government agencies, the public 

and organizations are planted to insure 

that interested parties are aware of and 

have an opportunity to comment on the 

proposal. The Forest Service plans on 

issuing news releases periodically 

during the development of this 

proposal. In addition the proposal will 

be included in the Schedule of Proposed 

Actions, which is updated quarterly and 

available on the National Forest Service 

Web site. A public meeting and field 

trip are tentatively planned for the 

June–July 2007 timeframe, the location 

of both of these scoping events will be 

at the Forest Service Condon Work 

Center, Condon, Montana. 

Preliminary Issues 

Preliminary issues identified to-date 

include concerns that the 

implementation of the proposed action 

could result in the loss of white-tailed 

deer winter habitat and could also 

potentially reduce habitat for wildlife 

species associated with closed forest 

canopy communities. 

Comment Request 

This Notice of Intent initiates the 

scoping process, which guides the 

development of the environmental 

impact statement. 

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 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: December 15, 2006. 

Cathy Barbouletos, 

Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. 06–9821 Filed 12–21–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Lake Tahoe Basin Federal Advisory 

Committee 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Lake Tahoe Basin Federal 

Advisory Committee will hold a 

meeting on January 17, 2007 at The 

Creekside Room, Lake Tahoe 

Community College, One College Drive, 

South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. This 

Committee, established by the Secretary 

of Agriculture on December 15, 1998 (64 

FR 2876), is chartered to provide advice 

to the Secretary on implementing the 

terms of the Federal Interagency 

Partnership on the Lake Tahoe Region 

and other matters raised by the 

Secretary. 

DATES: The meeting will be held January 

17, 2007, beginning at 9 a.m. and ending 

at 4 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

The Creekside Room, Lake Tahoe 

Community College, One College Drive, 

South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Arla 

Hains, Lake Tahoe Basin Management 

Unit, Forest Service, 35 College Drive, 

South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150. (530) 

543–2773. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Items to 

be covered on the agenda include: (1) 

The Lake Tahoe Federal Advisory 

Committee Communications Plan; (2) 

the Southern Nevada Public Land 

Management Act Round 8; and (3) 

Public Comment. All Lake Tahoe Basin 

Federal Advisory Committee meetings 

are open to the public. Interested 

citizens are encouraged to attend at the 

above address. Issues may be brought to 

the attention of the Committee during 

the open public comment period at the 

meeting or by filing written statements 

with the secretary for the Committee 

before or after the meeting. Please refer 

any written comments to the Lake 

Tahoe Basin Management Unit at the 

contact address stated above. 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES