75480 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 241 / Friday, December 15, 2006 / Notices 

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. 

Dated December 5, 2006. 

Kevin R. Schulkoski, 

Acting Dixie Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. E6–21145 Filed 12–14–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Thorn Fire Salvage Recovery Project, 

Malheur National Forest, Grant County, 

OR 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The USDA Forest Service will 

prepare an environmental impact 

statement (EIS) to disclose 

environmental effects on a proposed 

action to recover the economic value of 

dead and dying trees damaged in the 

Shake Table Fire Complex, and remove 

potential hazard trees from open forest 

travel routes within the Todd, Duncan, 

Fields Creek and Dry Creek 

subwatersheds. Shake Table Fire 

Complex, located approximately 20 

miles south west of John Day, Oregon, 

burned approximately 14,527 acres 

across mixed ownership in August 

2006, of that approximately 13,536 acres 

were on National Forest System Lands 

administered by the Blue Mountain 

Ranger District, Malheur National 

Forest. The proposed action is the 

Thorn Fire Salvage Recovery Project. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received by 

January 16, 2007. The Draft EIS is 

expected to be filed with the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

and be available to the public for review 

by April 2007. The Final EIS is 

scheduled to be completed by June 

2007. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

the Responsible Official, Gary L. ‘‘Stan’’

Benes, Forest Supervisor, Malheur 

National Forest, 431 Patterson Bridge 

Road, P.O. Box 909, John Day Oregon 

97845. Send electronic comments to: 

comments-pacificnorthwestmalheur@fs.fed.us. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jerry 

Hensley, Project Manager, Malheur 

National Forest, 431 Patterson Bridge 

Road, P.O. Box 909, John Day, Oregon, 

telephone 541–575–3167, e-mail 

jhensley@fs.fed.us. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need for Action 

The purpose and need of the Thorn 

Fire Salvage Recovery Project includes: 

(1) Recovery of the economic value of a 

portion of the dead and dying trees 

consistent with protection of other 

resource values; and (2) improving 

public safety within the fire area by 

removing potential hazard trees for 

public safety along open forest travel 

routes. 

Proposed Action 

This action includes salvage of dead 

and dying trees from approximately 

7,952 acres and removal of potential 

hazard trees for public safety along open 

forest travel routes. Salvage harvest 

methods would include ground-based 

and helicopter logging systems. 

Approximately 80 percent of the harvest 

area would be salvaged by helicopter. 

No commercial harvest or road 

construction is proposed within 

Appendix C Inventoried Dry Cabin, 

Cedar Grove and Shake Table Roadless 

Areas. Road activities associated with 

salvage and restoration will be limited 

to reconstruction, opening and reclosing existing roads, and maintenance. 

No new roads would be built. Following 

site preparation, approximately 7,952 

acres would be planted with conifer 

seedlings. Forest Plan amendments 

would be included as needed. 

Possible Alternatives 

Alternatives will include the 

proposed action, no action, and 

additional alternatives that respond to 

issues generated during the scoping 

process. The agency will give notice of 

the full environmental analysis and 

decisionmaking process to interested 

and affected people may participate and 

contribute to the final decision. 

Responsible Official and Nature of 

Decision To Be Made 

The Responsible Official is Gary L. 

‘‘Stan’’ Benes, Forest Supervisor of the 

Malheur National Forest, 431 Patterson 

Bridge Road, P.O. Box 909, John Day, 

OR 97845. The Responsible Official will 

decide if the proposed project will be 

implemented and will document the 

decision and reasons for the decision in 

a Record of Decision. That decision will 

be subject to Forest Service Appeal 

Regulations. The responsibility for 

preparing the DEIS and FEIS has been 

delegated to Brooks Smith, Acting 

District Ranger, Blue Mountain Ranger 

District. 

Scoping Process 

Public participation will be especially 

important at several points during the 

analysis, beginning with the scoping 

process (40 CFR 1501.7). Initial scoping 

began with the project listed in the 2006 

Fall Edition of the Malheur National 

Forest’s Schedule of Proposed Actions. 

A Public meeting has been planned for 

January 2007 to discuss the project. 

Other meetings will be scheduled as 

needed. Also, correspondence with 

tribes, government agencies, 

organizations, and individuals who 

have indicated their interest will be 

conducted. 

Preliminary Issues 

Preliminary issues identified include 

the potential effect of the proposed 

action on: Soils, water quality and fish 

habitat, snags and down wood, 

disturbance to cultural resources, 

potential for noxious weed expansion, 

threatened, endangered and sensitive 

aquatic, terrestrial and plant species, 

potential loss of economic value of trees 

damaged by wildfire, and the safety and 

use of the area by public and land 

managers. 

Comment 

Public comments about this proposal 

are requested to identify issues and 

alternatives to the proposed action and 

to focus the scope of the analysis. 

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. 

Comments submitted anonymously will 

be accepted and considered; however, 

those who submit anonymous 

comments will not have standing to 

appeal the subsequent decisions under 

36 CFR parts 215 or 217. Additionally, 

pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any person 

may request the agency to withhold a 

submission from the public record by 

showing how the Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA) permits such 

confidentiality. Persons requesting such 

confidentiality should be aware that 

under the FOIA, confidentiality may be 

granted in only very limited 

circumstances such as to protect trade 

secrets. The Forest Service will inform 

the requester of the agency’s decision 

regarding the request for confidentiality, 

and where the request is denied; the 

agency will return the submission and 

notify the requester that the comments 

may be resubmitted with or without 

name and address within a specified 

number of days. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 241 / Friday, December 15, 2006 / Notices 75481 

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: December 11, 2006. 

Gary L. Benes, 

Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. 06–9716 Filed 12–14–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

RIN 0596–AB86 

National Environmental Policy Act 

Documentation Needed for 

Developing, Revising, or Amending 

Land Management Plans; Categorical 

Exclusion 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Final directive. 

SUMMARY: The Forest Service is revising 

procedures for implementing the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) and Council on Environmental 

Quality (CEQ) regulations. The 

procedures are being revised through 

issuance of a final directive that amends 

Forest Service Handbook (FSH) 1909.15, 

chapter 30. This chapter describes 

categorical exclusions; that is, categories 

of actions which do not individually or 

cumulatively have a significant effect on 

the human environment, and therefore, 

normally do not require further analysis 

and documentation in either an 

environmental assessment (EA) or an 

environmental impact statement (EIS). 

The amendment adds one such category 

of actions to the Agency’s NEPA 

procedures for final decisions on 

proposals to develop, amend, or revise 

land management plans. 

DATES: Effective Date: This amendment 

is effective December 15, 2006 

ADDRESSES: The new Forest Service 

categorical exclusion is set out in FSH 

1909.15, chapter 30, which is available 

electronically via the World Wide Web/ 

Internet at http://www.fs.fed.us/im/ 

directives. Single paper copies are 

available by contacting Anthony Erba, 

Forest Service, USDA, Ecosystem 

Management Coordination Staff (Mail 

Stop 1104), 1400 Independence Avenue, 

SW., Washington, DC 20250–1104. 

Additional information and analysis can 

be found at http://www.fs.fed.us/emc/ 

nfma. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Anthony Erba, USDA Forest Service, 

Ecosystem Management Coordination 

Staff, (202) 205–0895. 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 4 

p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday 

through Friday. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On January 5, 2005, the Forest Service 

published the 2005 planning rule (70 FR 

1023) establishing procedures for 

National Forest System compliance with 

the NFMA. That planning rule provided 

that approval of a plan, plan 

amendment, or plan revision may be 

categorically excluded from National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

documentation in accordance with 

Forest Service NEPA procedures. On the 

same date, the Forest Service published 

a proposed amendment to its NEPA 

procedures to provide for such a 

categorical exclusion. Specifically, the 

categorical exclusion proposed on 

January 5, 2005 (70 FR 1062) would 

require four changes in chapter 30 of 

FSH 1909.15. 

1. A category would be added to 

section 31.2 that would allow 

development, amendment, and revision 

of plan components, or portions thereof, 

to be categorically excluded unless 

extraordinary circumstances exist. 

2. A paragraph would be added to 

section 30.3 to define the extraordinary 

circumstances pertinent to the new 

category. It would specify that the 

inclusion of a project or activity 

decision in a plan component may 

constitute an extraordinary 

circumstance. 

3. A paragraph would be added to 

section 30.3 to clarify that the extensive 

public participation requirements in the 

land management planning regulations 

at 36 CFR 219.9 are sufficient to satisfy 

the scoping requirements currently 

included in section 30.3. 

4. A paragraph would be added to 

section 32.2 to clarify that the plan 

approval document required by the land 

management planning regulations at 36 

CFR 219.7(c) is sufficient to satisfy the 

decision memo requirements of chapter 

30. 

In response to comments on the 

proposed categorical exclusion and to 

clarify meaning, three revisions were 

made to the original proposal as follows. 

1. The wording of the category to be 

added to section 31.2 was changed to 

remove the phrase ‘‘except where 

extraordinary circumstances exist’’

because the phrase is not necessary. The 

following wording was added to further 

clarify the actions that meet this 

category’s definition: ‘‘that provide 

broad guidance and information for 

project and activity decision-making in 

a National Forest System unit.’’

Consistent with the Supreme Court 

decision in Ohio Forestry Ass’n v. Sierra 

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