Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 48 / Tuesday, March 13, 2007 / Notices 11323 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests 

and Thunder Basin National 

Grassland; Wyoming; Thunder Basin 

National Grassland Land and Resource 

Management Plan Amendment for 

Prairie Dog Management 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The Forest Service proposes 

to develop a project-level and sitespecific implementation strategy to 

manage prairie dogs using the full suite 

of management tools to maintain viable 

populations to support black-footed 

ferret introduction and populations of 

other associated species while reducing 

unwanted colonization of adjoining 

lands along national grassland 

boundaries; and to amend the Thunder 

Basin National Grassland Land and 

Resource Management Plan (LRMP) as 

needed to support the site-specific 

implementation plan and to modify the 

boundary of the black-footed ferret 

reintroduction area. The ferret area 

modification is proposed to provide a 

more logical boundary based on 

topographical and biological barriers for 

prairie dog colonies and to include 

lands recently acquired through lan 

exchange. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received by 

April 12, 2007. The draft environmental 

impact statement is expected May 31, 

2007 and the final environmental 

impact statement is expected September 

30, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

Marilee Houtler, NEPA Coordinator, 

Douglas Ranger District, 2250 East 

Richards Street, Douglas, Wyoming 

82633 to e-mail to comments-rockymountain-medicine-bow-routt-douglasthunder-basin@fs.fed.us All comments, 

including names and addresses when 

provided, are placed in the record and 

are available for public inspection and 

copying. The public may inspect 

comments received at Douglas Ranger 

District, 2250 E. Richards, Douglas, WY 

82633. Visitors are encouraged to call 

ahead to (307) 358–4690 to facilitate 

entry into the building. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cristi Lockman, Wildlife Biologist or 

Misty Hays, Deputy District Ranger, 

Douglas Ranger District, 2250 East 

Richards St., Douglas, WY 82633 (307) 

358–4690. 

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 

standard time, Monday through Friday. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since the 

1960’s, the Forest Service has been 

challenged to balance our duty to 

conserve prairie dog habitat and manage 

the impacts from prairie dogs on public 

lands and neighboring private lands. 

Prairie dog management on the Thunder 

Basin National Grassland fluctuated 

through the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s 

from periods of active use of 

rodenticide, management to maintain 

prairie dog populations and no 

rodenticide use. However, with the 

petition for listing the prairie dog in 

1998, rodenticide use was prohibited by 

Forest Service policy from 1999 until 

2004 when the US Fish and Wildlife 

Service issued its decision to remove 

the prairie dog from its candidate list. In 

2001 the LRMP was completed with the 

2002 Record of Decision (ROD). The 

LRMP continued to limit use of prairie 

dog rodenticide to situations involving 

public health and safety risks and 

damage to facilities. In 2002, as the 

Thunder Basin National Grassland 

LRMP was being completed a plague 

epizootic impacted prairie dog colonies 

on the Thunder Basin National 

Grassland in April and May 2002 

reducing populations from an estimated 

21,000 acres of inventoried active 

colonies in 2001 to about 3,300 acres of 

inventoried active colonies in 2002. 

Since 2002, active colonies have been 

recovering from the plague event from 

29–69% annually. In 2004, as part of the 

appeal decisions on LRMP, USDA 

Deputy Under Secretary, David Tenny, 

issued instructions directing the 

Thunder Basin National Grassland to 

ensure that local land managers work 

together with state and county officials 

and local landowners to aggressively 

implement the spirit and intent of the 

good neighbor policy. 

Purpose and Need for Action 

The Forest Service has identified a 

need to implement the management 

objectives in the LRMP for management 

of prairie dogs and prairie dog habitat 

for black-footed ferrets and other 

associated species and implement the 

direction by Deputy Under Secretary 

Tenny to be a good neighbor in relation 

to prairie dog management using all the 

tools available to provide for healthy 

populations of prairie dog while 

preventing unwanted colonization onto 

adjacent and intermingled private lands. 

The purpose of this action is to 

provide a full set of tools available for 

prairie dog management and identify 

sideboards on how and when tools 

might be used and to change the 

boundaries of Management Area 3.63 

Black-footed Ferret Reintroduction 

Habitat to better match prairie dog 

complexes on the ground. 

Proposed Action 

The Forest Service proposes to 

develop a project-level and site-specific 

implementation strategy to manage 

prairie dogs using the full suite of 

management tools to maintain viable 

populations to support black-footed 

ferret reintroduction and populations of 

other associated species while reducing 

unwanted colonization of prairie dogs 

on adjoining lands along national 

grassland boundaries. The Forest 

Service also proposes to amend the 

LRMP as needed to support the sitespecific implementation plan and to 

modify the boundary of the black-footed 

ferret reintroduction area. The ferret 

reintroduction area modification is 

proposed to provide a more logical 

boundary based on topographical and 

biological barriers for prairie dog 

colonies and to include lands recently 

acquired through land exchange. All 

standards and guidelines as currently 

prescribed in the LRMP for Black 

Footed Ferret Reintroduction Habitat 

will apply to the modified area. 

Methods for implementing the proposed 

actions include a suite of non-lethal and 

lethal management tools such as: 

Rodenticide, limited shooting, 

landownership adjustment, third-party 

solutions, financial incentives, 

conservation agreements, conservation 

easements, live-trapping, reduced 

livestock grazing to create visual 

barriers, and physical barriers. 

Responsible Official 

Mary H. Peterson, Forest Supervisor, 

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests 

and Thunder Basin National Grassland, 

2468 Jackson Street, Laramie, Wyoming 

82070 is the official responsible for 

making the decision on this action. She 

will document her decision and 

rationale in a Record of Decision. 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

The Responsible Official will consider 

the results of the analysis and it’s 

findings and then document the final 

decision in a Record of Decision (ROD). 

The decision will include a 

determination whether or not to amend 

the LRMP to support the prairie dog 

management strategy and adjust the 

boundaries of the Black Footed Ferret 

Reintroduction Management Area. 


cprice-sewell on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
11324 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 48 / Tuesday, March 13, 2007 / Notices 

Scoping Process 

Concurrent with this NOI, letters 

requesting comments will be sent to 

interested parties. Anyone who provides 

comments to the DEIS or expresses 

interest during the comment period will 

have eligibility. 

Preliminary Issues 

The Forest Service has identified the 

following preliminary issues: (1) 

Potential impacts to the Black-Footed 

Ferret, an Endangered species; (2) 

Potential impacts tot he black-tailed 

prairie dog, a Forest Service Region 2 

Sensitive Species and other associated 

sensitive species; (3) Potential impacts 

to adjacent private lands; (4) Potential 

impacts to livestock grazing permits on 

National Grassland. 

Comment Requested 

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 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, 435 519, 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 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 chapter 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. 

(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; 

Forest Service Handbook 1909.15, Section 

21.) 

Dated: March 2, 2007. 

Misty A. Hays, 

Deputy District Ranger. 

[FR Doc. 07–1157 Filed 3–12–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

A–570–893 

Notice of Extension of the Preliminary 

Results of Antidumping Duty New 

Shipper Review: Certain Frozen 

Warmwater Shrimp from the People’s 

Republic of China 

AGENCY: Import Administration, 

International Trade Administration, 

Department of Commerce. 

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 13, 2007. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erin 

Begnal or P. Lee Smith; AD/CVD 

Operations, Office 9, Import 

Administration, International Trade 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution 

Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230; 

telephone: (202) 482–1442 and (202) 

482–1655, respectively. 

Background 

On August 31, 2006, the Department 

of Commerce (‘‘Department’’) received a 

timely request from Maoming 

Changxing Foods Co., Ltd. (‘‘Maoming 

Changxing’’), in accordance with 19 

CFR 351.214(c), for a new shipper 

review of the antidumping duty order 

on certain frozen warmwater shrimp 

from the People’s Republic of China 

(‘‘PRC’’). On September 22, 2006, the 

Department found that the request for 

review with respect to Maoming 

Changxing met all of the regulatory 

requirements set forth in 19 CFR 

351.214(b) and initiated an antidumping 

duty new shipper review covering the 

period February 1, 2006, through July 

31, 2006. See Certain Frozen 

Warmwater Shrimp from the People’s 

Republic of China: Initiation of New 

Shipper Antidumping Duty Review, 71 

FR 57469 (September 29, 2006). The 

preliminary results are currently due no 

later than March 21, 2007. 

Extension of Time Limit for Preliminary 

Results 

Section 751(a)(2)(B)(iv) of the Tariff 

Act of 1930, as amended (‘‘the Act’’), 

and 19 CFR 351.214(i)(1) require the 

Department to issue the preliminary 

results of a new shipper review within 

180 days after the date on which the 

new shipper review was initiated and 

the final results of a review within 90 

days after the date on which the 

preliminary results were issued. The 

Department may, however, extend the 

time period for completion of the 

preliminary results of a new shipper 

review to 300 days if it determines that 

the case is extraordinarily complicated. 

See 19 CFR 351.214(i)(2). 

The Department has determined that 

the review is extraordinarily 

complicated as the Department must 

gather additional publicly available 

information, issue additional 

supplemental questionnaires, and 

conduct verification of the responses. 

Based on the timing of the case and the 

additional information that must be 

gathered and verified, the preliminary 

results of this new shipper review 

cannot be completed within the 

statutory time limit of 180 days. 

Accordingly, the Department is 

extending the time limit for the 

completion of the preliminary results of 

the new shipper review of Maoming 

Changxing to 300 days. The preliminary 

results will now be due no later than 

July 19, 2007, in accordance with 

section 751(a)(2)(B)(iv) of the Act and 19 

CFR 351.214(i)(2). The final results will, 

in turn, be due 90 days after the date of 

issuance of the preliminary results, 

unless extended. 

This notice is published pursuant to 

sections 751(a)(2)(B)(iv) and 777(i)(1) of 

the Act. 

Dated: March 5, 2007. 

Stephen J. Claeys, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import 

Administration. 

[FR Doc. E7–4500 Filed 3–12–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–S 


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