Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 57 / Monday, March 26, 2007 / Notices 14073 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Operating Guidelines, Forms 

and Waivers. 

OMB Number: 0584–0083. 

Expiration Date: July 2007. 

Type of Request: Revision of a 

currently approved collection. 

Abstract: In accordance with section 

11(e) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (the 

Act), 7 U.S.C. 2020(e), State agencies are 

required to submit a Plan of Operation 

specifying the manner in which the 

Food Stamp Program will be conducted. 

The State Plan of Operations, in 

accordance with current rules at 7 CFR 

272.2, consists of a Federal/State 

Agreement, annual budget and activity 

statements, and specific attachments 

relating to the State Plan of Operation. 

State Plans of Operation are a one-time 

effort with updates that are provided as 

necessary. 

Under section 16 of the Act, 7 U.S.C. 

2025, the Secretary is authorized to pay 

each State agency an amount equal to 50 

percent of all administrative costs 

involved in each State agency’s 

operation of the FSP. Under 

corresponding FSP regulations at 7 CFR 

272.2, the State agencies must submit 

annually to FNS for approval, a Budget 

Projection Statement (Form FNS–366A), 

which projects the total costs for major 

areas of FSP operations, and a Program 

Activity Statement (Form FNS–366B), 

which provides a summary of FSP 

operations during the preceding fiscal 

year. The reports are required to 

substantiate the costs the State agency 

expects to incur during the next fiscal 

year. Form FNS–366A is submitted 

annually by August 15, for the 

upcoming fiscal year and Form FNS–

366B must be submitted no later than 45 

days after the end of each State agency’s 

fiscal year. 

Since October 2002, FNS has used the 

quality control (QC) data to collect 

information about timeliness of 

application processing. On February 7, 

2005, the final rule on high performance 

bonuses was published in the Federal 

Register (70 FR 6313), and included a 

provision regarding the use of QC data 

to determine each State’s rate of 

application processing timeliness. 

Accordingly, in March 2005, FNS 

notified State agencies that it was 

eliminating the application timeliness 

data on the FNS–366B, and instead will 

continue to rely on the QC data to 

determine States’ application timelines 

processing rates. 

In fiscal year (FY) 2006, 49 percent of 

State agencies submitted the FNS–366A 

electronically and 51 percent submitted 

a paper report. For FY 2005, a total of 

60 percent of State agencies submitted 

the FNS–366B electronically with the 

remaining 40 percent submitting paper 

reports. 

Finally, State agencies are required to 

submit certain other documents to FNS 

for review relating to certain specific 

activities that the State agency may 

choose to do. These other submissions 

include a written action plan, called an 

Advance Planning Document (APD), if 

the State agency wishes to acquire 

proposed automated data processing 

(ADP) services, systems or equipment, 

an outreach plan if the State elects to do 

program information activities, and 

updates related to options exercised 

under the Food Stamp Act, as amended. 

Respondents: State agencies that 

administer the FSP. 

Number of Respondents: 53. 

Estimated Number of Responses per 

Respondent: 

Plan of Operation Updates: 53 State 

agencies once a year. 

Form FNS–366A: 53 State agencies 

once a year. 

Form FNS–366B: 53 State agencies 

once a year. 

Other APD, Plan, or Update 

Submissions: Up to 53 State agencies 

may submit one or more APD, plan or 

update submission averaging 4.75 

submissions per respondent per year or 

252 total responses. 

Estimate of Burden: 

Plan of Operation Updates: The State 

agencies submit Plan updates at an 

estimate of 10 hours per respondent, or 

530 total hours. 

Form FNS–366A: The State agencies 

submit Form FNS–366A at an estimate 

of 13 hours per respondent, or 689 total 

hours. 

Form FNS–366B: The total burden for 

the collection of information for Form 

FNS–366B is 18 hours per respondent, 

or 954 hours. 

Other APD, Plan, or Update 

Submissions: We estimate that up to 53 

States may submit one or more 

submissions for an APD, plan, or update 

submission for a total of 252 annual 

responses at an average estimate of 

2.681 hours per respondent, or 675.6 

hours. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: The total annual reporting 

and recordkeeping burden for OMB No. 

0584–0083 is estimated to be 2,848.5 

hours, an increase of 100 hours. The 

increase is due to a re-estimate of the 

time it takes for Other APD, Plan, or 

Update submissions. 

Dated: March 20, 2007. 

George A. Braley, 

Acting Administrator Food and Nutrition 

Service. 

[FR Doc. E7–5442 Filed 3–23–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–30–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Battle Park/Mistymoon Allotment 

Management Plan on the Powder River 

Ranger District, Bighorn National 

Forest, Big Horn County, WY 

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 update range 

management planning on the Battle Park 

Cattle and Horse allotment and the 

Mistymoon Sheep and Goat livestock 

grazing allotment, which will result in 

development of new allotment 

management plans (AMPs). The agency 

gives notice of the full environmental 

analysis and decision-making process 

that will occur on the proposal so that 

interested and affected people may 

become aware of how they may 

participate in the process and contribute 

to the final decision. 

DATES: Comments and input regarding 

the proposal were requested from the 

public, other groups and agencies via 

direct mailing on August 16, 2004. 

Additional comments may be made at 

the addresses below, and would be most 

helpful if submitted within thirty days 

of the publication of this notice. Based 

on the comments received and 

preliminary analysis, the Responsible 

Official has determined that an 

environmental impact statement will be 

prepared for this project. The draft 

environmental impact statement is 

expected in May 2007 and the final 

environmental impact statement is 

expected September 2007. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments and 

suggestions concerning this proposal to 

Mark Booth, District Ranger, Powder 

River Ranger District, Bighorn National 

Forest, 1415 Fort Street, Buffalo, 

Wyoming 82834. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Direct questions to Bernie Bornong, 

Interdisciplinary Team Leader, Bighorn 

National Forest, 2013 Eastside 2nd 

Street, phone (307) 674–2600. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

allotments are located approximately 50 

miles, by road, northeast of Worland, 

Wyoming in the Bighorn River drainage. 

National Forest System land within the 

Bighorn National Forest will be 

considered in the proposal. The purpose 

of the analysis is to determine if 

livestock grazing will continue on the 

analysis area. If the decision is to 

continue livestock grazing, then 

updated management strategies 


cprice-sewell on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
14074 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 57 / Monday, March 26, 2007 / Notices 

outlining how livestock will be grazed 

will be developed to assure 

implementation of Forest Plan 

management direction. The analysis 

will consider actions that continue to 

improve trends in vegetation, watershed 

conditions, and ecological sustainability 

relative to livestock grazing within the 

allotments. Management actions are 

proposed to be implemented beginning 

in the year 2008. 

The Bighorn National Forest Land and 

Resource Management Plan (Forest 

Plan) identifies livestock grazing as an 

appropriate use and makes initial 

determinations for lands capable and 

suitable for grazing by domestic 

livestock. 

Purpose and Need for Action: The 

purpose of this project is to determine 

if livestock grazing will continue to be 

authorized on the Battle Park and 

Mistymoon allotments, and if it is to 

continue, how to best utilize adaptive 

management strategies to maintain or 

achieve desired conditions and meet 

forest plan objectives. Livestock grazing 

is currently occurring on the Battle Park 

allotment under the existing allotment 

management plan (AMP) and through 

direction provided in the Annual 

Operating Instructions. The Mistymoon 

allotment is currently vacant. 

Continuation of livestock grazing will 

require reviewing existing management 

strategies and, if necessary, updating 

them to implement forest plan direction 

and meet Section 504 of Public Law 

104–19 (Rescission Bill, signed 7/27/ 

95). The results of this analysis may 

require modifying term grazing permits 

and AMPs. Modifications will be 

documented in updated AMPs for the 

allotments. 

Existing conditions in the analysis 

area present opportunities for additional 

activities. An additional purpose of this 

project is to maintain or move toward 

desired conditions for sagebrush/ 

grassland communities; specifically, to 

maintain a mosaic of vegetation 

composition and structure that 

emulates, or moves toward, natural 

processes. The need to provide a mosaic 

of sagebrush cover densities has been 

identified in the project area. 

Proposed Action: The proposed action 

is to continue livestock grazing using 

adaptive management strategies to meet 

or move toward Forest Plan and 

allotment-specific desired conditions. 

This includes changing livestock 

management strategies, constructing 

additional improvements (fences and 

water developments), and treating 

sagebrush. The Mistymoon allotment is 

currently vacant, and the proposed 

action is to combine the portion of this 

allotment that is determined to be 

suitable for cattle grazing with the Battle 

Park allotment. 

Possible Alternatives: Two additional 

alternatives have been identified to date: 

(a) Remove livestock grazing from these 

allotments, and (b) Continue current 

management strategies. 

Responsible Official: Mark Booth, 

District Ranger, Powder River Ranger 

District, Bighorn National Forest, 1415 

Fort Street, Buffalo, Wyoming 82834. 

Nature of Decision to be Made: The 

Responsible Official will consider the 

results of the analysis and its findings 

and then document the final decision in 

a Record of Decision (ROD). The 

decision will determine whether or not 

to authorize livestock grazing on all, 

part, or none of the allotments, and if so, 

what adaptive management design 

criteria, adaptive options, and 

monitoring will be implemented so as to 

meet or move toward the desired 

conditions in the defined timeframe. 

Scoping Process: Formal scoping for 

this project occurred in August 2004. 

Since then, there has been 

correspondence and several meetings 

with individuals, permittees, State 

Agencies, environmental groups, and 

other interested people. 

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: March 14, 2007. 

Mark Booth, 

Powder River District Ranger. 

[FR Doc. 07–1431 Filed 3–23–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Lassen National Forest, California, 

Willow Forest Recovery Project 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Cancellation of Notice of Intent. 

SUMMARY: This notice cancels the Notice 

of Intent to prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement for the Willow Forest 

Recovery Project on the Lassen National 

Forest, published in the Federal 

Register on May 23, 2006, (Volume 71, 

Number 99, page 29612). 

ADDRESSES: Almanor District Ranger, 

Lassen National Forest, P.O. Box 767, 

Chester, CA 96020. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matt 

Cerney, Interdisciplinary Team Leader 

may be contacted by phone at (530) 

258–2141. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A Notice 

of Intent to prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement for the Willow Forest 

Recovery Project is canceled due to 

changes in the Forest’s priorities. 


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