Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 121 / Monday, June 25, 2007 / Notices 34665 

1To view the notice, environmental assessment, 

and finding of no significant impact, go to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, click on the ‘‘Advanced 

Search’’ tab, and select ‘‘Docket Search.’’ In the 

Docket ID field, enter APHIS–2006–0076, then click 

‘‘Submit.’’ Clicking on the Docket ID link in the 

search results page will produce a list of all 

documents in the docket. 

The climbing fern is a highly invasive, 

exotic weed that climbs over plants, 

including tall trees, to form massive 

walls of vegetation. It also forms thick 

mats on the ground that smother native 

plants. New infestations can arise great 

distances from existing populations 

because the weed produces millions of 

spores that are spread by wind and 

other physical carriers. A single spore is 

capable of starting a new infestation. In 

addition, dense strands of Old World 

climbing fern present a major fire 

hazard. 

The biocontrol agent that is the 

subject of this notice, Floracarus 

perrepae, is a gall mite in the insect 

family Eriophyidae and is native to 

Australia and tropical Asia. The adult 

mites feed on young leaflets of the target 

weed, L. microphyllum, inducing the 

leaf margins to curl into galls. Female 

mites lay an average 60 eggs inside a 

gall. The eggs hatch in 5 days and 

immature mites feed on the specialized 

tissue within the gall, requiring 4 days 

to become adults. Galled leaflets are 

often infected by secondary ambient 

pathogens and have reduced life spans. 

Plants infested with the mite have 

slower rates of growth than uninfested 

plants. 

The mite is also host specific. Host 

specificity tests conducted in Australia 

indicate that F. perrepae is specific to 

only two Lygodium species (the target 

weed L. microphyllum and the 

Australian fern Lygodium reticulatum). 

On May 23, 2006, we published in the 

Federal Register (71 FR 29607–29608, 

Docket No. APHIS–2006–0076) a 

notice 1 in which we announced the 

availability, for public review and 

comment, of an environmental 

assessment (EA) that examined the 

potential environmental impacts 

associated with the proposed release of 

this biological control agent into the 

continental United States. 

We solicited comments on the EA for 

30 days ending June 22, 2006. We did 

not receive any comments by that date. 

In this document, we are advising the 

public of our finding of no significant 

impact (FONSI) regarding the release of 

the nonindigenous gall mite F. perrepae 

as a biological control agent to reduce 

the severity and extent of Old World 

climbing fern infestation in the 

continental United States. The finding, 

which is based on the EA, reflects our 

determination that release of this 

biological control agent will not have a 

significant impact on the quality of the 

human environment. 

The EA and FONSI may be viewed on 

the Regulations.gov Web site (see 

footnote 1). Copies of the EA and FONSI 

are also available for public inspection 

at USDA, room 1141, South Building, 

14th Street and Independence Avenue 

SW., Washington, DC, between 8 a.m. 

and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except holidays. Persons wishing to 

inspect copies are requested to call 

ahead on (202) 690–2817 to facilitate 

entry into the reading room. In addition, 

copies may be obtained by writing to the 

individual listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

The EA and FONSI have been 

prepared in accordance with: (1) The 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 

4321 et seq.), (2) regulations of the 

Council on Environmental Quality for 

implementing the procedural provisions 

of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500–1508), (3) 

USDA regulations implementing NEPA 

(7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS’ NEPA 

Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 

372). 

Done in Washington, DC, this 19th day of 

June 2007. 

Kevin Shea, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. E7–12240 Filed 6–22–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Mendocino Resource Advisory 

Committee 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Mendocino County 

Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) 

will meet July 20, 2007 in Willits, 

California. Agenda items to be covered 

include: (1) Approval of minutes, (2) 

Public Comment, (3) Extension of RAC 

(4) Discussion—items of interest (5) 

Discussion/approval of projects, (6) next 

agenda items and meeting date. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on July 

20, 2007, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the Mendocino County Museum, 

located at 400 E. Commercial St., 

Willits, California. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Roberta Hurt, Committee Coordinator, 

USDA, Mendocino National Forest, 

Covelo Ranger District, 78150 Covelo 

Road, Covelo, CA 95428. (707) 983–

8503; email rhurt@fs.fed.us. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

meeting is open to the public. Persons 

who wish to bring matters to the 

attention of the Committee may file 

written statements with the Committee 

staff by July 10, 2007. Public will have 

the opportunity to address the 

committee at the meeting. 

Dated: June 14, 2007. 

Jim Ruhl, 

Designated Federal Official. 

[FR Doc. 07–3073 Filed 6–22–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Grain Inspection, Packers and 

Stockyards Administration 

Purchase of Mid-Iowa (IA) and 

Amendment to Its Area 

AGENCY: Grain Inspection, Packers and 

Stockyards Administration, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Grain Inspection, Packers and 

Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) 

designated Intercontinental Grain 

Inspection Inc. (Intercontinental), a 

subsidiary of Societe Generale de 

Surveillance (SGS) North America Inc., 

to provide domestic official inspection 

services under the United States Grain 

Standards Act, as amended (USGSA). 

Intercontinental’s designation 

terminates September 30, 2007, 

therefore; GIPSA asked interested 

persons to submit an application for 

designation in the March 7, 2007, 

Federal Register (72 FR 10138). 

However, SGS North America Inc. 

purchased Mid-Iowa Grain Inspection, 

Inc. (Mid-Iowa), a currently designated 

agency providing official inspection 

services. Intercontinental will be 

merged into Mid-Iowa. Accordingly, 

GIPSA is not proceeding further with 

the request for applications for 

designation in the Corpus Christi, 

Texas, area, which is currently 

designated to Intercontinental. The 

designation of Mid-Iowa has been 

amended to include this geographic 

area. 

DATES: Effective Date: July 1, 2007. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Karen Guagliardo at 202–720–7312, email Karen.W.Guagliardo@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

7(f)(1) of the United States Grain 

Standards Act, as amended (USGSA), 

authorizes GIPSA’s Administrator to 

designate a qualified applicant to 

provide official services in a specified 


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