This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

80269 

Vol. 88, No. 221 

Friday, November 17, 2023 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

The Department of Agriculture has 

submitted the following information 

collection requirement(s) to OMB for 

review and clearance under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

Public Law 104–13. Comments are 

required regarding; whether the 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of burden including 

the validity of the methodology and 

assumptions used; ways to enhance the 

quality, utility and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and ways to 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

information on those who are to 

respond, including through the use of 

appropriate automated, electronic, 

mechanical, or other technological 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. Comments regarding this information 

collection received by December 18, 

2023 will be considered. Written 

comments and recommendations for the 

proposed information collection should 

be submitted within 30 days of the 

publication of this notice on the 

following website www.reginfo.gov/ 

public/do/PRAMain. Find this 

particular information collection by 

selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day 

Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or 

by using the search function An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor a collection of information 

unless the collection of information 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number and the agency informs 

potential persons who are to respond to 

the collection of information that such 

persons are not required to respond to 

the collection of information unless it 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number. 

Farm Service Agency 

Title: Increasing Land, Capital, and 

Market Access Program OMB Control Number: 0560–NEW. 

Summary of Collection: The purpose 

of the program is to fund projects that 

support a diverse set of farmers, 

ranchers, and forest landowners 

(producers) on the edge financially; 

moving them from surviving to thriving 

as they address core barriers to attain 

land, capital, and market access. The 

Increasing Land, Capital, and Market 

Access Program is funding cooperative 

agreements or grants (awarded) for 

projects that are designed to align with 

and respond to land, capital, and market 

access needs of the underserved 

farmers, ranchers, and forest 

landowners while concurrently 

providing wraparound technical 

assistance to ensure that program 

participants have the information, 

training, and customized support they 

require. Need and Use of the Information: FSA 

will be collecting the initial report and 

progress reports quarterly and annually. 

Without the information, FSA would 

not be able to assess the performance of 

the program. Description of Respondents: Farms; 

Business or other for profit. Number of Respondents: 100. 

Frequency of Responses: Reporting: 

Annually. Total Burden Hours: 3,650. 

Farm Service Agency 

Title: Disaster Assistance—General (7 

CFR part 1945–A). OMB Control Number: 0560–0170. 

Summary of Collection: The 

regulation (7 CFR 759) defines the 

responsibilities of the Secretary of 

Agriculture in making disaster area 

determinations, the types of incidents 

that can result in a disaster area 

determination, and the factors used in 

making disaster area determinations. 

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is 

managing the collection. The 

determination of a disaster area is 

prerequisite to authorizing emergency 

(EM) loans to qualified farmers as 

specified in the 7 CFR 764. EM loan 

funds may be used to restore or replace 

essential property, pay all or part of 

production costs incurred by the farmer 

or rancher in the year of the disaster, 

pay for essential family living expenses, 

pay to reorganize the farming operation 

or refinance USDA and non-USDA 

creditors. The information collection 

occurs when the Secretary receives a 

letter from an individual farmer, local 

government officials, State Governor, 

State Agriculture Commissioners, State 

Secretaries of Agriculture, other State 

government officials, and Indian Tribal 

Council, requesting a Secretarial natural 

disaster determination. Supporting 

documentation of losses for all counties 

having disaster is provided by the 

County Emergency Boards in the form of 

a report called Loss assessment report 

(LAR). 

Need and use of the Information: FSA 

collects the following information to 

determine if the county is eligible to 

qualify for a natural disaster 

designation: (1) The nature and extent of 

production losses; (2) the number of 

farmers who have sustained qualifying 

production losses; and (3) the number of 

farmers that have sustained qualifying 

production losses that other lenders in 

the county have indicated that they will 

not be in a position to finance. The 

collection of information is necessary to 

determine whether the counties did 

sustain sufficient production losses to 

qualify for a natural disaster 

designation. 

Description of Respondents: State, 

Local or Tribal Government. 

Number of Respondents: 1,312. 

Frequency of Responses: Reporting: 

Annually. 

Total Burden Hours: 626. 

Ruth Brown, 

Departmental Information Collection 

Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25450 Filed 11–16–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Forest Service Manual 2300— 

Recreation, Wilderness, and Related 

Resource Management, Chapter 

2350—Trail, River, and Similar 

Recreation Opportunities, Section 

2355—Climbing Opportunities 

AGENCY: Forest Service, Agriculture 

(USDA). 

ACTION: Notice of availability for public 

comment. 

SUMMARY: The Forest Service, United 

States Department of 


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80270 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 221 / Friday, November 17, 2023 / Notices 

Agriculture (Forest Service or Agency), 

is proposing to revise its directives to 

provide guidance on climbing 

opportunities on National Forest System 

(NFS) lands, including climbing 

opportunities in Congressionally 

designated wilderness (wilderness). 

DATES: Comments must be received in 

writing by January 16, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be 

submitted electronically to https://

cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public/ 

CommentInput?project=ORMS-3524. 

Written comments may be mailed to 

Peter Mali, National Wilderness 

Program Manager, 1400 Independence 

Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250– 

1124. All timely comments, including 

names and addresses, will be placed in 

the record and will be available for 

public inspection and copying. The 

public may inspect comments received 

at https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public/ 

ReadingRoom?project=ORMS-3524. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Peter Mali, National Wilderness 

Program Manager, SM.FS.ClimbDir@

usda.gov, (202) 823–0773. Individuals 

who use telecommunications devices 

for the hearing impaired may call the 

Federal Relay Service at 800–877–8339, 

24 hours a day, every day of the year, 

including holidays. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Climbing 

is a growing sport in the United States. 

According to the Outdoor Industry 

Association’s 2022 Report on Outdoor 

Participation Trends, there were nearly 

10.3 million climbers in the United 

States in 2021. Approximately 30 

percent of outdoor climbing in the 

United States occurs on NFS lands. In 

recent years, line officers have 

expressed concerns about climbingrelated impacts on resources and 

conflicts among uses. 

Current Forest Service directives do 

not provide guidance for climbing 

opportunities on NFS lands. The Joint 

Explanatory Statement accompanying 

the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations 

Act directs the Forest Service to issue 

general guidance on climbing 

opportunities on NFS lands, including 

the application of the Wilderness Act 

(16 U.S.C. 1131–1136) to climbing 

opportunities and appropriate use of 

fixed anchors and fixed equipment in 

wilderness. To address impacts 

associated with increased climbing on 

NFS lands and consistent with the Joint 

Explanatory Statement, the Forest 

Service is proposing revisions to its 

directives to provide guidance on 

climbing opportunities on NFS lands. 

The proposed directive would 

provide guidance on climbing 

opportunities inside and outside 

wilderness on NFS lands and would 

provide for climbing opportunities that 

serve visitor needs; meet land 

management and recreation policy 

objectives; emphasize the natural setting 

of NFS lands; align with natural and 

cultural resource protection and the 

Agency’s responsibility to Indian Tribes; 

and are consistent with applicable law, 

directives, and the applicable land 

management plan. 

The proposed directive would add a 

new section, 2355, to Forest Service 

Manual (FSM) 2300—Recreation, 

Wilderness, and Related Resource 

Management, chapter 2350—Trail, 

River, and Similar Recreation 

Opportunities, which would provide 

that climbing is an appropriate use of 

NFS lands (proposed FSM 2355.03, 

para. 1)—including in wilderness— 

when conducted in accordance with 

applicable law and Forest Service 

directives and consistent with the 

applicable land management plan 

(proposed FSM 2355.03, para. 4); that a 

climbing management plan be 

developed, as funding and resources 

allow, for climbing opportunities in 

wilderness, and for climbing 

opportunities outside wilderness where 

the District Ranger determines that 

climbing is causing adverse resource 

impacts or use conflicts (proposed FSM 

2355.21); that fixed anchors and fixed 

equipment are installations for purposes 

of section 4(c) of the Wilderness Act (16 

U.S.C. 1133(c)) (proposed FSM 2355.32, 

para. 1); that a Forest Supervisor may 

authorize the placement or replacement 

of fixed anchors and fixed equipment in 

wilderness based on a case-specific 

determination that they are the 

minimum necessary for administration 

of the area for Wilderness Act purposes, 

including primitive or unconfined 

recreation and preservation of 

wilderness character (proposed FSM 

2355.32, para. 1); that existing fixed 

anchors and fixed equipment in 

wilderness may be retained pending 

completion of a Minimum Requirements 

Analysis, as funding and resources 

allow, that determines they are the 

minimum necessary to facilitate 

primitive or unconfined recreation or 

otherwise preserve wilderness character 

(FSM 2355.32, para. 5);); and that the 

issuance and administration of special 

use permits are encouraged to enhance 

visitor access to climbing opportunities 

and visitor education concerning low 

impact climbing practices (proposed 

FSM 2355.03, para. 9). 

To allow for enforcement of 

restrictions and prohibitions in climbing 

management plans as needed, the Forest 

Service will be proposing revisions via 

a separate Federal Register notice to its 

regulations at 36 CFR part 261, subpart 

A, General Prohibitions. 

The minimum 120-day Tribal 

consultation for the proposed directive 

was initiated November 8, 2021, and 

will conclude at the end of the 60-day 

comment period for the proposed 

directive. 

After the comment period closes, the 

Forest Service will consider timely 

comments that are within the scope of 

the proposed directive in the 

development of the final directive. A 

notice of the final directive, including a 

response to comments, will be posted 

on the Forest Service’s web page at 

https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/ 

regulations-policies. 

Dated: November 6, 2023. 

Gregory Smith, 

Associate Deputy Chief, National Forest 

System. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25426 Filed 11–16–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3411–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Stanislaus National Forest; California; 

Social and Ecological Resilience 

Across the Landscape 2.0 EIS 

AGENCY: Forest Service, Agriculture 

(USDA). 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The Forest Service (‘‘Forest 

Service’’), United States Department of 

Agriculture, is preparing an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

for the Social and Ecological Resilience 

Across the Landscape 2.0 (SERAL 2.0) 

project. The project area is 

approximately 160,000 acres in size, 

including approximately 119,000 acres 

of Forest Service lands. The project area 

includes the remainder of the Stanislaus 

Landscape—a Wildfire Crisis Strategy 

Priority Landscape identified in 2022. 

The project area also spans multiple 

High Risk Western Firesheds identified 

by the Secretary of Agriculture in 

January 2023. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received by 

December 18, 2023. The draft 

environmental impact statement is 

expected in early February 2024, and 

the final environmental impact 

statement is expected in April 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Scoping comments may be 

submitted electronically through 

https://cara.ecosystemmanagement.org/Public/ 

commentInput?Project=63557. Written 


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