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,

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examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

20318 

Vol. 72, No. 78 

Tuesday April 24, 2007 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food and Nutrition Service 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Extension of Proposed 

Collection; Comment Request—Food 

Stamp Program State Agency Options 

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 

notice invites the general public and 

other public agencies to comment on the 

proposed extension of this collection 

relating to State agency calculations of 

household expenses for Food Stamp 

Program purposes. The information 

collection requirement described in this 

notice is OMB Number 0584–0496: State 

Agency Options. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before June 25, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: Comments are invited on: 

(a) Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether the 

information shall have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of the burden of the proposed collection 

of information including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, 

and clarity of the information to be 

collected; (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who respond, including 

through the use of appropriate 

automated, electronic, mechanical, or 

other technological collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology. Comments may be sent to 

Patrick Waldron, Branch Chief, 

Certification Policy Branch, Program 

Development Division, Food and 

Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, 3101 Park Center Drive, 

Alexandria, VA 22302. Comments may 

also be faxed to the attention of Mr. 

Waldron at (703) 305–2486. The Internet 

address is: 

patrick.waldron@FNS.USDA.GOV. All 

written comments will be open for 

public inspection at the office of the 

Food and Nutrition Service during 

regular business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5 

p.m., Monday through Friday) at 3101 

Park Center Drive, Alexandria, Virginia 

22302, Room 800. 

All responses to this notice will be 

summarized and included in the request 

for OMB approval. All comments will 

be a matter of public record. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information 

should be directed to Mr. Waldron at 

(703) 305–2495. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Food Stamp Program: State 

Agency Options. 

OMB Number: 0584–0496. 

Form Number: None. 

Expiration Date: 7/31/07. 

Type of Request: Extension of a 

currently approved information 

collection. 

Abstract: Title 7, Part 273 of the Code 

of Federal Regulations (CFR) sets forth 

the Food Stamp Program requirements 

for the application, certification and 

continued eligibility for food stamp 

benefits. This notice extends the 

collection burden to account for changes 

required by the Farm Security and Rural 

Investment Act of 2002 (FSRIA), 

pending the issuance of a final rule. 

Establishing and reviewing standard 

utility allowances. The regulations at 7 

CFR 273.9(d)(6)(iii)(B) allow State 

agencies to establish standard utility 

allowances (SUA) and once established 

requires State agencies to review and 

adjust SUAs annually to reflect changes 

in the cost of utilities. Many State 

agencies already have one or more 

approved standards, which they update 

annually. State agencies may use 

information already available from case 

files, quality control reviews or other 

sources and from utility companies. 

State agencies may make adjustments 

based on cost-of-living increases. The 

information will be used to establish 

standards to be used in place of actual 

utility costs in the computation of the 

excess shelter deduction. State agencies 

are required to submit the amounts of 

these standards and methodologies used 

in developing and updating the 

standards to FNS when they are 

developed or changed. 

Estimates of burden: Currently 52 

State agencies have a standard that 

includes heating or cooling costs and 41 

have a standard for utility costs other 

than heating or cooling. In addition, 51 

State agencies have a telephone 

allowance standard. State agencies are 

required to review the standards yearly 

to determine if increases are needed due 

to the cost of living. We estimate a 

minimum of 2.5 hours annually to make 

this review and adjustment (2.5 hours × 

52 State agencies = 130 hours). Total 

burden for this provision is estimated to 

be 130 hours per year. 

Self-employment costs. The 

regulations at 7 CFR 273.11(b) allow 

self-employment gross income to be 

reduced by the cost of producing such 

income. The regulations allow the State 

agencies, with approval from FNS, to 

establish the methodology for offsetting 

the costs of producing self-employment 

income, as long as the procedure does 

not increase Program costs. State 

agencies may submit a request to FNS 

to use a method of producing a 

reasonable estimate of the costs of 

producing self-employment income in 

lieu of calculating the actual costs for 

each household with such income. 

Different methods may be proposed for 

different types of self-employment. The 

proposal shall include a description of 

the proposed method, the number and 

type of households and percent of the 

caseload affected, and documentation 

indicating that the proposed procedure 

will not increase program costs. State 

agencies may collect this data from 

household case records or other sources 

that may be available. 

Estimates of burden: We estimate that 

10 State agencies will submit a request 

of this type each year for the next three 

years. It is estimated that these States 

will incur a one-time burden of at least 

10 working hours gathering and 

analyzing data, developing the 

methodology, determining the cost 

implication, and submitting a request to 

FNS for a total burden of 100 hours 

annually. State agencies are not required 

to periodically review their approved 

methodologies. We do not anticipate 

that State agencies will voluntarily 

review their methodologies for change 

on a regular basis, thus burden is not 

being assessed for this purpose at this 

time. 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 78 / Tuesday April 24, 2007 / Notices 20319 

Record keeping burden only: Each 

State agency would be required to keep 

a record of the information gathered and 

submitted to FNS. We estimate this to 

be 7 minutes per year for the 53 State 

agencies to equal a total of 6 burden 

hours annually. (53 × 7 minutes/60 

minutes per hour = 6 hours annual 

burden). 

Summary of burden hours: 

Affected Public: State agencies and 

local governments administering the 

Food Stamp Program. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

53. 

Estimated Number of Responses Per 

Respondent: 2.16. 

Estimated Number of Responses: 115. 

Estimated Hours Per Response: 2.05. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: 236. 

Dated: April 17, 2007. 

Roberto Salazar, 

Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service. 

[FR Doc. E7–7715 Filed 4–23–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–30–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Shasta-Trinity National Forest, 

California Mudflow Vegetation 

Management Project 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: Shasta-Trinity National Forest 

proposes to harvest timber and remove 

accumulations of down wood (fuels) on 

approximately 2900 acres of National 

Forest System lands. Trees on about 

80% of the area would be thinned by 

removing a portion of the trees from 

overcrowded forest stands. Trees 

removed would be those infected with 

disease or insects and those generally 

smaller in size than trees that will be 

retained. Most of the trees on 

approximately 15% of the area are 

infected by root disease and insects and 

would be removed. Young tree seedlings 

would be planted in the openings 

created in these areas. Encroaching 

conifers will be removed from the 

remaining 5% of the area to restore and 

maintain wet meadow characteristics in 

a condition that existed in the past. The 

majority of project area is within 

township T40N, R2W, MDM with minor 

inclusions in T39N, R2W and T40N, 

R3W, MDM. The project is located 

immediately north and east of the town 

of McCloud, California. The Forest Land 

and Resource Management Plan has 

allocated portions of the project area to 

Late-Successional Reserves and Special 

Area Management (Research Natural 

Area) with the remainder designated as 

Matrix lands. About five percent of the 

area is zoned as Riparian Reserve 

(wetlands and areas adjacent to 

streams). 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis should be received no 

later than 30 days after the publication 

of this notice in the Federal Register. 

The draft environmental impact 

statement is expected in June 2007 and 

the final environmental impact 

statement is expected in September 

2007. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

District Ranger Michael Hupp, ShastaMcCloud Management Unit, 204 W. 

Alma Street, Mt. Shasta, California 

96067. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Dusty Miller, McCloud Ranger Station, 

P.O. Box 1620, McCloud, California 

96057, telephone (530) 964–3771 or via 

e-mail at dmiller@fs.fed.us. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need for Action 

A century of fire exclusion in the 

project area has resulted in overcrowded 

forest conditions and the loss of wet 

meadow habitat. Overcrowded 

conditions in forested areas have 

reduced tree vigor, reduced the 

proportion of hardwoods in forested 

areas and promoted the spread of root 

diseases. In the absence of fire, an 

understory of shrubs and small trees has 

developed which can act as a fuel 

ladder and carry fire into the forest 

canopy resulting in the loss of forest 

habitat. The lack of fire has resulted in 

accumulations of ground fuels which 

also increases the likelihood of flames 

reaching the canopy layer. The purpose 

of this project is to meet Forest Plan 

objectives by restoring forest ecosystem 

health within the project area through a 

variety of management activities. 

There is a need to reduce tree density 

in areas where overcrowded forest 

conditions currently exist. Thinning 

will improve the health of these forest 

areas by making more water, nutrients 

and sunlight available for use by the 

remaining trees with a subsequent 

improvement in the ability of trees to 

withstand insects, pathogens and 

drought. Removing small trees from the 

understory will remove ladder fuels that 

may otherwise carry fire from the 

ground into the forest canopy if wildfire 

occurs. This is important because it will 

leave the treated stands in a more 

sustainable, healthy condition. There is 

a need to break the current cycle of reinfection in areas heavily infected by 

root diseases. The removal of groups of 

diseased trees will remove the source of 

infection from affected areas. Replanting with conifer species suited to 

the specific root disease problems 

identified at each site will reestablish 

live trees. This is important because it 

will reduce future tree mortality and 

slow or stop the spread of root diseases 

in the project area. 

There is a need to reduce 

accumulations of ground fuels to levels 

where flames are not likely to reach the 

canopy layer in case of wildfire. 

Machine piling and burning will reduce 

fuel loads in treatment areas while still 

meeting other resource needs. This is 

important because it will reduce the 

probability of stand replacing wildfires. 

There is a need to restore the historic 

size, continuity, and function of wet 

meadow ecosystems in the project area. 

Encroaching conifers will be removed 

from areas that were historically 

meadows and where trees may not be 

sustainable due to mortality resulting 

from fluctuating water tables. The 

removal of competing conifers will 

promote the development of naturally 

occurring hardwoods and meadow 

vegetation. Restoration activities will 

return meadows to conditions that will 

allow the reintroduction of fire to 

maintain natural ecosystem function. 

This is important because meadows 

provide significant water storage and 

biodiversity. 

There is a need to provide for the 

long-term sustainability of hardwoods 

in the landscape. In dense mixed 

conifer/hardwood forests, the 

abundance and vigor of hardwoods is 

declining as overtopping conifers block 

necessary sunlight. Treatments in such 

areas will emphasize the removal of 

some competing conifers to provide 

growing space and sunlight for 

overtopped hardwoods. In dense mature 

oak stands with little reproduction, oak 

trees will be thinned to promote growth 

and encourage stump sprouting. In areas 

where the surrounding conifer forest has 

encroached and replaced historic aspen 

stands, most conifer trees will be 

removed to allow residual aspen trees to 

reclaim the site. This is important 

because hardwoods provide valuable 

wildlife habitat and stand diversity and 

are important in Native American 

traditions. 

Proposed Action 

The project will include the following 

treatments: 

1. Thinning treatments on 

approximately 2100 acres. 

In all thinning treatments, trees will 

be thinned to a spacing that is 


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