27540 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 94 / Wednesday, May 16, 2007 / Notices 

1To view the notice, EA, and the comments we 

received, go to http://www.regulations.gov, click on 

the ‘‘Advanced Search’’ tab, and select ‘‘Docket 

Search.’’ In the Docket ID field, enter APHIS–2007–

0006, then click on ‘‘Submit.’’ Clicking on the 

Docket ID link in the search results page will 

produce a list of all documents in the docket. 

reason to believe are plant pests. Such 

genetically engineered organisms and 

products are considered ‘‘regulated 

articles.’’ A permit must be obtained or 

a notification acknowledged before a 

regulated article may be introduced. The 

regulations set forth the permit 

application requirements and the 

notification procedures for the 

importation, interstate movement, or 

release in the environment of a 

regulated article. 

On October 5, 2006, the Animal and 

Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) 

received two permit applications (06–

278–01r and 06–278–02r) followed by a 

third permit application (06–285–02r) 

received on October 12, 2006, from 

Ventria Bioscience, Sacramento, CA, for 

confined field release of rice (Oryza 

sativa) plants genetically engineered to 

express genes coding for the proteins 

lactoferrin, lysozyme, or serum albumin, 

respectively. The proposed field 

releases are to be conducted in Geary 

County, KS. The subject plants have 

been genetically engineered, using 

techniques of micro-projectile 

bombardment or disarmed 

Agrobacterium-mediated 

transformation, to express proteins for 

recombinant human lactoferrin, 

lysozyme, or serum albumin. Expression 

of the genes is controlled by the rice 

glutelin 1 promoter (GT1), the rice 

glutelin 1 signal peptide (gt1), and the 

nopaline synthase (NOS) terminator 

sequence from Agrobacterium 

tumefaciens. The genes are expressed 

only in the seed. In addition, the plants 

may contain either or both of the coding 

sequences for the genes hygromycin 

phosphotransferase (hpt) or 

phosphinothricin acetyltransferase 

(pat), which are marker genes that allow 

for the selection of transgenic tissues in 

the laboratory using the antibiotic 

hygromycin and/or the herbicide 

bialaphos. Neither selectable marker 

gene is expressed in mature rice tissues, 

nor do they have any inherent plant pest 

characteristics or enhance gene transfer 

from plants to other organisms. The 

genetically engineered rice plants are 

considered regulated articles under the 

regulations in 7 CFR part 340 because 

they contain gene sequences from plant 

pathogens. 

The purpose of these field releases is 

for pure seed production and for the 

extraction of lactoferrin, lysozyme, and 

serum albumin for a variety of research 

and commercial products. There is 

currently no commercial rice 

production in Geary County or in any 

other location in the State of Kansas. 

The planting will be conducted using 

physical confinement measures. In 

addition, the protocols and field plot 

design, as well as the procedures for 

termination of the field plantings, are 

designed to ensure that none of the 

subject rice plants persist in the 

environment after the crop is harvested. 

On February 28, 2007, APHIS 

published a notice 1 in the Federal 

Register (72 FR 8959–8960, Docket No. 

APHIS–2007–0006) announcing the 

availability of an environmental 

assessment (EA) for the proposed field 

release of rice genetically engineered to 

express lactoferrin, lysozyme, or serum 

albumin. During the designated 30-day 

comment period, which ended March 

30, 2007, APHIS received 20,034 

comments. Of the 20,034 comments 

received, 20,005 were opposed to 

APHIS’ approval of these permits. 

Respondents opposing APHIS’ approval 

of these permits were four public 

interest groups, academic professionals, 

organic food producers, rice growers, 

millers (or from related industries), and 

individuals. One public interest group 

submitted 13,289 nearly identical 

comments, and 5,621 nearly identical 

comments were submitted by another 

public interest group. There were 29 

comments supporting APHIS’ approval 

of these permits. Respondents 

supporting the approval of these permits 

were from academia, a farm bureau, a 

corn and grain sorghum growers 

association, a corporation, a State 

government agency, and individuals. 

APHIS has addressed the issues raised 

during the comment period and has 

provided responses to these comments 

as an attachment to the finding of no 

significant impact (FONSI). 

Pursuant to the regulations in 7 CFR 

part 340 promulgated under the Plant 

Protection Act, APHIS has determined 

that these field releases will not pose a 

risk of introducing or disseminating a 

plant pest. Additionally, based upon 

analysis described in the EA, APHIS has 

determined that the action proposed in 

Alternative 3 of the EA, issue the permit 

with supplemental permit conditions, 

will not have a significant impact on the 

quality of the human environment. You 

may read the FONSI and decision notice 

on the Internet or in the APHIS reading 

room (see ADDRESSES above). Copies 

may also be obtained from the person 

listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT. 

The EA and FONSI were 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). 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 7701–7772 and 7781–

7786; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 

371.3. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 9th day of 

May, 2007. 

W. Ron DeHaven, 

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. E7–9432 Filed 5–15–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Beaver Creek Allotment Management 

Plan on the Medicine Wheel/Paintrock 

Ranger Districts, 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 fourteen (14) 

cattle/horse and sheep/goat grazing 

allotments in the Beaver Creek area, 

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 a 

legal notice published in the Casper 

Star-Tribune on March 4, 2007. 

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 December, 2007 and the 

final environmental impact statement is 

expected April, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments and 

suggestions concerning this proposal to 


cprice-sewell on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 94 / Wednesday, May 16, 2007 / Notices 27541 

Dave Sisk, District Ranger, Medicine 

Wheel/Paintrock Ranger District, 

Bighorn National Forest, 604 E. Main, 

Lovell, Wyoming 82431. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Direct 

questions to Bernie Bornong, 

Interdisciplinary Team Leader, Bighorn 

National Forest, phone (307) 674–2600. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

allotments are located approximately 35 

miles, by road, southeast of Lovell, 

Wyoming in the Bighorn River drainage. 

National Forest System lands 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 

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 2009. 

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. 

The fourteen allotments involved are: 

Bear/Crystal Creek Sheep and Goat 

(S&G), Beaver Creek S&G, Finger Creek 

Cattle and Horse (C&H), Grouse Creek 

S&G, Hunt Mountain S&G, Matthews 

Ridge C&H, Red Canyon S&G, Red 

Canyon C&H, Sunlight Mesa C&H, 

South Park C&H, Whaley Creek S&G, 

Wiley Sundown C&H, Antelope Ridge 

S&G, and Little Horn S&G Allotments. 

Purpose and Need for Action: The 

purpose of this project is to determine 

if livestock grazing will continue to be 

authorized on the fourteen allotments, 

and if it is to continue, how to best to 

utilize adaptive management strategies 

to maintain or achieve desired 

conditions and meet forest plan 

objectives. Livestock grazing is currently 

occurring on most of the allotments 

under the existing allotment 

management plan (AMP) and through 

direction provided in the Annual 

Operating Instructions. A few of the 

allotments are 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. 

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. 

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: Dave Sisk, 

District Ranger, Medicine Wheel/ 

Paintrock Ranger District, Bighorn 

National Forest, 604 E. Main, Lovell, 

Wyoming 82431. 

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 March 2007. 

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 4, 2007. 

Dave Sisk, 

Medicine Wheel/Paintrock District Ranger. 

[FR Doc. E7–9386 Filed 5–15–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RIN 0648–XA17] 

Endangered and Threatened Species; 

Take of Anadromous Fish 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 


cprice-sewell on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES