8924 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 39 / Thursday, February 27, 1997 / Notices

Total Burden Hours: 80,568.

Larry Roberson,

Deputy Departmental Clearance Officer.

[FR Doc. 97–4933 Filed 2–26–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–01–M

Forest Service

South Quartzite Salvage Timber Sale

Analysis, White River National Forest;

Garfield County, CO

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Forest Service will prepare

an Environmental Impact Statement to

disclose effects of alternative decisions

it may make to harvest dead Engelmann

spruce and associated road construction

within the South Quartzite Salvage

Timber Sale Planning area, on the Rifle

Ranger District of the White River

National Forest.

DATES: Written comments concerning

the scope of the analysis should be

received on or before April 14, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to

Veto J. LaSalle, Forest Supervisor, White

River National Forest, PO Box 948, 9th

and Grand Ave., Glenwood Springs,

Colorado 81602. Mr. LaSalle is the

Responsible Official for this EIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Robert W. Currie, Project Coordinator,

Holy Cross Ranger District, 24747 U.S.

Highway 24, PO Box 190, Minturn, CO

81645, (970) 827–5715.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May

16, 1996 the White River National

Forest released a Draft Environmental

Assessment for the proposed action and

alternatives to that proposed action

under Public Law 104–19. Based on

comments received from members of the

public, the Interdisciplinary Team has

determined that the proposed action

and alternatives to that action represent

an inventoried roadless area entry.

Therefore, an Environmental Impact

Statement is required as per Forest

Service Handbook 1909.15, Section

20.6. The proposed action proposes to

harvest approximately 4.0 to 5.0 million

board feet from approximately 1,280

acres of dead Engelmann spruce using a

combination of ground-based

(approximately 110 acres) and

helicopter yarding (approximately 1,180

acres) and to construct approximately

0.9 miles of new specified road.

The proposed action is consistent

with governing programmatic

management direction contained in the

Rocky Mountain Regional Guide and

FEIS for Standards and Guidelines

(1983) and in the Final EIS and Land

and Resource Management Plan for the

White River National Forest (LMP,

1984). The LMP allocated the proposed

timber sale area to semi-primitive

motorized and semi-primitive nonmotorized use and allows for timber

harvest. The site-specific environmental

analysis provided by the EIS will assist

the Responsible Official in determining

which improvements are needed to

meet the following objectives: Reduce

natural fuel loadings and to provide

wood products for the nation and

opportunities for timber related jobs.

Alternative will be carefully examined

for their potential impacts on the

physical, biological, and social

environments so that tradeoffs are

apparent to the decisionmaker.

Public participation will be fully

incorporated into preparation of the EIS.

The first step is the scoping process,

during which the Forest Service will be

seeking information, comments, and

assistance from Federal, State, and local

agencies, and other individuals or

groups who may be interested in or

affected by the proposed action. This

information will be used in preparing

the EIS. No public meetings are planned

for this project. Public comments

received during initial scoping and

those raised during public review of the

Draft Environmental Assessment for this

project will be incorporated into this

EIS. Individuals who have provided

comments during initial scoping, on the

Draft Environmental Assessment, and

those who provide comments on this

EIS will receive copies of the Draft EIS

for their review.

Preliminary issues include the

potential effects of proposed actions on

the following elements of the biological,

physical, and social environments:

wildlife and wildlife habitat, recreation

resource values, roadless area resource

values, and watershed health resources.

The direct, indirect, cumulative, shortterm, and long-term aspects of impacts

on national forest lands and resources,

and those of connected or related effects

off-site, will be fully disclosed.

Preliminary alteratives include the

proposed action (described above) and

No Action, which in this case is

deferring treatment of the area until the

future. A third preliminary alternative

could be analyzed which would harvest

approximately 6.0 to 7.0 million board

feet of approximately 2,500 acres of

dead Engelmann spruce using a

combination of ground-based and

helicopter yarding and to construct

approximately 3.0 miles of new

specified road. Additional alternatives

may be developed after the significant

issues are clarified and management

objectives are fully defined. The

Responsible Official will be presented

with a range of feasible and practical

alternatives.

Permits and licenses required to

implement the proposed action will, or

may, include the following: consultation

with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for

compliance with Section 7 of the

Endangered Species Act, review from

the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and

clearance from the Colorado State

Historic Preservation Office.

The Forest Service predicts the draft

environmental impact statement will be

filed during the fall of 1997 and the

final environmental impact statement

during the spring of 1998.

The Forest Service will seek

comments on the draft environmental

impact statement for a period of 45 days

after its publication in the Federal

Register. Comments will then be

summarized and responded to in the

final environmental impact statement.

The Forest Service believes it is

important to give reviewers notice at

this early stage of several court rulings

related to public participation in the

environmental review process. First,

reviewers of draft environmental impact

statement 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 DEIS stage but that are not

raised until after completion of the Final

EIS 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 they 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
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 39 / Thursday, February 27, 1997 / Notices 8925

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.)

Dated: February 19, 1997.

Gregory A. Kuyumjian,

Acting Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 97–4839 Filed 2–26–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–BW–M

Natural Resources Conservation

Service

Proposed Changes in the NRCS

National Handbook of Conservation

Practices for Review and Comment

AGENCY: Natural Resources

Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S.

Department of Agriculture.

ACTION: Notice of availability of

proposed changes in the NRCS National

Handbook of Conservation Practices for

review and comment.

SUMMARY: It is the intention of NRCS to

issue a series of new or revised

conservation practice standards in its

National Handbook of Conservation

Practices. These standards include

Contour Buffer Strips (332), Filter Strips

(393A), Tree/Shrub Pruning (660A),

Riparian Forest Buffer (391A), and

Manure Transfer (634). NRCS State

Conservationist’ s who choose to adopt

these practices for use within their state

will incorporate them into Section IV of

their Field Office Technical Guide

(FOTG). Some of these practices may be

used in conservation systems that treat

highly erodible land or on land

determined to be wetland.

DATES: Comments will be received on or

before April 28, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Submit individual inquiries in writing

to Gary Nordstrom, Director, Ecological

Sciences Division (ECS), Natural

Resources Conservation Service (NRCS),

P.O. Box 2890, Room 6154–S,

Washington, DC 20013–2890.

Single copies of these standards are

available from NRCS–ECS in

Washington, DC. Copies are also

available electronically from the NRCS

server at Fort Worth, Texas. The name

of the server is ftp.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov.

Practice standards appear as files in

/pub/nhcp/pending. Practice code

numbers are used as file names in this

subdirectory. These standards are

available as MS Word 6.0 files. They

should be downloaded from the FTP

server as binary files.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section

343 of the Federal Agriculture

Improvement and Reform Act of 1996

requires the NRCS to make available for

public review and comment proposed

revisions to conservation practice

standards used to carry out the highly

erodible land and wetland provisions of

the law. For the next 60 days the NRCS

will receive comments relative to the

proposed changes. Following that

period a determination will be made by

the NRCS regarding disposition of those

comments and a final determination of

change will be made.

Gary R. Nordstrom,

Director, Ecological Sciences Division,

Natural Resources Conservation Service.

[FR Doc. 97–4945 Filed 2–26–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–16–P

COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

Agenda and Notice of Public Meeting

of the Arizona Advisory Committee

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to

the provisions of the rules and

regulations of the U.S. Commission on

Civil Rights, that a meeting of the

Arizona Advisory Committee to the

Commission will convene at 10:00 a.m.

and adjourn at 5:00 p.m. on Friday,

March 14, 1997, at the U.S. District

Court Building, 7th Floor Hearing

Room, 230 North First Avenue, Phoenix,

Arizona 85025. The purpose of the

meeting is to hold a factfinding forum

on employment.

Persons desiring additional

information, or planning a presentation

to the Committee, should contact

Committee Chairperson Manuel Pena,

602–254–3407, or Philip Montez,

Director of the Western Regional Office,

213–894–3437 (TDD 213–894–3435).

Hearing-impaired persons who will

attend the meeting and require the

services of a sign language interpreter

should contact the Regional Office at

least five (5) working days before the

scheduled date of the meeting.

The meeting will be conducted

pursuant to the provisions of the rules

and regulations of the Commission.

Dated at Washington, DC, February 14,

1997.

Carol-Lee Hurley,

Chief, Regional Programs Coordination Unit.

[FR Doc. 97–4799 Filed 2–26–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6335–01–P

Agenda and Notice of Public Meeting

of the Texas Advisory Committee

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to

the provisions of the rules and

regulations of the U.S. Commission on

Civil Rights, that a meeting of the Texas

Advisory Committee to the Commission

will convene at 9:00 a.m. and adjourn at

6:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 5, 1997, at

the Townes Hall Auditorium, the

University of Texas School of Law, 727

E. 26th Street, Room 2–114, Austin,

Texas 78705. The purpose of the

meeting is to hold a public consultation

on affirmative action and admissions

practices and policies in Texas

institutions of higher education, post

Hopwood v. Texas.

Persons desiring additional

information, or planning a presentation

to the Committee, should contact

Committee Chairperson Adolph

Canales, 214–653–6779 or Philip

Montez, Director of the Western

Regional Office, 213–894–3437 (TDD

213–894–3435). Hearing-impaired

persons who will attend the meeting

and require the services of a sign

language interpreter should contact the

Regional Office at least five (5) working

days before the scheduled date of the

meeting.

The meeting will be conducted

pursuant to the provisions of the rules

and regulations of the Commission.

Dated at Washington, DC, February 14,

1997.

Carol-Lee Hurley,

Chief, Regional Programs Coordination Unit.

[FR Doc. 97–4800 Filed 2–26–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6335–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A–570–820]

Certain Compact Ductile Iron

Waterworks Fittings and Glands From

the People’s Republic of China;

Termination of Antidumping Duty New

Shipper Administrative Review

AGENCY: Import Administration,

International Trade Administration,

Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of termination of

antidumping duty new shipper

administrative review.

SUMMARY: On April 26, 1996, the

Department of Commerce (the

Department) published in the Federal

Register (61 FR 18568) the notice of

initiation of the administrative review of

the antidumping duty order on Certain

Compact Ductile Iron Waterworks

Fittings and Glands (CDIW) from the

People’s Republic of China (PRC). We

are terminating this review based on

776(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930 as