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

71086

Vol. 65, No. 230

Wednesday, November 29, 2000

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[ID–918–01–1610–DH–UCRB]

Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem

Management Project, Northern,

Intermountain and Pacific Northwest

Regions; States of Oregon,

Washington, Idaho, Montana

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA; Bureau

of Land Management, USDI.

ACTION: Amended notice of intent to

conduct planning and prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement.

Notification regarding the process to

follow to request administrative review

of the proposed decision for the Interior

Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management

Project (ICBEMP).

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land

Management and the U.S. Forest Service

are jointly engaged in a land use plan

amendment process, developing a

management strategy for lands they

administer. Both agencies’ regulations

provide for administrative review of the

proposed decision before it is recorded.

The responsible officials for both

agencies have agreed to use one

administrative review process in order

to simplify the process for the public

and for the agencies. The responsible

officials further decided to use, as the

single review process, the Bureau of

Land Management’s protest process.

Using this single process allows the

public to seek review from both agency

heads with one request.

DATES: Protests of the ICBEMP proposed

decision must be filed within 30 days of

the date the Environmental Protection

Agency publishes the notice of receipt

of the final environmental impact

statement (EIS) for the ICBEMP.

ADDRESSES: Protests of the ICBEMP

proposed decision must be sent to the

address that will be provided with the

distribution of the final EIS and

proposed decision. The final EIS and

proposed decision will be sent to

everyone who received or commented

on the supplemental draft EIS, unless

they ask to be removed from the mailing

list. The final EIS and proposed

decision will also be available via the

internet (http://www.icbemp.gov).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Susan Giannettino, Project Manager, 304

North 8th St., Room 250, Boise, Idaho

83702, phone (208) 334–1770; or Geoff

Middaugh, Deputy Project Manager,

P.O. Box 2295, Walla Walla,

Washington 99362, phone (509) 522–

4033.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Forest

Service and Bureau of Land

Management have been engaged in the

Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem

Management Project—a land use plan

amendment process—since 1994. The

Bureau of Land Management planning

regulations (43 CFR 1610) and the

Forest Service planning regulations (36

CFR 219) both provide the public with

the opportunity to request

administrative review of a proposed

land use plan decision. The Bureau of

Land Management regulations describe

a protest process (43 CFR 1610.5–2):

Any person who participated in the

planning process and has an interest

which is or may be adversely affected by

the approval or amendment of a

resource management plan may protest

such approval or amendment. A protest

may raise only those issues which were

submitted for the record during the

planning process.

The Forest Service regulations

provide that (36 CFR 219.32(e)):

Where the Forest Service is a

participant in a multi-agency decision

subject to objection under this part, the

responsible official and reviewing officer

may waive the objection procedures of

this part to adopt the administrative

review procedure of another

participating federal agency, if the

responsible official and the responsible

official of the other agencies agree to

provide a joint response to those who

have filed for administrative review of

the multi-agency decision.

The Bureau of Land Management and

the Forest Service are participating in a

multi-agency decision. The responsible

officials of the Forest Service and

Bureau of Land Management have

agreed to provide a joint response to

those who file for administrative review

of the proposed decision, which is

scheduled to be distributed to the public

in mid-December, along with the final

EIS for the ICBEMP. The responsible

officials of the Forest Service (the

Regional Foresters of the Northern,

Intermountain, and Pacific Northwest

Regions) and the reviewing officer (the

Chief of the Forest Service) waive the

objection procedures under part 219.32

to adopt the administrative review

procedure of the Bureau of Land

Management. The reasons for this

decision are as follows:

• The Forest Service and Bureau of

Land Management jointly share the lead

for the Interior Columbia Basin

Ecosystem Management Project.

• The two agencies have gone jointly

to the public for scoping, informationgathering, and review since the

inception of the Project.

• Using one administrative review

procedure lets the public request review

from both agencies at one time, rather

than having to make two separate,

potentially redundant requests.

• Using two separate administrative

review procedures, including potential

changes in the proposed Project

decision, could result in the two

agencies’ recording two different

decisions. This result would fail to meet

the original purpose of this action,

which was to develop and analyze a

strategy for management of lands

administered by both the Forest Service

and the Bureau of Land Management.

To request administrative review of

the proposed decision for the Interior

Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management

Project use the following procedure:

• Put the protest in writing and file it

with the Director of the Bureau of Land

Management and the Chief of the Forest

Service at the address that will be

provided with the final EIS and

proposed decision.

• The protest shall be filed within 30

days of the date the Environmental

Protection Agency publishes the notice

of receipt of the final environmental

impact statement in the Federal

Register. (This publication is expected

to be in mid-December, 2000. The exact

date for protests will be identified at

that time.)

• The protest shall contain:

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 230 / Wednesday, November 29, 2000 / Notices 71087

The name, mailing address, telephone

number and interest of the person filing

the protest.

A statement of the issue or issues

being protested;

A statement of the part or parts of the

amendment being protested;

A copy of all documents addressing

the issue or issues that were submitted

during the planning process by the

protesting party or an indication of the

date the issue or issues were discussed

for the record; and

A concise statement explaining why

the responsible officials’ decision is

believed to be wrong.

The BLM Director and Forest Service

Chief will promptly render a joint

decision on the protest. The decision

will be in writing and will set forth the

reasons for the decision. The decision

will be sent to the protesting party by

certified mail, return receipt requested.

The joint decision of the Director and

Chief shall be the final decision of the

Department of the Interior and the

Department of Agriculture. Reviewers

who do not request administrative

review of the proposed decision may

not preserve their standing to litigate the

final decision.

Dated: November 20, 2000.

Dale Bosworth,

Regional Forester, Northern Region, Forest

Service.

Dated: November 17, 2000.

Martha Hahn,

State Director, Idaho, Bureau of Land

Management.

[FR Doc. 00–30393 Filed 11–28–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–66–M

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Comet Administrative Study EIS—

Klamath National Forest

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an

environmental impact statement.

SUMMARY: The Forest Service will

prepare an environmental impact

statement (EIS) on a proposal to conduct

an administrative study on 1,880 acres

of National Forest System land (Matrix

land allocation only) in the Salmon

River watershed near the towns of

Sawyers Bar and Forks of Salmon in

Siskiyou County, California. The

purpose of the proposal is to conduct

the Comet Administrative Study that

will examine the cause and effect of

Klamath National Forest Land and

Resource Management Plan (Forest

Plan) modeled silvicultural

prescriptions and associated harvest

techniques on presence and relative

abundance of Survey and Manage (SM)

mollusks (special survey and manage

requirements for species that are rare or

uncommon).

DATES: Comments concerning the scope

of the analysis should be received on or

before December 29, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to

Jan Ford, Acting District Ranger, Salmon

River Ranger District, 11263 N. Highway

3, Fort Jones, CA 96032. Electronic mail

may be sent to

r5lklamathlComment@fs.fed.us. See

the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section

for additional information about

electronic filing.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sue

Stresser, EIS Team Leader, (530) 468–

5351.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This

Administrative Study will be

accomplished through the following

actions:

1. Collect pre-treatment information

and data on mollusks using the

approved survey strategy for the study.

2. Test stand treatments as follows:

(a) Green Tree Retention Prescription

(GTR): Thirty-two stands with an

average size of 15 acres have been

chosen. The range of stand sizes varies

from 4 to 32 acres. Half of these are

north facing aspects (cool/moist). The

remainder are south facing stands

(warmer/drier). The treatments will be

randomly applied with equal frequency

(four treated and four as control for

north aspects and the same for south

aspects).

(b) Commercial Thin Prescription:

Thirty-two stands with an average size

of 18 acres have been chosen. The range

of stand sizes varies from 6 to 69 acres.

Half of these are north facing aspects

(cool/moist). The remainder are south

facing stands (warmer/drier). The

treatments will be randomly applied

with equal frequency (four treated and

four as control for north aspects and the

same for south aspects).

(c) Group Selection Prescription:

Thirty-two stands with an average size

of 26 acres have been chosen. The range

of stand sizes varies from 8 to 50 acres.

Half of these will be north facing aspects

(cool/moist). The remainder will be

south facing stands (warmer/drier). The

treatments will be randomly applied

with equal frequency (four treated and

four as control for north aspects and the

same for south aspects).

(d) No treatments will occur in

control stands. Control stands will

remain untreated through the life of the

project (up to 10 years).

3. Apply logging systems to treatment

stands in Item 2 above (see Table 1) as

follows:

a. Conventional cable systems on half

of the stands (24 total omitting the

controls), including an equal number of

group selection, GTR, and commercial

thinning stands (half of each on north

slopes and half on south slopes); and

b. Helicopter systems on the other

half of the stands (24 total omitting

controls), including an equal number of

group selection, GTR, and commercial

thinning stands (half of each on north

slopes and half on south slopes).

4. Apply fuels treatment/site

preparation methods to treatment stands

in Item 2 above, using a combination of

the following: hand pile and burn, lop/

scatter, yard unutilized material, jackpot

(burning concentrations of slash), and

underburn.

5. Implement a combination of

reforestation treatments, including

planting, gopher baiting, and manual

release.

6. Pre-commercial thin natural

regeneration within treatment stands.

7. Implement the following

transportation system improvements,

including construction of temporary

spur roads and landings, reconstruct

portions of existing roads, and conduct

road maintenance on existing system

roads, as necessary for this

administrative study.

8. Collect information and data on

presence and relative abundance of SM

mollusk species post-project, and for up

to ten years after the completion of the

project, according to the approved

survey strategy.

9. Report findings after analysis is

completed for each data collection.

This Administrative Study will

include a one-time, site-specific Forest

Plan amendment. Management

Recommendations for SM mollusks and

Del Norte Salamander will be waived in

order to examine the effects of stand

treatments, as described above, on

mollusk species.

Purpose and Need

An important component of the

Northwest Forest Plan Record of

Decision for Amendments to Forest

Service and Bureau of Land

Management Planning Documents

Within the Range of the Northern

Spotted Owl (ROD, 1994) is the

facilitation of research activities to

gather information and test hypotheses

in a range of environmental conditions.

Where appropriate, some research

activities were expected to be exempted

from the Standards and Guidelines of

the ROD (ROD, page 15). The Northwest

Forest Plan requires, through Standards