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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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

6579

Vol. 65, No. 28

Thursday, February 10, 2000

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Information Collection; Request for

Comments; Youth Conservation Corps

Employment

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the

Forest Service announces its intention

to reinstate a previously approved

information collection. The collected

information will help the Forest Service

evaluate the employment eligibility of

youth 15 to 18 years old through the

Youth Conservation Corps Program.

Under this Program, the Forest Service

cooperates with other Federal agencies

to provide seasonal employment for

youth.

DATES: Comments must be received in

writing on or before April 10, 2000.

ADDRESSES: All comments should be

addressed to Director, Youth

Conservation Corps, Senior, Youth and

Volunteer Programs, (Mail Stop 1136),

Forest Service, USDA, P.O. Box 96090,

Washington, DC 20090–6090.

Comments also may be submitted via

facsimile to (703) 605–5115 or by e-mail

to syvp/wo@fs.fed.us.

The public may inspect comments at

the Office of the Director, Senior, Youth

and Volunteer Programs, Forest Service,

USDA, Room 1010, 1621 North Kent

Street, Arlington, Virginia 22209.

Visitors are asked to call ahead to

facilitate entrance into the office.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ransom Hughes, Youth Conservation

Corps, Senior, Youth and Volunteer

Programs at (703) 605–4854.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Under the Youth Conservation Corps

Act of August 13, 1970, as amended

(U.S.C. 18701–1706), the Forest Service,

U.S. Department of Agriculture and the

Fish and Wildlife Service and National

Park Service, U.S. Department of

Interior cooperate to provide seasonal

employment for eligible youth 15 to 18

years old.

These youth, who seek training and

employment with the Forest Service

through the Youth Conservation Corps,

must complete the following forms: FS–

1800–18, Youth Conservation Corps

Application, and FS–1800–3, Youth

Conservation Corps Medical History.

Forest Service employees use the

information to evaluate the eligibility of

each applicant.

The Youth Conservation Corps

stresses three important objectives:

• Accomplish needed conservation

work on public lands;

• Provide gainful employment for 15

to 18 year old males and females from

all social, economic, ethnic, and racial

backgrounds; and

• Foster, on the part of the 15 to 18

year old youth, an understanding and

appreciation of the Nation’s natural

resources and heritage.

Description of Information Collection

The following describes the

information collection to be reinstated:

Title: FS–1800–18, Youth

Conservation Corps (YCC) Application.

OMB Number: 0596–0084.

Expiration Date of Approval: October

31, 1997.

Type of Request: Reinstatement of an

information collection previously

approved by the Office of Management

and Budget.

Abstract: Employees of the Forest

Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

and the Fish and Wildlife Service and

National Park Service, U.S. Department

of Interior will evaluate the data and

determine the eligibility of each youth

for employment with the Youth

Conservation Corps. To be considered

for employment with the Corps, each

youth must complete FS–1800–18,

Youth Conservation Corps Application

Form. Applicants are asked to answer

questions that include their name, social

security number, date of birth, mailing

address, and telephone number. The

applicant’s parent or guardian must sign

the form.

Data gathered in this information

collection are not available from other

sources.

Estimate of Annual Burden: 6

minutes.

Type of Respondents: Youth 15 to 18

years old.

Estimated Annual Number of

Respondents: 18,000.

Estimated Annual Number of

Responses per Respondent: 1.

Estimated Total Annual Burden on

Respondents: 1800 hours.

Description of Information Collection

The following describes the

information collection to be reinstated:

Title: FS–1800–3, Youth Conservation

Corps Medical History.

OMB Number: 0596–0084.

Expiration Date of Approval: October

31, 1997.

Type of Request: Reinstatement of an

information collection previously

approved by the Office of Management

and Budget.

Abstract: To be considered for

employment through the Youth

Conservation Corps Program, all youth

must complete FS–1800–3, Youth

Conservation Corps Medical History

Form. Applicants are asked to answer

questions regarding their personal

health. The purpose of FS–1800–3 is to

certify the youth’s physical fitness to

work in the seasonal employment

Program. The applicant’s parent or

guardian must sign the form.

Data gathered in this information

collection are not available from other

sources.

Estimate of Annual Burden: 14

minutes.

Type of Respondents: Youth 15 to 18

years old.

Estimated Annual Number of

Respondents: 18,000.

Estimated Annual Number of

Responses per Respondent: 1.

Estimated Total Annual Burden on

Respondents: 4200 hours.

Comment is Invited

The agency invites comments on the

following: (a) Whether the proposed

collection of information is necessary

for the stated purposes and the proper

performance of the functions of the

agency, including whether the

information will have practical or

scientific 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

6580 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 28 / Thursday, February 10, 2000 / Notices

clarity of the information to be

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the

burden of the collection of information

on respondents, including the use of

automated, electronic, mechanical, or

other technological collection

techniques or other forms of information

technology.

Use of Comments

All comments received in response to

this notice, including names and

addresses when provided, will become

a matter of public record. Comments

will be summarized and included in the

request for Office of Management and

Budget.

Dated: February 3, 2000.

Gloria Manning,

Associate Deputy Chief, for Business

Operations.

[FR Doc. 00–3011 Filed 2–9–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Meadow Tolan Vegetation Management

Project; Bitterroot National Forest,

Ravalli County, MT

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 disclose the

environmental effects of management

activities proposed in the MeadowTolan area on the Sula Ranger District

of the Bitterroot National Forest.

Proposed management activities include

management ignited prescribed fire,

timber harvest, reforestation, precommercial thinning, aspen restoration,

and road reconstruction. The MeadowTolan area is located in Ravalli County,

Montana, approximately 40 miles

southeast of Hamilton. The MeadowTolan area includes the Meadow and

Tolan Creek drainages and several other

tributary drainages between them.

A variety of management activities

proposed in the project are being

considered together because they

represent either connected or

cumulative actions as defined by the

Council on Environmental Quality (40

CFR 1508.25). The purposes of the

project are (1) To restore fire and its

associated ecological benefits, (2) to

harvest merchantable timber, (3) to

reduce fuel accumulations, especially in

an area adjacent to a rural subdivision,

(4) to modify forest stand structure and

species composition in order to

maintain or restore ecosystem diversity,

(5) to reduce motorized travel to comply

with Forest Plan standard, (6) to amend

the Forest Plan motorized access

standards in an area where other

resource benefits outweigh the benefits

of restricting travel, (7) to thin young

stands that are overstocked, and (8) to

restore aspen clones that show signs of

deterioration. This project level EIS will

tier to the Bitterroot National Forest

Land and Resource Management Plan

(Forest Plan) and Final EIS (September

1987), which provides overall guidance

for all land management activities on

the Bitterroot National Forest.

DATES: Written comments and

suggestions should be received by

March 24, 2000.

ADDRESSES: The Responsible Official is

Rodd Richardson, Forest Supervisor,

Bitterroot National Forest, 1801 North

First, Hamilton MT 59840.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Written comments and suggestions

concerning the scope of the analysis or

a request to be included on the project

mailing list should be sent to John

Ormiston, Acting Resource Team

Leader, Sula Ranger District, Bitterroot

National Forest, Phone (406) 821–3201.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

project area encompasses approximately

45,000 acres of land in west-central

Montana on the Bitterroot National

Forest. The Meadow-Tolan area

includes the Meadow and Tolan Creek

drainages and several other tributary

drainages of the East Fort Bitterroot

River, including Vapor Creek, Swift

Creek, Bugle Creek, Kerlee Creek,

Springer Creek, Mink Creek, and Bruce

Creek. A map and legal descriptions are

available on request.

An analysis of the Meadow-Tolan area

reveals changes in how the forest

vegetation currently looks and functions

compared to the past. Natural patterns

and stand structures have changed,

largely due to the absence of fire during

the 1900’s in this fire dependent

ecosystem. The result is notable changes

in plant species composition and

density, stand structures, fuels, seral

species regeneration, and the health and

vigor of forest stands. The primary

purposes of prescribed fire and timber

harvest in the Meadow-Tolan area is to

maintain or restore ecosystem diversity,

function, and health. There is also an

opportunity to address ecological trends

and at the same time utilize surplus

biomass for forest products. Maintaining

plant community diversity will promote

the range of habitats that native plants

and animals evolved in. Management

prescriptions to promote diversity

include low to moderate intensity

management ignited prescribed fire; and

on some sites prescribed fire in

combination with silvicultural

treatments. Silvicultural treatments

proposed include pre-commercial

thinning, timber harvest, and

reforestation.

Managing fuels using fire and

silvicultural practices would decrease

the risk of uncharacteristically intense

fires and associated undesirable effects.

These activities could also increase the

ability of the Forest Service to allow

more naturally occurring fires to burn in

the adjoining Anaconda-Pintler

Wilderness Area by reducing fuels near

private property at lower elevations.

This would to some degree reduce the

risks to private property from natural

fires allowed to burn in the wilderness.

Vegetation treatments with

commercial timber harvest and

management ignited prescribed fire are

proposed on approximately 2530 acres

and 1430 acres, respectively. Proposed

management ignited fire and harvest

activities focus primarily on low- to

mid-elevations and dry aspects; those

considered at ecological risk due to fire

absence.

The prescribed fire would focus on

the ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir

community, which have been most

altered due to fire absence. Most of

these treated acres will also include

slashing of undesired and

unmerchantable trees.

Big game forage, including some

winter range areas, would be improved

in the areas to be understory burned.

Intermediate harvests will also be

prescribed on about 1100 acres in the

ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir

communities to open forest canopies,

reduce Douglas-fir encroachment,

improve overall productivity and

health. Following harvest, all areas

would be treated with understory

burning in order to reduce fuels, prepare

sites for regeneration, rejuvenate the

shrub component, and maintain fire as

an ecosystem process.

Pre-commercial thinning is also

needed on about 320 acres of densely

stocked submerchantable trees in order

to enhance tree growth and vigor. One

area of approximately 20 acres will be

treated with hand thinning and piling

for the purpose of fuel reduction.

Approximately 1210 acres in the

moist Douglas-fir forest community

would be treated using intermediate

harvests to reduce stand densities,

increase health and vigor of the residual

stand, salvage dead and dying trees from

Douglas-fir bark beetle caused mortality

or root rot, and increase resilience to

other insects and diseases.

Approximately 160 acres would be