2946 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 12 / Tuesday, January 20, 1998 / Notices

The Union Democrat, Sonora,

California

Groveland District Ranger decisions:

The Union Democrat, Sonora,

California

Mi-Wok District Ranger decisions:

The Union Democrat, Sonora,

California

Summit District Ranger decisions:

The Union Democrat, Sonora,

California

Tahoe National Forest

Tahoe Forest Supervisor decisions:

The Union, Grass Valley-Nevada City,

California

Downieville District Ranger decisions:

Mountain Messenger, Downieville,

California

Foresthill District Ranger decisions:

Auburn Journal, Auburn, California

Nevada City District Ranger decisions:

The Union, Grass Valley-Nevada City,

California

Sierraville District Ranger decisions:

Mountain Messenger, Downieville,

California

Newspapers providing additional notice

of Sierraville decisions:

Sierra Booster, Loyalton, California

Portola Recorder, Portola, California

Truckee District Ranger decisions:

Sierra Sun, Truckee, Nevada County,

California

Newspaper providing additional notice

of Truckee decisions:

Tahoe World, Tahoe City, Placer

County, California

Dated: January 9, 1998.

G. Lynn Sprague,

Regional Forester.

[FR Doc. 98–1280 Filed 1–16–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Christy Basin Timber Sales, Willamette

National Forest, Lane County, Oregon

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) on a Proposal Action to

harvest and regenerate timber, thin

young stands created by past

regeneration harvest. The proposal also

calls for the construction,

reconstruction, and decommissioning of

roads, restoration of degraded stream

channels, and improvement of big game

forage within the Christy Creek drainage

of the North Fork of the Middle Fork of

the Willamette River watershed. The

planning area is bounded by the North

Fork of the Middle Fork of the

Willamette River on the south, Hiyu

Ridge (the watershed boundary between

the North Fork and the McKenzie River)

on the east, Sinker Mountain and

Sardine Butte on the northwest and

north (the watershed boundary between

the North Fork and Fall Creek) and

Alpine Ridge on the west. The area is

approximately 40 air miles east of the

City of Eugene and 16 air miles

northeast of the City of Oakridge. The

Forest Service proposal will be in

compliance with the 1990 Willamette

National Forest Land and Resource

Management Plan as amended by the

1994 Northwest Forest Plan, which

provides the overall guidance for

management of this area. These

proposals are tentatively planned for

implementation in fiscal years 1999–

2003.

The Willamette National Forest

invites written comments and

suggestions on the scope of the analysis

in addition to those comments already

received as a result of local public

participation activities. The agency will

also give notice of the full

environmental analysis and decisionmaking process so that interested and

affected people are made aware as to

how they may participate and

contribute to the final decision.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope

and implementation of the analysis

should be received in writing by

February 28, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments and

suggestions concerning the management

of this area to Rick Scott, District

Ranger, Rigdon Ranger District,

Willamette National Forest, P.O. Box

1410, Oakridge, Oregon 97463.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Direct questions about the proposed

action and the scope of analysis to

Kristy Miller, Planning Resource

Management Assistant or Tim Bailey,

Project Coordinator, Oakridge Ranger

District, phone 541–782–2283.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Christy Basin Planning area is entirely

within the North Fork of the Middle

Fork of the Willamette River watershed,

which is designed as a Tier 2 Key

watershed by the Northwest Forest Plan

(ROD, C–7). Tier 2 Key watersheds

contain important sources of high

quality water. A Watershed Analysis

was completed for the North Fork of the

Middle Fork of the Willamette River in

September, 1995.

The purpose of this project is to

harvest timber in a manner that

implements the management objectives,

and to implement various resource

restoration activities to meet Key

Watershed objectives.

The proposal includes harvesting

timber by thinning in nine separate

timber sales over the next five years,

and regeneration harvest methods in

four separate timber sales over the next

four years. Both thinning and

regeneration timber sale proposals

would involve road construction,

reconstruction, and decommissioning.

This analysis will evaluate a range of

alternatives addressing the Forest

Service proposals to harvest

approximately 70.0 million board feet;

approximately 43.4 million board feet

would be generated from thinning some

3900 acres of young stands created by

past clearout harvest, and

approximately 26.4 million board feet

would be generated by regeneration

harvest on approximately 550 acres. All

the above proposed harvest would

require a total of 8 miles of temporary

road construction and 21 miles of road

reconstruction.

The Christy Basin planning area

comprises about 34,000 acres, all of

which is federal land. Of the 34,000

acres about 18,500 acres (54%) have

been previously harvested and

regenerated. Of the remaining acres,

approximately 5300 (15%) acres is in a

mature stand condition, ranging in ages

from 90 to 170 years, and 10,000 acres

is in an old-growth stand condition,

stand ages exceeding 200 years. The

planning area contains about 600 acres

(1.7%) of non-forested vegetation types

and rock outcrops. Management areas

that provide for programmed timber

harvest are Scenic (11c) and General

Forest (14a). Other land allocations in

this planning area are Late-Successional

Reserves, Riparian Reserves, Wild and

Scenic River Corridor, and Dispersed

Recreation—Semi-primitive

Nonmotorized Use.

The project area includes a small

portion (about 700 acres) of the

Chucksney Mountain inventoried

roadless area, which was considered but

not selected for wilderness designation.

Most of this inventoried roadless area is

included within the above Dispersed

Recreation—Semi-Primitive

Nonmotorized Recreation Management

Area.

Issues identified for this analysis are

water and stream quality, habitat

fragmentation, economic benefit, oldgrowth habitat reduction, big game

habitat quality, biodiversity effects, road

management, and soil compaction.

Initial scoping for this analysis began

in 1990 but the project was put on hold

due to a Federal Court injunction.

Scoping was initiated again in March of

1996. Alternatives were developed and
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 12 / Tuesday, January 20, 1998 / Notices 2947

preliminary analysis was completed

during the summer and fall of 1997. The

developed alternative consisted of: (A)

low management intensity; retention of

more than the prescribed amount of

standing green trees and down logs (20–

30% retention), (B) conventional

management intensity; retention of

prescribed amounts of standing green

trees and down logs (15% retention), (C)

No old-growth harvest, and (D) No

Action. All action alternatives were

developed to avoid forest fragmentation

and system road construction. Results of

the above analysis indicated a potential

for significant effects to the human

environment, hence the need for

documentation with the Environmental

Impact Statement.

The Forest Service will be seeking

additional information, comment and

assistance from Federal, State, local

agencies, tribes, and other individuals

or organizations who may be interested

or affected by the proposed project.

Additional input will be used to help

verify the existing analysis and

determine if additional issues and

alternatives should be developed. This

input will be used in preparation of the

draft EIS.

The scoping process will include the

following:

• Identification of potential

additional issues;

• Identification of issues to be

analyzed in depth;

• Elimination of insignificant issues

or those which have been covered by a

relevant previous environmental

process;

• Exploration of potential additional

alternatives based on the issues

identified during the scoping process;

and

• Verification of and potential

addition to environmental effects of the

proposed action and alternatives (i.e.

direct, indirect, and cumulative effects

and connected actions).

The draft EIS is expected to be filed

with the Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) and to be available for

public review by February 28, 1998. The

comment period on the draft EIS will be

45 days from the date the EPA publishes

the notice of availability in the Federal

Register.

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, a

reviewer of a draft EIS 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 EIS 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 it can meaningfully

consider them and respond to them in

the final EIS.

To assist the Forest Service in

identifying and considering issues and

concerns on the proposed action,

comments on the draft EIS 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 EIS 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.)

The final EIS is scheduled to be

completed in June, 1998. In the final

EIS, the Forest Service is required to

respond to comments and responses

received during the comment period

that pertain to the environmental

consequences discussed in the draft EIS

and applicable laws, regulations, and

policies considered in making the

decision regarding this proposal. Rick

Scott, District Ranger, is the responsible

official and as responsible official, he

will document the Christy Basin Timber

Sales and restoration project decision

and rationale in a Record of Decision.

That decision will be subject to Forest

Service Appeal Regulations (36 CFR

Part 215).

Dated: January 5, 1998.

Rick Scott,

District Ranger.

[FR Doc. 98–1198 Filed 1–16–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Submission for OMB Review;

Comment Request

The Department of Commerce (DOC)

has submitted to the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) for

clearance the following proposal for

collection of information under

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction

Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

Agency: National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Title: Capital Construction Fund

Agreement and Certificate.

Agency Form Number: NOAA 88–14.

OMB Approval Number: 0648–0090.

Type of Request: Extension of a

currently approved collection.

Burden: 2,250 hours.

Number of Respondents: 1,000.

Avg. Hours Per Response: 2.25 hours.

Needs and Uses: The Merchant

Marine Act provides for the

administration of the Capital

Construction Fund (CCF) by NOAA.

This program enables fishermen to

construct, reconstruct, or (under limited

circumstances) acquire fishing vessels

with before-tax, rather than after-tax,

dollars. NOAA collects information

from fishermen to determine their

eligibility to participate in the program

and to certify completion of the

agreement objectives.

Affected Public: Businesses or other

for-profit organizations.

Frequency: On occasion.

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to

obtain or retain benefits.

OMB Desk Officer: David Rostker,

(202) 395–3897.

Copies of the above information

collection proposal can be obtained by

calling or writing Linda Engelmeier,

DOC Forms Clearance Officer, (202)

482–3272, Department of Commerce,

Room 5327, 14th and Constitution

Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230.

Written comments and

recommendations for the proposed

information collection should be sent

within 30 days of publication of this

notice to David Rostker, OMB Desk

Officer, Room 10202, New Executive

Office Building, 725 17th Street, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20503.

Dated: January 2, 1998.

Linda Engelmeier,

Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Office

of Management and Organization.

[FR Doc. 98–1264 Filed 1–16–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of the Census

Census 2000 Special Place Facility

Questionnaire

ACTION: Proposed collection; comment

request.

SUMMARY: The Department of

Commerce, as part of its continuing