Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 12 / Wednesday, January 21, 2009 / Notices 3547 

International Labor Affairs, DOL, 

including representatives from 

consumer organizations and trade 

unions, if appropriate. 

Terms of Service 

• Members shall serve through 

December 31, 2012; 

• The Consultative Group shall meet 

no fewer than four times per year in 

person in Washington, DC or through 

alternative media; 

• The Consultative Group shall make 

its recommendations to the Secretary of 

Agriculture no later than June 18, 2010. 

Thereafter, the Consultative Group will 

continue to advise the Secretary as 

necessary; 

• Members of the Consultative Group 

shall serve without compensation; 

• Travel and lodging expenses will be 

borne by each member; and 

• Meetings of the Consultative Group 

will be closed to the public. 

Submission of Applications 

• Membership in the Consultative 

Group is open to all individuals without 

regard to race, color, religion, sex, 

national origin, age, mental or physical 

handicap, marital status, or sexual 

orientation. 

• All applications must include the 

following information: 

(1) Brief summary explaining the 

candidate’s qualifications to serve as a 

member of the Consultative Group; 

(2) Statement specifying the nongovernment membership category for 

which the candidate is best qualified 

(private agriculture-related enterprises, 

higher education and research 

institutions, etc.); 

(3) Resume; 

(4) Contact information of candidate; 

and 

(5) Completed copy of form AD–755, 

‘‘Advisory Committee Membership 

Background Information.’’ 

Applications from candidates of 

private agriculture-related enterprises 

and independent, third-party 

certification services must be sent to the 

USDA contact listed above. 

Applications from candidates of higher 

education, research institutions, and 

501(c)(3) organizations must be sent to 

the DOL contact listed above. 

Member Selection 

The requested applications will assist 

U.S. Government agencies in making 

appointments to the Consultative 

Group. Other qualified individuals may 

be considered in addition to those who 

submit applications in response to this 

notice. 

Signed at Washington, DC on January 12, 

2009. 

Constance Jackson, 

Administrator, Foreign Agricultural Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–1005 Filed 1–16–09; 8:45 am] 

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Shasta-Trinity National Forest, 

California; Moosehead Vegetation and 

Road Management Project 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The Shasta-Trinity National 

Forest proposes to thin forest stands and 

reduce fuel loads on approximately 

2,300 acres of National Forest System 

Lands. Overstocked forest stands would 

be thinned by removing primarily 

understory and midstory trees to 

achieve desired stocking. Trees to be 

removed would generally be smaller in 

size than trees that would be retained. 

Some dominant and codominant trees 

may be removed to attain desired 

stocking. Forest stand treatments would 

be accomplished primarily through 

commercial harvest. Harvest operations 

would yield sawtimber (logs) and 

biomass (chips) products. After 

commercial harvest, fuels would be 

reduced by treating brush and small 

diameter trees in the forest understory. 

Road reconstruction, closure and 

decommissioning are also proposed. 

Approximately 22 miles of road would 

be reconstructed to improve drainage 

and reduce erosion. The existing open 

road network would be reduced by 

decommissioning 1⁄4 mile of road and 

closing approximately 10 miles of road. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received no later 

than 30 days after the publication of this 

notice in the Federal Register. The draft 

environmental impact statement is 

expected in July 2009 and the final 

environmental impact statement is 

expected in November 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to: 

District Ranger Priscila S. Franco, Mt. 

Shasta Ranger Station, 204 W. Alma St., 

Mt. Shasta, California 96067. Send email comments to: commentspacificsouthwest-shasta-trinitymtshasta-mccloud@fs.fed.us. 

Comments received in response to 

this solicitation, including names and 

addresses of those who comment, will 

be part of the public record for this 

proposed action. Comments submitted 

anonymously will be accepted and 

considered; however, anonymous 

comments will not provide the 

respondent with standing to appeal the 

subsequent decision. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John 

Natvig, P.O. Box 688, Hot Springs, SD 

57747, telephone (605) 745–3253, e-mail 

jnatvig@fs.fed.us. 

Individuals who use 

telecommunication devices for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339 

between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern 

Time, Monday through Friday. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need for Action 

The purpose of the proposed action is 

to protect and enhance conditions in 

late successional forest ecosystems. The 

majority of the project area falls within 

lands identified by the Shasta-Trinity 

Land and Resource Management Plan as 

Late Successional Reserve (LSR), 

Managed Late Successional Area 

(MLSA) and Riparian Reserve. 

Protection includes reducing the risk of 

large-scale disturbance such as standreplacing wildfires and epidemic forest 

insect and disease outbreaks. Fire 

exclusion over the last 100 years has 

created dense forest conditions which 

have a negative impact on tree vigor and 

forest health. Overstocked stands are 

stressed by competition for limited 

resources and are at risk to high levels 

of insect-caused mortality, especially 

during periods of drought. The closed 

canopy, mixed-conifer stands are 

densely stocked with pole-sized trees in 

the midstory and understory and 

pockets of dead and down wood. The 

combination of deadwood, understory 

and midstory ladder fuels creates fuel 

conditions that in the event of fire, 

could result in high fire intensities 

spreading fire from the understory into 

the crowns of overstory conifer trees. 

The stands are at risk of loss from standreplacing wildfire during weather 

periods that support extreme fire 

behavior. Treatments that decrease 

surface, ladder and canopy fuels will 

make the area more resistant to standreplacing wildfires. 

A California-Oregon Transmission 

Project high voltage powerline crosses 

the project area. Interruption or loss of 

service associated with this powerline 

has the potential to impact a large 

number of electric users. Vegetation and 

fuel conditions in close proximity to the 

powerline should be treated so ground 

forces can control a wildfire under most 

fire weather conditions. 

Hardwoods and meadows are 

important components of an ecosystem; 

however, hardwoods and meadows 

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3548 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 12 / Wednesday, January 21, 2009 / Notices 

make up only a small portion of the 

project area (less than one percent). 

Wildfires that maintained early 

successional hardwoods and meadows 

have not occurred, or have been rare 

events since fire suppression efforts 

began in the early 1900s. Conifers 

gradually become established in both 

meadows and aspen stands. Hardwoods 

are desired as a stand component in 

LSRs/MLSAs. Therefore, actions are 

needed to maintain these sites as aspen 

or meadow. 

Proper drainage of system roads is 

needed to minimize surface erosion. 

Culverts must also be fully functional 

and of proper size to facilitate area 

drainage to prevent erosion causing 

water flow over road surfaces. 

Reconstruction of system roads is 

needed to improve road drainage and 

replace culverts. 

Proposed Action 

The proposed action would reduce 

forest stocking and fuels on 

approximately 2,300 acres. In addition, 

10 acres of meadow and aspen would be 

restored. Riparian Reserves would be 

treated in limited areas to improve or 

protect late-successional forest habitat. 

Project actions within Riparian Reserves 

would meet the objectives of the 

Aquatic Conservation Strategy in the 

Shasta-Trinity National Forest Land and 

Resource Management Plan. 

Overstocked early and mid-successional 

stands would be thinned to promote the 

development of late-successional stand 

characteristics and reduce the risk of 

stand loss due to epidemic insectcaused mortality. Thinning treatments 

would retain 10 percent or more of the 

stand in un-thinned patches and up to 

15 percent of the stand would be in 

heavily thinned patches or openings up 

to 1⁄4 acre in size for stand diversity. 

Canopy, ladder and surface fuels would 

be reduced through thinning and 

treatment of surface fuels and brush. 

Open-road density will be decreased 

by decommissioning approximately 1⁄4

mile of Forest System road and closing 

10 miles of Forest System roads with 

gates, barricades, or earth berms. 

Erosion of existing roads would be 

reduced by improving road drainage, 

replacing culverts and surfacing roads 

with rock. 

Forest stand treatments would be 

accomplished primarily through 

commercial harvest, yielding sawtimber 

and chip products. Trees would be 

felled, removed and processed with 

mechanized equipment. Harvested trees 

would be transported from the stump to 

central landing areas adjacent to roads 

where they would be limbed and 

processed into sawtimber logs or chips. 

Responsible Official 

J. Sharon Heywood, Forest 

Supervisor, Shasta-Trinity National 

Forest. 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

The Forest Supervisor will decide 

whether to implement the proposed 

action, take an alternative action that 

meets the purpose and need or take no 

action. 

Scoping Process and Comment 

Requested 

This notice of intent initiates the 

scoping process, which guides the 

development of the environmental 

impact statement. The project is 

included in the Shasta-Trinity National 

Forest’s quarterly schedule of proposed 

actions (SOPA). Information on the 

proposed action will be posted on the 

forest Web site, http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/ 

shastatrinity/projects and advertised in 

both the Redding Record Searchlight 

and the Mount Shasta Herald. 

Comments submitted during this 

scoping process should be in writing 

and should be specific to the proposed 

action. Comments should describe as 

clearly and completely as possible any 

issues the commenter has with the 

proposal. The scoping process includes: 

(a) Identifying potential issues. 

(b) Identifying issues to be analyzed 

in depth. 

(c) Eliminating non-significant issues 

or those previously covered by a 

relevant environmental analysis. 

(d) Exploring additional alternatives. 

(e) Identifying potential 

environmental effects of the proposed 

action and alternatives. 

It is important that reviewers provide 

their comments at such times and in 

such manner that they are useful to the 

agency’s preparation of the 

environmental impact statement. 

Therefore, comments should be 

provided prior to the close of the 

comment period and should clearly 

articulate the reviewer’s concerns and 

contentions. The submission of timely 

and specific comments can affect a 

reviewer’s ability to participate in 

subsequent administrative appeal or 

judicial review. 

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. 

At this stage, it is important to note 

several court rulings related to public 

participation in the environmental 

review process. 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 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. In addressing these 

points 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. 

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. 

J. Sharon Heywood, 

Forest Supervisor, Shasta-Trinity National 

Forest. 

[FR Doc. E9–920 Filed 1–16–09; 8:45 am] 

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