60488 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 200 / Tuesday, October 18, 2005 / Notices 

contributing factors for program 

eligibility. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jean-Louis Pajot, Coordinator, Trade 

Adjustment Assistance for Farmers, 

FAS, USDA, (202) 720–2916, e-mail: 

trade.adjustment@fas.usda.gov. 

Dated: October 6, 2005. 

A. Ellen Terpstra, 

Administrator, Foreign Agricultural Service. 

[FR Doc. 05–20836 Filed 10–17–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Fuel Reduction Activities Within the 

City of Bozeman’s Municipal 

Watershed on the Gallatin National 

Forest and City of Bozeman Lands, 

Montana; Gallatin National Forest; 

Gallatin County, MT 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The USDA, Forest Service, 

will prepare an environmental impact 

statement (EIS) to disclose the 

environmental effects of a proposed 

fuels reduction project that will help 

maintain the water supply to the City of 

Bozeman. The project’s purpose and 

need is to begin reducing the potential 

severity and extent and future wildland 

fires in the Bozeman and Hyalite 

Municipal Watersheds, begin creating 

vegetation and fuel conditions that will 

reduce the risk of excess sediment and 

ash reaching the municipal water 

treatment plant in the event of a sever 

wildland fire, begin creating vegetation 

and fuel conditions that will provide for 

firefighter and public safety by 

modifying potential fire behavior, and 

reduce fuel conditions in the wildland/ 

urban interface (WUI). A range of 3 to 

5 alternatives are targeted for 

consideration in this planning process. 

DATES: Initial comments on this 

proposal should be received by 

November 11, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be sent to Jim Devitt, Gallatin National 

Forest Supervisors Office, P.O. Box 130, 

Bozeman, Montana 59771–0130. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim 

Devitt, Bozeman Municipal Watershed 

Project Interdisciplinary Team Leader, 

Gallatin National Forest Supervisors 

Office, (406) 587–6749. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

purpose of this project, as identified by 

the Gallatin National Forest and the City 

of Bozeman, is to maintain a highquality, long term, and predictable 

water supply for Bozeman area 

residents. The Bozeman Municipal 

Watershed analysis area is a landscape 

dominated by steep canyons and 

timbered slopes. The two drainages are 

very popular and receive heavy use for 

outdoor recreation activities such as 

pleasure driving, hiking, biking, 

camping, picnicking, fishing, and 

hunting, to name a few. The Bozeman 

Municipal Water project will apply to 

portions of National Forest System 

Lands and City of Bozeman land within 

the Bozeman and Hyalite Watersheds. 

There are several homes and subdivisions within one half mile of the 

forest boundary or within the WUI. Fire 

simulation models showed that a large 

fire started in either Bozeman Creek or 

Hyalite Creek could easily burn into the 

adjacent drainage, resulting in a 

situation where both major sources of 

city water supply are simultaneously 

impacted. The Forest Service and City 

of Bozeman believe it is timely to begin 

addressing this project’s purpose. The 

purpose and need for this project would 

be achieved by (1) Maintaining low fire 

severity conditions through prescribed 

burning. (2) Maintaining the 

effectiveness of the riparian filtration 

zone by removing or cutting conifers to 

invigorate shrub communities. (3) 

Treating invasive weed species to 

maintain native communities and allow 

the riparian area to function as 

efficiently as possible. 

The Forest Service is looking for ways 

to do innovative treatments to address 

this project’s purpose and need. 

Potential fuel activities being 

considered include treating up to 6,000 

total acres, including a small portion of 

the Gallatin Divide Inventoried Roadless 

Area in the Bozeman Creek watershed, 

and treating up to 3,000 acres in the 

Hyalite Creek watershed with a 

combination of prescribed burning, 

thinning, brush cutting, and commercial 

tree harvest. 

To facilitate public comment, the 

Forest Service has prepared a scoping 

document. This document identifies a 

one possible set of treatment options 

and can be viewed on the Gallatin 

National Forest Web site at http:// 

www.fs.fed.us/r1/gallatin. A copy can be 

also be obtained by calling or writing 

the contact person identified above. The 

scooping comment period will end 

November 11, 2005. 

Comments on the scoping document 

from the public and other agencies will 

be used in preparation of a Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). 

More specifically, comments will be 

used to modify and refine the 

alternatives and identify potential 

resources issues (environmental effects) 

that should be considered in analysis. 

The Draft EIS is expected to be filed 

with the Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) and available for public 

review in June of 2006. At that time, the 

EPA will publish a Notice of 

Availability of the Draft EIS in the 

Federal Register. The comment period 

on the Draft EIS is estimated to be 45 

days from the date the EPA’s notice of 

availability appears in the Federal 

Register. The Final EIS is scheduled for 

completion in the spring of 2007. 

To assist the Forest Service in 

identifying and considering issues, 

comments should be specific to 

concerns associated with the fuel 

reduction activities within a municipal 

watershed. 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 structuring comments. 

The Forest Service believes, at this 

early stage, it is important to give 

reviewers notice of several court rulings 

related to public participation in the 

environmental review process. First, 

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, 533 (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 during comment 

periods provided so that substantive 

comments and objections are made 

available to the Forest Service at a time 

when they can meaningfully consider 

them. To assist the Forest Service in 

identifying and considering issues, 

comments should be specific to 

concerns associated with the 

management of roads and trails on the 

Gallatin National Forest. 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 structuring 

comments. 

I am the responsible official for this 

Environmental Impact Statement and 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 200 / Tuesday, October 18, 2005 / Notices 60489 

the ultimate decision for a Bozeman 

Watershed Project. My address is Forest 

Supervisor, Gallatin National Forest, 

P.O. Box 130, Federal Building, 

Bozeman, MT 59771. 

Dated: October 7, 2005. 

Rebecca Heath, 

Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. 05–20788 Filed 10–17–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, 

Mountain City Ranger District, 

Mountain City Ranger District 

Rangeland Management Project; 

Environmental Statements; Notice of 

Intent 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement. 

SUMMARY: The Mountain City Ranger 

District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe 

National Forest will prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

on a proposal to authorize continued 

livestock grazing on National Forest 

System (NFS) lands within the 

boundaries administered by the Ranger 

District. The Project Area is located in 

Elko County, Nevada. 

DATES: In order to be most effective, 

comments concerning the scope of the 

proposed analysis should be received 

within 30 days from the date that this 

Notice of Intent (NOI) is published in 

the Federal Register. The draft EIS is 

expected to be completed in March 

2006, and the final EIS is expected to be 

completed in September 2006. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to: 

District Ranger, Mountain City Ranger 

District, 2035 Last Chance Road, Elko, 

NV 89801. 

Electronic comments may be sent via 

e-mail to: comments-intermtnhumboldt-toiyabe-mtncity@fs.fed.us. 

Please put ‘‘Grazing EIS’’ in the 

subject line of e-mail transmissions. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: 

Douglas Clarke, Project Coordinator, 

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, 

2035 Last Chance Road, Elko, NV 89801, 

Telephone: 775–778–6127. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose of and Need for Action 

The Mountain City Ranger District 

Rangeland Management Project is an 

opportunity to provide for livestock 

grazing that is managed in a manner that 

will maintain areas that are currently 

ecologically satisfactory, according to 

Forest Plan direction (desired 

functioning conditions), or that will 

improve specific areas identified 

through this analysis or in the future as 

ecologically unsatisfactory (less than 

functioning condition). 

Given the focus on this need, the 

purpose of the project is to bring current 

improper livestock grazing practices 

into alignment with the requirements of 

wildlife and other natural resources 

where needed in the Project Area. Also 

included in this project is the need to 

be able to apply the use of adaptive 

management when managing livestock 

and the affected natural resources. 

Currently, term grazing permits provide 

for little flexibility or ability to change 

management when monitoring shows a 

need or opportunity for change. 

In the time since the Forest Plan goals 

were identified in 1986, wildlife 

science, range science, and natural 

resource management science have 

continued to evolve. More is known 

now about the relationship between 

species and the environments in which 

they live, resulting in changes in 

management direction for specific 

species over the last decade. Range 

scientists within both the Forest Service 

and the academic community have also 

conducted research and published 

scientific papers regarding the 

influences that livestock grazing has on 

the environment. In many areas across 

the American West, the results of this 

research have been applied in the 

design and implementation of effective 

adaptive management strategies. Much 

of this current science and knowledge 

should now be incorporated into grazing 

management within the Project Area. 

The primary emphasis will be an 

ecological based approach rather than 

livestock administration. However, the 

emphasis will also include reponding to 

improper livestock management. 

In addition to the need to incorporate 

new or updated research into existing 

grazing management strategies, the 

Mountain City Ranger District has 

gathered an extensive collection of 

historic and current photographs taken 

from the same places in different 

decades throughout the District. These 

photographs, known as ‘‘repeat photo 

sets’’ show that, in general, rangeland 

ecological conditions throughout the 

District have improved from the early 

1900’s to now, or maintained 

themselves at an acceptable level for the 

most part. In many instances there is a 

pronounced improvement from the 

1960’s and 1970’s until now, which is 

a timeframe when many of the grazing 

management improvements in place 

today (rotational or improved grazing 

systems, infrastructure improvements 

such as division fences and water 

developments, and improved herding or 

animal husbandry practices) were 

originally implemented. The 

information gleaned from advances in 

science since the original Forest Plan 

was implemented, the inferences to 

ecological condition available from the 

repeat photo sets, and existing sitespecific information were used to 

develop the proposed action for this 

analysis. The proposed action is 

designed to be able to specifically 

address, either currently if known 

during the course of this analysis, or 

identified through future monitoring or 

subsequent advances in knowledge 

about ecological relationships, the 

impacts from improper grazing 

practices. 

Proposed Action 

The Mountain City Ranger District of 

the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest 

is proposing to authorize continued 

livestock grazing on grazing allotments 

within the District under updated 

grazing management direction. The 

proposal encompasses approximately 

490,500 acres of NFS lands in Elko 

County, Nevada. This updated 

management direction would be 

incorporated into all livestock grazing 

permits and associated allotment 

management plans as needed. This 

direction would guide livestock grazing 

management within the Project Area 

during the coming decade, or until 

amendments are warranted based on 

changed condition or monitoring 

results. 

Other Possible Alternatives 

In addition to the Proposed Action 

detailed above, we have tentatively 

identified two (2) additional alternatives 

that will be analyzed in the EIS: 

(1) No Action Alternative: A 

continuation of the current grazing 

management without updated direction. 

(2) No Grazing Alternative: New 

grazing permits would not be issued 

when existing permits expired. 

Responsible Official 

The responsible official is: Forest 

Supervisor, Humboldt-Toiyabe National 

Forest, 1200 Franklin Way, Sparks, NV 

89431. 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

Based on the environmental analysis 

presented in the EIS, the Forest 

Supervisor will decide whether or not to 

continue grazing on the allotments 

within the Project Area in accordance 

with the standards in the Proposed 

Action or as modified by mitigation