Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 189 / Monday, October 1, 2007 / Notices 55737 

policies, and Comprehensive 

Conservation Plans. The Wilderness Act 

of 1964 directs the National Wilderness 

Preservation System be managed to 

protect natural wilderness conditions 

and to provide outstanding 

opportunities for the public to find 

solitude or primitive and unconfined 

types of recreational experiences. The 

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge contains 

8,000,000 acres of federally protected 

wilderness (Molly Beattie Wilderness) 

and over 11,000,000 acres of land and 

water that are managed for multiple 

values (subsistence, wildlife, water 

quality, scenic values, etc.), and 

mandated to provide recreation 

experiences to visitors under a number 

of laws, including the National Wildlife 

Refuge System Administration Act, (as 

amended by the National Wildlife 

Refuge System Improvement Act), the 

Refuge Recreation Act, and the Alaska 

National Interest Lands Conservation 

Act. 

To help meet Federal agencies’

mandates related to recreation, 

scientists at the Aldo Leopold 

Wilderness Research Institute will 

periodically monitor and report, to 

managers and the public, visitor use and 

user characteristics, and visitor feedback 

on management actions on federal 

lands. Agency personnel will use the 

collected information to ensure that 

visitors’ recreational activities do not 

harm the natural resources of the refuge 

and that wilderness-type recreation 

experiences are protected. The agency 

intends to record visitor responses in 

2008 for comparison to the most recent 

survey (1977 prior to Refuge status and 

Wilderness designation), and expand 

the scope of the survey to include 

visitor feedback to understand major 

dimensions of experiences and factors 

that influence those experiences. 

Potential influences include encounters 

with other visitors, subsistence users, 

researchers, and agency personnel and 

information sources used to plan the 

trip. The data from this information 

collection will be stored at the Aldo 

Leopold Wilderness Research Institute 

in Missoula, Montana. Scientists 

working at the Research Institute will 

conduct the data analysis. 

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will 

use information from this collection to: 

(1) Understand; 

a. Individual visitor demographics, 

frequency of visits, and residence; 

b. Visit characteristics, such as 

whether they are hunting or not, river 

floating or not, method of access, size of 

group, and difficulty in finding 

campsites, evaluations of conditions 

encountered, and feedback on 

information available for trip planning; 

(2) Gain an understanding of how the 

agency’s management of the Arctic 

National Wildlife Refuge and other 

potential facilitating and constraining 

factors influence a visitor’s recreation 

experience; 

(3) Help understand how to educate 

recreation visitors so they do not leave 

impacts from their visits, such as 

damaged vegetation, litter, polluted 

lakes and streams, and wildlife 

disturbance while engaging in high 

quality, safe, responsible recreation 

visits; and 

(4) Provide information that may 

assist in revision of the Arctic National 

Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive 

Conservation Plan. 

Respondents will be recreation 

visitors to the Arctic National Wildlife 

Refuge. Visitors will be contacted as 

they enter the Arctic Refuge or upon 

exit and will be provided with a mailback postcard that offers them 

alternative methods of response to the 

survey: (1) Mail the postage-paid 

postcard to the Leopold Institute with a 

name and address in order to receive a 

mail-back survey, (2) mail the postage 

paid postcard to the Leopold Institute 

with an electronic e-mail address to 

receive an electronic form of the survey, 

or (3) keep the postcard that contains a 

web address for on-line completion of 

the survey. All responses will be 

voluntary. Data collected in this 

information collection are not available 

from other sources and have not been 

collected since 1977. 

This study will only ask recreation 

visitors (non-local, non-subsistence 

users) questions about their recreation 

visit, their personal demographics 

relevant to education and service 

provision, and factors that have 

influenced or are likely to influence 

their recreation visits. Survey 

respondents will be told that this 

information is voluntary, in confidence 

(their names will not be connected to 

their responses in any way). The Survey 

will not include questions related to oil 

exploration or development within the 

boundaries of the Refuge. 

Estimate of Annual Burden: 20 

minutes. 

Type of Respondents: Individuals. 

Estimated Annual Number of 

Respondents: 900. 

Estimated Annual Number of 

Responses per Respondent: Once. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: 300 hours. 

Comment is Invited: 

Comment is invited on: (1) Whether 

this 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; (2) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

collection of information, including the 

validity of the methodology and 

assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance 

the quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and (4) 

ways to minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on 

respondents, including the additional 

use of automated, electronic, 

mechanical, or other technological 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. 

All comments received in response to 

this notice, including names and 

addresses when provided, will be a 

matter of public record. Comments will 

be summarized and included in the 

request for Office of Management and 

Budget approval. 

Dated: September 21, 2007. 

Ann M. Bartuska, 

Deputy Chief for Research & Development. 

[FR Doc. E7–19253 Filed 9–28–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Bitterroot National Forest, Ravalli 

County, MT, Travel Management 

Planning 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environment impact statement. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act, 

notice is hereby given that the Forest 

Service, Bitterroot National Forest will 

prepare a Draft Environmental Impact 

Statement to disclose the environmental 

consequences of the proposed travel 

management planning. The proposed 

action would provide approximately 

2,487 miles of wheeled motorized 

recreation opportunities on the 

Bitterroot National Forest while 

maintaining 1,030,405 acres of nonmotorized areas. The proposed action 

would also provide approximately 341 

miles of open snowmobile routes and 

608,031 acres open to snowmobile use. 

DATES: Specific comments on the 

proposed action should be received by 

November 23, 2007. The draft 

environmental impact statement is 

expected to be available for the public 

in August 2008, and the final 

environmental impact statement is 

expected to be available in May 2009. 

The Motor Vehicle Use Map is 

scheduled to be available on or before 

December 2009. 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES

55738 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 189 / Monday, October 1, 2007 / Notices 

ADDRESSES: Submit written, faxed, or email comments by: (1) Mail—Travel 

Management Planning Team; 

Stevensville Ranger District; 88 Main; 

Stevensville, Montana 59870 (2) fax—

(406) 777–7423; (3) e-mail—commentsnorthern-bitterroot@fs.fed.us 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dan 

Ritter, Stevensville District Ranger (406) 

777–5461 or Sandy Mack, Project Team 

Leader (406) 777–7415 (see ADDRESSES

above) 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose 

The objectives of the project are to: 1. 

Change the existing motorized 

recreation designations provide quality 

motorized recreation experiences while 

protecting natural resources and 

providing non-motorized recreation 

opportunities. 

• Provide motorized loop routes that 

offer a quality recreational experience, 

with the focus on using old roads and 

linkages with only minor resource 

impacts. 

• Provide areas for non-motorized 

recreation experiences. 

• Close routes to motorized use that 

have resource concerns that can’t 

reasonably be mitigated. 

2. Close routes that offer little value 

as a motorized experience and have 

resource concerns. 

3. Clarify and simplify the motor 

vehicle use designations. 

4. Comply with the 2005 Travel 

Management Rule. 

Proposed Action 

The proposed action establishes clear, 

standardized designations of where 

motorized recreation is appropriate, 

sustainable and desirable on the 

Bitterroot National Forest. It would 

provide 2,487 miles of routes open to 

wheeled motorized use including: 25 

mi. of roads open to all vehicles, 

yearlong or seasonal (mixed-motorized); 

1,479 mi. of roads open to highway legal 

vehicles only, yearlong or seasonal; 746 

mi. of trails open to vehicles 50′′ or less 

in width, yearlong or seasonal; 237 mi. 

of trails open to motorcycles, yearlong 

or seasonal. It would also provide 

1,030,405 acres of non-motorized use 

(1⁄2 mile or more from wheeled 

motorized use designations) across the 

Forest. The proposed action would 

provide 58 miles of groomed 

snowmobile trails, 341 miles of open 

snowmobile routes and 608,031 acres 

open to snowmobile use. 

Alternatives to the proposed action 

will be developed based on public 

comments. 

Responsible Official 

The responsible official for the Travel 

Management Planning Project is Dave T. 

Bull, Forest Supervisor, Bitterroot 

National Forest 1801 N. First, Hamilton 

59840–3114. 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

The Responsible Official will 

determine whether or not to proceed 

with the proposed motorized use 

designations. 

Scoping Process 

Comments will be accepted during 

the 60-day scoping period as described 

in this notice of intent. To assist in 

commenting, a coping package 

providing more detailed information on 

the project proposal has been prepared 

and is available to interested parties. 

Contact Sandy Mack, Project Leader at 

the address listed in this notice of intent 

if you would like to receive a copy. The 

information is also available on the web 

at www.fs.fed.us/r1/bitterroot/projects/ 

motorizedlrec.shtml, and at each 

District Office and at the public libraries 

in Darby, Hamilton, Stevensville and 

Missoula. the Forest will schedule 

public meetings in November, prior to 

the end of the public comment period. 

Meeting times and locations will be 

announced at a later date. 

Comment Requested 

This notice of intent initiates the 

scoping process that guides the 

development of the environmental 

impact statement. 

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 at least 45 days 

from the date the Environmental 

Protection Agency publishes the notice 

of availability in the Federal Register. 

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, 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 24 

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 

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. 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. 

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) 

Dated: September 20, 2007. 

Barry Paulson, 

Deputy Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. 07–4805 Filed 9–28–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Inyo National Forest, California, Inyo 

National Forest Motorized Travel 

Management EIS 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement. 

SUMMARY: The Inyo National Forest 

(INF) will prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement to disclose the 

impacts associated with the following 

proposed actions: 1. The prohibition of 

wheeled motorized vehicle travel off 

designated National Forest System 

(NFS) roads, NFS trails and areas by the 

public except as allowed by permit or 

other authorization. 2. Changes in the 

INF Transportation System, including 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES