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[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 231 (Monday, December 3, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67882-67884]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-5894]

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National 
Grassland; Wyoming; Inyan Kara Analysis Area Vegetation Management 
Phase II

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION:  Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service is analyzing the management of rangeland 
vegetation resources, which includes livestock grazing, on the National 
Forest System (NFS) lands within the Thunder Basin National Grasslands. 
NFS lands that comprise the Inyan Kara Analysis Area Vegetation 
Management Phase II will be assessed to determine how existing resource 
conditions compare to the desired conditions outlined in the Thunder 
Basin National Grassland Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP). A 
management strategy will be developed in order to maintain or improve 
rangeland and vegetation conditions toward LRMP desired conditions.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by the 30th day after the publication in the Federal Register. The 
draft environmental impact statement (EIS) is expected February 11, 
2008 and the final environmental impact statement is expected May 12, 
2008.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Marilee Houtler, NEPA Coordinator, 
Douglas Ranger District, 2250 East Richards Street, Douglas, Wyoming 
82633 or e-mail to comments-rocky-mountain-medicine-bow-routt-douglass-thunder-basin@fs.fed.us All comments, including names and addresses 
when provided, are placed in the record and are available for public 
inspection. The public may inspect comments received at Douglas Ranger 
District, 2250 E. Richards, Douglas, WY 82633. Visitors are encouraged 
to call ahead to (307) 358-4690 to facilitate entry into the building.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ernie Gipson, Rangeland Management 
Specialist or Misty Hays, Deputy District Ranger, Douglas Ranger 
District, 2250 E. Richards Street, Douglas, WY 82633 (307) 358-4690. 
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 Standard Time, Monday through 
Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Vegetation resources on approximately 
135,405 acres of NFS lands, lying within the Thunder Bassin National 
Grassland boundaries and within portions of Weston and Niobrara 
Counties, Wyoming (Townships 41-48 North, Ranges 62-68 West), are being 
analyzed to determine if and how existing conditions differ from 
desired conditions outlined in the 2001 LRMP.

[[Page 67883]]

Vegetation in the Analysis Area is characteristic of shortgrass 
prairie, mixed grass prairie and lesser amounts of Ponderosa Pine/
Juniper habitats. Johnson and Larson (1999) describe the majority of 
the Analysis Area as a Big Sagebrush-Wheatgrass Plains Major Vegetation 
Type, dominated by fairly dense dwarf shrubs, of which most are Wyoming 
big sagebrush. The midgrass prairie component of the Analysis Area as 
described by Barker and Whitman (1998) consists of a plant association 
dominated by needleandthread grass, western wheatgrass and blue grama. 
A large portion of the Inyan Kara Analysis Area evolved under a history 
of homesteading in the early twentieth century, but a prolonged drought 
period combined with the economic depression of the late 1920's and 
early 1930's caused many of these homesteads to fail. Starting in 1935, 
land was purchased through the Northeastern Wyoming Land Utilization 
Project initiated by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, and 
continued with the Bankhead Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937, which was 
designed to develop a program of land conservation. Administration of 
these lands was turned over to the Soil Conservation Service the 
following year, and transferred to the United States Forest Service in 
1954.
    Today the Thunder Basin National Grassland supports and provides a 
variety of multiple resource uses and values. Livestock ranching 
operations in the area depend on National Grassland acreage to create 
logical and efficient management units. Cattle, sheep, and horses, in 
accordance with 10-year term and/or annual temporary livestock grazing 
permits, are currently authorized to graze the allotments within the 
Analysis Area. In order to determine how existing resource conditions 
compare to desired conditions, date collection was conducted from 2005 
to 2007. During this period, moderate drought conditions impacted plant 
vigor, canopy and litter cover in some parts of the Analysis Area. Data 
analysis indicates that seral stage and structural objectives are 
currently generally meeting vegetation health desired conditions in 
most portions of the Analysis Area. Other areas of concern based on 
data analysis include enhancing vegetation conditions in riparian areas 
and decreasing the frequency and density of non-native invasive species 
within the analysis area.

Purpose and Need for Action

    Need: To continue to authorize livestock grazing and associated 
vegetation management actions with appropriate identified management 
options within the Inyan Kara Analysis Area, and to do so in a manner 
that will resolve any disparities between existing and desired 
conditions in a suitable timeframe.
    Purpose: To implement vegetation management objectives in the 
Thunder Basin National Grassland Land and Resource Management Plan with 
goals of increasing native forb and perennial grass diversity, 
improving riparian area conditions, improving or maintaining vegetation 
health, and slowing or decreasing the frequency and density of non-
native invasive species. This analysis will serve as a guide for 
implementation of LRMP vegetation management objectives aimed at 
improving or maintaining vegetation and riparian area conditions, 
providing desired mixes of seral and structural stages of vegetation, 
as well as establishing appropriate monitoring techniques that will 
measure the effectiveness of management activities.

Proposed Action

    The Forest Service proposes the following actions to meet the 
purpose and need described above:

--Manage vegetation through an adaptive management process, which 
includes authorizing livestock grazing on allotments within the Inyan 
Kara Analysis Area of the Thunder Basin National Grasslands, that will 
meet or move toward desired resource conditions.
--Define an allotment specific starting point in which management is 
believed to be capable of meeting or moving toward desired conditions 
in a timely manner.
--Monitor to evaluate both implementation and effectiveness of 
management actions.

    In all cases, management will use vegetation management tools that 
will meet LRMP Objectives, Standards and Guidelines, and maintain or 
move existing resource conditions toward Geographic Area desired 
conditions. If monitoring indicates that practices are being properly 
implemented and that resource trends are moving toward meeting desired 
conditions in a timely manner, management may continue. If monitoring 
indicates that there is a need to modify management practices, adaptive 
options as analyzed in the EIS will be selected and implemented.

Possible Alternatives

    (1). No action
    (2). Continue current management.

Responsible Official

    Robert M. Sprentall, District Ranger, Douglas Ranger District, 2250 
East Richards Street, Douglas, Wyoming 82633, is the official 
responsible for making the decision on this action. He will document 
his decision and rationale in a Record of Decision.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    The Responsible Official will consider the results of the analysis 
and its findings and then document the final decision in a Record of 
Decision (ROD). The decision will determine whether or not to authorize 
livestock grazing on all, part, or none of the allotments within the 
Inyan Kara Analysis Area, and if so, what adaptive management design 
criteria, adaptive options, and monitoring will be implemented so as to 
meet or move toward the desired conditions in the defined timeframe.

Scoping Process

    Concurrent with this NOI, letters requesting comments will be sent 
to interested parties. Anyone who provides comments to the DEIS or 
expresses interest during the comment period will have eligibility.

Preliminary Issues

    The Forest Service has identified the following preliminary issues: 
(1) Current impacts to riparian resources from moderate drought, and 
livestock and wildlife grazing/browsing; (2) Potential impacts to 
livestock grazing permits on National Grasslands; (3) Current impacts 
to soil resources from livestock and wildlife grazing/browsing and 
drought.

Comment Requested

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process which guides 
the development of the EIS.
    Early Notice of Importance of Public Participation in Subsequent 
Environmental Review: A draft EIS 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.
    The Forest Service believes 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

[[Page 67884]]

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 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.

(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; Forest Service Handbook 
1909.15, Chapter 20, Section 21).

    Dated: November 20, 2007.
Misty A. Hays,
Deputy District Ranger.
[FR Doc. 07-5894 Filed 11-30-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M
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