32738 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 110 / Wednesday, June 9, 2010 / Notices 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

notice provides the list of newspapers 

that Responsible Officials in the Alaska 

Region will use to give notice of 

decisions subject to notice, comment, 

and appeal under 36 CFR part 215. The 

timeframe for comment on a proposed 

action shall be based on the date of 

publication of the legal notice of the 

proposed action in the newspapers of 

record identified in this notice. The 

timeframe for appeal under 36 CFR part 

215 shall be based on the date of 

publication of the legal notice of the 

decision in the newspaper of record 

identified in this notice. 

The newspapers to be used for giving 

notice of Forest Service decisions in the 

Alaska Region are as follows: 

Alaska Regional Office 

Decisions of the Alaska Regional 

Forester: Juneau Empire, published 

daily except Saturday and official 

holidays in Juneau, Alaska; and the 

Anchorage Daily News, published daily 

in Anchorage, Alaska. 

Chugach National Forest 

Decisions of the Forest Supervisor and 

the Glacier and Seward District Rangers: 

Anchorage Daily News, published daily 

in Anchorage, Alaska. 

Decisions of the Cordova District 

Ranger: Cordova Times, published 

weekly in Cordova, Alaska. 

Tongass National Forest 

Decisions of the Forest Supervisor and 

the Craig, Ketchikan/Misty, and Thorne 

Bay District Rangers: Ketchikan Daily 

News, published daily except Sundays 

and official holidays in Ketchikan, 

Alaska. 

Decisions of the Admiralty Island 

National Monument Ranger, the Juneau 

District Ranger, the Hoonah District 

Ranger, and the Yakutat District Ranger: 

Juneau Empire, published daily except 

Saturday and official holidays in 

Juneau, Alaska. 

Decisions of the Petersburg District 

Ranger: Petersburg Pilot, published 

weekly in Petersburg, Alaska. 

Decisions of the Sitka District Ranger: 

Daily Sitka Sentinel, published daily 

except Saturday, Sunday, and official 

holidays in Sitka, Alaska. 

Decisions of the Wrangell District 

Ranger: Wrangell Sentinel, published 

weekly in Wrangell, Alaska. 

Supplemental notices may be 

published in any newspaper, but the 

timeframes for making comments or 

filing appeals will be calculated based 

upon the date that notices are published 

in the newspapers of record listed in 

this notice. 

Dated: May 24, 2010. 

Beth G. Pendleton, 

Regional Forester. 

[FR Doc. 2010–13723 Filed 6–8–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Gallatin National Forest-Hebgen Lake 

Ranger District; MT; Lonesome Wood 

Vegetation Management Project 2 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement. 

SUMMARY: This integrated forest 

vegetation management project is 

designed to achieve the goals of 

increased firefighter and public safety, 

reduced wildland fire risks to adjacent 

property and Forest Service 

infrastructure, and to enhance aspen 

forest communities that are in decline. 

Proposed forest thinning and associated 

activities target the removal of excessive 

surface, ladder and crown fuel. This 

project begins to address the fire 

behavior concerns that threaten life and 

property. The scope of action to be 

addressed in the analysis is limited to 

actions needed to lessen wildfire risks 

to life and property in the identified 

wildland urban interface/evacuation 

routes in the project area, and whether 

to implement aspen enhancement. 

A decision for this Project was 

withdrawn in November 2009 to 

respond to changed conditions related 

to a district court order effectively 

relisting the grizzly bear as a threatened 

species under the Endangered Species 

Act in the Greater Yellowstone Area. 

This new analysis will incorporate 

mitigation and analysis to comply with 

current direction related to the grizzly 

bear, and new information for other 

resources since 1.5 years have lapsed. 

Otherwise the proposal is the same 

project analyzed in 2007. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received by July 

9, 2010. The draft environmental impact 

statement is expected July 2010 and the 

final environmental impact statement is 

expected November 2010. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to 

Gallatin National Forest, Attn: 

Lonesome Wood Vegetation 

Management Project 2, Bozeman Ranger 

District, 3710 Fallon St., Ste. C., 

Bozeman, MT 59730. Comments may 

also be sent via e-mail to: commentsnorthern-gallatin@fs.fed.us, or via 

facsimile to 406–587–2528. Electronic 

comments must be submitted in 

Microsoft Word format. It is important 

that reviewers provide their comments 

at such times and in such a way that 

they are useful to the Agency’s 

preparation of the EIS. Therefore, 

comments should be provided prior to 

the close of the comment period and 

should clearly articulate the reviewer’s 

concerns and contentions specific to the 

Proposal. 

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. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ten 

Seth, Team Leader, 406–522–2520 or go 

to the Gallatin National Forest Web 

page: http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/gallatin/ 

?page=projects/ 

lonesomewood_proposal. 

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., e.t., Monday 

through Friday. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need for Action 

The Lonesome Wood Vegetation 

Management proposal is an outcome of 

the Hebgen Watershed Risk Assessment. 

The main concern for this area is 

wildland fuel buildup in the area 

because there is a high degree of 

wildland urban interface and reliance 

on a single road for access in and out 

of the area. There are also opportunities 

to restore highly valued aspen habitats. 

Large crown fires with high fire 

intensity, dangerous flame lengths, 

rapid rates of fire spread and long 

spotting distances for firebrands are 

expected under the existing conditions. 

Prescribed burn units are fairly open 

with non-continuous fuels. Over time 

these open areas are slowly being 

encroached by conifer trees. The 

encroachment reduces the effectiveness 

of the areas as natural fuel breaks. 

Aspen stands are being encroached by 

conifers of various age classes. Conifer 

removal and/or prescribed burning are 

intended to reinvigorate aspen clones. 

The proposed treatments maintain or 

restore the characteristics of ecosystem 

composition and structure to reduce the 

risk of uncharacteristic wildfire effects 

in the wildland urban interface. 

Proposed Action 

The Gallatin National Forest proposes 

to reduce wildland fuel and aspen forest 

competition by forest thinning; removal 

of excessive dead and down trees, 


erowe on DSK5CLS3C1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 110 / Wednesday, June 9, 2010 / Notices 32739 

branches and activity related slash, and 

by slashing and prescribed burning. The 

proposal includes a combination of 

treatments on approximately 2,900 acres 

along the Hebgen Lake Road (FSR 167) 

which is on the west side of Hebgen 

Lake. Generally, treatment would 

remove about 50% to 60% of the 

existing trees per acre in all diameter 

classes with an objective of maintaining 

approximately 13 feet between tree 

crowns. Forest thinning would be 

implemented by mechanical and hand 

methods. Activities may include, but are 

not limited to thinning through logging, 

slashing small trees, whole tree yarding, 

yarding unmerchantable material, hand 

and machine piling, pile and broadcast 

burning, hauling of commercial 

material, firewood removal, biomass 

reduction such as chipping, erosion 

control, construction of and 

rehabilitation of skid trails, landings 

and temporary roads. An estimated 6– 

6.5 miles of temporary road would be 

needed to implement the proposed 

action. 

Approximately 370 acres of the 

proposed treatments are in the Lionhead 

Inventoried Roadless Area. Treatments 

in the roadless area are designed to 

restore ecosystem processes by 

removing generally small diameter trees. 

Approximately 295 acres of thinning is 

limited to ladder fuels, which are 

generally less than six inches in 

diameter. Another 25 acres is proposed 

for prescribed burning with some 

slashing of small trees as a pretreatment. About 50 acres is proposed 

for mechanical thinning of generally 

small diameter trees. No temporary or 

permanent roads are proposed in the 

inventoried roadless area. 

As proposed, all project work would 

be completed within 6–9 years, once 

implementation begins after a decision. 

A decision is expected in 2010 with 

implementation to begin in 2011. 

The Project would implement 

priorities and applicable direction from 

the Gallatin Forest Plan and Federal Fire 

Policy which includes the National Fire 

Plan, Cohesive Strategy and the 2001 

Review and Update of the 1995 Federal 

Wildland Fire Management Policy. 

Possible Alternatives 

Three alternatives have been 

identified: The No Action, Proposed 

Action and an Alternative to reduce 

impacts to Moose Winter Range. 

Responsible Official 

As the Gallatin Forest Supervisor I am 

the responsible official for this decision. 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

What, if anything, should be done to 

reduce wildfire risks to life and property 

in the identified wildland urban 

interface/evacuation route in the Project 

area? What if anything should be done 

to enhance aspen communities in the 

project area? What associated activities, 

mitigation measures, restoration actions 

and monitoring requirements would be 

included in the decision? 

Preliminary Issues 

The following issues have been 

identified as possible decision factors or 

issues of special interest to the public: 

effects to the fire/fuels environment; 

effects to the inventoried roadless area 

(Lionhead 1–193); effects to habitat for 

Canada lynx, grizzly bear habitat and 

moose winter habitat. 

Scoping Process 

This notice of intent initiates the 

scoping process, which guides the 

development of the environmental 

impact statement. Two comment 

periods were completed for this Project 

during the development and publication 

of the Environmental Assessment and 

Decision/FONSI that supported the 

2008 Decision. Currently, the Project is 

listed in the Schedule of Proposed 

Actions. In addition to comments 

received in response to the NOI and 

forthcoming draft environmental impact 

statement, there will be an open house. 

The Open house is scheduled on 

Thursday June 24 at the Hebgen Lake 

Ranger District between 3–7 pm. 

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 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 proposed 

wildland fuel and aspen treatments. 

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. 

Dated: June 1, 2010. 

Mary Erickson, 

Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. 2010–13729 Filed 6–8–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

El Dorado County Resource Advisory 

Committee 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: The El Dorado County 

Resource Advisory Committee will meet 

in Placerville, California. The committee 

is meeting as authorized under the 

Secure Rural Schools and Community 

Self-Determination Act (Pub. L. 110– 

343) and in compliance with the Federal 

Advisory Committee Act. The purpose 

of the meeting is to meet as a committee 

for the first time, receive a briefing on 

RAC duties and responsibilities, elect a 

chair person, and set the dates for the 

next meetings. 

DATES: The meeting will be held at the 

on June 21, 2010 at 6 p.m.–9 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the El Dorado Center of Folsom Lake 

College, Community Room, 6699 

Campus Drive, Placerville, CA 95667. 

Written comments should be sent to 

Frank Mosbacher; Forest Supervisor’s 

Office; 100 Forni Road; Placerville, CA 

95667. Comments may also be sent via 

e-mail to fmosbacher@fsfed.us, or via 

facsimile to 530–621–5297. 

All comments, including names and 

addresses when provided, are placed in 

the record and are available for public 

inspection and copying. The public may 

inspect comments received at 100 Forni 

Road; Placerville, CA 95667. Visitors are 

encouraged to call ahead to 530–622– 

5061 to facilitate entry into the building. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Frank Mosbacher, Public Affairs Officer, 

Eldorado National Forest Supervisors 

Office, (530) 621–5268. Individuals who 

use telecommunication devices for the 


erowe on DSK5CLS3C1PROD with NOTICES