Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 37 / Friday, February 24, 1995 / Notices 10347

and copies of the DEIS will be available

for viewing.

Robert McDowell,

Planning Staff Officer.

[FR Doc. 95–4563 Filed 2–23–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

Notice of the Preparation of the

Southern Appalachian Assessment,

and the Beginning of the Forest Plan

Revision Efforts for the National

Forests in Alabama, ChattahoocheeOconee, Cherokee, and Sumter

National Forests

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: This notice is to announce the

U.S. Forest Service’s participation in the

preparation of the Southern

Appalachian Assessment (SAA). This

Assessment is being prepared by the

U.S. Forest Service (the Southern

Region of the National Forest System

and the Southeastern Forest Experiment

Station) in cooperation with the other

Federal agencies that are members of

SAMAB (Southern Appalachian Man

and the Biosphere Cooperative). It will

include national forest lands of the

George Washington, Jefferson,

Nantahala-Pisgah, Cherokee, and

Chattahoochee National Forests; and

parts of the Sumter and Talladega

National Forests. Also involved will be

National Park Service lands in the Great

Smoky Mountains National Park,

Shenandoah National Park, and the Blue

Ridge Parkway.

This notice also announces the

beginning of the efforts to revise the

Land and Resource Management Plans

(Forest Plans) for the National Forests in

Alabama, the Chattahoochee-Oconee,

the Cherokee, and the Sumter National

Forests. This is not the ‘‘Notice of

Intent’’ (NOI) for the Environmental

Impact Statements that will accompany

the Revised Forest Plans. Those NOIs

will be issued at a later date.

The Southern Appalachian

Assessment will support and facilitate

ecosystem management decisions to be

made in Forest Plan revisions. As the

National Forests in the Southern

Appalachians are conducting their local

efforts to describe their ‘‘Analysis of the

Management Situation’’ (AMS), they

will also be providing information for

the larger scale Southern Appalachian

Assessment.

The Assessment will be used to help

determine each National Forests’ ‘‘Need

for Change’’ section of their AMS. This

information will then be used to publish

the Notices of Intent to prepare the

Environmental Impact Statements,

which will begin the NEPA (National

Environmental Policy Act) processes

associated with each Forest Plan

revision.

Public involvement is critical

throughout these processes and it will

be requested and accepted continually

throughout these efforts. Formal public

involvement with the Forest Plan

revision efforts will also be conducted

through ‘‘Scoping’’, following the

issuance of the National Forests NOIs.

DATES: The Southern Appalachian

Assessment is scheduled to be

completed by January 1996.

The National Forests in Alabama, the

Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests,

the Cherokee National Forest, and the

Sumter National Forest are scheduled to

complete the drafts of their Analysis of

the Management Situation between

October 1995 and January 1996. During

this same time period, these Forests are

scheduled to issue their Notices of

Intent to Prepare an Environmental

Impact Statement (NOI) for their

Revised Land and Resource

Management Plans. A Revised NOI for

the Jefferson National Forest will also be

issued during this time period.

ADDRESSES: Requests for information,

and comments concerning this notice

can be sent to:

Director, Planning and Budget, USDAForest Service, 1720 Peachtree Rd.

NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30367–9102.

Co-Team Leader, Southern Appalachian

Assessment, USDA-Forest Service,

1720 Peachtree Rd. NW, Atlanta,

Georgia 30367–9102.

Forest Supervisor, National Forests in

Alabama, 2946 Chestnut,

Montgomery, Alabama 36107–3010.

Forest Supervisor, ChattahoocheeOconee NFs, 508 Oak Street NW,

Gainesville, Georgia 30501.

Forest Supervisor, Cherokee NF, 2800

N. Oconee St. NE., P.O. Box 2010,

Cleveland, Tennessee 37320–2010.

Forest Supervisor, Francis MarionSumter NFs, 4931 Broad River,

Columbia, South Carolina 29210–

4021.

Forest Supervisor, George Washington

NF, P.O. Box 233, Harrison Plaza,

Harrisonburg, Virginia 22801.

Forest Supervisor, Jefferson NF, 5162

Valley Pointe Parkway, Roanoke,

Virginia 24019–3050.

Forest Supervisor, National Forests in

North Carolina, 100 Post and Otis

Streets, P.O. Box 2750, Asheville,

North Carolina 28802.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

For more information concerning this

notice contact: Gary Pierson, Director of

Planning and Budget, Southern Region.

For more information on the Southern

Appalachian Assessment contact:

Forrest Carpenter, Co-Team Leader,

Southern Region. For more information

from the individual National Forests

contact: Rick Morgan, Planning Team

Leader, National Forests in Alabama;

Caren Briscoe, Planning Staff Officer,

Chattahoochee-Oconee NF; Red

Anderson, Planning Team Leader,

Cherokee NF; Dave Plunkett, NEPA

Coordinator, George Washington NF;

Nancy Ross, Planning Team Leader,

Jefferson NF; Larry Hayden, Planning

Team Leader, Nantahala-Pisgah NF;

Richard Shelfer, Planning Team Leader,

Sumter NF.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Preparation of the Southern

Appalachian Assessment

The Southern Region of the National

Forest System and the Southeastern

Forest Experiment Station, in

cooperation with the other Federal

agencies that are members of the

Southern Appalachian Man and the

Biosphere Cooperative (SAMAB, i.e.,

the Environmental Protection Agency,

the Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife

Service, the National Park Service, the

Tennessee Valley Authority, the

Geological Survey, the Department of

Energy Oak Ridge National Laboratory,

the Economic Development

Administration, and the National

Biological Survey) have begun

conducting a Southern Appalachian

Assessment (SAA). The Assessment will

include the national forest lands of the

George Washington, Jefferson,

Nantahala-Pisgah, Cherokee, and

Chattahoochee National Forests, and

parts of the Sumter and Talladega

National Forests. The Assessment will

also include National Park Service lands

in the Great Smoky Mountains National

Park, Shenandoah National Park, and

the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Assessment will facilitate an

interagency ecological approach to

management in the Southern

Appalachian area by collecting and

analyzing broad-scale biological,

physical, social and economic data to

serve as a foundation for more local

natural resource management decisions.

The Assessment will be organized

around four ‘‘themes’’—(1) Terrestrial

(which includes the Health of Forest

Ecosystems, and Plant and Animal

Resources); (2) Aquatic Resources; (3)

Air Quality and (4) the Human

Dimension of Ecosystems (which

includes Communities and Human

Influences; Roadless Areas and

Wilderness; Recreation, Wildlife and

Fish Supply and Demand; and the
10348 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 37 / Friday, February 24, 1995 / Notices

Timber Economy of the Southern

Appalachians).

Public comment on the SAA process

began with a series of open town hall

meetings held in Asheville, NC;

Gainesville, GA; and Roanoke, VA in

August 1994. In addition, interested

members of the public were asked for

further written comments to be received

by September 15. As the Assessment

progresses, continued public

involvement will be facilitated through

additional meetings and newsletters.

2. Beginning of the Forest Plan Revision

Efforts for the National Forests in

Alabama, the Chattahoochee-Oconee,

the Cherokee, and the Sumter National

Forests

This notice announces that the

National Forests in Alabama, the

Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests,

the Cherokee National Forest, and the

Sumter National Forest either have

already started or are beginning efforts

to revise their Land and Resource

Management Plans (LRMP). These

Forests are each in the process of

preparing their Analysis of the

Management Situation (AMS), one of

the first steps in the revision process.

This step includes updating resource

inventories, defining the current

situation, estimating supply capabilities

and resource demands, and determining

the ‘‘Need for Change’’ (36 CFR

219.12(e)(5)).

3. Public Involvement in Developing the

‘‘Need for Change’’ in an AMS

Determining the concerns and

expectations of National Forests

constituents and getting public input on

how well current forest plans are

working, or not working, are critical

elements of describing the ‘‘need to

change’’ a forest plan. An integral part

of determining the need for change is

public involvement. Each of the

National Forests described above either

have already, or will soon contact their

interested public to solicit their

participation in this step of the forest

plan revision process.

4. Relationship Between the AMS and

a Notice of Intent to Prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement

In the past, a ‘‘Notice of Intent to

Prepare an Environmental Impact

Statement’’ (NOI) was issued at the

beginning of the forest planning process,

including before the development of the

AMS.

This time, we are first defining the

current situation and an initial ‘‘need

for change’’in a Draft AMS, and then

issuing a NOI prior to developing

alternatives. This will allow us to

incorporate a more definable ‘‘Proposed

Action’’ and ‘‘Purpose and Need’’ into

our NOIs, which will begin the formal

NEPA process of preparing the

Environmental Impact Statements (EIS)

that will accompany the Revised Land

and Resource Management Plans.

5. Relationship Between the Southern

Appalachian Assessment and the

Process for Revising the Southern

Appalachian National Forests’ LRMPs

The public has expressed concern that

the Southern Appalachian Assessment

will ‘‘delay’’ revising National Forest

Land and Resource Management Plans

in the Southern Appalachians.

However, the SAA is being conducted

concurrently, and in support of, the

forest plan revisions.

Many of the information needs for the

Forest AMSs and for the SAA are the

same. The Assessment will support the

revision of the LRMPs by determining

how the lands, resources, people and

management of the National Forests

interrelate within the larger context of

the Southern Appalachian area. The

SAA, however, will not be a ‘‘decision

document’’ and it will not involve the

NEPA process. As broad-scale issues are

identified and addressed at the subregional level in the Assessment, the

individual National Forest’s role in

resolving those broad-scale issues will

become a part of the ‘‘need for change’’

at the Forest level.

6. Issuing the Notice of Intent To

Prepare an EIS

The National Forests identified above

will issue their NOIs when enough

information from the SAA is available

for them to develop the ‘‘Need for

Change’’ section of their Draft AMS. The

Draft AMSs are scheduled to be

completed between October 1995 and

January 1996. Their NOIs are also

scheduled to be issued during this same

time period.

Each NOI will include a description

of a preliminary ‘‘Proposed Action’’ and

of some preliminary alternatives.

Scoping to receive public comments on

the preliminary proposed action and

preliminary alternatives will begin

following the publication of the NOIs.

These public comments will be used to

further refine the ‘‘Proposed Action’’

and the preliminary alternatives, to

possibly identify additional alternatives,

and to finalize the AMS and the ‘‘Need

for Change.’’

7. Status of the Jefferson, George

Washington, and Nantahala-Pisgah

National Forests

The Jefferson National Forest, which

is also currently working on its Revised

LRMP, previously issued a Notice of

Intent to Prepare an Environmental

Impact Statement for its Revised LRMP

on June 28, 1993. A Revised NOI for the

Forest will be issued between October

1995 and January 1996, to coincide with

the NOIs issued for the other National

Forests in the Southern Appalachians.

The George Washington National

Forest completed its Final Revised

Forest Plan on January 21, 1993, and the

Nantahala-Pisgah National Forests

completed a significant amendment,

Amendment 5 to their Land and

Resource Management Plan on March

18, 1994. These two forests are not

currently involved in the revision

process. However, if information from

the Southern Appalachian Assessment

identifies conditions requiring additions

or changes to these plans to ensure

consistency between the National

Forests in the Southern Appalachians,

then amendments to these plans could

be considered.

8. The Responsible Official

The Responsible Official for the

Revised Land and Resource

Management Plans for the National

Forests in the Southern Appalachians is

Robert C. Joslin, Regional Forester,

Southern Region, 1720 Peachtree Road

NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30367.

Dated: January 18, 1995.

Lynn C. Neff,

Acting Regional Forester.

[FR Doc. 95–4570 Filed 2–23–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

Forest Products Laboratory Wood

Utilization Research

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

SUMMARY: The Forest Products

Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, will

host a meeting March 27–30, 1995, to

brief industry and the public on Forest

Service programs in wood utilization

research. The Forest Service will be

presenting the status and description of

pending research initiatives and

programs. Advice and recommendations

to the Forest Service will not be

solicited or accepted during the

meeting; rather, input as a result of

reviews may be submitted in writing

after the meeting.

DATES: The meeting will be held March

27–30, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (M-Tu); 8

a.m. to 3 p.m. (W); 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

(Th).

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at

the Forest Products Laboratory, One

Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison,

Wisconsin.