This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

45693 

Vol. 73, No. 152 

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Office of the Chief Economist; 

Strategic Plan for USDA Climate 

Change Research, Education, and 

Extension 

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Economist, 

U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

ACTION: Request for Public Input on 

USDA’s Climate Change Strategic 

Planning Priorities and Goals for 

Research, Education, and Extension. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) is a member of the 

United States Climate Change Science 

Program (CCSP) and has undertaken 

research on issues related to climate 

change and natural resources over the 

past two decades. USDA recently 

prepared a major scientific assessment 

of the effects of climate change on 

agriculture, land resources, water 

resources, and biodiversity in the 

United States for the CCSP. USDA is 

requesting input from the public on its 

effort to prepare a Strategic Plan for 

Climate Change Research, Education, 

and Extension. This request is being 

published in the Federal Register for a 

45-day public comment period. Public 

comments will be considered during the 

preparation of the Strategic Plan. The 

final version of the Strategic Plan will 

be published on USDA’s Web site. 

Public comments received in response 

to this request will be made available 

upon request. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

September 19, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to 

Eleanor Rollings, Special Assistant to 

the Under Secretary for Research, 

Education, and Extension, USDA, Jamie 

L. Whitten Building, 1400 

Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20250, 

Eleanor.rollings@usda.gov, 202–720– 

1542. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Eleanor Rollings, Special Assistant to 

the Under Secretary for Research, 

Education, and Extension, USDA, 

Eleanor.rollings@usda.gov, 202–720– 

1542. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Draft goals 

of the USDA’s Climate Change Strategic 

Plan for Research, Education, and 

Extension: 

Goal 1: Understand the effects of 

climate change on natural and managed 

ecosystems. 

USDA will promote an understanding 

of the impacts of climate change on 

ecosystems and managed lands, 

including forests, grazing lands and 

croplands, is needed to enable 

continued production of goods and 

services and stewardship of natural 

resources. Areas of emphasis include: 

• Effects of changing precipitation, 

temperature and water availability on 

productivity and system services; 

• Implications of enhanced 

atmospheric carbon dioxide 

concentrations on system productivity 

and services; 

• Effects on invasive species, weeds, 

pathogens, insects and other factors 

limiting natural and managed systems 

productivity; 

• Effects on natural disturbance 

regimes, including wildfires; 

• Effects on production, processing, 

storage and delivery systems; 

• Economic consequences of climate 

change on natural and managed 

ecosystems; 

• Implications for water, soil and air 

systems needed for production and 

ecosystem sustainability; 

• Indicators/metrics from earth 

observations for identifying, measuring 

and monitoring the effects of climate 

change; 

• Measurement of changing carbon 

content of ecosystems, and of growth by 

species; 

• Evaluation of social and economic 

indicators for impacts of climate change 

on production systems, rural 

communities, the agricultural workforce 

and other human dimensions; 

• Incorporating climate change 

observations into USDA data systems. 

Goal 2: Develop knowledge and tools 

to enable adaptation to climate change 

and improve the resilience of natural 

and managed ecosystems. 

Mechanisms for adaptation to climate 

changes are critical for continued 

agricultural production and stewardship 

of natural resources. USDA activities 

under this goal will focus on the 

development of knowledge and 

technologies to address detrimental 

effects of climate change and to exploit 

elements of climate change that are 

potentially beneficial to agriculture and 

forestry. Risk management and adaptive 

management strategies are key elements 

of Goal 2. Elements of Goal 2 include: 

• Sustainable practices for 

agricultural production in the context of 

climate change; 

• Strategies to enable farmers and 

other landowners and managers to cope 

with challenges associated with 

drought, heat stress, moisture stress, and 

changes in disease and pest prevalence; 

• Management actions to increase 

forest stress resilience focused on 

altering forest processes, composition 

and structure to better withstand the 

suite of environmental stresses from 

changing climate, pests, pollutants, and 

wildfire; 

• Economic costs, benefits, and 

feasibility of adaptation at the producer 

through the macroeconomic scale; 

• Estimation and measurement 

techniques and capabilities for assessing 

the effectiveness of adaptive practices; 

• Strategies to enable farmers and 

other landowners to account for longer 

growing seasons, increases in carbon 

dioxide concentrations, and increases in 

precipitation where applicable; 

• Management strategies for adapting 

to the effects of climate on forest health 

and ecosystem services; 

• Knowledge and technology to 

enhance ecosystem adaptation and 

sustainability; 

• Technologies for maintenance and 

enhancement of ecosystem services 

such as water supplies, wildlife, 

biodiversity, clean air, and recreation 

within the context of global change; 

• Alternative strategies for increasing 

ecosystem resilience; 

• Indicators/metrics for monitoring 

the progress of strategies for adapting to 

climate change; 

• Life-cycle analysis and management 

strategy assessments. 

Goal 3: Develop knowledge and tools 

to reduce the contributions of 

agriculture, forestry, and other land 

management practices to the build up of 

greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. 

Agriculture, forests, and grazing lands 

activities can produce greenhouse gas 

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45694 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 152 / Wednesday, August 6, 2008 / Notices 

(GHG) emissions to the atmosphere. 

Land uses can also reverse the buildup 

of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere 

by sequestering and storing carbon in 

biomass and soils. The dominant drivers 

of land use emissions of carbon are the 

conversion of forest and grassland to 

crop and pastureland and the depletion 

of soil carbon through agricultural and 

other land management practices. 

Practices such as livestock grazing, 

manure management, and fertilizer 

application also affect emissions of 

other GHGs such as methane (CH4) and 

nitrous oxide (N2O). USDA research will 

identify opportunities to apply resource 

conserving management practices to 

reverse past carbon losses and to reduce 

greenhouse gas emissions. Areas of 

focus under Goal 3 include: 

• Knowledge and technologies that 

will assist resource managers in 

enhancing carbon sequestration; 

• Management options that increase 

forest carbon sequestration by 

increasing the carbon stored in forests 

and soils, in forest products, and used 

as biofuels to replace fossil fuels. 

• Costs, benefits, and feasibility of 

mitigation options; 

• Technologies and strategies for 

managing agricultural and forestry 

emissions of GHGs, including CO2, N2O, 

and CH4; 

• Mechanisms to facilitate the 

adoption and incorporation of GHG 

management technologies into 

agricultural and forestry production, 

processing, storage and delivery 

systems; 

• Estimation and measurement 

capabilities for assessing the 

effectiveness of GHG emission 

management. 

Goal 4: Deliver climate change 

science and technology to USDA 

agencies, stakeholders and collaborators 

for improved decision making. USDA 

maintains research, education, and 

extension capabilities which can be 

drawn on to meet the challenges of 

climate change. USDA seeks comments 

on how to best utilize resources to 

address questions relevant to 

stakeholders and decision makers at 

local, regional, national, and 

international scales. Goal 4 emphasizes 

the delivery and application of the latest 

scientific information, including: 

• Education of USDA stakeholders, 

clients and customers including the 

general public, the scientific 

community, land managers, producers, 

and policy makers about climate change 

and agriculture and forestry; 

• Scientific collaboration and 

technology transfer to integrate climate 

change into decision-making for 

management of natural and managed 

ecosystems using the products of 

research and development from the 

three previous goals; 

• Distribution and dissemination of 

USDA climate change data, information, 

and technology to interested users; 

• Decision support tools for 

policymakers, producers and land 

managers charged with implementing 

mechanisms for reducing GHG 

emissions and enhancing carbon 

sequestration, thereby increasing 

resilience of natural, agricultural, and 

forested ecosystems; 

• Risk management paradigms to 

balance production, conservation and 

climate change, especially in light of 

uncertainty regarding the specifics of 

future climate and climate variability; 

• Incorporation of GHG and carbon 

sequestration data into USDA data 

collection programs and data base 

systems. 

Gerald A. Bange, 

Chairman of the World Agricultural Outlook 

Board. 

[FR Doc. E8–18112 Filed 8–5–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–38–P 

COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS 

Agenda and Notice of Public Meeting 

of the Utah Advisory Committee 

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to 

the provisions of the rules and 

regulations of the U.S. Commission on 

Civil Rights and the regulations of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(FACA), that a meeting of the Utah 

Advisory Committee will convene at 6 

p.m. and adjourn at 8 p.m. (MST) on 

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at the 

Hilton City Center, 255 South West 

Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84101. 

The purpose of the meeting is for the 

committee to discuss recent 

Commission and regional activities, 

discuss current civil rights issues in the 

state as well as issues raised during the 

forum on civil rights issues affecting 

American Indians in Utah (held Dec. 

2006), and plan future activities. 

Persons desiring additional 

information, or planning a presentation 

to the Committee, should contact Malee 

V. Craft, Director of the Rocky Mountain 

Regional Office, (303) 866–1040 (TDD 

303–866–1049). Hearing-impaired 

persons who will attend the meeting 

and require the services of a sign 

language interpreter should contact the 

Regional Office at least ten (10) working 

days before the scheduled date of the 

meeting. 

The meeting will be conducted 

pursuant to the provisions of the rules 

and regulations of the Commission and 

FACA. 

Dated in Washington, DC, July 31, 2008. 

Christopher Byrnes, 

Chief, Regional Programs Coordination Unit. 

[FR Doc. E8–17980 Filed 8–5–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6335–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Foreign-Trade Zones Board 

[Order No. 1567] 

Approval of Expansion of Subzone 

161A and Expansion of Manufacturing 

Authority, Hospira, Inc. 

(Pharmaceutical Products), 

McPherson, KS 

Pursuant to its authority under the ForeignTrade Zones Act of June 18, 1934, as 

amended (19 U.S.C. 81a–81u), the ForeignTrade Zones Board (the Board) adopts the 

following Order: 

Whereas, the Board of County 

Commissioners of Sedgwick, Kansas, 

grantee of FTZ 161, submitted an 

application to the Board for authority to 

expand the subzone and the scope of 

manufacturing authority under zone 

procedures at Subzone 161A at the 

Hospira, Inc., pharmaceutical facility in 

McPherson, Kansas, adjacent to the 

Wichita Customs and Border Protection 

port of entry (FTZ Docket 41–2007, filed 

8/23/07); 

Whereas, notice inviting public 

comment was given in the Federal 

Register (72 FR 50326, 8/31/07), and the 

application has been processed 

pursuant to the FTZ Act and the Board’s 

regulations; and, 

Whereas, the Board adopts the 

findings and recommendations of the 

examiner’s report, and finds that the 

requirements of the FTZ Act and 

Board’s regulations are satisfied, and 

that the proposal as described in the 

application and Federal Register notice 

is in the public interest; 

Now, therefore, the Board hereby 

orders: 

The application to expand the 

subzone and the scope of manufacturing 

authority under zone procedures for 

Subzone 161A is approved, subject to 

the FTZ Act and the Board’s regulations, 

including section 400.28. 

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