Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 197 / Friday, October 10, 2014 / Notices 61283 

than adequate to carry fire the Forest 

Service proposes to leave a higher 

residual BA of 40 square feet per acre 

in order to allow pine needle cast to 

serve as primary carrier of fire across the 

stand. 

➢ Spot foliar application of the 

herbicide triclopyr (as needed) on 811 

acres of savannah restoration sites for 

site hardwood control. This is not a 

broadcast application of herbicide. Spot 

treatment would occur only where there 

is a presence of woody vegetation that 

threatens the re-establishment of 

savannah plant species. If the savannah 

restoration areas do not show evidence 

of woody encroachment after harvest it 

will not receive herbicide treatment. 

➢ Clearcut 16 acres of slash pine 

plantation for borrow pit excavation to 

provide surface material for future road 

work. 

➢ Remove six cattle guards from a 

closed range allotment (two on highway 

379, two on FSR 113, and one on FSRs 

174 and 109). 

Possible Alternatives 

Three potential alternatives will be 

evaluated in the EIS. The first is the No 

Action alternative which will consist of 

no treatments in the proposed project 

area other than those already approved 

such as prescribed burning or nonnative invasive species control. The 

second alternative addresses the impact 

to the environment if no herbicides 

were used and treatments such as 

hardwood control were done by 

mechanical means. The third alternative 

would remove all proposed savannah 

treatments in the project area. 

Additional alternatives may also be 

added as we move through the planning 

process. 

Responsible Official 

Marcus Beard, District Ranger for the 

Apalachicola National Forest 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

Based upon the effects of the 

alternatives, the responsible official will 

decide whether or not to implement the 

Proposed Action or one of the possible 

alternatives. 

Preliminary Issues 

1. Impact of timber removal on 

species listed as threatened or 

endangered under the Endangered 

Species Act of 1973. 

2. Impact of borrow pit excavation on 

16 acres of forested land. 

Scoping Process 

This notice of intent reinitiates the 

scoping process, which was started with 

a public scoping notice sent to 

interested parties in June 2013. Pursuant 

to 36 CFR part 218 subparts A and B, 

a draft EIS will be made available for the 

45-day notice and comment period. A 

final EIS and draft Record of Decision 

will be made available for a 45-day 

objection period. 

It is important that reviewers provide 

their comments at such times and in 

such manner that they are useful to the 

agency’s preparation of the 

environmental impact statement. 

Therefore, comments should be 

provided prior to the close of the 

comment period and should clearly 

articulate the reviewer’s concerns and 

contentions. 

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, they will not have 

standing to object. 

Dated: October 1, 2014. 

Marcus Beard, 

District Ranger. 

[FR Doc. 2014–24191 Filed 10–9–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Shawnee National Forest, Illinois; 

Cretaceous Hills Ecological 

Restoration 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The USDA Forest Service 

Shawnee National Forest (Forest) 

intends to prepare an environmental 

impact statement to disclose the 

environmental consequences of an 

ecological restoration project. In the 

environmental impact statement, the 

USDA Forest Service will address the 

potential environmental effects of the 

restoration of an oak-hickory hardwood 

forest-type and the increase of wildlife 

habitat diversity through the removal or 

thinning of non-native pine trees and 

small shade-tolerant hardwood trees 

from about 3,200 acres, the application 

of prescribed fire on about 15,100 acres, 

treatment of invasive species, 

maintenance of barrens habitats, 

development of vernal ponds, and 

transportation system maintenance, 

construction, or reconstruction. 

The Cretaceous Hills Ecological 

Restoration Project (Hills Project) is 

located in the Bay Creek Ditch, Barren 

Creek and Sister Islands-Ohio River 

watersheds between the communities of 

Metropolis and Bay City, in southern 

Pope and eastern Massac Counties, 

Illinois. The 26,102 acres in the project 

areas include about 15,130 acres of 

National Forest System land and 10,972 

acres of state and private land. All 

activities are proposed on National 

Forest System land. 

DATES: Comments concerning the scope 

of the analysis must be received by 

November 10, 2014 in order to be most 

useful in the development of the 

environmental impact statement. The 

draft environmental impact statement is 

expected February, 2015 and the final 

environmental impact statement is 

expected September, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be 

submitted on the Hills Project Web 

page: http://tinyurl.com/CretaceousHills-Shawnee-NF. Written comments 

may be sent to: Shawnee National 

Forest, Attn: Hills Project, 602 N. 1st 

Street, Vienna, IL 62995. Comments 

may also be sent via facsimile to (618) 

658–1300, with ‘‘Hills Project’’ on the 

subject line. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Amanda Kunzmann at 602 N. 1st Street, 

Vienna, (618) 658–2111, or 

akunzmann@fs.fed.us. 

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 

Time, Monday through Friday. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose of and Need for Action 

The purpose of the Hills Project is to 

implement land management activities 

consistent with the Forest Land and 

Resource Management Plan (Plan) and 

bring the Forest closer to the desired 

condition stated therein. The Forest 

Plan outlines goals, objectives and 

desired conditions for Forest resources. 

The Hills Project Area encompasses 

three Forest Plan managementprescription areas: Even-Aged 

Hardwood Forest (EH), Mature 

Hardwood Forest (MH) and Natural 

Area (NA). 

The EH management prescription 

emphasizes maintenance of the oakhickory forest-type; ecological 

restoration to native hardwood of areas 

planted with non-native pine; wildlife 

habitat associated with a mix of 

hardwoods, pine and openland; and the 

production of high-quality hardwoods 

in a roaded-natural recreational setting. 

The desired condition relevant to this 

project is for a natural-appearing 

landscape with stands of hardwood 

trees in various age and size classes. The 

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61284 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 197 / Friday, October 10, 2014 / Notices 

oak-hickory community and associated 

understories dominate. The land 

supports a variety of wildlife, ranging 

from species that utilize earlysuccessional stages to those requiring 

mature-stand characteristics. Some areas 

are actively managed for forest-interior 

species. Roads provide access for 

recreation, administration and 

management purposes, including 

transportation of forest products (Forest 

Plan, page 59). 

The MH management prescription 

provides for recreation, wildlife and soil 

and water protection, with motorized 

and non-motorized recreation occurring 

in a roaded-natural or semi-primitive 

setting. The prescription provides 

habitat for wildlife requiring maturehardwood forest conditions. The desired 

condition relevant to this project is a 

landscape of natural ecosystems. 

Usually dominant, mature, hardwood 

trees and associated vegetation are 

interspersed with openland ecosystems; 

some areas are actively managed for 

forest-interior species (Forest Plan, page 

68). 

The NA management prescription 

provides for the preservation, protection 

and/or enhancement of the unique 

natural values found in many natural 

areas on the Forest. The desired future 

condition relevant to this project is that 

the four designated natural areas 

included in the project, each 

biologically and geologically unique, 

contain a variety of wildlife species and 

diverse vegetation in a naturalappearing condition. 

The forest in the EH management area 

is about 30 percent non-native pine that 

was planted in the 1930’s and 1940’s to 

control erosion on depleted farmland. 

Forest Plan management goals include 

the conversion of non-native pine 

plantations to native hardwoods, 

emphasizing the removal of pine within 

or adjacent to natural areas; and the 

restoration and maintenance of the oakhickory forest-type for biological 

diversity and wildlife habitat, utilizing 

landscape-level prescribed burning, 

timber harvesting and timber-stand 

improvement to help create and/or 

maintain the necessary ecological 

conditions for regeneration and 

maintenance (Forest Plan, pages 21–22). 

The area has also been affected by two 

major ice storms that damaged many 

trees, increasing fuel-loading 

throughout. 

The forest in the MH management 

area was also damaged by the ice 

storms, with a heavy hazardous fuel 

load. This area includes the Burke 

Branch Inventoried Roadless Area, a 

forest-interior habitat as described in the 

Forest Plan (page 43). Managed under 

the NA management prescription, 

designated natural areas in the project 

area include Robnett Barrens Ecological 

Area, Dog Creek Barrens Ecological Area 

and Dean Cemetery East Barrens 

Ecological Area, as well as the Burke 

Branch Research Natural Area 

Ecological Area, with mesic barrens, 

mesic floodplain forest and dry mesic 

upland forest. Among the Forest Plan 

goals are the restoration and 

maintenance of barrens through active 

management and the management of 

forest-interior habitats for large blocks of 

oak-hickory forests, with burning 

conducted frequently to promote oakhickory generation and to control 

competition from shade-tolerant and 

invasive species, and the application of 

herbicide to control invasive species 

(Forest Plan, pages 21, 26 and 43). 

Proposed Action 

The following actions have been 

identified to address the needs 

described above. (1) To meet the need 

to convert about 3,200 acres of nonnative pine plantations to the oakhickory hardwood forest-type, conduct 

commercial harvest through overstory 

removal of remnant pine trees on about 

490 acres and shelterwood with reserves 

and thinning on about 2,600 acres. 

Treatments include two entries for sitepreparation for natural regeneration on 

about 3,200 acres and the application of 

prescribed fire. Herbicides are proposed 

for site preparation and control of 

shade-tolerant species. (2) To reduce the 

threat of wildfire from the hazardous 

fuel load in the project area, prescribed 

fire will be applied to about 15,100 

acres throughout the project area. This 

will not only reduce the fuel load in the 

area, but also will aid in the restoration 

and maintenance of designated natural 

areas and forest-interior habitat. (3) To 

restore and enhance the barrens natural 

areas, herbicide treatments and 

prescribed fire will be applied where 

necessary, small trees and shrubs will 

be removed, and non-native pines will 

be clearcut from about 90 acres within 

and adjacent to natural areas. (4) To 

maintain forest-interior habitat to 

increase wildlife diversity, herbicide 

treatments and prescribed fire will be 

applied where necessary. (5) To create 

additional habitat diversity, twenty 

small vernal pools will be constructed 

in the project area. (6) To provide 

management and possible future 

recreational access to the project areas, 

roads will be maintained, constructed or 

reconstructed. 

Responsible Official 

The responsible official is the Hidden 

Springs-Mississippi Bluffs District 

Ranger. 

Nature of Decision To Be Made 

Given the purpose and need for the 

proposal, the responsible official will 

review the analyses of the proposed 

action and the alternatives in order to 

make the following decisions: Whether 

or not to release shade-intolerant oak, 

hickory and other hardwoods through 

removal of overstory pine; whether or 

not to use site-preparation tools to 

restore the native, hardwood-forest 

community; whether or not to utilize a 

commercial timber sale to remove the 

pine trees; whether or not to manage the 

forest-interior habitat and designated 

natural areas in the project areas; 

whether or not to apply prescribed fire 

or herbicides; whether or not to 

construct vernal ponds; and whether or 

not to manage the project area 

transportation system with 

maintenance, construction, or 

reconstruction. 

Scoping Process 

This notice of intent initiates the 

scoping process that will guide 

development of the environmental 

impact statement for a project 

implementing the Forest Plan; it is 

subject to the requirements of 36 CFR 

part 218, Subparts A and B—ProjectLevel Pre-decisional Admnistrative 

Review Process. The initiation of the 

scoping period also opens the 

‘‘designated opportunity for public 

comment’’ on this proposal, under 36 

CFR part 218.5(a). This designated 

opportunity will conclude at the end of 

the comment period for the draft 

environmental impact statement. 

It is important that reviewers provide 

their comments at such times and in 

such a manner that they are useful to 

the agency’s preparation of the 

environmental impact statement. 

Commenters who desire eligibility to 

object during the pre-decisional 

administrative review process must 

submit comments that meet the 

requirements of 36 CFR part 218.25. To 

be most helpful to the development of 

the environmental impact statement, 

comments should be provided prior to 

the close of the scoping period and 

should clearly articulate the reviewer’s 

concerns. Scoping meetings will be 

scheduled with interested parties and 

organizations following publication of 

this notice. 

Comments received in response to 

this solicitation, including names and 

addresses of those who comment, will 

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 197 / Friday, October 10, 2014 / Notices 61285 

be part of the public record for this 

proposed action. Comments submitted 

anonymously will be accepted and 

considered; however, anonymous 

comments will not provide the agency 

with the ability to provide the 

respondent with subsequent 

environmental documents. 

Dated: October 6, 2014. 

Hurston A. Nicholas, 

Forest Supervisor. 

[FR Doc. 2014–24229 Filed 10–9–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3411–15–P 

ARCHITECTURAL AND 

TRANSPORTATION BARRIERS 

COMPLIANCE BOARD 

[Docket No. ATBCB–2014–0002] 

RIN 3014–0011 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Requests for Comments; 

Clearance of Renewed Approval of 

Information Collection: Generic 

Clearance for the Collection of 

Qualitative Feedback on Agency 

Service Delivery 

AGENCY: Architectural and 

Transportation Barriers Compliance 

Board. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. 3501–3521), the Architectural 

and Transportation Barriers Compliance 

Board (Access Board) invites public 

comments about our intention to request 

the Office of Management and Budget’s 

(OMB) approval to renew a generic 

information collection. The Federal 

Register notice with a 60-day comment 

period soliciting comments on the 

following collection of information was 

published on July 28, 2014 (79 FR 

43709). As part of a federal governmentwide effort to streamline the process for 

seeking feedback from the public on 

service delivery, the Access Board has 

an approved Generic Information 

Collection Request entitled ‘‘Generic 

Clearance for the Collection of 

Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service 

Delivery.’’ A copy of the draft 

supporting statement is available at 

http://www.regulations.gov (see Docket 

ID ATBCB–2014–0002). 

DATES: Submit comments by November 

10, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments by any of 

the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Regulations.gov. ID for this docket is 

ATBCB–2014–0002. 

• Email: damiani@access-board.gov. 

Include docket number ATBCB–2014– 

0002 in the subject line of the message. 

• Fax: (202) 272–0081. 

• Mail or Hand Delivery/Courier: 

Office of the General Counsel, Access 

Board, 1331 F Street NW., Suite 1000, 

Washington, DC 20004–1111. 

All comments, including any personal 

information provided, will be posted 

without change to http:// 

www.regulations.gov and are available 

for public viewing. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mario Damiani, Office of the General 

Counsel, Access Board, 1331 F Street 

NW., Suite 1000, Washington, DC 

20004–1111. Telephone numbers: (202) 

272–0050 (voice); (202) 272–0064 

(TTY). These are not toll free numbers. 

Email address: damiani@accessboard.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

OMB Control Number: 3014–0011. 

Title: Generic Clearance for the 

Collection of Qualitative Feedback on 

Agency Service Delivery. 

Type of Review: Renewal of a generic 

information collection. 

Background: The proposed 

information collection activity provides 

a means to garner qualitative customer 

and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, 

timely manner, in accordance with the 

Administration’s commitment to 

improving service delivery. By 

qualitative feedback we mean 

information that provides useful 

insights on perceptions and opinions, 

but are not statistical surveys that yield 

quantitative results that can be 

generalized to the population of study. 

This feedback will provide insights into 

customer or stakeholder perceptions, 

experiences and expectations, provide 

an early warning of issues with service, 

or focus attention on areas where 

communication, training or changes in 

operations might improve delivery of 

products or services. These collections 

will allow for ongoing, collaborative and 

actionable communications between the 

Access Board and its customers and 

stakeholders. It will also allow feedback 

to contribute directly to the 

improvement of program management. 

Feedback collected under this generic 

clearance provides useful information, 

but it does not yield data that can be 

generalized to the overall population. 

This type of generic clearance for 

qualitative information will not be used 

for quantitative information collections 

that are designed to yield reliably 

actionable results, such as monitoring 

trends over time or documenting 

program performance. Such data uses 

require more rigorous designs that 

address: The target population to which 

generalizations will be made, the 

sampling frame, the sample design 

(including stratification and clustering), 

the precision requirements or power 

calculations that justify the proposed 

sample size, the expected response rate, 

methods for assessing potential nonresponse bias, the protocols for data 

collection, and any testing procedures 

that were or will be undertaken prior to 

fielding the study. Depending on the 

degree of influence the results are likely 

to have, such collections may still be 

eligible for submission for other generic 

mechanisms that are designed to yield 

quantitative results. 

Respondents: Average annual 

estimate of approximately 1,100 

Individuals and Households, Businesses 

and Organizations, State, Local or Tribal 

Government. 

Below, we provide projected average 

estimates for the next three years: 

Average Expected Annual Number of 

Activities: 7. 

Average Number of Respondents per 

Activity: 157. 

Annual Responses: 1,100. 

Frequency of Response: Once per 

request. 

Estimated Average Burden per 

Response: 7.25 minutes. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 120 

hours. 

Public Comments Invited: You are 

asked to comment on any aspect of this 

information collection, including (a) 

whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the Access 

Board’s performance; (b) the accuracy of 

the estimated burden; (c) ways for the 

Access Board to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information 

collection; and (d) ways that the burden 

could be minimized without reducing 

the quality of the collected information. 

We will summarize comments received 

in the request for OMB’s clearance of 

this information collection. 

David M. Capozzi, 

Executive Director. 

[FR Doc. 2014–24168 Filed 10–9–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8150–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

The Department of Commerce will 

submit to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for clearance the 

following proposal for collection of 

information under the provisions of the 

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