52 Federal Register / Vol. 67, No. 1 / Wednesday, January 2, 2002 / Notices 

This proposal includes construction of 

approximately 19 miles of new roads. 

Research studies are proposed as a part 

of the South Deep Management Project 

in conjunction with the University of 

Washington, Washington State 

University, the University of Idaho, and 

the U.S. Forest Service Pacific 

Northwest Research Station. Studies 

concerning soil compaction, erosion, 

sedimentation resulting from active 

stream corridor treatments, silviculture, 

harvesting systems, and use of a 

computerized landscape management 

system are included in the project 

design. 

The project would be located 

approximately 15 miles northeast of 

Colville, Washington, along the Aladdin 

Highway. The South Deep Management 

Project is proposed within the South 

Deep Creek, Little Smackout Creek, 

Meadow Creek, Rocky Creek, Kolle 

Creek, Clinton Creek, Rogers Creek, 

Kenny Creek, and Scott Creek 

subwatershed on the Three Rivers 

Ranger District. This analysis will 

evaluate a range of alternatives for 

implementation of the project activities. 

The area being analyzed is 

approximately 38,300 acres, of which 

29,740 acres are National Forest System 

lands. The other ownership areas are 

included only for analysis of effects. 

The project area does not include any 

wilderness, RARE II, or other 

inventoried roadless land. 

The preliminary issues that have been 

identified include: water quality and 

watershed restoration; forest stand 

density; uses of unroaded areas; forest 

road management and maintenance; and 

soil stabilization. A range of alternatives 

will be considered, including a noaction alternative 

Initial scoping began in October, 

1998. The scoping process will include 

the following: identify and clarify 

issues; identify key issues to be 

analyzed in depth; explore alternatives 

based on themes which will be derived 

from issues recognized during scoping 

activities; and identify potential 

environmental effects of the Proposed 

Action and alternatives. The Forest 

Service is seeking information, 

comments, and assistance from other 

agencies, organizations, Indian Tribes, 

and individuals who may be interested 

in or affected by the Proposed Action. 

This input will be used in preparation 

of the draft EIS. Your comments are 

appreciated throughout the analysis 

process. 

Comments received in response to 

this notice, including names and 

addresses of those who comment, will 

be considered part of the public record 

on this proposed action and will be 

available for public inspection. 

Comments submitted anonymously will 

be accepted and considered, however, 

those who submit anonymous 

comments will not have standing to 

appeal the subsequent decision under 

36 CFR Part 215. Additionally, pursuant 

to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any person may 

request the agency to withhold a 

submission from the public record by 

showing how the Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA) permits such 

confidentiality. Persons requesting such 

confidentiality should be aware that 

under the FOIA, confidentiality may be 

granted in only very limited 

circumstances, such as to protect trade 

secrets. The Forest Service will inform 

the requester of the agency’s decision 

regarding the request for confidentiality, 

and where the request is denied, the 

agency will return the submission and 

notify the requester that the comments 

may be resubmitted with or without 

name and address within a specified 

number of days. 

The draft EIS is to be filed with the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

and to be available for public review by 

September, 2002. The EPA will publish 

a Notice of Availability of the draft EIS 

in the Federal Register. The comment 

period on the draft EIS will be 45 days 

from the date the EPA notice appears in 

the Federal Register. At that time, 

copies of the draft EIS will be 

distributed to interested and affected 

agencies, organizations, Indian Tribes, 

and members of the public for their 

review and comment. 

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 EIS 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 EIS stage but are not 

raised until after completion of the final 

EIS 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 

substantive 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 EIS. 

To assist the Forest Service in 

identifying and considering issues and 

concerns on the proposed action, 

comments on the draft EIS should be as 

specific as possible. It is also helpful if 

comments refer to specific pages or 

chapters of the draft EIS. Comments 

may also address the adequacy of the 

draft EIS 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. 

The final EIS is scheduled to be 

available by December, 2002. In the 

final EIS, the Forest Service is required 

to respond to substantive comments 

received during the comment period for 

the draft EIS. The Responsible Official 

is Colville National Forest Supervisor, 

Nora Rasure. She will decide which, if 

any, of the alternatives will be 

implemented. Her decision and 

rationale for the decision will be 

documented in the Record of Decision, 

which will be subject to Forest Service 

Appeal Regulations (36 CFR part 215).

Dated: December 17, 2001. 

Nora B. Rasure, 

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 01–32171 Filed 12–31–01; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service 

Trout-West Fuels Reduction Project, 

Pike and San Isabel National Forests, 

Teller, Douglas and El Paso Counties, 

Colorado

AGENCY: Forest Service, United States 

Department of Agriculture (USDA–FS).

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: The USDA–FS will prepare 

an Environmental Impact Statement 

(EIS) to analyze and disclose the 

potential impacts of a site-specific 

proposal to reduce hazardous fuels on 

National Forest Lands in the Trout-West 

area. Management direction guiding the 

proposed project is contained within the 

1984 Pike and San Isabel National 

Forests; Comanche and Cimarron 

National Grasslands Land and Resource 

Management Plan, and the 2000 

National Fire Plan. The National Fire 

Plan identified Woodland Park, 

Colorado as an urban interface 

community at risk from catastrophic 

wildfire. The proposed project is 

intended to decrease the threat of 

Federal Register / Vol. 67, No. 1 / Wednesday, January 2, 2002 / Notices 53

wildfire to Woodland Park and 

surrounding communities by reducing 

hazardous fuels within the urban 

interface and municipal watershed. 

Approximately 32,000 acres are 

proposed for treatment. This proposal is 

scheduled for implementation for ten 

years following the issuance of a Record 

of Decision (ROD), approximately 2003 

to 2013.

DATES: Issues and comments concerning 

the Proposed Action must be received in 

writing before February 8, 2002. 

Correspondence should be addressed to 

Rochelle Desser, Trout West Team 

Leader, 201 Caves Highway, Cave 

Junction, OR 97523.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Rochelle Desser in Oregon at 541–592–

4075 (rdesser@fs.fed.us) or Bob Post at 

Fairplay, Colorado, 719–836–2031, 

(bpost@fs.fed.us). Information about the 

project will be posted on the Pike-San 

Isabel National Forest Web site: (http:/

/www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/pp/).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Trout 

and West Creek Watersheds contain 

approximately 137,990 acres, located 

within all or parts of T.9S, R.68W; T.9S, 

R69W; T.9S, R70W; / T.10S, R.68W; 

T.10S, R69W; T.10S, R70W; / T.11S, 

R.68W; T.11S, R69W; T.11S, R.70W; 

T.11S, R.71W; / T.12S, R.68W; T.12S, 

R69W; T.12S, R.70W; T.12S, R.71W; / 

T.13S, R.69W; T.13S, R.70W. The 

analysis area boundary is bordered to 

the north by Devils Head Peak and a 

ridge between Ruby and Bridge Gulch, 

the eastern boundary is the Rampart 

Range Road, the southern boundary is 

bordered by Raspberry Mountain, and 

the western boundary is just west along 

County Road 51 to County Road 3 and 

following north to the west side of 

Sheepnose Mountain and Thunder 

Butte connecting at the confluence of 

Trout and West creek. 

The Purpose and Need for the 

Proposed Action is to decrease the 

threat of wildfire to Woodland Park and 

neighboring communities by reducing 

hazardous fuels within the urban 

interface and adjacent National Forest 

lands. Project goals include promoting 

sustainable forest conditions; 

encouraging aspen regeneration; 

reducing risk of erosion and sediment to 

streams; maintaining municipal water 

quality; maintaining quality of life; and 

meeting Forest Plan Standards and 

Guidelines. 

A mix of fuel treatments is proposed 

across seven project areas within the 

Trout and West Creek Watersheds 

including thinning, machine and hand 

slash piling, and prescribed burning. 

Private land including developed 

subdivisions occurs within the seven 

project areas, however only National 

Forest within these project areas is 

considered for treatment. These 

treatments are intended to reduce the 

canopy closure, continuity and overall 

biomass to create more moderate fire 

behavior if a wildfire were to start in the 

area. 

Some of the trees that need to be cut 

may be sold as fuel wood, Christmas 

trees, post and poles, and/or saw logs; 

however, many areas are not expected to 

yield a commercial byproduct. 

The EIS will analyze the potential 

effects of the Proposed Action on 

physical, biological, and social issues 

including ecosystem health, fuel loading 

and fire risk, soil and water, air quality, 

species viability, noxious weeds, 

cultural resources, and economics. 

Additional issues may be identified 

through the scoping process. The Forest 

Service will develop alternatives to 

respond to significant issues with the 

Proposed Action. A no action 

alternative will be considered. 

Public participation is important 

throughout the analysis. The first time 

is during the scoping period, when the 

Forest Service invites input from 

Federal, State, and local agencies, 

Indian tribes, and other individuals who 

may be interested in or affected by the 

Proposed Action. Please refer to the 

Council on Environmental Quality 

Regulations for implementing the 

procedural provisions of the National 

Environment Policy Act at 40 CFR 

1501.7 for more information about 

scoping. 

The Draft EIS is expected to be filed 

with the Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) and be available for 

review June 2002. A comment period for 

the Draft EIS will be 45 days from the 

date that the EPA published the Notice 

of Availability for appears in the 

Federal Register. 

The Forest Service believes it is 

important to give Reviewers notice at 

this early stage of several court rulings 

related to public participation in the 

environmental review process. First, a 

reviewer of a Draft EIS must structure 

their participation in the environmental 

review process of the proposal so that it 

is specific, 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 EIS 

stage, but that are not raised until after 

completion of the final EIS, 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 60-

day comment period so that substantive 

comments and objectives are made 

available to the Forest Service at a time 

when it can meaningfully consider and 

respond to them in the final EIS. Please 

refer to the Council on Environmental 

Quality Regulations for implementing 

the procedural provisions of the 

National Environmental Policy Act at 40 

CFR 1503.3 for more information about 

how to comment on the upcoming EIS. 

After the 60-day comment period 

ends on the draft EIS, comments will be 

considered and analyzed by the Agency 

in preparing the final EIS. The final EIS 

is scheduled for completion by 

September 2002. In the final EIS, the 

Forest Service is required to respond to 

substantive comments and responses 

during the comment period. 

The Responsible Official for this 

project is the Pike and San Isabel 

National Forests, Cimarron and 

Comanche National Grasslands National 

Forest Supervisor. The Responsible 

Official will document the decision and 

rationale in a Record of Decision 

(scheduled for November 2002). The 

Forest Service decision will be subject 

to appeal under regulations at 36 CFR 

215.

Dated: December 10, 2001. 

William A. Wood, 

Deputy Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 01–32140 Filed 12–31–01; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service 

Columbia County Resource Advisory 

Committee (RAC)

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the authorities in 

the Federal Advisory Committees Act 

(Pub. L. 92–463), the Southeast 

Washington Resource Advisory 

Committee (RAC) will meet on January 

23, 2002 in Pomeroy, Washington. The 

purpose of the meeting is to meet as a 

Committee for the first time and to 

discuss the selection of Title II projects 

under Public Law 106–393, H.R. 2389, 

the Secure Rural Schools and 

Community Self-Determination Act of 

2000, also called the ‘‘Payments to 

States’’ Act.

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

January 23, 2002 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the Forest Service office located at 71