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

10007

Vol. 66, No. 30

Tuesday, February 13, 2001

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Bitterroot Fires 2000: Post-Fire

Recovery Environmental Impact

Statement

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement.

SUMMARY: The Bitterroot National Forest

experienced a fire season of historic

proportions in 2000. Wildfires burned

307,000 acres on the Bitterroot National

Forest and 49,000 acres on private and

State lands in Ravalli County, Montana

during the summer of 2000. The fires

destroyed 70 homes, 2 commercial

properties, and 167 outbuildings. Much

of the burn occurred in the low

elevation warm, dry ponderosa pine/

Douglas-fir forest type which occurs

along much of the wildland urban

interface. Due to high fuel loads prior to

the fires, these warm, dry forest types

burned at severities well outside their

historic range. As a result of the fires,

fuel loads are expected to increase

dramatically over the next several

decades as thousands of fire-killed trees

fall over and accumulate on the forest

floor. Much of this fuel build-up will

occur in the wildland urban interface,

setting the stage for future fires that

could threaten life, homes,

improvements, and property. The

Department of Agriculture, Forest

Service, will prepare an Environmental

Impact Statement (EIS) to reduce fuels,

improve watershed and aquatic

conditions, revegetate burned

landscapes, and improve forest health

on the Montana portion of the Bitterroot

National Forest. The Record of Decision

will disclose how the forest Service

plans to treat fuels on an estimated

60,000 burned acres (about 20% of the

burned acres on the Montana portion of

the forest, excluding wilderness) using a

variety of methods, including

commercial timber sales, noncommercial thinning, piling, and

burning, prescribed fire, and

stewardship contracts. The priority

areas for fuel reduction work would be

the burned portion of the wildland

urban interface, in warm dry forest

communities, and selected areas where

reforestation is proposed. The Record of

Decision will also disclose how

watershed and aquatic health will be

improved by implementing drainage

improvement measures on

approximately 400 roads in the burned

area. Treatments would include

reconstructing existing open roads to

meet Best Management Practices (BMP)

standards, and decompacting,

recontouring, and restoring the natural

drainage pattern on certain closed roads

which are not needed for future public

or management access. Fisheries would

be improved in the burned drainages by

removing man-made barriers that

currently fragment native fish

populations, and adding woody debris

to streams which lacked woody material

prior to the fires. Tree seedlings would

be planted on approximately 24,000

acres where natural regeneration is not

expected to meet desired species

composition and tree stocking levels.

The Bitterroot National Forest Land and

Resource Management Plan (Forest

Plan) has a Forest-wide standard that

states ‘‘All snags that do not present an

unacceptable safety risk will be

retained’’. The Forest Plan is proposed

to be amended specifically for this

project to allow cutting snags that do

not represent an unacceptable safety

risk. This project may require additional

site-specific amendments to the

Bitterroot Forest Plan. A range of

alternative responsive to significant

issues will be developed, including a

no-action alternative.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope

of this project should be received by the

Sula Ranger District, Bitterroot National

Forest by March 15, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Please send written

comments to: Sula Ranger District,

Bitterroot National Forest; Attn: PostFire Recovery EIS; 7338 Highway 93

South; Sula, MT 59871.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Craig Bobzien, Darby/Sula District

Ranger, telephone: (406) 821–3201, or

Stuart Lovejoy, Post-Fire Recovery EIS

Team Leader, Sula Ranger District, 7338

Highway 93 South, Sula, MT 59871,

telephone (406) 821–3201, email:

slovejoy@fs.fed.us.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public

participation will be an integral

component of the study process, and

will be especially important at several

points during the analysis. The first is

during the scoping process. The Forest

Service will be seeking information,

comments and assistance from federal,

State, County, and local agencies,

individuals and organizations that may

be interested in or affected by the

proposed activities. The scoping process

will include: (1) Identification of

potential issues, (2) identification of

issues to be analyzed in depth, and (3)

elimination of insignificant issues or

those which have been covered by a

previous environmental review. Written

scoping comments will be solicited

through a scoping package that will be

sent to the project mailing list and local

newspapers. For the Forest Service to

best use the scoping input, comments

should be received by March 15, 2001.

Preliminary issues identified for

analysis in the EIS include the potential

effects and relationship of the project to

fire hazard reduction, water quality,

fisheries and reparian areas, wildlife

habitat, soil productivity, recreation,

motorized access, scenery, heritage

resources, sensitive plants, and benefits/

costs of the proposed activities.

Based on the results of scoping and

the resource conditions within the

project area, alternatives (including a

no-action alternative) will be developed

for the draft EIS. The draft EIS is

projected to be filed with the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

in May 2001. The final EIS is

anticipated in September 2001.

The comment period on the draft EIS

will be 45 days from the date that the

EPA publishes the notice of availability

in the Federal Register.

At this early stage, the Forest Service

believes it is important to give reviewers

notice of several court ruling related to

public participation in the

environmental review process. First,

reviewers of draft EIS’s 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

have been raised at the draft EIS stage,

10008 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 30 / Tuesday, February 13, 2001 / Notices

but that are not raised until the

completion of the final EIS, may be

waived or dismissed by the court. City

of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2nd 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 on the draft EIS, so

that substantive comments and

objections are made available to the

Forest Service at a time when they can

be meaningfully considered and

respond to them in the final EIS.

To assist the Forest Service in

identifying and considering issues and

concerns of 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 statement.

Comments may 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 in

40 CFR 1503.3, in addressing these

points.

Permits/Authorizations: The proposed

action will require one or more sitespecific amendments to the Bitterroot

Forest Plan. Rodd Richardson, Forest

Supervisor, Bitterroot National Forest, is

the responsible official for the Plan

amendments.

Responsible Official: Rodd

Richdardson, Forest Supervisor,

Bitterroot National Forest, is the

responsible official. In making the

decision, the responsible official will

consider the comments; responses;

disclosure of environmental

consequences; and applicable law,

regulations, and policies. The

responsible official will state the

rationale for the chosen alternative in

the Record of Decision.

Dated: February 2, 2001.

Rodd Richardson,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 01–3592 Filed 2–12–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Bar T Bar and Anderson Springs

Allotment Management Plan EIS

Southwestern Region, Arizona,

Coconino County, Coconino National

Forest

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an

environmental impact statement.

SUMMARY: The Coconino National Forest

is planning to prepare an Environmental

Impact Statement on a proposal to issue

term grazing permits and develop

allotment management plans for the

next 10 years for the Bar T Bar and

Anderson Springs Allotments, an area

encompassing approximately 229,562

acres of National Forest System lands on

the Blue Ridge and Mormon Lake

Ranger Districts of the Coconino

National Forest, Coconino County,

Arizona. The purpose of the proposal is

to analyze the effects of livestock

grazing, coordinate livestock

management with other resource needs,

decrease canopy densities in pinyonjuniper and ponderosa pine vegetation

types in historical grasslands, improve

habitat conditions for pronghorn

antelope, increase cool season plants,

and to revise the allotment management

plans (AMP’s) for the Bar T Bar and

Anderson Springs Allotments.

DATES: Comments in response to this

Notice of Intent concerning the scope of

the analysis should be received in

writing on or before March 15, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to

USDA Forest Service, Coconino

National Forest, Larry Sears, District

Ranger, Mogollon Rim Center, HC 31,

Box 212, Happy Jack, AZ 86024.

Electronic mail may be sent to

ehumphrey@fs.fed.us. See the

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for

additional information about electronic

mailing.

Responsible Official: Jim Golden, the

Forest Supervisor of the Coconino

National Forest, Supervisor’s Office,

2323 E. Greenlaw Lane, Flagstaff AZ

86004, will decide what actions are

most appropriate for Bar T Bar and

Anderson Springs Allotment

Management Plan EIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beth

Humphrey, Project Leader, (520) 477–

2255.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Forest

Service proposes to revise the allotment

management plans on the Bar T Bar and

Anderson Springs Allotments on the

Blue Ridge and Mormon Lake Ranger

Districts.

The environmental analysis process

for these allotments was initiated on

January 4, 1999. The Diablo Trust, an

incorporated non-profit land

management collaborative team in the

Flagstaff, Arizona area, developed the

proposed action. The proposed action

was adopted by the Forest Service to be

taken through the National

Environmental Policy Act procedures.

An Interdisciplinary Team of Forest

Service resource specialists was selected

based on proposed management

practices, current uses, and anticipated

concerns with management of these

allotments.

The proposed action proposes to issue

term grazing permits on the Bar T Bar

and Anderson Springs Allotments.

Permitted livestock numbers would be

18,050 Head Months on the Bar T Bar

Allotment and 6,036 Head Month’s on

the Anderson Springs Allotment. This

plan focuses on the use of plant

recovery and timing of grazing and rest

to achieve goals, rather than setting

utilization limits. Planned livestock

grazing would be used to meet

management objectives and to provide

for maximum flexibility to meet

resource needs. Collaboration between

the Forest Service, the Diablo Trust, the

permittees, Arizona State Lands

Department, Arizona Game and Fish

Department, and Coconino County is

emphasized in meeting desired

conditions for the area. The livestock

grazing strategy on the Bar T Bar

Allotment would use a combination of

rest rotation and deferred rotation

grazing with a season of use from

approximately May through October

each year. The livestock grazing strategy

on the Anderson Springs Allotment

would be a combination of deferred restrotation and time-controlled grazing

from approximately June through

October each year.

Grassland restoration and

maintenance treatments are proposed on

63,730 acres in pinyon-juniper

woodland and ponderosa pine

vegetation types using a variety of

treatment methods. These treatments are

proposed to restore and maintain native

grasslands, increase plant cover and

litter, improve soil conditions, provide

for wildlife movements, and increase

plant diversity, especially in cool season

species. Approximately 61.6 miles of

new fencing, 19.8 miles of fence

removal, 3.74 miles of fence

reconstruction, and 8.95 miles of fence

replacement are proposed which would

split large pastures, provide for

improved livestock distribution, provide

for increased pasture rest, and increase

efficiency in livestock management.

Five new stock ponds are proposed, as