[Federal Register: December 3, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 232)]
[Notices]
[Page 60181-60182]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03de01-22]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Squirrel Meadows-Grand Targhee Land Exchange; Caribou-Targhee
National Forest, Teton County, WY
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service will
prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to comply
with Idaho District Court Judge Winmill's Judgment and Memorandum
Decision dated August 8, 2001 in Civil Case Number 01-0176-E-BLW. These
documents are available at the District Court of Idaho's Remote Access
to Court Electronic Records (RACER) Web page http://
www.id.uscourts.gov/ or upon request from the Forest Service.
The Forest Service proposes to acquire 400 acres of private land at
Squirrel Meadows that is considered to be important habitat for the
threatened grizzly bear and other wildlife for 120 acres of National
Forest System lands at the base of the Grand Targhee Ski and Summer
Resort. The proposed action remains essentially the same as in the
Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Squirrel Meadows-Grand
Targhee Land Exchange, dated December of 2000. In the FEIS the proposal
was to exchange up to 158 acres of NFS lands at Grand Targhee; however,
in the Record of Decision, the acreage was reduced to 120 acres to
balance the appraised values.
DATES: Written comments concerning the analysis required by the
Judgment and Memorandum Decision should be received within 15 days of
the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register. The
Forest Service estimates the Draft SEIS will be filed in February of
2002. The Final SEIS will be filed within 3 months of that date,
approximately May of 2002.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Caribou-Targhee National Forest
Headquarters, Attn: Lisa Klinger, 1405 Hollipark Drive, Idaho Falls,
Idaho 83401. The responsible official for this decision is Jerry Reese,
Caribou-Targhee National Forest Supervisor.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Copies of the December 2000 Final EIS
and Record of Decision (ROD) for the Squirrel Meadows-Grand Targhee
land Exchange can be obtained by contacting the Caribou-Targhee
National Forest Headquarters Office at (208) 557-5760 or the Teton
Basin Ranger District at (208) 354-2312. Questions concerning the
proposed action and SEIS should be directed to Lisa Klinger, Recreation
Specialist, at (208) 557-5760 or Cheryl Probert, Forest Planner, at
(209) 557-5821.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Comments received in response to this
solicitation, 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 parts 215 or 217. 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
[[Page 60182]]
submission and notify the requester that the comments may be
resubmitted with or without name and address within 10 days.
The comment period on the draft environmental impact statement will
be 45 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency's notice
of availability appears in the Federal Register. It is very important
that those interested in this proposed action participate at this time.
To be most helpful, comments on the draft environmental impact
statement should be a specific as possible and may address the adequacy
of the statement or the merits of the alternatives discussed. (see the
Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing the
procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40
CFR 1503.3).
In addition, Federal court decisions have established that reviews
of draft environmental impact statements must structure their
participation in the environmental review of the proposal so that it is
meaning and alerts an agency to the reviewers' position and
contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519,
553 (1978). Environmental objections that could have been raised at the
draft stage may be waived if not raised until after completing of the
final environmental impact statement. City of Angoon v. Hodel, (9th
Circuit, 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 F. Supp.
1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). The reason for this is to ensure that
substantive comments and objections area made available to the Forest
Service at time when it can meaningfully consider them and respond to
them in the final.
Dated: November 26, 2001.
Jerry B. Reese,
Caribou-Targhee Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 01-29837 Filed 11-30-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M
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