[Federal Register: April 15, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 72)]
[Notices]
[Page 18253-18254]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15ap03-94]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Clarification of Language in the 1994 Record of Decision for the
Northwest Forest Plan: National Forests and Bureau of Land Management
Districts Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl; Western Oregon
and Washington, and Northwestern California
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, USDI; Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Draft Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) for the Clarification of
Language in the 1994 record of decision for the Northwest Forest Plan;
National Forests and Bureau of Land Management Districts within the
range of the Northern Spotted Owl.
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SUMMARY: The USDI Bureau of Land Management and the USDA Forest Service
have prepared a DSEIS to consider an amendment of selected portions of
the Aquatic Conservation Strategy (ACS) (part of the Northwest forest
Plan) to clarify guidance intended to protect and restore watersheds.
This amendment is needed because projects intended to achieve Northwest
Forest Plan goals have been delayed or stopped due to misapplication of
certain passages in the ACS. This DSEIS supplements the Northwest
Forest Plan Final SEIS. It is not intended to replace or reconsider the
plan as a whole, but
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focuses on specific passages within the ACS.
DATES: Written comments on the DSEIS must be postmarked or otherwise
delivered by 4:15 p.m. 90 days following the date the Environmental
Protection Agency publishes the NOA and filing of the DSEIS in the
Federal Register. Individual respondents may request confidentiality.
If you wish to withhold your name or address from public review or from
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this
prominently at the beginning of your written comment. Such requests
will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All submissions from
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or
businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their
entirety. No public meetings have been scheduled.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to: ACS EIS, P.O. Box 221090, Salt
Lake City, UT 84122-1090; FAX: (801) 517-1014 (please address fax to
``ACS EIS''); E-mail: acs comments@fs.fed.us <mailto:comments@fs.fed.us>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joyce Casey; phone (503) 326-2430; E-
mail: jcasey01@fs.fed.us <mailto:jcasey01@fs.fed.us>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Two alternatives are considered in this
DSEIS. No action would not change existing language within the ACS. The
proposed action (preferred alternative) would make limited changes to
clarify how the agencies are to design projects to follow the ACS.
The proposed action would approve limited changes to language
within the ACS. The ACS is an integral part of the Northwest Forest
Plan. The ACS is intended to maintain and restore the ecological health
of watersheds and aquatic ecosystems within the Northwest Forest Plan
area. The ACS includes language that has been interpreted to establish
an expectation that all projects must achieve all ACS objectives. These
interpretations hinder Federal land managers' ability to plan and
implement projects needed to achieve Northwest Forest Plan goals. The
proposed action would amend the Northwest Forest Plan to clarify that:
[sbull] The proper scales for Federal land managers to evaluate
progress toward achievement of the ACS objectives are the watershed and
broader scales;
[sbull] No single project should be expected to achieve all ACS
objectives;
[sbull] Decision makers must design projects to follow the ACS.
Project records must contain evidence that projects comply with
relevant Standards and Guidelines in sections C and D of attachment A
in the Northwest Forest Plan record of decision. Project records must
also demonstrate how the decision maker used relevant information from
applicable watershed analysis to provide context for the design and
assessment of the project.
[sbull] References to ACS objectives in the Standards and
Guidelines in Sections C and D do not require that decision makers find
that site-specific projects, in themselves, will fully attain ACS
objectives.
The proposed action (preferred alternative) would retain all
existing components of the ACS, including Riparian Reserves, Key
Watersheds, watershed analysis, and watershed restoration. It would
reinforce concepts about appropriate scales of analysis and the role of
standards and guidelines. It would remove the expectation that all
projects must achieve all ACS objectives, and would reinforce the role
of watershed analysis in providing context for actions that may affect
aquatic or riparian habitat.
Dated: April 9, 2003.
Michael C. Ash,
Deputy Regional Forester, Pacific Northwest Region.
[FR Doc. 03-9128 Filed 4-14-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M
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