[Federal Register: December 3, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 231)]
[Notices]
[Page 67882-67884]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03de07-25]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National
Grassland; Wyoming; Inyan Kara Analysis Area Vegetation Management
Phase II
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.
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SUMMARY: The Forest Service is analyzing the management of rangeland
vegetation resources, which includes livestock grazing, on the National
Forest System (NFS) lands within the Thunder Basin National Grasslands.
NFS lands that comprise the Inyan Kara Analysis Area Vegetation
Management Phase II will be assessed to determine how existing resource
conditions compare to the desired conditions outlined in the Thunder
Basin National Grassland Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP). A
management strategy will be developed in order to maintain or improve
rangeland and vegetation conditions toward LRMP desired conditions.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received
by the 30th day after the publication in the Federal Register. The
draft environmental impact statement (EIS) is expected February 11,
2008 and the final environmental impact statement is expected May 12,
2008.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Marilee Houtler, NEPA Coordinator,
Douglas Ranger District, 2250 East Richards Street, Douglas, Wyoming
82633 or e-mail to
comments-rocky-mountain-medicine-bow-routt-douglass-thunder-basin@fs.fed.us All comments, including names and addresses
when provided, are placed in the record and are available for public
inspection. The public may inspect comments received at Douglas Ranger
District, 2250 E. Richards, Douglas, WY 82633. Visitors are encouraged
to call ahead to (307) 358-4690 to facilitate entry into the building.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ernie Gipson, Rangeland Management
Specialist or Misty Hays, Deputy District Ranger, Douglas Ranger
District, 2250 E. Richards Street, Douglas, WY 82633 (307) 358-4690.
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 Standard Time, Monday through
Friday.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Vegetation resources on approximately
135,405 acres of NFS lands, lying within the Thunder Bassin National
Grassland boundaries and within portions of Weston and Niobrara
Counties, Wyoming (Townships 41-48 North, Ranges 62-68 West), are being
analyzed to determine if and how existing conditions differ from
desired conditions outlined in the 2001 LRMP.
[[Page 67883]]
Vegetation in the Analysis Area is characteristic of shortgrass
prairie, mixed grass prairie and lesser amounts of Ponderosa Pine/
Juniper habitats. Johnson and Larson (1999) describe the majority of
the Analysis Area as a Big Sagebrush-Wheatgrass Plains Major Vegetation
Type, dominated by fairly dense dwarf shrubs, of which most are Wyoming
big sagebrush. The midgrass prairie component of the Analysis Area as
described by Barker and Whitman (1998) consists of a plant association
dominated by needleandthread grass, western wheatgrass and blue grama.
A large portion of the Inyan Kara Analysis Area evolved under a history
of homesteading in the early twentieth century, but a prolonged drought
period combined with the economic depression of the late 1920's and
early 1930's caused many of these homesteads to fail. Starting in 1935,
land was purchased through the Northeastern Wyoming Land Utilization
Project initiated by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, and
continued with the Bankhead Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937, which was
designed to develop a program of land conservation. Administration of
these lands was turned over to the Soil Conservation Service the
following year, and transferred to the United States Forest Service in
1954.
Today the Thunder Basin National Grassland supports and provides a
variety of multiple resource uses and values. Livestock ranching
operations in the area depend on National Grassland acreage to create
logical and efficient management units. Cattle, sheep, and horses, in
accordance with 10-year term and/or annual temporary livestock grazing
permits, are currently authorized to graze the allotments within the
Analysis Area. In order to determine how existing resource conditions
compare to desired conditions, date collection was conducted from 2005
to 2007. During this period, moderate drought conditions impacted plant
vigor, canopy and litter cover in some parts of the Analysis Area. Data
analysis indicates that seral stage and structural objectives are
currently generally meeting vegetation health desired conditions in
most portions of the Analysis Area. Other areas of concern based on
data analysis include enhancing vegetation conditions in riparian areas
and decreasing the frequency and density of non-native invasive species
within the analysis area.
Purpose and Need for Action
Need: To continue to authorize livestock grazing and associated
vegetation management actions with appropriate identified management
options within the Inyan Kara Analysis Area, and to do so in a manner
that will resolve any disparities between existing and desired
conditions in a suitable timeframe.
Purpose: To implement vegetation management objectives in the
Thunder Basin National Grassland Land and Resource Management Plan with
goals of increasing native forb and perennial grass diversity,
improving riparian area conditions, improving or maintaining vegetation
health, and slowing or decreasing the frequency and density of non-
native invasive species. This analysis will serve as a guide for
implementation of LRMP vegetation management objectives aimed at
improving or maintaining vegetation and riparian area conditions,
providing desired mixes of seral and structural stages of vegetation,
as well as establishing appropriate monitoring techniques that will
measure the effectiveness of management activities.
Proposed Action
The Forest Service proposes the following actions to meet the
purpose and need described above:
--Manage vegetation through an adaptive management process, which
includes authorizing livestock grazing on allotments within the Inyan
Kara Analysis Area of the Thunder Basin National Grasslands, that will
meet or move toward desired resource conditions.
--Define an allotment specific starting point in which management is
believed to be capable of meeting or moving toward desired conditions
in a timely manner.
--Monitor to evaluate both implementation and effectiveness of
management actions.
In all cases, management will use vegetation management tools that
will meet LRMP Objectives, Standards and Guidelines, and maintain or
move existing resource conditions toward Geographic Area desired
conditions. If monitoring indicates that practices are being properly
implemented and that resource trends are moving toward meeting desired
conditions in a timely manner, management may continue. If monitoring
indicates that there is a need to modify management practices, adaptive
options as analyzed in the EIS will be selected and implemented.
Possible Alternatives
(1). No action
(2). Continue current management.
Responsible Official
Robert M. Sprentall, District Ranger, Douglas Ranger District, 2250
East Richards Street, Douglas, Wyoming 82633, is the official
responsible for making the decision on this action. He will document
his decision and rationale in a Record of Decision.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
The Responsible Official will consider the results of the analysis
and its findings and then document the final decision in a Record of
Decision (ROD). The decision will determine whether or not to authorize
livestock grazing on all, part, or none of the allotments within the
Inyan Kara Analysis Area, and if so, what adaptive management design
criteria, adaptive options, and monitoring will be implemented so as to
meet or move toward the desired conditions in the defined timeframe.
Scoping Process
Concurrent with this NOI, letters requesting comments will be sent
to interested parties. Anyone who provides comments to the DEIS or
expresses interest during the comment period will have eligibility.
Preliminary Issues
The Forest Service has identified the following preliminary issues:
(1) Current impacts to riparian resources from moderate drought, and
livestock and wildlife grazing/browsing; (2) Potential impacts to
livestock grazing permits on National Grasslands; (3) Current impacts
to soil resources from livestock and wildlife grazing/browsing and
drought.
Comment Requested
This notice of intent initiates the scoping process which guides
the development of the EIS.
Early Notice of Importance of Public Participation in Subsequent
Environmental Review: A draft EIS will be prepared for comment. The
comment period on the draft environmental impact statement will be 45
days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes the
notice of availability in the Federal Register.
The Forest Service believes it is important to give reviewers
notice of several court rulings related to public participation in the
environmental review process. First, reviewers of draft environmental
impact statements 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
[[Page 67884]]
Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978).
Also, environmental objections that could be raised at the draft
environmental impact statement stage but that are not raised until
after completion of the final environmental impact statement 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 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
environmental impact statement.
To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft
environmental impact statement should be as specific as possible. It is
also helpful if comments refer to specific pages or chapters of the
draft statement. Comments may also address the adequacy of the draft
environmental impact statement 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.
(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; Forest Service Handbook
1909.15, Chapter 20, Section 21).
Dated: November 20, 2007.
Misty A. Hays,
Deputy District Ranger.
[FR Doc. 07-5894 Filed 11-30-07; 8:45 am]
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