[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 82 (Friday, April 27, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25128-25129]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-9909]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Amended Land Management Plans for the Angeles, Cleveland, Los
Padres, and San Bernardino National Forests, California
AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact
statement.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Agriculture, Forest Service will prepare a
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a proposed
amendment of the Land Management Plans for the Angeles, Cleveland, Los
Padres, and San Bernardino National Forests (hereinafter referred to as
Land Management Plans). This notice describes the specific portions of
the current Land Management Plans to be amended, estimates dates for
filing the supplemental environmental impact statement, information
concerning public participation, and the names and contact information
of the agency officials who can provide additional information. The
Forest Service proposes to amend the Land Management Plans to change
Land Use Zone allocations within select Inventoried Roadless Areas
(IRAs) in the four southern California National Forests. The amendment
also proposes to change the Land Management Plan monitoring protocols
for the four forests. This joint planning process will maintain the
consistent management direction and format across the four Forests. One
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared with
a Record of Decision (ROD) for each Land Management Plan.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received
by June 11, 2012. The draft supplemental environmental impact statement
is expected November 2012. There will be a 90 day comment period on the
draft supplemental environmental impact statement. The final
supplemental environmental impact statement is expected June 2013.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Cleveland National Forest, 10845
Rancho Bernardo Road, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92127-2107, ATTN: LMP
Amendment. Comments may also be sent via email to socal_nf_lmp_amendment@fs.fed.us, or filed through the project web page at http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/fs-usda-pop.php?project=35130.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob Hawkins, Project Manager at
socal_nf_lmp_amendment@fs.fed.us, or visit the project Web site at
http://www.fs.fed.us/nepa/fs-usda-pop.php?project=35130.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Southern California National Forests
(the Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres, and San Bernardino National
Forests, collectively, ``four forests'') propose to amend the Land
Management Plans adopted in 2006. The proposed amendment revises land
use zone allocations for select Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs)
within the four forests and amends Land Management Plan monitoring
protocols. This proposed Land Management Plan amendment is a result of
the Settlement Agreement approved January 3, 2011 for California
Resources Agency, et al v. United States Department of Agriculture, and
Center for Biological Diversity, et al v. United States Department of
Agriculture. The IRAs included in the analysis are: Antimony, Barker
Valley, Black Mountain, Cactus Springs B, Caliente, Cedar Creek,
Coldwater, Cucamonga B, Cucamonga C, Cuyama, Diablo, Dry Lakes, Eagle
Peak, Fish Canyon, Fox Mountain, Garcia Mountain, Juncal, Ladd,
Machesna Mountain, Malduce Buckhorn, No Name, Pyramid Peak A, Quatal,
Raywood Flat B, Red Mountain, Salt Creek, Sawmill--Badlands, Sespe--
Frazier, Sill Hill, Spoor Canyon, Tequepis, Trabuco, Tule, Upper San
Diego River, West Fork, Westfork, White Ledge.
Purpose and Need for Action
The purpose of the proposed action is to amend Land Management Plan
land use zone allocations for select IRAs and to amend Land Management
Plan monitoring protocols. This action is needed to respond to the
terms of the Settlement Agreement between the Forest Service, State of
California, and other settlement parties.
Land Management Plans are required by the National Forest
Management Act (NFMA). They are an integrated document that describes
the goals, objectives, and management direction for each component of
the National Forest System. The original Land Management Plans for the
four southern California national forests were adopted between 1986 and
1989, and revised in 2006 consistent with NFMA requirements. This
proposed amendment to the 2006 Land Management Plans is limited in
scope and designed to address the terms of the settlement agreement.
Proposed Action
The action proposed by the Forest Service to meet the purpose and
need is to modify the existing land use zones in the identified IRAs to
include more Back Country Non-Motorized (BCNM) and Recommended
Wilderness (RW) areas. An alternate monitoring framework is also
proposed.
The proposed action would change the LUZ allocation to BCNM on
approximately 300,000 acres, and change the LUZ allocation to RW on
approximately 80,000 acres. The majority of the additional BCNM
allocations are located in IRAs on the Los Padres National Forest, and
San Bernardino National Forest. Additions to the RW allocations are
within IRAs on the Angeles and Cleveland National Forests.
On the Angeles National Forest, the Fish Canyon and Salt Creek IRAs
were combined to create the proposed 40,000 acre Fish Canyon RW area.
On the Cleveland National Forest, the proposed 23,000 acre Eagle Peak
RW area includes portions of the Eagle Peak, Sill Hill, and No Name
IRAs, along with portions of the Cedar Creek and Upper San Diego River
undeveloped areas. The 11,000 acre Barker Valley and 5,000 acre
Caliente RW areas are also proposed on the Cleveland National Forest.
The proposed action monitoring and evaluation requirements are
based on the current monitoring framework (Part 3, Appendix C of the
Land Management Plans). Revisions include updates to the monitoring
requirements for forest health, riparian condition, and biological
resource condition. Monitoring indicators were also clarified to
reflect current inventory methodology in several areas, and an
indicator was added to track unclassified (unauthorized) roads and
trails. The revision also include more details on how monitoring will
be implemented, and how projects will be selected for monitoring.
Lead and Cooperating Agencies
The Forest Service is the lead federal agency for the Land
Management Plan Amendment. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National
Marine Fisheries Service, Environmental Protection Agency, State of
California Natural Resources Agency (including the Departments of Fish
and Game, Parks and Recreation, and Forestry and Fire
[[Page 25129]]
Protection), Ventura County, and Orange County Fire Authority have
agreed to participate as cooperating agencies. Other federal, state,
and local agencies as well as tribes are invited to join as
cooperators.
Responsible Official
Cleveland National Forest Supervisor Will Metz is the lead Forest
Supervisor for the joint planning effort between the Angeles,
Cleveland, Los Padres, and San Bernardino National Forests and is the
Responsible Official for purposes of this notice. If the proposed
amendment results in a significant change to the LMPs (as described by
Forest Service policy), Regional Forester Randy Moore will be the
Responsible Official for the decision. If the proposed amendment does
not result in a significant change to the LMP, each individual Forest
Supervisor may act as the Responsible Official for the decision. Refer
to Forest Service Manual section 1926 for more detail.
Nature and Scope of Decision To Be Made
Given the purpose and need, the Responsible Official reviews the
proposed action, the other alternatives, and the environmental
consequences in order to determine whether the LMPs will be amended as
proposed, modified by an alternative, or not at all. The decision
framework is limited in scope to the proposed changes to the land use
zone allocations for select IRAs and to the monitoring protocols.
Scoping Process
This notice of intent initiates the scoping process, which guides
the development of the supplemental environmental impact statement. The
four forests will host a series of open house workshops during the
scoping period. Forest Service staff will be available during the open
house workshops to answer questions about the proposed action.
It is important that reviewers provide their comments at such times
and in such manner that they are useful to the agency's preparation of
the environmental impact statement. Therefore, comments should be
provided prior to the close of the comment period and should clearly
articulate the reviewer's concerns and contentions.
Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names
and addresses of those who comment, will be part of the public record
for this proposed action. Comments submitted anonymously will be
accepted and considered, however anonymous comments will not provide
the Agency with the information needed to provide the respondent with
subsequent environmental documents.
Planning Process
The LMP amendment will be developed under the transition provisions
of the new Forest Service planning rule found at 36 CFR 219.17, which
provides that plan amendments may be initiated under the provisions of
the prior planning regulations (see 74 FR 67062, December 18, 2009 for
more information on the prior planning rule). Under those transition
provisions, this plan amendment will be conducted under the 1982
planning rule, however, the pre-decisional administrative review
process described under 36 CFR 219 subpart B will apply.
Meetings
The Forest Service will be hosting multiple open house workshops
during the scoping period. The content and format of each meeting will
be the same. Forest Service staff will be available to answer questions
about the proposed action. Maps of the proposed changes will be
available for viewing. The meeting times and locations are:
May 29, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Avenue Adult Center, 550 N. Ventura
Avenue, Ventura, CA 93001 (Hosted by Los Padres National Forest).
May 30, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Angeles National Forest
Headquarters, 701 North Santa Anita Avenue, Arcadia, CA 91006.
May 31, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Santa Maria Red Cross, 3030 Skyway
Drive, Santa Maria, CA 93455 (Hosted by Los Padres National Forest).
May 31, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Santa Clara Mojave Rivers Ranger
District Office, 33708 Crown Valley Road, Acton, CA 93510.
May 31, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., San Bernardino National Forest
Headquarters, 602 S. Tippecanoe Ave., San Bernardino, CA 92408.
May 31, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Palomar Ranger District Office,
1634 Black Canyon Road, Ramona, CA 92065.
June 1, 2012, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Frazier Park Library, 3732 Park
Drive, Frazier Park, CA 93225 (Hosted by Los Padres National Forest).
June 5, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Descanso Ranger District office,
3348 Alpine Blvd., Alpine, CA 91901.
June 5, 2012, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Trabuco Ranger District office,
1147 E. 6th Street, Corona, CA 92879.
Dated: April 17, 2012.
William Metz,
Forest Supervisor, Cleveland National Forest.
[FR Doc. 2012-9909 Filed 4-26-12; 8:45 am]
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