[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 99 (Thursday, May 22, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29397-29398]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-11847]
========================================================================
Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
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.
========================================================================
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 99 / Thursday, May 22, 2014 /
Notices
[[Page 29397]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
PSICC; Colorado; Upper Monument Creek EIS
AGENCY: Pike and San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche
National Grasslands, Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Pike and San Isabel National Forests Cimarron and Comanche
National Grasslands (PSICC) propose to conduct forest restoration
activities on 25,000 acres within the 67,000 acre Upper Monument Creek
(UMC) analysis area. Treatment activities include mechanical thinning,
mastication, hand thinning, and prescribed fire. The treatments will be
used singularly or in combination to transition forested plant
communities across the landscape towards desired future conditions that
are more characteristic of a resilient forest. Resilient forests are
better able to respond to large high intensity wildfires, insects and
disease outbreaks, and extreme water flows that are known to occur in
the project's location along Colorado's Front Range. By protecting
against the aforementioned extreme events, resilient forests are better
equipped to protect the following identified values at risk; adjoining
private property, water quality and quantity, water conveyance
facilities, transportation systems, wildlife habitats, heritage sites,
municipal watersheds and timber resources, Resilient forests also help
attenuate the impacts of increased noxious weeds, sedimentation, and
other hydrologic disturbances
In order to successfully complete the amount and types of
treatments necessary for the maximum amount of resilience, the PSICC
might need to amend the PSICC Land and Resource Management Plan to
adjust plan standards and guidelines. Plan standards and guideline
amendments might include but are not limited to the following; forest
regeneration, big game winter range, wildlife habitat, and allowable
levels and types of fire and fuels treatments. Proposed Land and
Resource Management Plan amendments will help the PSICC achieve
resiliency, and protect the values at risk within in each Land and
Resource Management Plan Management Area in the Upper Monument Creek
Project Area.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received
by July 7, 2014. The draft environmental impact statement is expected
April 2015 and the final environmental impact statement is expected
August 2015.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Pikes Peak Ranger District, Attn:
UMC Project, 601 South Weber St., Colorado Springs, CO 80903. Comments
may also be sent via email to [email protected], or via facsimile to
719-477-4233.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Allan Hahn, District Ranger, 719-636-
1602, [email protected]; or Mike Picard, Team Leader, 719-530-3959,
[email protected].
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 Time, Monday through Friday.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public meeting notices will be published in
the Colorado Springs Gazette, showing locations, dates and times for
each public meeting. A Web site is available for current information
about the project including maps and descriptions of the planned
activities. http://www.uppermonumentcreek.blogspot.com/.
Purpose and Need for Action
The size, severity, and behavior of recent wildfires on the Pike
National Forest and along the Front Range have highlighted the risks
posed by current forest conditions. The human and environmental costs
of wildfire suppression and rehabilitation have seen a significant
increase across the region in recent decades. As a result of increasing
risks for large fires and extreme water flows, there is a need to make
strategic investments in vegetative treatments within the UMC
landscape. Strategically placed vegetative treatments reduce the
vulnerability of surrounding communities, municipal watersheds, and
natural resource values at risk to severe fire and excessive water
flows in the future.
Proposed Action
In response to the conditions described above, the proposed action
is to effectively treat up to 25,000 acres within the 67,000 acre
analysis area. Combinations of mechanical thinning with product
removal, mastication, hand thinning, and prescribed fire will be used
to shift forest conditions across the analysis area towards agreed upon
desired conditions. Emphasis will be on retention of older trees in all
forest types, opening up densely closed stands of mid to late seral
classes, creating a more open forest environment and improving shrub
and grass diversity. The forest ecosystems that will be the primary
targets for treatments will be the ponderosa pine, dry mixed conifer,
aspen, and mesic mixed conifer, with some treatments in lodgepole and
oak/ponderosa types. Vegetative treatments will balance the need to
protect important values at risk within and adjoing the project area.
Values at risk include but are not limited to the following; private
property, utility infrastructure, wildlife habitat and fully
functioning rivers and streams.
The Proposed Action includes the use of adaptive management
principals to enable land managers with public participation to
identify management treatments that modify forest structure, pattern,
and composition across the landscape to help improve forest resiliency
and function in response to the potential for large, high intensity
fires and excessive water flows within the Upper Monument Project Area.
Adaptive management relies on monitoring change conditions and the
result of actions to determine if management changes are needed, and if
so, what changes and to what degree.
Possible Alternatives
In this EIS we will use the Iterative Alternative Process, to make
changes to that action to keep it viable and responsive to our
analysis, and to public comments. We will conclude the analysis with
one alternative. The final alternative will reflect the USFS
[[Page 29398]]
accepted proposed changes from internal Forest Service specialist
analysis and external public comments.
Responsible Official
The Responsible Official for this decision will be the PSICC Forest
Supervisor.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
This decision will include the type of treatments expected to
achieve our objectives, the locations of treatments, the monitoring
methods to be used, and the adaptive management strategy that will
provide direction for making future adjustments to this decision. This
decision will only cover actions within the Upper Monument Creek
analysis area.
Preliminary Issues
A primary concern for management of this area is the resiliency of
the various forest types, and their resistance to large, high intensity
wildfires, and extreme water flows. Maintaining vegetative cover across
the landscape will help to minimize the risks to municipal and domestic
water sources and other resource values within the project area.
Scoping Process
This notice of intent initiates the scoping process, which guides
the development of the environmental impact statement. There will be
public meetings held in several municipalities during this scoping
period. Each of those meetings will be announced in the Colorado
Springs Gazette with the location, date, and time included. Comments
can also be made through email to the contacts listed above. A Web site
is also available for conveying information and submitting comments.
http://www.uppermonumentcreek.blogspot.com/
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.
Dated: May 15, 2014.
Erin Connelly,
Forest and Grassland Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 2014-11847 Filed 5-21-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-P