(FSEIS) to Remove Or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines
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1950 (FS)/ 1736 (BLM) (OR-931) January 5, 2007 Dear Reader: Attached is a Supplement to the July 2006 Draft Supplement to the 2004 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) to Remove or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines. The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service (the Agencies) prepared this Supplement to add an additional no-action alternative to the July 2006 Draft Supplement to address the potential implications of a November 2006 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case of Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center v. Boody, 468 F.3d 549 (9th Cir. 2006). The additional no-action alternative adds 58 species removed from Survey and Manage in all or part of their range during the Agencies’ Annual Species Reviews in 2001, 2002, and 2003, and thus not previously addressed in the July 2006 Draft Supplement or 2004 FSEIS. The Supplement also addresses the effects of assumed category changes for 32 species and contains the most current information about these additional species. You may wish to have a copy of the July 2006 Draft Supplement and/or the 2004 FSEIS so you can consider this Supplement in context. Both of these documents are available on line at http://www.reo.gov/s-m2006 or may be requested in CD or printed version by writing to Carol Hughes at U.S. Forest Service, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, OR 97208-3623 or emailing your request to [email protected]. A 90-day comment period begins with publication of the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. The Agencies expect the comment period will start January 5, 2007 and close April 5, 2007. Any changes in these dates will be published on the above website. Reviewers should provide their comments during this comment period. The Agencies ask that those submitting comments on this Supplement make them as specific as possible. Reviewers have an obligation to “‘structure their participation in the National Environmental Policy Act process so that it is meaningful and alerts the agency to the reviewer’s position and contentions.’ Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 552 (1978).” Dept. of Transportation v. Public Citizen, 541 U.S. 752, 764 (2004). Your ability to pursue concerns that could have been raised at the draft stage may be forfeited if not raised until after completion of the Final Supplement. Comments on this Supplement should be specific and should address the adequacy of the Supplement and the merits of the alternatives discussed (40 CFR 1503.3). Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names and addresses, will be considered part of the public record on this Supplement and related documents, and will be available for public inspection. Comments, including names and addresses, may be published as part of the Final Supplement. If you wish to withhold your name or address from public review, or from disclosure under the Freedom oflnformation Act (FOIA), you must state this prominently at the beginning of your written comments. Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any person may request that submissions be withheld from the public record by showing how the FOIA permits such confidentiality. Persons requesting such confidentiality should be aware that under FOIA, confidentiality may be granted in only very limited circumstances, such as to protect trade secrets. The requester will be informed of the Agencies' decision regarding the request for confidentiality. Where the request is denied, the comments will be returned to the requester, and the requester will be notified that the comments may be resubmitted with or without name and address. Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted and considered. Anonymous comments do not create standing or a record of participation. All submissions from organizations and business, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be available for public inspection in their entirety. Comments on this Supplement and the July 2006 Draft Supplement will be addressed in the Final Supplement, scheduled for release during 2007. It is not necessary to resubmit or repeat comments submitted about the July 2006 Draft Supplement in order to have them considered. Some sections in this Supplement have already been changed to reflect comments submitted on the July 2006 Draft Supplement. For further information on this Supplement, contact Carol Hughes, U.S. Forest Service-NR, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, OR 97208-3623; or via telephone at 503-808-2661. MICHAEL S. MOTTICE Director, Deputy State Director for Resource Region 6 Planning, Use & Protection USDA Forest Service Oregon/Washington USDI Bureau of Land Management 1 Attachment 1 - Supplement to the July 2006 Draft Supplement to 2004 FSEIS Supplement to the July 2006 Draft Supplement to the 2004 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement To Remove or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines Forest Service National Forests in Regions 5 and 6 and Bureau of Land Management Districts in Washington, Oregon, and California Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl January 2007 Lead Agencies: Forest Service - U.S. Department of Agriculture Bureau of Land Management - U.S. Department of the Interior Responsible Officials: Mike Johanns, Secretary of Agriculture Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior Information Contact: Carol Hughes US Forest Service-NR P.O. Box 3623 Portland, OR 97208-3623 503-808-2661 This Supplement to the July 2006 Draft Supplement is available for public review for 90 days beginning with publication of the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register, expected to take place January 5, 2007. Actual publication date will be noted on the web site below. Assuming publication on January 5, the 90-day public comment period would end April 5, 2007. MAIL COMMENTS TO: Survey and Manage SEIS Team P.O. Box 2965 Portland, OR 97208-2965 Or submit them email to: [email protected] Printed copies of this document can be obtained by contacting Carol Hughes at U.S. Forest Service-NR, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, OR 97208-3623 or emailing [email protected]. Copies of this document are also available on line at http://www.reo.gov/s-m2006. Abstract This Supplement to the July 2006 Draft Supplement to the 2004 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) to Remove or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines addresses the effects of an additional no-action alternative that responds to the potential implications of a November 6, 2006 decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case of Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center v. Boody, 468 F.3d 549 (9th Cir. 2006). Alternative 4, the additional no- action alternative added by this Supplement, retains the Survey and Manage Standards and Guidelines but differs from the Alternative 1 no-action alternative by including all 337 species on Survey and Manage in 2001 (and their respective category assignments), before the Agencies conducted standard and guideline-specified Annual Species Reviews in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Because under Alternative 3, Survey and Manage retains the “rare” species categories, Alternative 3 is changed to include the additional species and changed category assignments included in Alternative 4. The Purpose and Need, Proposed Action, and Alternatives 1 and 2 remain unchanged from the 2004 FSEIS. The Agencies still propose to remove the Survey and Manage Standards and Guidelines of the Northwest Forest Plan. That removal would now, if measured from the additional no-action alternative, potentially affect 337 species rather than the 295 considered by the July 2006 and 2004 documents. An effects discussion for the 42 additional species, and for another 16 in portions of their range not previously included, is now being added to the 2004/2006 FSEIS analysis by this Supplement. For these 58 species, 1 has insufficient information to determine an effect (outcome), 2 have insufficient habitat to support stable populations under all alternatives, and 1 species in part of its range and 1 species in all of its range have insufficient habitat under alternatives that remove Survey and Manage but sufficient habitat when Survey and Manage is retained. The Agencies had previously removed these 6 species from Survey and Manage through the Annual Species Review because they are not associated with late-successional forests, but these and other removals are being prudently reconsidered in light of the Ninth Circuit Court decision. The remaining 53 species have sufficient habitat to maintain stable populations under all alternatives. The long-term effects of the additional no-action alternative, Alternative 4, on fuel treatments, costs of management, timber harvest, and other non-Survey and Manage species-specific resources remain essentially the same as previously presented for the original no-action alternative, Alternative 1, although there are effects differences between the two alternatives in the first two years. Notice Readers should note that the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior are the responsible officials for this proposed action. Therefore, no administrative review (appeal) through the Forest Service will be available on the Record of Decision under 36 CFR 217, and no administrative review (protest) through the Bureau of Land Management will be available on the Final SEIS under 43 CFR 1610.5-2. Because there is no