Sequoia National Forest

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Sequoia National Forest

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact

Statement (EIS) on a proposed Amendment to the Land and Resource

Management Plan (LRMP) to clarify the standards and guidelines under

which commercial livestock grazing may be managed on the Sequoia

National Forest, Tulare County, California.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments and suggestions to the responsible

official Del A. Pengilly, Acting Forest Supervisor, Sequoia National

Forest, 900 W. Grand Avenue, Porterville, California 93257-2035.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Direct questions about the proposed Amendment to Julie Allen, Land

Management Planning Officer, Sequoia National Forest, 900 W. Grand

Avenue, Porterville, California 93257-2035, telephone (209) 784-1500.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Sequoia National Forest proposes to

amend the standards and guidelines in its LRMP in regards to commercial

livestock grazing and to evaluate this proposal in an EIS. A range of

alternatives for this proposed amendment will be considered and

documented in the EIS. One of these will be a no action/no change

alternative, essentially leaving the current Land and Resource

Management Plan in place. Other alternatives will propose to adopt

standards and guidelines regarding commercial livestock grazing

including the grazing related portions of the 1990 Mediated Settlement

Agreement as is or with modifications.

[[Page 53582]]

Intensive scoping for this proposed Forest Plan amendment was done

in March and April of 1995. At that time it was thought that this

amendment would be analyzed in documented as an environmental

assessment. Given the scope of the proposal, and a desire to provide

additional procedural opportunities for comment, the Forest Supervisor

has decided to document this analysis in an environmental impact

statement. By this notice, further scoping comments are invited from

any who might not have commented before. Those who have, need not do so

again. All input from the public will be considered in preparation of

the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS).

The draft EIS (DEIS) is expected to be filed with the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) and to be available for public review by

November 1995. At that time EPA will publish a notice of availability

of the DEIS in the Federal Register.

The comment period on the DEIS will be 45 days from the date that

EPA's Notice of Availability appears in the Federal Register. It is

very important that those interested in the management of the Sequoia

National Forest participate at that time. To be the most helpful,

comments on the DEIS should be as specific as possible and may address

the adequacy of the statement or the merits of the alternatives

discussed (see The Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for

implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental

Policy Act at 40 CFR 1503.3). Comments should refer to specific pages

or chapters of the DEIS.

Federal court decisions have established that reviewers of DEIS's

must structure their participation in the environmental review of the

proposal so that it is meaningful and alerts an agency to the

reviewers' position and contentions, Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp.

v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 553 (1978). Also, environmental objections that

could be raised at the DEIS stage, but that are not raised until after

completion of the final EIS, 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

comment period on the DEIS so that substantive 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 EIS.

After the comment period for the draft EIS ends, the comments

received will be analyzed and considered by the Forest Service in the

preparation of the Final EIS.

Dated: October 6, 1995.

Juliet B. Allen,

Acting Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 95-25486 Filed 10-13-95; 8:45 am]

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