Notice of the Preparation of the Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment and the Beginning of Forest Plan Revision Efforts for the Ouachita, Ozark-St. Francis, and Mark Twain National Forests

SUMMARY: This Notice announces the U.S. Forest Service's participation

in the preparation of the Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment (OOHA).

The Assessment is being prepared by the Southern and Eastern Regions of

the National Forest System, the Southern Research Station, and the

North Central Forest Experiment Station, in cooperation with other

Federal and State agencies, in order to compile information about

regional conditions and trends relevant to upcoming revisions of the

land and resource management plans of three National Forests.

Assessment findings will help establish the need for any changes in

National Forest land and resource management plans and, possibly, land

management plans of some other public lands in the Ozark/Ouachita

Highlands. National Forest lands within the study area include those of

the Ouachita, Ozark-St. Francis, and Mark Twain National Forests,

totalling nearly 4.5 million acres. Other federal lands within the

assessment area include National Park Service lands (Hot Springs

National Park, the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Buffalo National

River, and several smaller untis); more than 20 reservoirs managed by

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including Lake Ouachita, Greers Ferry

Lake, Eufala Lake, Bull Shoals Lake, and Table Rock Lake; and at least

six National Wildlife Refuges administered by the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service. State Parks, natural areas, and wildlife management

areas are found in each of the three states--Arkansas, Missouri, and

Oklahoma--in the assessment area. The majority of the land within the

analysis area is in private ownership of many types and sizes. Several

forest product companies have expansive holdings that are managed

primarily for timber production.

This Notice also announces the beginning of efforts to revise the

Land and Resource Management Plans (Forest Plans) for the Ouachita,

Ozark-St. Francis, and Mark Twain National Forests. This is not the

``Notice of Intent'' (NOI) for the Environmental Impact Statements

(EISs) that will accompany the Revised Forest Plans. Those NOIs will be

issued at a later date.

The Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment will support and facilitate

land and resource management decisions to be made in Forest Plan

revisions. As the National Forests are providing information for the

Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment, they will also be conducting local

efforts to complete each National Forest's Analysis of the Management

Situation (AMS).

The Assessment will be used to help develop each National Forest's

``Need for Change'' section in the AMS. This information will then be

used to publish the NOIs to prepare the Environmental Impact

Statements, which will begin the National Environmental Policy Act

(NEPA) processes associated with each Forest Plan revision.

Public involvement is critical throughout these processes and will

be requested and accepted continually throughout these efforts. Formal

public involvement with the Forest Plan revision efforts will also be

conducted through ``Scoping'', following the issuance of the National

Forests' NOIs.

DATES: The Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment is scheduled to be

completed by January 1998.

The Ouachita, Ozark-St. Francis, and the Mark Twain National

Forests are scheduled to complete the drafts of their Analyses of the

Management Situation by mid-1998. During this same time period, these

Forests are scheduled to issue NOIs to Prepare Environmental Impact

Statements for Revised Forest Plans.

ADDRESSES: Requests for information, and comments concerning this

Notice can be sent to Team Leader, Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment,

USDA Forest Service, P.O. Box 1270, Hot Springs, Arkansas 71902.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Preparation of the Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessments

The Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment includes approximately 45

million acres within the states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

Federal lands make up less than 15 percent of the area; but their

importance for recreation, plant and animal diversity, forest cover,

local economic development, wood products, water and minerals is

substantial. The region as a whole is undergoing fairly rapid change,

marked by population growth in many counties; market shifts; increased

pressures on timber, water, mineral, and recreational resources;

expanding transportation networks; and changing agricultural and

silvicultural practices. Future decisions about public land management

in the Ozark/Ouachita Highlands must be made within this context of

social, economic, and environmental change. The Assessment will provide

a synthesis of available information, including databases, maps, and

research findings, that supports an interagency approach to ecosystem

management on federal lands in the Ozark/Ouachita Highlands area.

Collection of existing broad-scale data concerning the Ozark/

Ouachita Highlands is organized around three ``themes''--(1) Social and

Economic (Human Dimensions)--which includes social conditions and

trends, economic conditions and trends, attitudes and values, and

roadless areas and wilderness; (2) Terrestrial--which includes the

Health of Forest Ecosystems, and Plant and Animal Resources; and (3)

Aquatic/Atmospheric--which includes the present status and trends in

water and air quality.

Public comment on the OOHA process began with a meeting of the

Ouachita National Forest's Ecosystem Management Advisory Committee in

Little Rock, Arkansas, March 28, 1996, and another meeting of the

committee in Fort Smith, Arkansas, May 17, 1996. A public announcement

and related press notice concerning the Assessment were

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distributed on July 15, 1996. As the Assessment progresses, continued

public involvement will be facilitated through additional meetings,

newsletters, and electronic media.

2. Beginning of the Forest Plan Revision Efforts for the Ouachita,

Ozark-St. Francis, and Mark Twain National Forests

This Notice announces that the Ouachita, Ozark-St. Francis, and

Mark Twain National Forests have already started or are beginning

efforts to revise their Forest Plans. These Forests are each in the

very early stages of preparing an AMS, one of the first steps in the

revision process. This step includes updating resource inventories,

defining the current situation, estimating supply capabilities and

resource demands, and determining the ``Need for Change'' (36 CFR

219.12(e)(5)).

3. Public Involvement in Developing the ``Need for Change'' in an

AMS

Determining the concerns and expectations of National Forest

constituents and getting public input on how well current Forest Plans

are working, or not working, are critical elements of describing the

``need to change'' a Forest Plan. An integral part of determining the

need for change is public involvement. Each of the National Forests

described above either have already, or will soon contact its

interested publics to solicit their participation in this step of the

Forest Plan revision process.

4. Relationship Between the AMS and a Notice of Intent to Prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement

In the past, a ``Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental

Impact Statement'' was issued at the beginning of the forest planning

process, including before the development of the AMS.

This time, we are first defining the current situation and an

initial ``need for change'' in a Draft AMS, and then issuing a NOI

prior to developing alternatives. This will allow us to incorporate a

more definable ``Proposed Action'' and ``Purpose and Need'' into our

NOIs, which will begin the formal NEPA process of preparing the EISs

that will accompany the Revised Forest Plans.

5. Relationship Between the Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Assessment and the

Process for Revising the Forest Plans for Each National Forest

Some individuals may be concerned that the Ozark/Ouachita

Assessment will ``delay'' revising Forest Plans in the Ozark/Ouachita

Highlands. However, the OOHA is being conducted concurrently, and in

support of, the Forest Plan revisions.

Many of the information needs for the Forest AMSs and for the OOHA

are the same. The Assessment will support the revision of the Forest

Plans by determining how the lands, resources, people and management of

the National Forests interrelate within the larger context of the

Ozark/Ouachita Highlands Area. The OOHA, however, will not be a

``decision document'' and it will not involve the NEPA process. As

broad-scale issues are identified and addressed at the sub-regional

level in the Assessment, the individual National Forest's role in

resolving those broad-scale issues will become a part of the ``need for

change'' at the Forest level.

6. Issuing the Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS

The National Forests identified above will issue their NOI once

they have developed the ``Need for Change'' section of their respective

Draft AMSs. The Draft AMSs are scheduled to be completed by mid-1998;

NOIs are also scheduled to be issued during this same time period.

Each NOI will include a description of a preliminary ``Proposed

Action'', based on the ``Need for Change'' analysis in the Draft AMS,

the preliminary issues, and some preliminary alternatives. Scoping to

receive public comments on the preliminary propose action, issues and

preliminary alternatives will begin following the publication of the

NOIs. These public comments will be used to further refine the

``Proposed Action'', the preliminary issues and the preliminary

alternatives, to possibly identify additional alternatives, and to

complete the AMS and the ``Need for Change.''

7. The Responsible Official

The Responsible Official for this notice is Bill Pell, Assessment

Team Leader, USDA Forest Service, 100 Reserve Street, Box 1270, Federal

Building, Hot Springs, Arkansas 71902.

Dated: October 9, 1996.

Bill Pell,

Assessment Team Leader.

[FR Doc. 96-26503 Filed 10-15-96; 8:45 am]

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