An Emergency Situation Determination pursuant to 36 CFR 218.21 was granted for this project on May 13 2015. Under 36 CFR 218.21(d) a proposed action is not subject to the pre-decisional objection process as the Chief of the Forest Service determined that an emergency situation exists with respect to all or part of the proposed action or activity. With the exception of the pre-decisional objection process noted above I have elected to follow the standard process for timing of Forest Service actions with respect to signing a Record of Decision (ROD) for the West Side Fire Recovery Project. To allow public tribal agency and other governmental review of the final EIS prior to the decision to be made. The ROD will be signed not sooner than 30 days after publication of the Notice of Availability (NOA) in the Federal Register in accordance with 40 CFR 1506.10 (b) (2). Publication of the Notice of Availability (NOA) in the Federal Register is anticipated on August 7 2015. Publication of the NOA in the Federal Register is the sole means of calculating the minimum 30-calendar day period between publication of the final EIS and the decision.
During the review period we will consider new information from the public tribes other agencies and governmental entities relevant to the content of the final EIS or the decision to be made so long as it is received prior to signature of the ROD. Comments offered on the draft EIS were fully considered in development of the final EIS. There is no need to resubmit or repeat comments from the draft EIS comment period as they are already part of the record and have already been considered (final EIS Volume 2 Appendix B: “Response to Comments on the Westside Fire Recovery Draft Environmental Impact Statement”).
We value public participation. Communications from the public regarding this project including commenter’s names and contact information will become part of the public record. Information including from anonymous sources will be accepted up to the date of decision.
Wendy Coats
