The Environmental Assessment for the Jones Ranch Project is complete and a Draft Decision Notice (DN) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) has been prepared. These documents are available upon request at the Ava/Cassville/Willow Springs Ranger District Office, 1006 S. Jefferson St., Ava, MO 65608, or on the Mark Twain National Forest website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/marktwain/projects (scroll down to the Jones Ranch Project and click on its hyperlink).
The Jones Ranch Project is located solely on Federal lands of the Ava/Cassville/Willow Springs District in Christian County, Missouri. The city of Chadwick, Missouri lies approximately 1.5 miles to the east, Springfield is 16 miles northwest, and Branson is 10 miles southwest. The legal description for the project area is Township 26 North, Range 20 West, Sections 21-24, 26-29, and 31-33; and Township 25 North, Range 20 West, Sections 5-8, 16-22, and 27-34, Fifth Principal Meridian.
Benefits of implementation would include improved forest health, improved species diversity, optimized stocking levels, and removal of trees with declining health, thus moving conditions toward each management area’s natural, historic, ecological conditions as outlined in the 2005 Land and Resource Management Plan.
The proposed project is an activity implementing a land management plan and is subject to the pre-decisional objection process described in 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 218, Subparts A and B. The opportunity to object ends 45 days following the publication date of this legal notice in the Springfield News-Leader, which is the sole means for calculating the time to file an objection. Those wishing to object should not rely upon dates or timeframe information provided by another source.
The Responsible Official, Cody Lunsford, Ava/Cassville/Willow Springs District Ranger, has identified the actions in the Proposed Action as the desired way forward with this project. For additional information about this project, or for a printed copy of the Environmental Assessment and Draft DN/FONSI, contact Cody Lunsford at (417) 683-4428 or email to cody.lunsford@usda.gov.
Objections will be accepted only from those who have previously submitted specific written comments regarding the proposed project, unless based upon new information arising after the designated comment opportunities (§218.8(c)) have been completed.
The objection must contain the minimum content requirements specified in §218.8(d) and incorporation of documents by reference is permitted only as provided in §218.8(b). It is the objector's responsibility to ensure timely filing of a written objection with the reviewing officer. All objections are available for public inspection during and after the objection process.
Written objections, including attachments, may be mailed or hand-delivered during normal business hours (Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Central Time, excluding holidays) to the Reviewing Officer:
Mark Twain National Forest
Attn: Vinci Keeler, Reviewing Officer
401 Fairgrounds Rd.
Rolla, MO 65401
573-364-6844 (Fax)
Electronic objections must be submitted through the Comment Analysis and Response Application (CARA) tool in a format such as message, plain text (.txt), rich text format (rtf), or Word (.doc or .docx) via the link above, then by selecting “Comment/Object on Project” under “Get Connected”.
James Cady
