The Sweet Home Ranger District on the Willamette National Forest announces the 45-day objection period for the final Upper Canyon Environmental Assessment and draft Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Effect (DN/FONSI). The final EA, draft DN/FONSI, and supporting documentation can be found on the project webpage: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/willamette/projects/64261. The purposes of this project are to: 1) provide a sustainable supply of timber products; 2) actively manage timber plantations and the landscape to promote growth, diversity, and structural complexity; 3) manage riparian reserves to control stocking and acquire desired vegetation characteristics needed to obtain the Aquatic Conservation Strategy objectives; and 4) sustainably manage the network of roads in the project area by identifying a minimum road system. Proposed treatments would occur on approximately 1,069 acres using a combination of thinning, dominant tree release, gap creation, and non-harvested skips. Treatments are expected to generate 10 to 12 million board feet for the local economy. Activities such as fall and leave treatments, tree removal, girdling, and piling and burning are proposed on about 37 acres of meadows. Proposed road work would include approximately 84 miles of forest road maintenance and reconstruction. It would also include constructing less than 1 mile of new temporary road and re-opening about 4 miles previously used temporary roads. The project is subject to pre-decisional administrative review pursuant to 36 CFR 218, Subpart B. The 45-day objection period begins the day following publication of notice of objection in the Eugene- Register Guard, the newspaper of record. Objections must meet the requirements of 36 CFR 218.2. During the objection period, only individuals or organizations that submitted specific written comments (36 CFR 218.2) during a designated opportunity for public participation (scoping; the comment period; or public meetings) may object (36 CFR 218.5). Objections must meet the requirements of 36 CFR 218.2. Objections can be submitted electronically through email to sm.fs.r6comobj-wil@usda.gov. Written objections should be sent to Robert Sanchez, Attention: Objection at 3106 Pierce Parkway in Springfield, OR 97477. Objections can be submitted in several forms, but must be received by the Forest Supervisor, the Objection Deciding Officer, within 47 days from the date of publication of notice of objection in the Eugene Register-Guard. The publication date in the Eugene Register-Guard is the exclusive means for calculating the time to file an objection. Attachments to the Objection received after the 45-day objection period will not be considered. Those wishing to object to this draft decision notice should not rely upon dates or timeframe information provided by any other source.
Hilary Henry
