Southwestern Region, Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas and Oklahoma Proposed Projects in the Agua/Caballos Analysis Area, Carson National Forest, Rio Arriba County, NM

Riepilogo

The Carson National Forest, El Rito Ranger District is preparing a supplement to the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) to disclose new information relevant to the analysis of proposed projects in the Agua/Caballos analysis area. Proposed projects include the allocation of old growth, harvesting of trees for sawtimber and forest products, prescribed burning, thinning, construction of new roads and reconstruction or closure of existing roads. A Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an environmental impact statement was published in the Federal Register on April 22, 1997 (62 FR 195342). A Notice of Availability for the DEIS was published in the Federal Register on February 19, 1999 (64 FR 8356). After further verification on the ground, Alternative C (the preferred alternative) was found to have more miles of new road construction, and Alternatives D and E were found to have more miles of reconstruction, than what was described and analyzed in the DEIS. These new road figures are expected to change the effects analyses for alternatives C-E, especially those associated with soils and watershed. The supplement will disclose the new miles of road construction and reconstruction for