Last Chance EA Appeal
This news just in from district ranger Chris Fischer on the Last Chance Environmental Assessment:
"We received one appeal on the Last Chance Project EA. The appeal is from Chad Hanson of the John Muir Project. The appeal points are in the attached document. The 45-day appeal review period began on September 18. As this project was a Forest Supervisor decision, the Regional Forester would be the appeal review deciding officer. During the appeal review period, the Regional Office assembles an appeal review team to review the EA and ensure all NEPA processes have been followed. This review team then recommends a decision to the Regional Forester to affirm or reverse the decision. On behalf of the Forest Supervisor, I also attempted to work informally with the appellant, in this case Chad Hanson, to see if we could resolve his appeal issues prior to the Regional Forester issuing an appeal decision.
Both appeal issues #2 and #3 are related and are problematic. There are discrepancies between Table 10 and the Silviculture report, which are referenced in these appeal points. Even though the numbers are not reflective of the prescriptions on the ground, and are no more than process errors, this will be interpreted as a violation of NEPA. After a brief call with Chad Hanson to resolve his appeal issues, it became apparent that I would not be able to reach a resolution on his appeal points in a timely fashion. So, on October 2, 2009, the Forest Supervisor decided to withdraw the decision and have the ID Team correct the discrepancies.
I am anticipating minimal changes to the EA, and we will re-issue a decision in early December. We are not planning another 30-day comment period. A new decision will start a new appeal period and I expect another appeal will occur. We will still be on track to implement the project next year.
Please contact myself or Kalie Crews with any questions or concerns."
Chris Fischer
District Ranger
American River Ranger District, Tahoe NF
