Interested parties are hereby notified that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE), Rock Island District, is seeking public review and comment on the new Mississippi River Project Forest Management Plan and Programmatic Environmental Assessment (EA) for Pools 11-22. Written comments are being solicited through November 25, 2024, for anyone having an interest in the proposed plan. Comments will become part of the USACE administrative record and will be considered in determining appropriate forest management actions within the Mississippi River Project. All comments supporting, opposing, or identifying concerns that should be considered by the USACE in its decision process are welcome. Comments providing substantive information or a rationale for the commenter’s position are the most helpful.
LOCATION: The proposed Forest Management Plan covers managed forest within the Mississippi River Project, Pools 11-22.
PROJECT INFORMATION: The Mississippi River Project drafted this Forest Management Plan to identify silvicultural treatments that would promote sustainable forest conditions to benefit wildlife habitat conditions in decline across the Project. The objectives included in this Plan support overarching goals for this area laid out in other planning documents, including the Upper Mississippi River Systemic Forest Stewardship Plan and the Project Master Plan. Those objectives are:
• Cooperatively manage for sustainable forest diversity to reach the target wildlife habitat conditions identified with managing agencies
• Maintain forest health conditions that promote stability, individual tree longevity, and overall forest health
• Reduce impacts of wetland forest conversion and invasion from undesirable species
• Collect valuable data on forest metrics and monitor response to forest conditions over time
This Plan and associated Programmatic EA identify the collective impacts to Project lands and resources that may result from proposed silvicultural treatments. Specific locations of silvicultural treatments are not identified in this Plan; however, the Plan identifies the maximum potential acreages impacted by silvicultural treatments per navigational pool. These maximum potential impacts helped develop a Programmatic Biological Assessment (BA) that provides an environmental review process for Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act to facilitate the implementation of work over the next 15 years. This Plan is intended to replace the 1982 Forest, Fish, and Wildlife Management Plan and associated Programmatic EA. Actions proposed in this updated Plan do not exceed the original USACE 1982 thresholds of impacted acreage.
SOLICITATION OF COMMENTS: The USACE is soliciting comments from the public; Federal, state, and local agencies and officials; Indian Tribes; and other interested parties in order to consider and evaluate the impacts of the proposed activity. Any comments received will be considered by the USACE to determine whether to issue, modify, condition, or deny a permission for this proposal. To make this decision, comments are used to assess impacts on endangered species, historic properties, water quality, general environmental effects, and other public interest factors listed above. Comments are used in the preparation of an EA and/or an Environmental Impact Statement pursuant to the NEPA. Comments are also used to determine the
need for a public hearing and the overall public interest of the proposed activity.
COMMENT SUBMISSION AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Comments must reach this office no later than November 25, 2024. Comments or requests for additional information should be mailed or emailed to the following address:
Email: dillan.j.laaker@usace.army.mil
Mailing Address:
Department of the Army
US Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District
Attn: Laaker (PD-P)
Clock Tower Building
P. O. Box 2004
Rock Island IL 61204-2004
Click the link below to access the project documents.