United States    Forest      Washington      14th & Independence SW

Department of    Service     Office          P.O. Box 96090

Agriculture                                  Washington, DC 20090-6090

                                                                              

                                             File Code: 1570-1 (L)

                                                        NFS 98-13-00-0029-A215

                                                  Date: August 7, 1998




Mr. Richard Roos-Collins
Natural Heritage Institute               CERTIFIED MAIL - R.R.R.

114 Sansome Street, Ste. 1200
San Francisco, CA  94104

Dear Mr. Roos-Collins:

This letter pertains to your appeal dated June 15, 1998, concerning Regional Forester G. Lynn Sprague's letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) concerning the final 4(e) conditions for relicensing the Kern River No. 1 Hydroelectric project, FERC No. 1930-014, Sequoia National Forest.  This appeal was filed on behalf of the Friends of the River, American Whitewater, and Kern River Alliance.


This is to advise you that in accordance with the 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 215 appeal procedures, we must issue an appeal decision within 45 days following the end of the appeal filing period (36 CFR 215.13(f)(3)).  If a formal decision is not issued, we are required by 36 CFR 215.17(b) to notify you of the disposition of your appeal, and that is the purpose of this letter.  On April 29, 1998, Regional Forester Sprague (Responsible Official) signed the Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact for this project.  The legal notice was published on May 1, 1998.  The appeal filing period ended on June 15, 1998.  A decision by this office was due no later than July 30, 1998.  Since our review of the administrative appeal record was not completed within the required time, Regional Forester Sprague's decision is the final determination of the Department of Agriculture.


Sincerely,


/s/ Gloria Manning

GLORIA MANNING
Appeal Deciding Officer

cc:
Regional Forester, R-5

Lois Cashell, Secretary, FERC, 825 North Capitol Street,  N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426


Nino J. Mascolo, Senior Attorney, SCE, 2244 Walnut Grove Avenue, Rosemead, CA 91770


bjohnston/r5,sequoia
dpaul/r5a
abryant/sglasser
rswanson/gsmith
IBM:FS:LANDS:MALLEN:program_admin/DG_1570/98-0029-Kern_River_1/98-0029-no_time