United States Department of 14" & Independence SW Forest Service Agriculture P.O. Box 96090 Washington Office Washington, DC 20090-6090 P.O. Box 96090 File Code: 6270-1-1 00-1429-A (LEI) Date: FEB 16 2001 Mr. Barry Adams Box 8574 Missoula, MT 59807 Dear Mr. Adams: This is a partial response, a status report, and an information clarification request on your incorrectly dated March 17, 1999,Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) appeal that was received in our FOIA office on March 10, 2000. You are appealing Law Enforcement an Investig ons Director William F. Wasley's February 17, 2000, response to your original FOIA request dated January 26, 2000. Specifically, you are appealing the information withheld on the records provided to you, pursuant to Exemptions 3, 5, 6, 7(A), and 7(E). You are also appealing Director Wasley's "no additional records" determination. Your appeal listed records I through 27 that were not included in our response to your original request. Due to the large number of FOIA request and appeals we have received it has taken us longer to respond to your appeal. We apologize for the delay. Enclosed in entirety are 5 pages responsive to items 1-4 of your appeal. 1. "Official record of 'Declaration of Emergency' by Secretary of Agriculture." Enclosed in entirety is a 1 -page letter from the USDA Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration dated April 29, 1999 . 2. "Letter of Delegation of Authority, from Allegheny Forest to Incident Command." Enclosed in entirety is a 2-page letter to William C. Fox from John E. Palmer dated June 10, 1999 . 3. "'Declaration of Emergency' request letter and related correspondence for 'Gathering 1999,' similar to Fox letter sent to your office during 'Gathering 2000' (File Code: 6150 dated January 25, 2000)." Enclosed in entirety is a 1 -page letter from William C. Fox to the Chief dated March 15, 1999 . 4. "Budget information, including budget proposals, fimding sources, line items refenced by filecodes, and any additional budget/funding memos, letter, or confirmations (such as the one for 'Gathering 2000' sent by Kim Thorsen and Alice Carlton." Enclosed in entirety is a 1-page undated e-mail message from Alice Carlton to Kim Thorsen . 2 We have interpreted your appeal letter to state that you are not appealing the portions of pages in the 1999 National Rainbow Family Gathering Final Action Report that were withheld on February 17, 2000, pursuant to Exemptions 3, 6, 7(C), and 7(E) of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(3), (6), (7)(C), (7)(E). Please notify us in writing if this is not a correct interpretation of your appeal. We have determined that the remaining records you are appealing in items 5 through 27 are not located in our Washington Headquarters office. However, we have located approximately 1,700 pages of records on the Allegheny National Forest that we believe are responsive to your appeal. You have already received the first 100 pages free of charge, which FOIA requesters are entitled. The FOIA provides that requesters pay the reasonable costs for duplication of records. In accordance with 7 CFR Subtitle A, Part 1, Subpart A, Appendix A, we are 'required to collect fees for these services. At the rate of $.20 per page for duplication, the cost for these records is $340. Advance payment can be required when the estimated cost is above $250. Do you wish to narrow the potential scope of your appeal to reduce the duplication fees? In narrowing the scope, it is important for you to identify with reasonable specificity, the documents you seek. Identifying specific records, the nature or content of the record, or a shorter time-frame or specific dates, will help to narrow the scope of your request. Please notify this office in writing by March 15, 2001, if you are willing to pay the duplication of records fees or wish to narrow the scope of your appeal, so that we can proceed with processing your appeal. You may contact Nona Jones of the FOIA office at (703) 605-4913 to inquire about the status of your appeal. Please identify your appeal by the assigned control number 00-1429-A. Sincerely, WILLIAM F. WASLEY Director Law Enforcement and Investigations Enclosures