[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 141 (Monday, July 24, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37900-37902]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-18063]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management
[OR-110-95-6350-00]


Medford District Resource Management Plan and Record of Decision

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability, Medford District Resource Management 
Plan and record of decision.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969 (40 CFR 1550.2), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976, (43 CFR 1610.2 (g)), the Department of the Interior, Bureau of 
Land Management (BLM), Medford District provides notice of availability 
of the Approved Resource Management Plan (ARMP) and Record of Decision 
(ROD) for the Medford District. The Approved RMP will provide the 
framework to guide land and resource allocations and management 
direction for the next 10 to 20 years in the Medford District. This 
ARMP supersedes the existing Josephine and Jackson/Klamath management 
framework plans and other related documents for managing BLM 
administered lands and resources in the subject area. The Medford 
District is responsible for management of BLM administered lands and 
minerals in all or portions of Jackson, Josephine, 

[[Page 37901]]
Douglas, Curry, and Coos Counties. These counties are located in 
southwestern Oregon. The Medford District is responsible for management 
of approximately 866,278 acres of surface and an additional 4,672 acres 
of subsurface (split-estate) lands.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the ARMP/ROD are available upon request by 
contacting the Medford District Office, Bureau of Land Management, 3040 
Biddle Road, Medford, Oregon, 97504. The telephone number is 503-770-
2200. This document has been sent to all those individuals and groups 
who were on the mailing list for the Medford District Proposed Resource 
Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement. Copies of the 
Approved RMP are also available for inspection in the public room at 
the BLM Oregon/Washington State Office, 1515 SW Fifth St. Portland, 
Oregon; and Jackson and Josephine County libraries during normal office 
hours.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dave Jones, District Manager, Medford District Office, Bureau of Land 
Management, 3040 Biddle Road, Medford, Oregon, 97504. He can also be 
reached by telephone number at 503-770-2200 or by FAX at 503-770-2400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Medford District Approved RMP/ROD is 
essentially the same as the Medford District Proposed Resource 
Management Plan presented in the October, 1994 Proposed Resource 
Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement (PRMP/FEIS). No 
significant changes have been made from the Proposed RMP.

    However, some minor changes and clarifying language has been made 
in response to protests the BLM received on the PRMP/FEIS and as a 
result of staff review. Minor changes include: changes to the visual 
resource management class and rural interface area designation in the 
Cobleigh Road area; clarification of the timber harvest deferral in the 
Cascade/Siskiyou Ecological Emphasis Area; language revisions made to 
tighten the link between the approved RMP and the 1994 Record of 
Decision for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management 
Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl and 
Standards and Guidelines for Management of Habitat for Late-
Successional and Old-Growth Forest Related Species Within the Range of 
the Northern Spotted Owl (or Northwest Forest Plan/ROD); and finally, 
revisions were made that incorporate guidelines issued by the Regional 
Ecosystem Office since the issuance of the 1994 Record of Decision 
named above. Such guidelines may clarify or interpret the 1994 Record 
of Decision. Seven alternatives that encompass a spectrum of realistic 
management options were considered in the planning process. The final 
plan is a mixture of the management objectives and actions that, in the 
opinion of the BLM, best resolve the issues and concerns that 
originally drove the preparation of the plan and also meet the plan 
elements or adopt decisions made in the 1994 Record of Decision for 
Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning 
Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl and Standards 
and Guidelines for Management of Habitat for Late-Successional and Old-
Growth Forest Related Species Within the Range of the Northern Spotted 
Owl (or Northwest Forest Plan/ROD). The Northwest Forest Plan/ROD was 
signed by the Secretary of the Interior who directed the BLM to adopt 
it in its Resource Management Plans for western Oregon. Further, those 
decisions were upheld by the United States District Court for the 
Western District of Washington on December 21, 1994. Following is a 
summary of some of the major decisions made through this planning 
effort.
    Ecosystem Management and Forest Product Production: The BLM 
administered lands are allocated to Riparian Reserves, Late-
Successional Reserves, Administratively Withdrawn Areas, Congressional 
Reserves, Applegate Adaptive Management Area, and Matrix (Connectivity/
Diversity Blocks and General Forest Management Areas). An Aquatic 
Conservation Strategy will be applied to all lands and waters under BLM 
administration. An allowable sale quantity for commercial forest 
products is established. A process for monitoring, evaluating and 
amending or revising the plan is described.
    Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC): The plan designates 
or redesignates the following 30 areas as ACECs, Research Natural 
Areas, Outstanding Natural Areas or a combination thereof: Eight Dollar 
Mountain (1,247 public acres), King Mountain Rock Garden (67 public 
acres), Table Rocks (1,240 public acres), Bill Creek (40 public acres), 
Bobby Creek-ACEC (428 public acres), Cedars of Beaver Creek (39 public 
acres), Crooks Creek (149 public acres), Baker Cypress (10 public 
acres), French Flat (656 public acres), Hole-in-the-Rock (63 public 
acres), Hoxie Creek (255 public acres), Iron Creek (286 public acres), 
Jenny Creek (966 public acres), Moon Prairie (91 public acres), Pilot 
Rock (544 public acres), Poverty Flat (29 public acres), Rough and 
Ready Creek (1164 public acres), Sterling Mine Ditch (141 public 
acres), Tin Cup (84 public acres), Bobby Creek-RNA (1,702 public 
acres), Brewer Spruce Enlargement (1,384 public acres), Grayback Glade 
(1,069 public acres), Holton Creek (423 public acres), Lost Lake (384 
public acres), North Fork Silver Creek (499 public acres), Old Baldy 
(166 public acres), Oregon Gulch (1,047 public acres), Pipe Fork (529 
public acres), Round Top Butte (604 public acres), Scotch Creek (1,797 
public acres). Management direction for the individual ACECs is 
prescribed in the ARMP/ROD, but may be supplemented or clarified in 
coordinated resource management activity plans, watershed analyses or 
other applicable interagency and/or multi-program decision documents. 
The ACECs have been designated to protect or enhance a wide variety of 
natural values or processes or to protect the public from natural 
hazards or provide for research natural areas as components of the 
Oregon Natural Heritage system. Restricted or prohibited uses are 
described in the ARMP and are designed to meet the management 
objectives for each area. Prescriptions typically include restrictions 
on the use of prescribed fire or fire suppression techniques, 
restrictions on motor vehicle use or the removal of vegetative 
materials, no-surface-occupancy clauses for mineral or energy leases or 
permits, prohibition of new rights-of-way, etc.
    Wild and Scenic Rivers: Big Windy Creek (6.8 miles), East Fork of 
Big Windy Creek (3.6 miles), Dulong Creek (1.7 miles), and Howard Creek 
(7.0 miles) have been determined to be administratively suitable for 
designation as a component of the national Wild and Scenic Rivers 
System under a wild river classification. All administratively suitable 
or eligible (pending further study) river segments will be managed 
under BLM interim management guidelines pending further legislative or 
administrative consideration, as applicable. In addition, all other 
potentially eligible, free-flowing rivers or streams adjacent to BLM 
administered lands in the subject planning area were reviewed.
    Off-Highway-Vehicle (OHV) Use: the ARMP/ROD makes the following 
designations for OHV management in the Medford District/Area: 391,400 
acres will be open; 441,700 acres will be restricted to designated 
existing roads and trails and/or seasonally closed; and 25,200 acres 
will be closed to all use, except for specified administrative or 
emergency uses. In addition, the ARMP/

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ROD provides for road closures to meet ecosystem management objectives. 
Such closures may be permanent or seasonal, and by use of signs, gates, 
barriers or total road de-construction and site restoration.
    Land Tenure Adjustment: The ARMP/ROD identifies approximately 
292,100 acres of BLM administered lands which will be retained in 
public ownership, 558,800 acres of BLM lands which may be considered 
for exchange under prescribed circumstances, and 7,600 acres of BLM-
administered land which may be available for sale or disposal under 
other authorized processes. The ARMP also provides criteria for the 
acquisition of lands, or interests in lands, where such acquisition 
would meet objectives of the various resource programs. The plan 
allocates 71,100 acres as right-of-way exclusion areas and 819,300 
acres as right-of-way avoidance areas.
    Special Recreation and Visual Resource Management Areas: The plan 
identifies 5 new or existing Special Recreation Management Areas. They 
are the Hyatt Lake-Howard Prairie SRMA (17,000 acres), The Pacific 
Crest National Scenic Trail SRMA (12, 086 acres), Rogue National Wild 
and Scenic River SRMA (14,277 acres) Lost Creek Lake SRMA (9,492 
acres), and the Galesville Lake SRMA (3,977 acres). The plan allocates 
1,800 acres of BLM administered lands for 40 existing or potential 
recreation sites. The plan also allocates lands for 30 existing or 
potential trails, totaling 240 miles. The plan also identifies 
management objectives for four visual resource management 
classifications.
    Mineral and Energy Resource Management: Approximately 845,500 areas 
or 97 percent of BLM administered lands remain open to leasable energy/
mineral leasing, and 829,000 acres or 96 percent are available for 
hardrock mineral mining claim location.

    Dated: July 17, 1995.
Wayne Kuhn,
Acting District Manager, Medford District.
[FR Doc. 95-18063 Filed 7-21-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6350-00-M