[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 221 (Thursday, November 16, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 57561-57562]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-28294]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
43 CFR Part 2810
[WO-420-6310-00]
Tramroads and Logging Roads--Subpart 2812--Over O. and C. and
Coos Bay Revested Lands
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to revise
regulations governing logging roads over revested Oregon and California
Railroad grant lands and reconveyed Coos Bay Wagon Road grant lands
(collectively known as the O&C lands). The changes will bring the
existing cost-sharing road program under the regulatory framework of
Section 502 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976
(FLPMA) and incorporate environmental protection and other requirements
for rights-of-way over public lands found in Title V of FLPMA. Another
change will allow compensation for the use of roads and rights-of-way
where the landowner has granted BLM rights of access for recreational
purposes. In addition, the entire subpart will be revised, using a
``plain English'' approach, to remove obsolete terms and improve its
clarity, organization, and readability. The purpose of this notice is
to solicit comments to help guide preparation of the proposed rule.
This notice presents only a general description of the actions being
considered and includes no regulatory text.
DATES: Comments on this advance notice of proposed rulemaking must be
received by December 18, 1995. Comments postmarked after this date may
not be considered in the preparation of the proposed rule.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Regulatory Management Team (420),
Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C Street NW, Room 401LS, Washington, DC
20240.
Comments may be sent via Internet to: WO[email protected]. Please
include ``ATTN: O&C'' and your name and return address in your Internet
message.
Comments may be hand-delivered to the Bureau of Land Management
Administrative Record, Room 401, 1620 L Street NW, Washington, DC.
Comments will be available for public review at the L Street
address during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.), Monday
through Friday.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Styduhar, Oregon State Office,
Bureau of Land Management, (503) 952-6454.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM is responsible for the conservation
and management of about two million acres of public forestlands in
western Oregon, commonly referred to as the O&C lands. The O&C lands
are generally intermingled with private lands in a checkerboard pattern
which creates particular problems with respect to land management as
each party must cross the lands of the other for access.
The Oregon and California Revested Lands Sustained Yield Management
Act of August 28, 1937 (43 U.S.C. 1181a and 1181b) granted to the
Secretary of the Interior the general authority to provide for the use,
occupancy, and development of the O&C lands through permits and rights-
of-way. The BLM has had a cost-share logging road right-of-way program
in western Oregon under this authority since the early 1950's. The
regulations for this program are contained in 43 CFR Subpart 2812. With
the enactment of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976
(FLPMA), all right-of-way authorizations must be issued under the
authority and requirements of Title V of FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761-1771).
The Secretary was given specific authority to enter into cost-share
agreements under Section 502 of the Act.
The BLM has continued the use of regulations in 43 CFR Subpart 2812
on an interim basis pending the preparation and publication of new
cost-share regulations. Since the regulations contained in this subpart
clearly represent a cost-share road agreement concept, it is proposed
by the Secretary that these regulations be revised as necessary and
adopted pursuant to the authority contained in Section 310 of FLPMA (43
U.S.C. 1740) for the purpose of implementing Section 502. Continuing
the use of pre-existing regulations with only minor modifications and
changes would provide for the orderly and continuous administration of
all outstanding permits and agreements issued prior to the effective
date of this rulemaking.
BLM has identified the following changes that it intends to include
in the proposed rule and invites the public to submit information and
comments:
1. Include as an authority Title V of FLPMA, thus bringing the
authority section up to date.
2. Modify the definition of ``management'' to include the
conservation of environmental resources. This will ensure that
protection of the environment is
[[Page 57562]]
considered equally with all other management objectives.
3. Provide for reimbursement of reasonable costs incurred by the
United States in considering right-of-way requests. The BLM currently
charges no fees for processing right-of-way applications under this
subpart.
4. Remove the restriction on granting permits to noncitizens since
this restriction is no longer required under FLPMA.
5. Permit the collection of additional information that the
Secretary deems necessary to determine whether a right-of-way should be
granted, issued, or renewed, and what terms and conditions should be
included in the right-of-way.
6. Remove the provision allowing construction in advance of the
issuance of a permit, because there is no authority for it in Title V
of FLPMA.
7. Allow either party to record legal instruments. As a practical
matter, BLM rather than the applicant often records these instruments,
and the regulation should be amended to authorize this practice.
8. Provide regulatory authority for the BLM to object to the
location of a road right-of-way across public lands because of
potential effects on species listed as threatened or endangered under
the Endangered Species Act.
9. Add terms and conditions including environmental protection
provisions and measures to protect cultural sites and objects. Include
a reservation of the right of the government to permit compatible use
of the right-of-way by others.
10. Add an abandonment provision providing that failure to use the
right-of-way for a continuous 5-year period will be treated as
abandonment. This presumption of abandonment would be rebuttable by the
holder.
11. Establish terms and conditions whereby the government can
exercise the rights received from a permittee for use by properly
licensed hunters and fishermen and by other recreationalists to reach
United States lands.
The public is invited to raise any additional issues or concerns
related to the proposed rulemaking, including any other factors that
should be considered in its development. BLM is particularly interested
in ideas about how to reorganize, simplify, and clarify the existing
regulations.
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, BLM is
required to provide notice in the Federal Register concerning a
proposed collection of information. The purpose of the notice is to
solicit comments on whether the collection of information is necessary,
the accuracy of BLM's estimate of the burden imposed by the collection,
ways to enhance the quality and usefulness of the information, and ways
to minimize the burden. Elsewhere in this issue of the Federal
Register, BLM is publishing a notice concerning the form used by
applicants for right-of-way permits.
The principal author of this advance notice of proposed rulemaking
is John Styduhar, Oregon State Office, assisted by Pat Boyd, Regulatory
Management Team, Washington Office.
Dated: November 13, 1995.
Annetta Cheek,
Regulatory Management Team.
[FR Doc. 95-28294 Filed 11-15-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-P