[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 24, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14263-14264]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-7264]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management
[CA-310-1030-00-HDWT]


Headwaters Forest Reserve, California

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of interim management guidelines.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land 
Management, in cooperation with the State of California, will put into 
place interim management guidelines for the Headwaters Forest Reserve 
in Humboldt County, California. Under these Interim Management 
Guidelines, pedestrian access will be allowed into the Headwaters 
Forest Reserve. Other uses as cited below, on lands in the Headwaters 
Forest Reserve, will not be allowed on a temporary basis, subject to 43 
CFR 8364: Unauthorized use by motorized and non-motorized vehicles in 
accordance with 43 CFR 8341.2, use of firearms (43 CFR 8365.1-4), 
overnight camping (43 CFR 8364.1(a)), equestrian use (43 CFR 
8364.1(a)), and to the issuance of special use permits including but 
not limited to special forest products/vegetation collection (43 CFR 
8365.1-5(2)), and recreation (43 CFR 8364.1(a)). Decisions on long term 
public uses at the Headwaters Forest Reserve will be made through the 
cooperative management plan to be developed over the next year. 
Employees, agents and permittees of the BLM may be exempt from these 
restrictions as determined by the Field Manager.
    These temporary restrictions are necessary to (1) protect aquatic 
threatened and endangered species from further ecosystem damage caused 
by accelerated sedimentation of waterways by unstable road conditions, 
(2) protect terrestrial threatened and endangered species from 
unregulated, un-analyzed impacts, and (3) ensure public safety. These 
temporary restrictions will remain in effect until a formal planning 
process with full public participation is completed. The planning 
process will include: a comprehensive ecosystem analysis (watershed 
analysis) compliant with the standards and guidelines of the Northwest 
Forest Plan (NWFP), a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 
analysis, an approved United States Fish and Wildlife (USFW) Section 7 
Biological Consultation, and an approved National Marine Fisheries 
Service (NMFS) Consultation. These processes will lead to a final 
management plan and record of decision. The formal planning process is 
scheduled to begin later this year, with appropriate calls for public 
involvement.

DATES: Restrictions are effective March 24, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Maps and supporting documentation of the Headwaters Reserve 
are available for review at the following location: Bureau of Land 
Management, Arcata Field Office, 1695 Heindon Road, Arcata, CA, 95521.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lynda J. Roush, BLM, Arcata Field 
Manager (707) 825-2300.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The new Headwaters Forest Reserve, described 
in Section 501 of the 1998 Interior Appropriations Act as the 
Headwaters Forest and Elk River Property Acquisition, provides a unique 
opportunity for Federal, State, and local agencies to combine their 
strengths and involve the public in a Cooperative Resource Management 
Planning (CRMP) approach. A cooperative agreement among the three 
levels of government, along with a broad spectrum of interest groups, 
will oversee and help direct future management of the area. Such an 
approach will foster and perpetuate a public sense of stewardship for 
these important biological resources. The land acquisition, funded by 
the State of California and the Federal Government, will be managed as 
one landscape, with a seamless meshing of government and private sector 
entities. Cooperative management will be the cornerstone of the 
Headwaters Forest. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will be the 
managing agency representing the Federal government. Now that

[[Page 14264]]

acquisition is complete, the BLM will help lead the development of a 
management plan. The focus of the management plan is the protection and 
monitoring of threatened and endangered species and their aquatic and 
terrestrial habitats, particularly within the old-growth redwood 
groves. Management of the surrounding second-growth would include 
significant restoration activities to accelerate the return of old-
growth dependent species. Virgin old-growth forest stands will not be 
subject to silvicultural practices. The re-establishment of natural 
drainage networks will include extensive road restoration with the goal 
of removing, decommissioning, or stabilizing the entire existing road 
network and re-instating natural processes over time in an essential 
roadless landscape. Recreation activities and visitor services at the 
Headwaters Forest Reserve will be developed through the planning 
process. Visitor use will be managed in a manner consistent with the 
management of late-successional and old-growth forest habitats and the 
species they support.
    Opportunities for recreation use will be an evolving program where 
demand and impacts of uses will be analyzed over time. Management of 
the area will rely on findings of a detailed and comprehensive 
ecosystem analysis (watershed analysis) and an assessment of forest 
stand conditions. The findings of these analyses will set the 
ecological parameters within which all management will be conducted, 
including restoration, research, recreation, transportation, and 
monitoring.
    Extensive public involvement, along with public outreach and 
education, will be a vital component in the analysis process.
Lynda J. Roush,
Arcata Field Manager.
[FR Doc. 99-7264 Filed 3-22-99; 12:22 pm]
BILLING CODE 4130-40-P