[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 58 (Friday, March 26, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 14746]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-7513]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Notice of Availability of the Coquille Forest Resource Management 
Plan (CFRMP) Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the 5,410 
Acre Coquille Forest Near the Community of Bridge, in Coos County, OR

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs (BIA) intends to file a Final Environmental Impact Statement 
(FEIS) for the Coquille Forest Resource Management Plan (CFRMP) with 
the Environmental Protection Agency. Both the FEIS and the Plan, which 
will provide guidance for resource management activities on the 5,410 
acre Coquille Forest, are now available for review.

DATES: Written comments will be accepted through April 26, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Address written comments to Mr. Ronald D. Kortlever, 
Superintendent, Siletz Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs, P.O. Box 569, 
Siletz, Oregon.
    To obtain a copy of the FEIS or CFRMP, please write Mr. Gary 
Varner, Forester, at the above address, or telephone 541-444-2679. 
Copies of the FEIS and CFRMP have been sent to all agencies and 
individuals who participated in the scoping process or who have already 
requested copies of these documents.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Gary Varner, 541-444-2679.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BIA, through consultation with the 
Coquille Indian Tribe (Tribe), has developed the CFRMP in conformance 
with the requirements of the Coquille Restoration Act (Public Law 101-
42), as amended by Pub. L. 104-208 of September 30, 1996 (25 U.S.C. 
715c, 110 Stat. 3009-537). The Coquille Forest was created from a 
fraction of more than 300,000 acres that are under the jurisdiction of 
the Coos Bay District of the Bureau of Land Management (CBD/BLM). In 
September 1994, the CBD/BLM approved a Resource Management Plan, and 
its associated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), that would provide 
guidance for the management of those 300,000+ acres for 10 to 15 years 
into the future. The BIA and the Tribe, through the Coquille Forest 
Resource Management Plan, have adopted the land allocations, management 
practices, standards and guidelines in the BLM's plan that are 
applicable to the 5,410 acre Coquille Forest. The CFRMP is materially 
the same as the CBD/BLM Resource Management Plan.
    The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations at 40 CFR 
Part 1506.3 allow federal agencies to adopt an EIS prepared by other 
federal agencies, if the proposed action is substantially the same as 
that of the issuing agency. An adopting agency that was not a 
cooperator in the original EIS must recirculate that EIS as an FEIS, 
with a 30 day review and comment period, before issuing a record of 
decision on the proposed action. The BIA is following this procedure by 
recirculating the BLM's EIS, which was approved two years before the 
statute authorizing the establishment of the Coquille Forest was 
enacted, along with the CFRMP.
    This notice is furnished in accordance with Section 1503.1 of the 
CEQ regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500 through 1508) implementing the 
procedural requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and the Department of the 
Interior Manual (516 DM 1-6), and is in the exercise of authority 
delegated to the Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs by 209 DM 8.

    Dated: March 23, 1999.
Kevin Gover,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 99-7513 Filed 3-25-99; 8:45 am]
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