[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 235 (Thursday, December 6, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63402-63404]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-30222]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[OR 020-02-1610-DO-241A,HAG02-0007]


Harney and Malheur Counties, OR; Andrews Resource Area, Steens 
Mountain; Resource Management Plan

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Burns District, Andrews Field 
Office.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to (1) prepare a Resource Management Plan 
(RMP) for the Andrews Resource Area (ARA) and (2) prepare a management 
plan for the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area 
(CMPA), designated October 30, 2000. These actions will be addressed in 
a single Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The ARA is located in 
Harney and Malheur Counties, Oregon. The CMPA lies solely within Harney 
County, largely within the ARA, and to a lesser extent, within the 
Three Rivers Resource Area (RA), Burns District.

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SUMMARY: This document provides notice that the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) intends to prepare an RMP, with an associated EIS, for 
the ARA/CMPA. This planning activity encompasses approximately 
1,723,564 acres of public land, including 425,550 acres in the CMPA. 
The area to be addressed involves the ARA, the CMPA, and a small 
segment of the Burns District's Three Rivers RA, which is included in 
the CMPA. Depending on the alternative selected and approved, a portion 
of the Three Rivers RMP may be amended by this planning effort.
    The plan will fulfill the needs and obligations set forth by the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act (FLPMA), the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and 
Protection Act of 2000 (Act), and BLM management policies. The analysis 
and resulting decisions will also meet the requirements of the 
Wilderness Act and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, as applicable. The BLM 
will work closely with the Steens Mountain Advisory

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Council (SMAC), a citizen's advisory group established by the Act, and 
with other interested parties to collaboratively identify the 
management decisions that are best suited to local, regional and 
national needs and concerns.
    This notice gives early notification of the public scoping process, 
which is designed to identify planning issues and develop planning 
criteria. The SMAC will initiate the scoping process through its work 
on preliminary planning issues, criteria and alternatives. The scoping 
process will also include opportunity for internal and external review 
of the existing management plan.

DATES: The formal scoping comment period is expected to begin in 
January 2002 with publication of a notice in local newspapers and other 
media. Formal scoping will end sixty days after publication of that 
notice. At least 15 days public notice will be given for activities for 
which the public is invited to attend. Written comments will be 
accepted throughout the planning process at the address shown below.

Public Participation

    The SMAC will be the primary public advisory group for this 
planning effort. In addition, open-house type public meetings will be 
held during the scoping and plan preparation period. Public meetings 
will be held in Burns, Oregon, and at other communities as interest 
warrants. Early participation by all those interested is encouraged and 
will help determine the future management of the CMPA and ARA. All 
public comments and lists of attendees for each meeting will be 
available to the public and open for 30 days to participants who wish 
to clarify the views they expressed. Meetings and comment deadlines 
will be announced through the local news media, newsletters and the 
Burns BLM web site (www.or.blm.gov/Burns/). I n addition to the ongoing 
public participation process, formal opportunities for public 
participation will be provided through comment on the alternatives and 
upon publication of the Draft RMP/EIS.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Andrews Resource 
Management Plan, Bureau of Land Management, Burns District Office, HC 
74-12533, Highway 20 West, Hines, Oregon 97738; Fax (541) 573-4411, or 
e-mail ([email protected]). Documents pertinent to this proposal may 
be examined at the Burns District Office in Hines, Oregon. Comments, 
including names and street addresses of respondents, will be available 
for public review at the Burns District Office during regular business 
hours, 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays, 
and may be published as part of the EIS. Individual respondents may 
request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or street 
address from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of 
Information Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of 
your written comment. Such requests will be honored to the extent 
allowed by law. All submissions from organizations and businesses, and 
from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials 
of organizations or businesses, will be available for public inspection 
in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information and/or to have 
your name added to our mailing list, contact Rhonda Karges, Telephone 
(541) 573-4433 or Gary Foulkes, Telephone (541) 573-4541 at the BLM 
Burns District Office.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The creation of the CMPA, including 169,465 
acres of the newly created Steens Mountain Wilderness Area, along with 
the changing needs and interests of the public, necessitate formulation 
of the Andrews/Steens RMP. The new ARA RMP and the management plan for 
the CMPA will be combined into one planning effort. In addition, 
management plans for the Steens Wilderness and WSRs, as well as a 
transportation plan for the CMPA will be incorporated into the RMP.
    Some preliminary issues and management concerns were identified 
when the Act was developed, through subsequent meetings with 
individuals and user groups, and by BLM personnel. Major issue themes 
that will be addressed in the plan effort include: upland and watershed 
management; riparian areas and wetlands; woodlands management; 
vegetation; wildlife habitat; special status species; energy and 
minerals; special management areas; fire/fuels management; recreation 
management; lands and realty issues; wild horses; cultural resources; 
noxious weeds; Off Highway Vehicle management; water quality/aquatic 
resources/fisheries; transportation; and socio-economics. After 
gathering public comments on issues that the plan should address and 
reviewing them in concert with the SMAC, the issues will be placed in 
one of three categories:
    1. Issues to be resolved in the plan;
    2. Issues resolved through policy or administrative action; or
    3. Issues beyond the scope of the plan.

    Rationale will be provided in the plan for each issue placed in 
category two or three. In addition to these major issues, a number of 
management questions and concerns will be addressed in the plan. The 
public is encouraged to help identify these questions and concerns 
during the scoping phase. An interdisciplinary approach will be used to 
develop the plan in order to consider the variety of resource issues 
and concerns identified. Disciplines involved in the planning process 
will include (but not be limited to) those with expertise in rangeland 
management, minerals and geology, botany, forestry, outdoor recreation, 
wilderness management, archaeology, paleontology, wildlife and 
fisheries, lands and realty, hydrology, soils, sociology and economics.

Background Information

    The CMPA was established through an Act of Congress (P.L. 106-399). 
Special Management Areas created within the CMPA include: the Wildland 
Juniper Management Area; the Steens Mountain Wilderness, which contains 
a No Livestock Grazing Area; new Wild and Scenic River (WSR) 
designations; and a Redband Trout Reserve. Congress recognized that the 
CMPA fosters exceptional cooperative management opportunities and 
offers outstanding natural, cultural, scenic, wilderness, and 
recreational resources. To ensure those resources are appropriately 
managed, the Act mandated that BLM prepare a management plan for the 
CMPA by October 30, 2004.
    In 1995, preparation of the Southeastern Oregon Resource Management 
Plan (SEORMP) was initiated by the BLM, Vale and Burns District 
Offices. The SEORMP initially included the ARA. As a result of the Act, 
however, the Andrews Field Office determined it was necessary to create 
a separate RMP for the ARA and CMPA to address changes in management 
resulting from the Act.
    Consequently, the ARA is no longer addressed in the SEORMP. The ARA 
has been managed under the Andrews Management Framework Plan since 1982 
and the grazing decisions in the Andrews Rangeland Program Summary 
(RPS) since 1984. Part of a 900,000 acre Mineral Withdrawal Area 
designated by the Act is within Malheur County and Vale District's 
Jordan Resource Area, and the effects of the withdrawal on

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those lands have been addressed in the SEORMP.

Miles Brown,
Andrews Field Office Manager.
[FR Doc. 01-30222 Filed 12-5-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-33-P