[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 100 (Friday, May 23, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 28251]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-12912]



[[Page 28251]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management


To Remove or Modify the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure 
Standards and Guidelines

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the draft Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement to remove or modify the Survey and Manage mitigation 
measure standards and guidelines.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
(collectively the Agencies) have prepared a draft Supplemental EIS 
(SEIS). The Agencies are supplementing the analyses contained in the 
Final SEIS (2000) for Amendment to the Survey and Manage, Protection 
Buffer, and other Mitigation Measures Standards and Guidelines, and the 
Final SEIS (1994) for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land 
Management Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted 
Owl. The responsible officials for this document have been changed. The 
responsible official for lands administered by the Forest Service will 
be the Secretary of Agriculture. The responsible official for public 
lands administered by the BLM will be the Secretary of the Interior. 
The Draft SEIS is now available for public review. Requests to receive 
copies of the Draft SEIS should be sent to the address listed below. 
Alternately, the Draft SEIS is available on the Internet at http://www.or.blm.gov/nwfpnepa.

DATES: Written comments on the Draft SEIS will be accepted for 90 days 
following the date that the Environmental Protection Agency publishes 
their Notice of Availability of the Draft SEIS in the Federal Register. 
The Agencies ask that those submitting comments on the Draft SEIS make 
them as specific as possible with reference to page numbers and 
chapters of the document.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments by any 
one of the following three methods. You may mail your comments to 
Survey and Manage, Argonne National Laboratory, EAD/900, 9700 South 
Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439. You may comment via the Internet at 
http://web.ead.anl.gov/surveyandmanage. You may also comment via 
facsimile transmission to 1-866-542-5904. Comments received in response 
to this solicitation, including names and home addresses, will be 
considered part of the public record on this proposal and are available 
for public review during regular business hours. Comments, including 
names and home addresses, may be published as part of the Final SEIS. 
If you wish to withhold your name or address from public review, or 
from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), you must 
state this prominently at the beginning of your written comments. 
Additionally, pursuant to 7 CFR 1.27(d), any person may request that 
submissions be withheld from the public record by showing how the FOIA 
permits such confidentiality. Persons requesting such confidentiality 
should be aware that under FOIA, confidentiality may be granted in only 
limited circumstances, such as to protect trade secrets. The requester 
will be informed of the Agencies' decision regarding the request for 
confidentiality. Where the request is denied, the comments will be 
returned to the requester and the requester will be notified that the 
comments may be resubmitted with or without name and address. Comments 
submitted anonymously will be accepted and considered. Anonymous 
comments do not create standing or a record of participation. All 
submissions from organizations and business, 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: Jerry Hubbard, SEIS Team Logistics 
Coordinator, P.O. Box 2965, Portland, Oregon 97208, telephone (503) 
326-2355, or facsimile number (503) 326-2396.

SUPLLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A limited number of individual copies of the 
Draft SEIS may be obtained by contacting Jerry Hubbard. Copies are also 
available for inspection at Forest Service and BLM offices in western 
Washington, western Oregon, and northwestern California.
    Three alternatives, including no action, are considered in detail 
in the Draft SEIS. The preferred alternative is Alternative 2 with 
mitigation. The preferred alternative would remove the Survey and 
Manage Mitigation Measure and the Agencies would rely on their existing 
Special Status Species Programs to conserve rare species. A decision to 
select one of the action alternatives would amend the management 
direction in all 28 Forest Service land and resource management plans 
and BLM resource management plans in the Northwest Forest Plan area.
    The responsible official for lands administered by the Forest 
Service will be the Secretary of Agriculture. The responsible official 
for public lands administered by the BLM will be the Secretary of 
Interior.
    No public hearings or meetings are planned.

Nancy Diaz,
Acting State Director, Oregon and Washington, Bureau of Land 
Management.
[FR Doc. 03-12912 Filed 5-22-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-33-P