[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 171 (Friday, September 3, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53940-53941]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-19607]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[ID-087-1610-DO-034D]


Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan and 
Associated Environmental Impact Statement for the Cottonwood Field 
Office

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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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 Cottonwood Field Office. The planning area for the RMP, which 
includes 140,143 acres of BLM-administered public lands, is located in 
Adams, Clearwater, Idaho, Latah, Lewis, and Nez Perce Counties, Idaho. 
Preparation of this RMP and EIS will conform to the Federal Land Policy 
and Management Act (FLPMA), the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA), Federal regulations, and BLM management policies.

DATES: This notice initiates the public scoping process. Comments on 
the scope of the plan, including issues or concerns that should be 
considered, should be submitted in writing to the address listed below 
by November 15, 2004. However, collaboration with the public will 
continue throughout the planning process. Dates and locations for 
public meetings will be announced through local news media, 
newsletters, and the BLM Web site (http://www.id.blm.gov/planning/ctnwdrmp/index.htm), at least 15 days prior to the event.

ADDRESSES: Please mail written comments to the BLM, Cottonwood Field 
Office. ATTN: RMP, House 1, Butte Drive Route 3, Box 181, Cottonwood, 
ID 83522-9498, or fax to (208) 962-3275. All public comments, including 
names and mailing addresses of respondents, will be available for 
public review at the Cottonwood Field 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, please state this prominently at the beginning of your 
written correspondence. The BLM will honor such requests 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 or to have 
your name added to the Cottonwood RMP Mailing List, contact Carrie 
Christman at the Cottonwood Field Office (see address above), telephone 
(208) 962-3245.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Cottonwood RMP planning area is located 
in the southern part of the Idaho panhandle. The area is bordered to 
the west by the Oregon and Washington state lines, to the north by 
Benewah and Shoshone Counties, to the east by the Montana state line, 
and to the south by Lemhi and Valley Counties and the southern portion 
of Adams County. The Cottonwood Field Office planning area lies 
entirely within the ceded territory of the Nez Perce Tribe. The Nez 
Perce Reservation lies entirely within the planning area, and there are 
about 17,586 acres of BLM administered land within the reservation 
boundary. Management of BLM administered lands will involve trust and 
treaty resources.
    The BLM-administered public lands within the Cottonwood Field 
Office planning area are currently managed in accordance with the 
decisions in the 1981 Chief Joseph Management Framework Plan (MFP) as 
amended. BLM will continue to manage these lands in accordance with the 
MFP and amendments until the RMP is completed and a Record of Decision 
is signed.
    Preparation of an RMP for the Cottonwood Field Office is necessary 
to respond to changing resource conditions; respond to new issues; and 
provide a comprehensive framework for managing public lands 
administered by the field office. The RMP will establish new land use 
planning decisions to address issues identified through public scoping 
and, where appropriate, will incorporate decisions from the existing 
Chief Joseph MFP.
    Public Participation: The BLM will work collaboratively with 
interested parties to identify the management decisions that are best 
suited to local, regional, and national interests. The public scoping 
process will hold identify planning issues and provide for public 
comment on the proposed planning criteria.
    BLM has identified the following preliminary issue themes:
    1. Vegetation management (including noxious weeds, riparian areas 
and Wetlands, and fuels and forest management).
    2. Fire management.
    3. Management of habitat for wildlife and special status species.
    4. Management of transportation, public access, and recreational 
opportunities.
    5. Land tenure adjustments.
    6. Availability and management of public lands for commercial uses 
(minerals, forest products and livestock grazing).
    7. Management of areas with special values.
    8. Tribal treaty rights and trust responsibilities.

These preliminary issue themes are not final and may be refined or 
added to through future public participation.

    BLM has also identified some preliminary planning criteria to guide 
development of the plan, to avoid unnecessary data collection and 
analysis, and to ensure the plan is tailored to the issues. These 
criteria may be modified or other criteria identified during the public 
scoping process. The public is invited to comment on the following 
preliminary planning criteria.
    1. The plan will comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and 
current policies. This includes local, State, tribal, and Federal air 
quality standards; as well as water quality standards from the Idaho 
Non-Point Source Management Program Plans.
    2. The RMP planning effort will be collaborative and multi-
jurisdictional in nature. The BLM will strive to ensure that its 
management decisions are complementary to other planning jurisdictions 
and adjoining properties, within the boundaries described by law and 
Federal regulations.
    3. All previously established Wilderness Study Areas will continue 
to be managed for wilderness values and character until Congress 
designates them as wilderness areas, or releases them for multiple use 
management.

[[Page 53941]]

    4. The RMP will recognize all valid existing rights.
    5. As part of this RMP process, BLM will analyze areas for 
potential designation as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) 
in accordance with 43 CFR 1610.7-2 and river corridors for suitability 
for designation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

    July 6, 2004.
K. Lynn Bennett,
Idaho State Director, Bureau of Land Management.
[FR Doc. 04-19607 Filed 9-2-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-GG-P