[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 214 (Friday, November 5, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64583-64584]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-23793]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[ID-070-2824-DS-PJ04]


Fire, Fuels, and Related Vegetation Management Direction Draft 
Plan Amendment and Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Upper Snake River District of the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM), located in south-

[[Page 64584]]

central and eastern Idaho, has prepared a Fire, Fuels, and Related 
Vegetation Management Direction Draft Plan Amendment and Environmental 
Impact Statement (Draft Plan Amendment/EIS) to consider management 
direction for fire, fuels, and related uses of vegetation. This 
planning process is in conformance with the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), 
and the Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy (USDI et al. 1995, 
reviewed and updated in 2001). The Draft Plan Amendment/EIS is 
available for public review and comment.

DATES: Written comments will be accepted for 90 days following the date 
the Environmental Protection Agency publishes this Notice of 
Availability in the Federal Register. Future meetings and any other 
opportunities for public involvement will be announced at least 15 days 
in advance through public notices, media news releases, and/or 
mailings. In addition, information on public meetings will be posted on 
the Internet at http://www.id.blm.gov/planning/fmda/index.htm. To 
receive full consideration, comments must be postmarked no later than 
the last day of the written comment period. (The last day of the 
written comment period will be also be identified in the internet 
address above, after publication of the Notice in the Federal 
Register.)

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Draft Plan Amendment/EIS are available upon 
request from the Pocatello Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, 
4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, Idaho 83204, phone 208-478-6340, or at 
http://www.id.blm.gov/planning/fmda/index.htm via the Internet. You may 
submit written comments on the draft document by any of the following 
methods:
     Mail: FMDA Planning Team, Pocatello Field Office, Bureau 
of Land Management, 4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, Idaho 83204.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: 208-478-6376.
    All public comments, including the names and mailing addresses of 
respondents, will be available for public review at the BLM Pocatello 
Field Office, in Pocatello, Idaho during regular business hours from 
7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays, and may 
be published as part of the final plan amendment/EIS. Individual 
respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your 
name or 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: Eric Limbach, FMDA Project Manager, 
4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, Idaho 83204, phone 208-478-6392, e-mail 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Fire, Fuels, and Related Vegetation 
Management Direction Draft Plan Amendment/EIS was developed with broad 
public participation through a three year collaborative planning 
process. It addresses management on approximately 5.4 million acres of 
public land in the Upper Snake River District of the BLM, comprising 
the Burley, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, and Shoshone Field Offices in 
south-central and eastern Idaho.
    The Draft Plan Amendment/EIS would incorporate the National Fire 
Plan's Cohesive Strategy and the Federal Wildland Fire Management 
Policy into existing BLM land use plans. The draft EIS displays the 
environmental effects of implementing those amended plans.
    The purpose of the proposed fire management plan amendment is to:
     Establish fire management guidance, objectives, policies, 
and management actions;
     Identify resource goals and methods, including desired 
future condition of the fire-related vegetation resources, and 
management actions necessary to achieve objectives;
     Form the basis to update fire management plans and 
integrate them with allotment management plans, wildlife management 
plans, recreation management plans, Idaho Standards for Rangeland 
Health and Guidelines for Livestock Grazing, and other applicable 
plans, to the greatest extent possible; and
     Provide LUP level direction to enable incremental steps 
toward a long-term resource goal of conditions that minimize risk to 
human life and property and maintain or restore vegetation that is 
resistant to catastrophic wildfire.
    Four alternatives are analyzed. Alternative A, the No Action 
alternative, reflects current Land Use Plan direction, emphasizes 
wildland fire suppression, and minimizes the use of wildland fire for 
resource benefit. Alternative B emphasizes the increased use of fire, 
including prescribed fire and wildland fire use to more closely 
approximate the historical role of fire and prepare sites for 
restoration treatments. Alternative C would fully implement the 
Cohesive Strategy from the National Fire Plan (treats more acres with 
prescribed fire than the other alternatives). Alternative D, the 
Preferred Alternative, focuses on maintaining or restoring the 
sagebrush steppe ecosystem and its associated wildlife species, 
including sage grouse.

    Dated: August 12, 2004.
K Lynn Bennett,
Bureau of Land Management, Idaho State Director.
[FR Doc. 04-23793 Filed 11-4-04; 8:45 am]
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