[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 217 (Thursday, November 10, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68474-68475]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-22343]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WO-220-05-1020-JA-VEIS]


Notice of Availability of Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement and Environmental Report for Vegetation Treatments on Public 
Lands Administered by the Bureau of Land Management in the Western 
United States, Including Alaska

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability for public review and comment.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), the BLM is making available for public 
review and comment a draft national programmatic EIS and environmental 
report on vegetation treatments involving the use of chemical 
herbicides and other methods on the public lands administered by BLM in 
17 western states, including Alaska.

DATES: Written or e-mailed comments for the review of the EIS and 
environmental report may be submitted through January 9, 2006. BLM will 
hold public meetings to solicit written and oral comments on the 
proposed action during the 60-day public review period.
    Dates and time locations for the public meetings are as follows:

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         Date & time                Locations            BLM contact
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November 28, 2005: 6 p.m.     BLM Office, 333 SW    Michael Campbell,
 Open House, 7 p.m. Public     1st Avenue, 3rd       PH: (503) 808-6031.
 Meeting.                      Floor Conference
                               Room, Portland,
                               Oregon 97204.
November 29, 2005: 6 p.m.     Clarion Hotel, 2600   Dianna Brink, PH:
 Open House, 7 p.m. Public     Auburn Blvd.,         (916) 978-4645.
 Meeting.                      Sacramento, CA.
November 30, 2005: 6 p.m.     Little America        Laura J. Williams,
 Open House, 7 p.m. Public     Hotel, 500 South      PH: (801) 539-4027.
 Meeting.                      Main Street, Salt
                               Lake City, Utah
                               84101.
December 1, 2005: 6 p.m.      Marriott Pyramid      Bernie Chavez, PH:
 Open House, 7 p.m. Public     North, 5151 San       (505) 438-7668.
 Meeting.                      Francisco Rd. NE,
                               Albuquerque, NM.
December 5, 2005: 6 p.m.      Grand Vista Hotel,    Melodie Lloyd, PH:
 Open House, 7 p.m. Public     2790 Crossroads       (970) 244-3097.
 Meeting.                      Blvd., Grand
                               Junction, CO.
December 6, 2005: 6 p.m.      Holiday Inn--Airport  Sharon Paris, PH:
 Open House, 7 p.m. Public     Hotel, 3300 S.        (208) 373-4028.
 Meeting.                      Vista, Boise, ID.
December 7, 2005: 6 p.m.      BLM Office, 5001      Theresa Hanley, PH:
 Open House, 7 p.m. Public     Southgate Drive,      (406) 896-5068.
 Meeting.                      Billings, MT.
December 8, 2005: 6 p.m.      Holiday Inn--         Ken Henke, PH: (307)
 Open House, 7 p.m. Public     Yellowstone, Room     775-6041.
 Meeting.                      204 West Fox Farm
                               Road, Cheyenne, WY.
December 13, 2005: 6 p.m.     BLM Office, 4701 N    Kirsten Cannon, PH:
 Open House, 7 p.m. Public     Torrey Pines Dr.,     (702) 515-5057.
 Meeting.                      Las Vegas, NV.
December 13, 2005: 6 p.m.     Courtyard by          Sharon Wilson, PH:
 Open House, 7 p.m. Public     Marriott--Embassy     (202) 425-5130.
 Meeting.                      Row, 1600 Rhode
                               Island Avenue, NW.,
                               Washington DC.
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ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to: Project Manager, 
National Vegetation EIS, BLM Nevada State Office, P.O. Box 12000, Reno, 
NV 89520-0006. Comments may also be sent by e-mail to 
[email protected]. 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. The BLM will not 
consider anonymous comments. 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. The Draft EIS and 
associated documents will be available for review in either hard copy 
or on compact disks (CDs) at all BLM State, District, and Field Office 
public rooms. The entire document can also be reviewed or downloaded at 
the BLM National Web site http://www.blm.gov/.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This national, draft programmatic EIS will 
provide a comprehensive analysis of BLM's use of chemical herbicides in 
its various vegetation treatment programs related to hazardous fuels 
reduction, noxious weed and invasive terrestrial plant species 
management, resource rehabilitation following catastrophic fires and 
other disturbances. In addition, an accompanying environmental report 
will provide an

[[Page 68475]]

assessment of the expected impacts of the use of herbicides, in 
addition to other vegetation treatment methods (fire, mechanical, 
manual, and biological) on up to approximately 5,030,000 acres of 
public lands per year. Together, these documents will:
     Consider reasonably foreseeable activities, particularly 
hazardous fuels reduction treatments, emergency stabilization and 
rehabilitation efforts, noxious weed, and invasive terrestrial plant 
species management.
     Address human health and ecological risk for proposed use 
of chemical herbicides on public lands.
     Provide a cumulative impact analysis of the use of 
chemical herbicides in conjunction with other treatment methods.
    The EIS is neither a land-use plan nor a land-use plan amendment. 
The EIS and ER will provide a comprehensive programmatic NEPA document 
and environmental report to allow effective tiering and incorporation 
by reference of baseline cumulative impact assessment to be used for 
other new, revised or existing land use and activity level plans that 
involve vegetation modification or maintenance. This EIS does not 
affect the status of the herbicide court injunction in Oregon.
    The analysis area includes only surface estate public lands 
administered by 11 BLM state offices: Alaska, Arizona, California, 
Colorado, Idaho, Montana (Dakotas), New Mexico (Oklahoma/Texas/
Nebraska), Nevada, Oregon (Washington), Utah and Wyoming.

Ed Shepard,
Assistant Director, Renewable Resources and Planning.
[FR Doc. 05-22343 Filed 11-9-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-P