[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 184 (Friday, September 22, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55510-55511]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-8105]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WO-250-1220-PA-24 1A]


Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Implementation of Recreation 
Resource Advisory Committee Provisions of the Federal Lands Recreation 
Enhancement Act (Public Law 108-447, Div. J, Title VIII)

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of BLM implementation of the Recreation Resource 
Advisory Committee provisions of the Federal Lands Recreation 
Enhancement Act.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the Bureau of Land Management's 
(BLM's) implementation of the Recreation Resource Advisory Committee 
provisions of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act.
    Pursuant to the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act and a 
signed Interagency Agreement between the Department of the Interior and 
the Department of Agriculture, the BLM will utilize existing BLM 
Resource Advisory Councils to make recommendations on BLM and Forest 
Service recreation fee issues in the following States: Arizona, Idaho, 
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah.
    Both the BLM and the FS will use new Recreation RACs, chartered by 
the FS, for the Pacific Northwest Region (Oregon and Washington), the 
Pacific Southwest Region (California), the State of Colorado, and for 
the Eastern and Southern Regions (these represent most States east of 
the Rockies).
    Any of the existing BLM Resource Advisory Councils or the new FS-
chartered RRACs may also establish Subcommittees for recreation fee-
related matters.


    Note: Neither the FS nor the BLM will use Recreation RACs where 
the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior, in consultation 
with the Governor of individual States, have determined that 
sufficient interest does not exist in forming a FS-chartered 
Recreation RAC or using a BLM RAC as allowed in the Recreation 
Enhancement Act (REA). Those States that are not establishing 
Recreation RACs are Alaska, Wyoming and Nebraska.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick Wilkinson, U.S. Department of 
the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C Street, MS-LS-250, 
Washington, DC, 20240; 202-452-7796.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act 
(REA), enacted December 8, 2004, directs the Secretary of the Interior, 
the Secretary of Agriculture, or both, to establish Recreation Resource 
Advisory Committees, or to use existing Resource Advisory Councils or 
boards to perform the duties of Recreation Resource Advisory 
Committees, in each State or region for Federal recreation lands and 
waters managed by the BLM or Forest Service. These committees, councils 
or boards will make recreation fee program recommendations on:
     Implementing or eliminating standard amenity fees, 
expanded amenity fees, and non-commercial, individual special 
recreation permit fees;
     Expanding or limiting the recreation fee program; and
     Changing fee levels.
    REA also states that the Secretaries shall not establish a 
Recreation Resource Advisory Committees in a State if the Secretaries 
determine, in consultation with the Governor of the State, that 
sufficient interest does not exist to ensure that participation on the 
committee is balanced in terms of the points of view represented and 
the functions to be performed.
    To help determine the appropriate configuration of these advisory 
groups, the BLM and the Forest Service held 11 listening sessions in 
Idaho, Oregon, California, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and 
Washington DC, during June and July of 2005. Attendees included key 
partners, organizations with an interest in recreation management on 
Federal lands, and existing BLM and Forest Service Resource Advisory 
Council members.
    After more than a year of these public meetings, internal agency 
analysis, and legal review, the agencies established an organizational 
structure that has been approved by both the Department of the Interior 
and the Department of Agriculture. This organization includes using 
existing BLM Resource Advisory Councils where appropriate. It also

[[Page 55511]]

includes establishing five new Recreation Resource Advisory Committees 
for the Forest Service's Eastern, Southern, Pacific Northwest 
(including BLM states of Oregon and Washington), Pacific Southwest 
(including the BLM state of California) Regions and the State of 
Colorado; using an existing Forest Service advisory committee for one 
Forest; and not establishing Recreation Resource Advisory Committees 
where Secretaries, in consultation with the Governor of each State, 
have determined that sufficient interest does not exist as allowed in 
REA (Alaska, Nebraska, and Wyoming).
    The agencies and Secretaries have signed an Interagency Agreement 
which provides the structure necessary for the Forest Service to use 
existing BLM Resource Advisory Councils and the BLM to use Forest 
Service-established Recreation Resource Advisory Committees for the 
purposes stated in REA. Where the Agencies determined it was 
inappropriate to use existing BLM Advisory Councils, the Agencies have 
agreed to either: (1) Establish a new Recreation RAC, which may serve 
both Agencies or may only serve one Agency; (2) use an existing FS 
advisory committee; or (3) not establish a Recreation RAC in a State 
where the Secretaries, in consultation with the Governor of the 
affected State, have determined that sufficient interest does not 
exist, as allowed under REA.
    For the new Recreation Resource Advisory Committees, the Forest 
Service will be the lead agency (including the BLM states of 
California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington). The BLM will continue to 
be the lead agency for its Resource Advisory Councils.

    Dated: June 8, 2006.
Kathleen Clarke,
Director.
[FR Doc. 06-8105 Filed 9-21-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-P