[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 3 (Friday, January 5, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 577-578]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-22569]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[ID-320-1610 DP-050D]


Notice of Availability for the Draft Pocatello Resource 
Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, Idaho

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), the Bureau of 
Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Draft Resource Management Plan/
Environmental Impact Statement (Draft RMP/EIS) for the Pocatello Field 
Office and by this notice is announcing the opening of the public 
comment period.

DATES: To assure that they will be considered, BLM must receive written 
comments on the Draft RMP/EIS within 90 days following the date the 
Environmental Protection Agency publishes a notice of availability in 
the Federal Register. The BLM will announce future meetings or hearings 
and any other public involvement activities at least 15 days in advance 
through public notices, media news releases, and/or mailings.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on the Draft RMP/EIS by any of the 
following methods:
     Mail: Pocatello RMP Planning Team, Pocatello Field Office, 
Bureau of Land, Management, 4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, Idaho 83204.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: 208-478-6376.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Terry Lee Smith, RMP Project Manager, 
4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, Idaho 83204, phone 208-478-6340, e-mail 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Draft RMP/EIS was developed with broad 
public participation through a collaborative planning process. This 
Draft RMP/EIS addresses management on approximately 613,800 acres of 
public land in the BLM Pocatello Field Office of the Idaho Falls 
District, in southeastern Idaho. The new RMP will replace the Malad 
Management Framework Plan (MFP), approved in 1981, and will revise the 
Pocatello RMP, approved in 1988.
    The purpose of the RMP is to:
     Provide a single, comprehensive land use plan that will 
guide future management of the public lands and interests,
     Provide objectives, land use allocations, and management 
direction to maintain, improve, or restore resource conditions and 
provide for the economic needs of the local region,
     Address land use conflicts and new issues, and
     Provide management direction that identifies where and 
under what circumstances particular activities will be allowed on 
public lands while incorporating the mandate of multiple uses in 
accordance with FLPMA.

[[Page 578]]

    Four alternatives are analyzed in the draft RMP/EIS. Alternative A, 
the No Action Alternative, reflects the continuation of present 
management based upon existing land use plans and plan amendments. 
Alternative B emphasizes a moderate level of protection, restoration, 
enhancement, and use of resources and services to meet land use 
objectives by utilizing an array of adaptive and prescriptive measures 
that would be implemented to protect vegetation, and habitat, and 
promote the continuation of multiple resource management. Alternative C 
reflects management strategies to preserve and protect ecosystem health 
which emphasize active and specific measures to protect and enhance 
vegetation and habitat for special status species, fish, and wildlife. 
This alternative reflects a reduction in resource production goals for 
food, fiber, and minerals; and emphasizes restoring the sagebrush 
steppe, forest vegetation and riparian areas. Alternative D emphasizes 
management strategies to produce goods and services while maintaining 
or improving the production of, and providing protection for the 
sagebrush steppe, forest vegetation and riparian areas. Alternatives B 
and C include a 400-acre Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) 
designation known as Petticoat Peak to provide special protective 
management for native plants. Management constraints associated with 
this ACEC would include the following:
     The Off Highway Vehicle designation would be ``Closed.''
     Wildland fire would be suppressed.
     Public lands would be retained.
     The area would be identified as an ``Exclusion'' area for 
Right of Ways.
     Fluid minerals would be leased with a ``No Surface 
Occupancy'' stipulation.
     If necessary, livestock grazing would be adjusted to 
maintain the values of the ACEC.
     A withdrawal for locatable minerals would be pursued.
     The area would be a priority for weed control.
    The preferred alternative is Alternative B.
    Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will 
be available for public review at the BLM Pocatello Field Office, in 
Pocatello, Idaho, 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 final 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, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your written 
comment. Such requests will be honored 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.
    Copies of the Draft RMP/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.

    Dated: August 22, 2006.
Bud C. Cribley,
Bureau of Land Management, Acting Idaho State Director.

    Editorial Note: This document was received at the Office of the 
Federal Register on December 28, 2006.

 [FR Doc. E6-22569 Filed 1-4-07; 8:45 am]
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