[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 40 (Thursday, February 28, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10802-10803]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-3677]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[ID-310-08-1610-DO-061D]


Notice of Intent

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

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Upper Snake Field Office, 
intends to prepare a Resource Management Plan (RMP) and associated 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Upper Snake Field Office 
of the Idaho Falls District in eastern Idaho. Publication of this 
Notice also initiates a public scoping period to extend until 15 days 
after the last public scoping meeting. The RMP will address management 
of approximately 1.8 million acres of public land and will replace the 
following land use plans: Big Desert Management Framework Plan (MFP) 
(1980), Big Lost MFP (1983), Little Lost-Birch Creek MFP (1985) and the 
Medicine Lodge RMP (1985).

DATES: A formal public scoping period will commence with publication of 
this Notice and extend until 15 days after the last public scoping 
meeting. The BLM will announce public open-house scoping meetings 
through the local news media and the BLM Web site at: http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/fo/upper_snake/Planning/upper_snake_rmp.html. 
To encourage local community participation and involvement, public open 
houses will be held in the following locations: Idaho Falls, Rexburg, 
and Arco, Idaho. Specific dates and locations for these open houses are 
expected to be published in the Post Register, the Rexburg Standard 
Journal, and the Arco Advertiser in the spring of 2008.
    Formal scoping will end 15 days after the last scoping open house 
meeting date. Comments on issues and planning criteria should be 
received on or before the end of the scoping period at the address 
listed below.
    The public will have additional opportunities to participate in 
open houses throughout the planning process to work collaboratively 
with BLM in identifying the full range of issues to be addressed in the 
RMP/EIS, the planning criteria to be used and development of 
alternatives to be analyzed in the EIS. The BLM will also provide 
formal opportunities for public participation upon publication of the 
Draft RMP/EIS.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: (208) 524-7505.
     Mail: Bureau of Land Management, Attn: RMP Project 
Manager, Upper Snake Field Office, 1405 Hollipark Drive, Idaho Falls, 
ID 83401-2100.
    Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the Upper 
Snake Field Office at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information and/or to have 
your name added to our mailing list, Contact: Wendy Reynolds, Field 
Office Manager, Upper Snake Field Office, 1405 Hollipark Drive, Idaho 
Falls, ID 83401-2100, Telephone: (208) 524-7500; E-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Upper Snake Field Office and planning 
area for this RMP is located in north eastern Idaho, in Blaine, 
Bingham, Bonneville, Butte, Clark, Fremont, Jefferson, Madison, Power 
and Teton counties.
    The planning area encompasses approximately 1.8 million acres of

[[Page 10803]]

public land. The planning process will comply with the Federal Land 
Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) and the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The RMP will replace the 
following land use plans: Big Desert Management Framework Plan (MFP) 
(1980), Big Lost MFP (1983), Little Lost-Birch Creek MFP (1985) and the 
Medicine Lodge RMP (1985).
    The process this RMP/EIS will use is an open collaborative approach 
allowing Tribal governments, State and Federal agencies, local elected 
officials, interested individuals and an interdisciplinary team with 
BLM subject matter specialists to identify issues and concerns, and 
develop and analyze a reasonable range of alternatives for management 
of the public lands. The BLM will work collaboratively with interested 
parties to identify the management decisions that are best suited to 
local, regional, and national needs, interests and concerns. Agency 
representatives and interested persons are invited to visit with Upper 
Snake Field Office officials at any time during the EIS process. In 
addition, two specific time periods are identified for the receipt of 
formal comments. These two comment periods are:
    (1) During the open house scoping process (ending 15 days after the 
last open house meeting date), and
    (2) During the 90-day formal review period following release of the 
Draft RMP/EIS. This notice initiates the public scoping process to 
identify planning issues and to develop planning criteria. The purpose 
of the public scoping process is to determine relevant issues, concerns 
and ideas that will influence the scope of the environmental analysis 
and EIS alternatives. These issues also guide the planning process. The 
scoping process includes an evaluation of the existing land use plans 
in the context of the needs and interests of the public and tribal 
members.
    Public scoping (open houses) to identify specific issues to be 
addressed in the RMP will offer an opportunity for the public to 
provide input. Subsequent opportunities for public involvement will 
occur at specific stages in the planning process. You may submit 
comments in writing to the BLM at any public scoping meeting, or you 
may submit them to the BLM using one of the methods listed in the 
ADDRESSES section above. To be most helpful, you should submit formal 
scoping comments within 15 days after the last public meeting. 
Individual respondents may request confidentiality, however, all 
submissions from agencies, organizations or businesses, and from 
individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of 
agencies, organizations or businesses, will be made available for 
public inspection in their entirety. Before including your address, 
phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information 
in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--
including your personal identifying information--may be made publicly 
available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold 
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
    In order to address issues and meet BLM planning requirements for 
determining public land uses, decisions may be made for air, soil, and 
water resources; vegetation (including noxious weeds); riparian areas; 
forestry management (including juniper woodlands); wildlife and fishery 
habitat; special status species (including threatened, endangered, 
candidate, and BLM sensitive species); livestock grazing; fire 
management; lands (including land tenure adjustments and rights-of-
way); locatable, leasable, salable and fluid minerals; recreation 
(travel management); wilderness; visual resources; cultural and 
paleontological resources; hazardous materials; and special 
designations (including wild and scenic rivers and areas of critical 
environmental concern). In addition, decisions may be made regarding 
the conditions under which future fluid mineral leases will be issued 
by the field office.
    After gathering public comments on which issues the plan should 
address, the suggested issues will be evaluated for their applicability 
to the planning process and categorized into one of the following three 
categories:
    (1) Issues to be resolved in the plan;
    (2) Issues resolved through policy or administrative action; or
    (3) Issues beyond the scope of this plan.
    This evaluation and categorization will be described in the plan 
with associated rationale. In addition to the issues to be resolved in 
the plan, a number of management questions and concerns will also be 
addressed. The public is encouraged to help identify these questions 
and concerns during the scoping period.
    The BLM will use an interdisciplinary approach to develop the plan 
in order to consider the variety of resources and issues identified. 
Specialists with expertise in the disciplines corresponding to these 
issue areas will be represented and utilized during the planning 
process.

    Dated: February 19, 2008.
Peter J. Ditton,
Associate State Director.
 [FR Doc. E8-3677 Filed 2-27-08; 8:45 am]
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