[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 41 (Friday, February 29, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11138-11139]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-3784]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[ID-300-2824-DS-PJ04]
Notice of Availability of Fire, Fuels and Related Vegetation
Management Direction Proposed Plan Amendment and Final Environmental
Impact Statement
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of Fire, Fuels, and Related Vegetation
Management Direction Proposed Plan Amendment (FMDA) and Final
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).
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SUMMARY: The Burley and the Shoshone Field Offices of the Twin Falls
District and the Pocatello and Upper Snake Field Offices of the Idaho
Falls District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), located in
south-central and eastern Idaho, have prepared a proposed land use plan
amendment and environmental impact statement to establish management
guidance and objectives for vegetation resources as they relate to fire
and fuels. This planning process is in conformance with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), and the Federal Wildland Fire
Management Policy of 1995, as revised. The Proposed Plan Amendment is
Alternative E, developed in response to public comment. Alternative E,
which emphasizes protection and restoration of both rangeland and
forest resources, is also considered to be the environmentally
preferred alternative.
DATES: No decision on the proposed plan will be made for at least 30
days after the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its Notice of
Availability of this Final EIS in the Federal Register. BLM regulations
(43 CFR 1610.5-2) state that any person who participated in the
planning process and has an interest that may be adversely affected may
protest the BLM's approval of the FMDA FEIS. The protest must be filed
within 30 days of the date that the Environmental Protection Agency
publishes its Notice of Availability.
Instructions for filing protests with the BLM are included in the
Dear Reader letter of the FMDA FEIS and in the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section of this notice.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the FEIS are available upon request from the
Pocatello Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, 4350 Cliffs Drive,
[[Page 11139]]
Pocatello, Idaho 83204, phone 208-478-6340, or at http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/prog/planning/firefuels_and_related.html via the internet.
Upon request additional copies in both paper and digital format are
available in limited numbers.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Terry Lee Smith, FMDA Project Manager,
4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, Idaho 83204, phone 208-478-6392, email
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Copies of the FMDA FEIS have been sent to
affected Tribes, Federal, State, and local government agencies and to
interested parties. The FMDA FEIS was developed with broad public
participation through a five year collaborative planning process. It
addresses management on approximately 5 million acres of public land
comprising the Burley, Shoshone, Pocatello and Upper Snake Field
Offices in south-central and eastern Idaho.
The FMDA FEIS would incorporate the National Fire Plan's Cohesive
Strategy and the Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy into existing
BLM land use plans. The FEIS displays the environmental effects of
implementing those amended plans. The purpose of the proposed fire
management plan amendments 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 consistent land use plan 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.
Five alternatives were analyzed in the FEIS. 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 the preparation of
sites for restoration treatments. Alternative C identifies full
implementation of the Cohesive Strategy from the National Fire Plan
(treats more acres with prescribed fire than the other alternatives).
Alternative D focuses on maintaining or restoring the sagebrush steppe
ecosystem and its associated wildlife species, including sage grouse.
Alternative E, the proposed plan amendment, proposes maintaining or
restoring the sagebrush steppe ecosystem and its associated wildlife
species, including sage grouse as well as the maintenance and
restoration of forested vegetation types.
The Draft Plan Amendment/DEIS was released to the public on
November 5, 2004 for a 90-day public comment period. Copies of the
Draft Plan Amendment/DEIS were mailed to interested publics, the
document was posted on the BLM Idaho internet site, news releases were
published in area local newspapers announcing the availability of the
document. In early December 2004, public meetings were held in Idaho
Falls, Pocatello, Boise, and Twin Falls, Idaho to facilitate public
review and comment by providing summary information and answering
questions during the public comment period. Based on public comments,
Alternative E was developed from a combination of Alternative D with
the forested vegetation component of Alternative C to provide an
alternative that focuses on the fire management needs of both forested
and rangeland vegetation types. Alternative E is analyzed in the FMDA
FEIS.
Instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the BLM
regarding the FMDA FEIS may be found at 43 CFR 1610.5-2. Electronic
mail and facsimile protests will be considered only if the protesting
party provides BLM with the original letter by either regular or
overnight mail postmarked by the close of the protest period. Under
those conditions, the BLM will consider the electronic or faxed version
as an advance copy, and it will receive full consideration. If you wish
to provide the BLM with such advance notification, please direct faxed
protests to the attention of the BLM Protest Coordinator at (202) 452-
5112 and electronic mails to [email protected]. All
protests, including the follow-up letter (if electronically mailed or
faxed) must be in writing and mailed to one of the following addresses:
Regular Mail, Director (210), Attn: Brenda Hudgens-Williams, P.O. Box
66538, Washington, DC 20036.
Overnight Mail, Director (210), Attn: Brenda Hudgens-Williams, 1620 L
Street, NW., Suite 1075, Washington, DC 20036.
Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other
personal identifying information in your protest, you should be aware
that your entire protest--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your protest to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Thomas H. Dyer,
Bureau of Land Management, Idaho State Director.
[FR Doc. E8-3784 Filed 2-27-08; 8:45 am]
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