[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 41 (Friday, February 29, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11140-11142]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-3924]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[AK-024-1610-DO-094L]


Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan and 
Environmental Impact Statement for BLM-Alaska's Eastern Interior 
Planning Area

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Eastern Interior Field 
Office, Fairbanks, Alaska, intends to prepare a Resource Management 
Plan (RMP) with an associated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for 
the Eastern Interior Planning Area and by this notice announces the 
beginning of the public scoping period. Public scoping meetings will be 
held in Fairbanks, Delta Junction, Tok, Eagle, Chicken, Central, and 
Anchorage. Additional public scoping meetings may be held at Circle, 
Chalkyitsik, Fort Yukon, Stevens Village, Beaver, Birch Creek and other 
locations to be determined at a later date. The RMP will replace the 
existing Steese National Conservation Area Resource Management Plan, 
the White Mountains National Recreation Area Resource Management Plan, 
and the Fortymile Management Framework Plan. The RMP will also make 
land use decisions on previously unplanned public lands in the Upper 
Black River subunit.

DATES: The public scoping period will begin with the publication of 
this notice.
    Formal scoping will end on July 1, 2008. The BLM will announce 
public scoping meetings to identify relevant issues through local news 
media, newsletters, and the BLM Web site, http://www.blm.gov/ak, at 
least 15 days prior to the first meeting. We will provide formal 
opportunities for public participation after release of the Draft RMP/
EIS.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: (907) 474-2282.

[[Page 11141]]

     Mail: BLM Eastern Interior Field Office, Attention: Jeanie 
Cole, 1150 University Ave., Fairbanks, AK 99709.
    Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the Eastern 
Interior Field Office, Fairbanks, Alaska.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information and/or to have 
your name added to our mailing list, contact Jeanie Cole, telephone 
(907) 474-2340; e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides notice that the BLM 
Eastern Interior Field Office, Fairbanks, Alaska, intends to prepare an 
RMP with an associated EIS for the Eastern Interior Planning Area and 
announces public scoping meetings.
    The planning area is located in eastern Alaska and is bounded by 
the Brooks Range on the north, the Dalton and Elliott Highways on the 
west, the BLM Fairbanks/Anchorage District boundary on the south, and 
the U.S.-Canada border on the east. The planning area includes four 
subunits: the Steese National Conservation Area (SNCA), the White 
Mountains National Recreation Area (WMNRA), the Fortymile River 
subunit, and the Upper Black River subunit. Two of the subunits, the 
SNCA and WMNRA, require their own separate Record of Decision (ROD) due 
to their status as units of the BLM National Landscape Conservation 
System. Decisions on the Fortymile and Black River subunits will be 
combined into one ROD. The planning area also includes three national 
wild and scenic rivers: Beaver Creek, Birch Creek, and the Fortymile 
River. This planning activity encompasses approximately 8 million acres 
of public land. The plan will fulfill the needs and obligations set 
forth by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Land 
Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), and BLM management policies. The BLM 
will work collaboratively with interested parties to identify the 
management decisions best suited to local, regional, and national needs 
and concerns.
    The purpose of the public scoping process is to determine relevant 
issues that will influence the scope of the environmental analysis and 
RMP alternatives. These issues also guide the planning process. You may 
submit comments on issues and planning criteria 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 before July 1, 2008. 
The minutes and list of attendees for each scoping meeting will be 
available to the public and open for 30 days after the meeting to any 
participant who wishes to clarify the views he or she expressed. 
Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to 
withhold your name and/or address from public review or disclosure 
under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this prominently 
at the beginning of your written comment. The BLM will honor such 
requests to the extent allowed by law. All submissions from 
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses, are available for public inspection in their entirety.
    Preliminary issues and management concerns have been identified by 
BLM personnel, other agencies, and in meetings with individuals and 
user groups. They represent the BLM's knowledge to date regarding the 
existing issues and concerns with current land management.
    The major issues or management concerns that will be addressed in 
this planning effort include management of: recreational use, off-
highway vehicles and access, minerals and energy resources, land tenure 
and realty, wild and scenic rivers, wildlife and fisheries, and 
subsistence use.
    After public comments are gathered about issues the plan should 
address, the issues will be placed into the following categories:
    1. Issues to be resolved in the plan;
    2. Issues to be resolved through policy or administrative action; 
or
    3. Issues beyond the scope of this plan.
    The BLM will provide an explanation in the plan as to why an issue 
was placed in categories two or three. In addition to these major 
issues, the plan will address a number of management questions and 
concerns and the public is encouraged to help identify these during the 
scoping phase.
    Preliminary planning criteria are:
    1. Public participation by interested groups and individuals will 
be encouraged throughout the RMP/EIS process.
    2. Valid existing rights will be recognized and protected.
    3. Subsistence uses will be considered and adverse impacts 
minimized in accordance with Section 810 of the Alaska National 
Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
    4. The BLM will work cooperatively with State and Federal agencies, 
Native corporations, Tribes, and Municipal governments. Agencies 
(including federally recognized tribal governments) with jurisdiction 
by law or special expertise will be consulted to determine if 
cooperating agency status is appropriate and desired.
    5. Wildlife habitat management will be consistent with Alaska 
Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) objectives and/or the Federal 
Subsistence Board requirements and mandates.
    6. Resource management plans prepared by the BLM will conform to 
the Bureau's H-1601-1 Land Use Planning Handbook, Appendix C, Program-
Specific and Resource-Specific Decision Guidance and supplemental 
program guidance manual for Areas of Critical Environmental Concern 
(ACECs) and Fluid Minerals.
    7. The plan will be consistent with the standards and guidance set 
forth in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Council on Environmental 
Quality, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Wild and Scenic 
Rivers Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, ANILCA, and other Federal 
laws, regulations, and policies as required.
    8. The plan will be consistent with the BLM-Alaska Land Health 
Standards.
    9. Off-highway vehicles designations for all public lands within 
the planning area will be completed according to the regulations found 
in 43 CFR 8342.
    10. Areas proposed for Area of Critical Environmental Concern 
designation will meet the criteria found in 43 CFR 1610.7-2.
    11. The plan will address all lands within the Eastern Interior 
planning area managed by the BLM (excluding military reservations).
    12. Review and classification of waterways as eligible for 
inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic River System will follow the 
guidance found in the BLM Manual 8351, Wild and Scenic Rivers--Policy 
and Program Direction for Identification, Evaluation, and Management.
    13. The Economic Profile System developed for the BLM by the 
Sonoran Institute, or equivalent, will be used to characterize baseline 
social and economic conditions.
    14. The BLM will incorporate Environmental Justice (EJ) 
considerations in land use planning alternatives to adequately respond 
to EJ issues facing minority populations, low income communities, and 
Tribes living near public lands and using public land resources.
    15. The analysis will employ guidance provided in the BLM Land Use 
Planning Handbook H-1601-1, Appendix D, Social Science

[[Page 11142]]

Considerations in Land Use Planning Decisions.
    16. Wilderness will not be considered in this plan unless Alaska's 
Governor or a member of the Congressional Delegation for Alaska 
recommends a particular area for study.
    The BLM will use an interdisciplinary approach to develop the plan 
to consider the variety of resource issues and concerns identified. 
Specialists with expertise in the following disciplines will be 
involved in the planning process: outdoor recreation, minerals and 
geology, forestry, archeology, wildlife and fisheries, lands and 
realty, hydrology, soils, subsistence, sociology and economics, visual 
resource management, and vegetation.

    Dated: February 22, 2008.
Thomas P. Lonnie,
State Director.
[FR Doc. E8-3924 Filed 2-28-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-JA-P