[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 171 (Friday, September 3, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54177-54179]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-21956]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLIDT01000.L16100000.DP0000.LXSS081D0000]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Jarbidge Field Office 
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 
(NEPA) of 1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management 
Act (FLPMA) of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
has prepared a Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Jarbidge Field Office 
planning area and by this

[[Page 54178]]

notice is announcing the opening of the comment period.

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

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: (208) 736-2375, Attention: Jarbidge Planning Team.
     Mail: Jarbidge Planning Team, BLM Jarbidge Field Office, 
2536 Kimberly Road, Twin Falls, Idaho 83301.
    Copies of the Jarbidge Draft RMP/Draft EIS are available in the 
Jarbidge Field Office at the above address or at the following Web 
site: http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/prog/planning/jarbidge_resource.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Vander Voet, Jarbidge Field 
Manager, or Aimee Betts, Jarbidge RMP Project Manager, telephone (208) 
736-2350; address Jarbidge Field Office, 2536 Kimberly Road, Twin 
Falls, Idaho 83301.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Draft RMP/Draft EIS addresses public 
land and resources managed by the Jarbidge Field Office in parts of 
Elmore, Owyhee, and Twin Falls Counties in south-central Idaho and Elko 
County in northern Nevada. These lands and resources are currently 
managed under the 1987 Jarbidge RMP, as amended. The planning area 
extends from the Bruneau River on the west to Salmon Falls Creek on the 
east, and from the Snake River on the north to the northern boundaries 
of the BLM Elko Field Office and the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest 
on the south. Although these counties have a combined population of 
approximately 160,000, Indian Cove, Murphy Hot Springs, Three Creek, 
and Roseworth are the only communities in the planning area. All have 
populations of less than 100 people. The majority of the planning area 
supports sagebrush steppe and seeded grasslands.
    The Jarbidge RMP addresses management on approximately 1.4 million 
acres of public land and 1.6 million acres of Federal mineral estate in 
the Jarbidge Field Office. Planning decisions in the RMP will only 
apply to the BLM-administered public lands and mineral estate in the 
planning area. The Draft RMP/Draft EIS has been developed with broad 
public participation through a collaborative planning process in 
accordance with FLPMA and NEPA. Its purpose is to provide appropriate 
management direction for the Twin Falls District, Jarbidge Field Office 
that responds to the 2001 Land Use Plan Evaluation Report for the 1987 
Jarbidge RMP, new information, changes in resource condition and user 
demands, and complies with a Stipulated Settlement Agreement 
(WesternWatersheds Project v. K Lynn Bennett, CV-04-181-S-BLW, under 
the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the District 
of Idaho), while maintaining consistency with FLPMA.
    The Draft RMP/Draft EIS includes a series of management actions, 
within six management alternatives, designed to achieve or maintain 
desired future conditions that have been defined through the planning 
process for various concerns including, but not limited to: vegetation, 
livestock grazing, recreation, energy development, and Areas of 
Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC).
     The No Action Alternative represents continuation of 
existing management under current management goals, objectives, and 
direction specified in the 1987 Jarbidge RMP, as amended.
     Alternative I focuses on enhancing and sustaining existing 
and historic uses of the planning area.
     Alternative II focuses on increasing commercial uses 
throughout the planning area.
     Alternative III focuses on restoring the resiliency of 
ecosystem structure and function through intensive management of fuels 
and enhanced fire suppression capabilities throughout the planning 
area.
     Alternative IV focuses on actively restoring the 
resiliency of ecosystem structure and function through restoration 
projects and managing uses. Alternative IV has two sub-alternatives 
(Alternative IV-A and Alternative IV-B) that differ in the size of two 
proposed ACECs. Alternative IV-B is the Preferred Alternative.
     Alternative V focuses on the restoration of habitats 
toward historic vegetation communities.
    The Preferred Alternative has been identified as described in 40 
CFR 1502.14(e). However, identification of this alternative does not 
represent final agency direction, and the Proposed RMP may reflect 
changes or adjustments based on information received during public 
comment, new information, or changes in BLM policies or priorities. The 
Proposed RMP may include objectives and actions described as portions 
of other analyzed alternatives. For this reason, the BLM invites and 
encourages comments on all objectives and actions described in the 
Draft RMP/Draft EIS.
    Among the special designations under consideration within the range 
of alternatives, ACECs are proposed to protect certain resource values. 
There are three existing ACECs: Bruneau-Jarbidge, Salmon Falls Creek, 
and Sand Point; these ACEC designations would be carried forward in 
some alternatives, sometimes with changes in acreage.
    Pertinent information regarding all proposed ACECs in the Preferred 
Alternative, including values, resource use limitations, and acreages 
are summarized below. Further information is available at the following 
Web site: http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/prog/planning/jarbidge_resource.html.

Bruneau-Jarbidge ACEC (123,000 acres)

     Relevant and Important Values: Botanical, Cultural, Fish, 
Scenic, Wildlife.
     Limitations on the Following Uses: Livestock Grazing, Land 
Use Authorizations, Mineral Development.
     Other Restrictions: Managed as Visual Resource Management 
(VRM) Class I.

Inside Desert ACEC (41,000 acres)

     Relevant and Important Values: Botanical.
     Limitations on the Following Uses: Livestock Grazing, 
Recreation, Land Tenure Transactions, Mineral Development.
     Other Restrictions: Locate staging areas for fire 
suppression and rehabilitation activities outside the ACEC.

Jarbidge Foothills ACEC (66,000 acres)

     Relevant and Important Values: Botanical, Cultural, Fish, 
Wildlife.
     Limitations on the Following Uses: Livestock Grazing, 
Mineral Development.
     Other Restrictions: Managed as VRM Class I and II.

Lower Bruneau Canyon ACEC (1,000 acres)

     Relevant and Important Values: Aquatic, Botanical.
     Limitations on the Following Uses: Land Tenure 
Transactions, Mineral Development.

Sand Point ACEC (950 acres)

     Relevant and Important Values: Cultural, Geologic, 
Historic, Paleontological.
     Limitations on the Following Uses: Livestock Grazing, Land 
Use Authorizations, Mineral Development.

[[Page 54179]]

     Other Restrictions: Closed to fossil collection.
    The following ACECs were proposed in alternatives other than the 
Preferred Alternative:
     Middle Snake ACEC for relevant and important botanical and 
fish values.
     Sagebrush Sea ACEC for relevant and important botanical, 
cultural, fish, and wildlife values.
     Salmon Falls ACEC for relevant and important botanical, 
fish, and scenic values
    In addition, ACECs in the preferred alternative may also appear in 
other alternatives with different acreages and management 
prescriptions.
    Please note that public comments and information submitted 
including names, street addresses, and e-mail addresses of persons who 
submit comments will be available for public review and disclosure at 
the above address during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), 
Monday through Friday, except holidays.
    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.
    Following the public comment period, public comments will be used 
to prepare the Proposed Jarbidge RMP and Final EIS. The BLM will 
respond to each substantive comment by making appropriate revisions to 
the document or by explaining why a comment did not warrant a change. A 
Notice of the Availability of the Proposed RMP/Final EIS will be posted 
in the Federal Register.

    Authority:  40 CFR 1506.6 and 1506.10; 43 CFR 1610.2.

Peter J. Ditton,
Acting Idaho State Director, Bureau of Land Management.
[FR Doc. 2010-21956 Filed 9-2-10; 8:45 am]
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