[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 188 (Friday, September 27, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59712-59713]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-23484]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLNVB00000.LF3100000.DD0000.LFHFJF500000; 13-08807; MO 
4500053474]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for the 3 Bars Ecosystem and Landscape Restoration Project in 
Eureka County, NV

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, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Battle Mountain 
District, Mount Lewis Field Office, has prepared a Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS) for the 3 Bars Ecosystem and Landscape 
Restoration Project (3 Bars Project) and by this 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 3 Bars Project Draft EIS within 45 days 
following the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its 
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 media releases, Web site postings 
and/or mailings.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the 3 Bars Project by any 
of the following methods:
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 775-635-4034 Attn: Chad Lewis, 3 Bars Project.
     Mail: BLM, Attn: Chad Lewis, 3 Bars Project, 50 Bastian 
Road, Battle Mountain, NV 89820.
    Copies of the Draft EIS are available at the BLM Battle Mountain 
District Office in Battle Mountain, Nevada. The document can also be 
downloaded from the 3 Bars Project Web site that can be accessed 
through a link on the Battle Mountain District's Web page at: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/battle_mountain_field.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chad Lewis, 3 Bars Project Manager, 
telephone: 775-635-4102; address: 50 Bastian Road, Battle Mountain, NV 
89820; or email: [email protected]. Persons who use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above 
individual during normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours 
a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question with the above 
individual. You will receive a reply during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 3 Bars Project area in central Eureka 
County, Nevada, spans approximately 750,000 acres and includes all or 
portions of three major mountain ranges (Roberts Mountain, Simpson Park 
Range, and Sulphur Spring Range). Many factors are contributing to an 
overall downward trend in land condition within this area, including an 
increasing incidence and severity of wildfire, increasing expansion of 
downy brome (cheatgrass), increasing expansion and densification of 
pinyon pine and Utah juniper woodlands, and increasing human impacts.
    The BLM is proposing a comprehensive treatment program for 
dramatically improving the health of the 3 Bars Project area and for 
reducing the risks that are contributing to its decline. The proposed 
project focuses on restoration at the landscape level. The proposed 
treatments would range from several acres to several thousand acres, 
depending on specific treatment and management goals and desired 
objectives for each resource area. Possible treatment methods would 
include manual, mechanical, and biological control treatments, 
prescribed fire or wildland fire for resource benefit, and other 
management actions.
    In order to implement the proposed 3 Bars Project, the BLM has 
developed the All Available Methods Alternative, which is the preferred 
alternative, with treatments and treatment objectives that meet 
previously identified resource management goals. These goals are 
consistent with the 1986 Shoshone-Eureka Resource Management Plan which 
currently guides land management activities within the 3 Bars Project 
area. These goals pertain to wildlife and habitat enhancement, fire and 
fuels management, control of weeds, woodland and rangeland values, 
wetland and riparian restoration, wild horse protection, Native 
American concerns, and cultural resources. The BLM has identified site-
specific treatment projects that it would like to implement to restore 
and manage the 3 Bars Project Area. Treatment projects were identified 
through an iterative process involving the BLM and other Federal and 
State agencies. Treatments would focus on four priority vegetation 
management concerns:
     Riparian--treatments in riparian habitats would focus on 
restoring functionality in areas where structural integrity (incised 
channel, headcuts, knickpoints, developments, and diversions) and/or 
appropriate species composition are compromised.
     Aspen--treatments in quaking aspen management habitats 
would focus on improving the health of aspen stands by stimulating 
aspen stand suckering and sucker survival.
     Pinyon-juniper--treatments in singleleaf pinyon pine and 
Utah juniper habitats would focus on thinning historic pinyon-juniper 
communities to promote woodland health and removing pinyon-juniper 
where it encroaches into

[[Page 59713]]

riparian areas and upland habitats, including sagebrush habitat.
     Sagebrush--treatments in sagebrush habitats would focus on 
restoring the sagebrush community by removing encroaching pinyon-
juniper, promoting the reestablishment of native forbs and grasses in 
sagebrush communities, and promoting the development of sagebrush in 
areas where it occurred historically.

    The proposed 3 Bars Project has been identified by the BLM as a 
major Federal action and is appropriately analyzed by an EIS. The 3 
Bars Project Draft EIS identifies and evaluates treatment alternatives 
to implement the proposed project to meet resource management goals. In 
addition to the All Available Methods Alternative, three other 
alternatives are analyzed in the Draft EIS. The No Fire Use Alternative 
would target the same treatment areas, but the methods of treatment 
would not include prescribed fire or wildland fire for resource 
benefit. The Minimal Land Disturbance Alternative also targets the same 
areas for treatment, but further limits the methods of treatment to 
exclude fire use, mechanical treatments, and non-classical biological 
controls. The BLM anticipates that more acres would be treated under 
the preferred alternative due to the lower cost of some of the 
treatment methods that would not be available under the other 
alternatives. A No Action alternative has also been included for 
comparison purposes with existing management conditions. Three 
additional alternatives were considered but eliminated from detailed 
analysis.
    The BLM has prepared the Draft EIS in conjunction with its three 
cooperating agencies: The Nevada Department of Wildlife, Eureka County 
Board of Commissioners, and the National Park Service--National Trails 
Intermountain Region.
    On January 25, 2010, the BLM published a Notice of Intent (75 FR 
3916) to initiate scoping for the preparation of the EIS. The scoping 
period ended March 10, 2010. Public scoping meetings were held in 
Battle Mountain, Nevada, on February 22 and Eureka, Nevada on February 
23, 2010. The BLM received 24 scoping comment letters on the proposed 3 
Bars Project. In addition, comments were recorded during informal 
discussions with the public at the public scoping meetings. Based on 
written and oral comments given during the scoping period, 637 
catalogued individual comments were recorded during scoping for the 3 
Bars Project EIS.
    Vegetation treatment planning and management and vegetation 
treatment methods were the primary topics of concern to the public. 
Respondents were also concerned with the impacts that treatment actions 
would have on the spread of invasive species, the viability of wild 
horses and livestock, preservation of old growth woodlands, and 
protection of habitat for wildlife and special status species. All 
relevant issues identified through public scoping have been analyzed in 
this EIS to the extent practicable. The Draft EIS describes and 
analyzes the proposed project's site-specific impacts (including 
cumulative) on all affected resources. Three action alternatives 
(including the preferred alternative) were analyzed in addition to the 
No-Action Alternative and three alternatives were considered but 
eliminated from further analysis.
    Please note that public comments and information submitted 
including names, street addresses, and email 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, email 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.

    Authority:  40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10.

Christopher J. Cook,
Field Manager, Mount Lewis Field Office.
[FR Doc. 2013-23484 Filed 9-26-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-HC-P