[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 234 (Tuesday, December 6, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87954-87956]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-29202]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[15XL LLIDB03000 LF3100000 DD0000 LFHFFR650000 241A 4500078680]


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for 
the Proposed Tri-State Fuel Breaks Project, Owyhee County, ID, and 
Malheur County, OR

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976, as amended, and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, 
as amended (NHPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Boise District 
Office, Boise, Idaho, and the Vale District Office, Vale, Oregon, will 
prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a landscape level 
fuel break project located in Owyhee County, Idaho, and Malheur County, 
Oregon.

DATES: This notice initiates the public scoping process for the EIS. 
Comments on issues may be submitted in writing until January 5, 2017. 
Any scoping meetings will be announced at least 15 days in advance 
through local media, and online at www.blm.gov/id and at www.blm.gov/or. To be most helpful in the preparation of the Draft EIS, comments 
must be postmarked, faxed, or submitted electronically by the close of 
the 30-day scoping period or 15 days after the last public meeting, 
whichever is later. The BLM will provide additional opportunities for 
public involvement upon publication of the Draft EIS.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments related to the Tri-state Fuel Breaks Project 
by any of the following methods:

     Email: [email protected]
     Fax: 208-384-3489
     Mail: 3948 South Development Ave., Boise, ID 83705

Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the BLM Boise 
District Office located at the above address and the BLM Vale District 
Office, 100 Oregon Street, Vale, OR 97918.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lance Okeson, Project Lead, Fuels 
Assistant Fire Management Officer; telephone: 208-384-3300; address: 
3948 South Development Ave., Boise, ID 83705; email: 
[email protected]. Contact Mr. Okeson to add your name to our 
mailing list. Persons using a telecommunications device for the deaf 
(TDD) may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at (800) 877-8339. The 
FIRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or 
question for Mr. Okeson. You will receive a reply during normal 
business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Southwest Idaho, southeast Oregon, and 
northern Nevada (the Tri-state area) comprise one of the largest intact 
areas of Greater Sage-grouse (GRSG) habitat in the Northern Great 
Basin. The shrub-steppe ecosystem within this area is also one of the 
most imperiled ecosystems in the United States. The U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service identified the Northern Great Basin as a Priority Area 
for Conservation (PAC) in its 2013 Conservation Objectives Team Report 
due to the threat of wildfire, invasive annual grasses, and conifer 
expansion. Management of wildfire has been identified as one of the key 
issues for maintaining sage-grouse populations in sagebrush-dominated 
landscapes. Secretarial Order 3336 calls for ``. . . an increased focus 
to suppressing wildfire in highly valuable portions of sagebrush steppe 
ecosystem to reduce the loss of critically important greater sage-
grouse habitat . . . .'' The 2010 Rapid Eco-regional Assessment of the 
Northern Basin and Range and Snake River Plain identified the Tri-state 
area as being at high risk for large-scale wildfires.
    Wildfires in this remote area can grow quickly and affect hundreds 
of thousands of acres of sage-grouse habitat within a matter of days. 
The 2012 Long Draw Fire (558,198 acres), the 2014 Buzzard Complex Fire 
(395,747 acres), and the 2015 Soda Fire (285,360 acres), all in or near 
the project area, each had multiple hundred thousand-acre runs in a 
single burning period, at rates of spread between 10 and 15 miles per 
hour.

Tri-State Strategy

    The Tri-state Strategy is being developed as an integrated approach 
to protecting valuable, intact sage-grouse habitat from the threat of 
wildfire in the Tri-state area. There are several components to the 
strategy: Coordinating wildfire suppression per the Idaho-Oregon-Nevada 
Tri-state Local Operating Plan; applying existing and future travel 
management planning decisions for road access and maintenance, which 
are essential for fire suppression operations; applying national and 
local wildfire suppression policies and directives that prioritize 
protection of important habitats; assessing strategic pre-positioning 
locations of suppression resources, necessary infrastructure additions 
and funding sources needed to shorten response times; and implementing 
the Tri-state Fuel Breaks Project, which is the subject of this notice.

Purpose and Need

    The Tri-state area provides important sage-grouse habitat. There is 
a high potential for large wildfires in the Tri-state area due to its 
remoteness, continuous fuels (i.e., intact sagebrush and understory), 
and limited sites for firefighters to establish safe anchor points 
(i.e., secure locations for firefighters to engage a fire without the 
chance of being outflanked by the fire).

[[Page 87955]]

Therefore, strategic measures must be taken to protect habitat in this 
area.
    Lightning-caused wildfires in the Tri-state area generally involve 
multiple, simultaneous ignitions, which exhaust fire suppression 
resources quickly. Constructing fuel breaks--gaps in combustible 
material (i.e., vegetation) that slow or stop progress of a wildfire--
by manipulating vegetation strategically along roads is a proactive 
measure to protect this important area for species' habitat. 
Strategically placed fuel breaks across district and State boundaries 
enhance fire suppression efforts by providing tactical and logistical 
opportunities, compartmentalizing areas between fuel breaks to 
constrain wildfires into more manageable units, and minimizing fire 
spread. Fuel breaks provide fire suppression resources with 
opportunities to safely engage wildfires and to be more effective 
across a larger area with fewer resources.

Goals of the Tri-State Fuel Breaks Project

     Develop, maintain, and utilize fuel breaks to conserve and 
protect sage-grouse and sagebrush-obligate species' habitat across 
southwest Idaho and southeast Oregon, and to integrate with similar, 
existing fuel breaks in northern Nevada;
     Compartmentalize areas between fuel breaks to help contain 
large wildfires across the Tri-state landscape and district boundaries;
     Provide optimal anchor points for firefighters to safely 
engage wildfires;
     Reduce the risk of sagebrush community conversion to 
annual grasslands from repeated wildfire;
     Reduce spread of invasive plant species along fuel break/
transportation corridors; and
     Coordinate with current and ongoing travel management 
planning and implementation to ensure fire personnel have access to 
fuel breaks.

Proposed Action

    The BLM Boise and Vale Districts propose to create a strategic 
system of fuel breaks spanning State and BLM District boundaries by 
manipulating vegetation adjacent to existing roads. Proposed fuel break 
design considerations for this draft EIS will include:
     Reduction of highly combustible vegetation such as 
invasive annual grasses through chemical and/or mechanical treatments;
     Seeding areas with native and/or non-native plant species 
that retain a higher moisture content into the dry periods of the year 
or are naturally less combustible;
     Mechanical treatments that reduce the height of existing 
vegetation to slow fire growth and reduce flame length; or
     A combination of all the above.
    Fuel breaks would be developed in a 3.6 million-acre project area 
within the BLM Vale and Boise Districts and would tie in with an 
existing fuel break network in the BLM Elko and Winnemucca Districts in 
Nevada. The BLM identified approximately 1,600 miles of primary roads 
during preliminary reconnaissance that may be suitable for fuel break 
development.
    Fuel breaks would be established adjacent to existing roads only, 
focusing on main/primary travel routes. These routes would be 
maintained to the full extent consistent with and under the authority 
of current approved road maintenance prescriptions and, when completed, 
travel management decisions would ensure suppression resources have 
access to fuel breaks in a timely manner. The proposed fuel break 
system would reduce fuel loads adjacent to these roads through 
mechanical and/or chemical treatments. Fuel breaks would be maintained 
over the long term on a set schedule (depending on the types of 
treatments employed and fuel break condition monitoring) to ensure 
their continued effectiveness and to minimize the potential for 
invasive species proliferation.
    The BLM has completed a conformance review of the proposed project, 
and all actions considered in the alternatives in the draft EIS will be 
in conformance with the RMPs for the Owyhee Field Office and public 
lands in the project area in southeastern Oregon, as amended by the 
2015 Greater Sage-Grouse Approved RMP Amendments for Idaho and Oregon.
    Coordination with other Federal, tribal, and non-Federal land 
owners would occur to facilitate opportunities to meet project 
objectives across all ownerships within the landscape.

Preliminary Issues and Scoping

    The purpose of the public scoping process is to determine relevant 
issues that would influence the scope of the environmental analysis, 
including alternatives, and guide the process for developing the draft 
EIS. At present, the BLM has identified the following preliminary 
issues:
     What is the potential to reduce further loss of sage-
grouse and other sagebrush-obligate species' habitat and increase 
species' persistence through implementation of the proposed fuel break 
system?
     What is the potential for the proposed action to 
effectively reduce the size of wildfires and reduce the rate of spread 
of fires once ignited?
     What construction of new locations or modifications to 
existing locations for pre-positioning suppression resources would be 
required to shorten distances and/or response times to ignitions?
     What is the potential for the spread of noxious weeds and 
invasive plants (i.e., cheatgrass)?
     What is the potential to affect wildlife habitat 
connectivity and how would the proposed action affect animal migration 
routes and prey-predator interactions?
     How would the proposed action affect habitat for the GRSG, 
migratory birds, and pygmy rabbits?
     What would the effects of the proposed action be to 
wilderness, wilderness study areas, and lands with wilderness 
characteristics?
     How would the proposed action affect exposure of and 
accessibility to cultural sites and areas of cultural importance?
     What is the potential for the proposed action to affect 
watersheds (e.g., hydrologic function)?
    Mitigation measures and project design features would be used to 
minimize impacts to sage-grouse habitat, migratory birds, pygmy 
rabbits, wilderness characteristics, cultural sites, and watersheds and 
to limit introduction and spread of invasive and noxious vegetation. 
Mitigation measures and design features would primarily include 
avoidance buffers and timing restrictions during implementation and 
avoidance buffers for fuel break placement; these will be described and 
analyzed in detail in the draft EIS.
    The BLM will consult with tribes on a government-to-government 
basis in accordance with Executive Order 13175 and other policies. 
Tribal concerns, including impacts on Indian trust assets and potential 
impacts to cultural resources and areas of cultural importance, will be 
given due consideration.
    The BLM invites and encourages public participation through the 
NEPA process to satisfy requirements under Section 106 of the NHPA (16 
U.S.C. 470(f)) pursuant to 36 CFR 800.2(d)(3). Historic and cultural 
resources information related to the area potentially affected by the 
proposed project will assist the BLM in identifying and evaluating 
impacts to these resources in the context of both NEPA and Section 106 
of the NHPA.
    Federal, State, and local agencies, along with other stakeholders 
interested in or affected by the proposed project that the BLM is 
evaluating are invited to participate in the scoping process.

[[Page 87956]]

Eligible agencies may request or be requested by the BLM to participate 
in the development of the environmental analysis as a cooperating 
agency.
    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 1501.7.

Lara Douglas,
BLM Boise District Manager.
Donald N. Gonzalez,
BLM Vale District Manager.
[FR Doc. 2016-29202 Filed 12-5-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-GG-P