[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 113 (Wednesday, June 14, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Page 27278]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-12288]



[[Page 27278]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs

[178A2100DD/AAKC001030/A0A501010.999900]


Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the 2015 
Integrated Resource Management Plan for the Colville Indian 
Reservation, Nespelem, Washington

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs (BIA) as lead agency, with the Confederated Tribes of the 
Colville Reservation (Tribes) and the United States Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) serving as cooperating agencies, has prepared a 
Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the 2015 
Colville Reservation Integrated Resource Management Plan (IRMP). This 
notice announces that the DEIS is now available for public review.

DATES: Any comments on the DEIS must arrive on or before the date 45 
days after the EPA publishes a Notice of Availability of the DEIS in 
the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: The DEIS is available for public review online at http://www.colvilletribes.com/irmp and in hard copy at the following 
locations:

 Omak Public Library, 30 S Ash St., Omak, Washington 98841
 Omak Senior Meal Site, 511 E. Benton Street, Omak, Washington 
98841
 Nespelem Resource Center, 12 Lakes St., Nespelem, Washington 
99155
 Nespelem Senior Meal site, 322 10th Street, Nespelem, 
Washington 99155
 Keller Resource Center, 11673 S. Hwy 21, Keller, Washington 
99140
 Keller Senior Meal Site, 7 Jim James Road, Keller, Washington 
99140
 Inchelium Resource Center, 12 Community Center Loop, 
Inchelium, Washington 99138
 Inchelium Senior Meal Site, 16 Shortcut Road, Inchelium, 
Washington 99138

    You may mail or hand-deliver written comments to Mr. Stanley 
Speaks, Northwest Regional Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 911 
Northeast 11th Avenue Portland, Oregon 97232-4169. You may also mail 
comments to BIA Colville Agency Superintendent Debra Wulff, P.O. Box 
111, Nespelem, Washington 99155-0111 or hand deliver to the 
Superintendent's office at 10 Nez Perce Street, Nespelem, Washington. 
You can also submit comments by email to: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Debra Wulff, Superintendent, 
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Colville Agency, P.O. Box 111, Nespelem, 
Washington 99155-0111, (509) 634-2316.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Tribes have prepared an IRMP for the 
natural and cultural resources of the Colville Reservation. The plan 
updates the original IRMP that was prepared and implemented in 2000. 
The IRMP incorporates management goals and objectives for the 
commercial forest, rangeland and agricultural lands of the Reservation.
    The Tribes' forest products industry, livestock grazing, and 
agriculture have the potential to impact the natural and human 
environments of the Reservation. The DEIS analyzes the potential 
impacts associated with these activities. These include impacts to land 
resources such as geology, minerals, and soils, watershed function, 
surface and groundwater resources, air quality, biological resources, 
cultural and paleontological resources, socioeconomic conditions, 
transportation and forest access roads, land use, public services, 
noise, aesthetics, recreation, climate change, cumulative effects, and 
indirect and growth inducing effects.
    The DEIS considers five management alternatives developed by the 
Tribes' IRMP Core Team. The interdisciplinary team developed these 
management alternatives for consideration and analysis and designated a 
preferred alternative (Alternative 2) that was approved by the Colville 
Business Council in June 2014. The team also conducted a community 
survey in 2014 that asked community members to choose a preferred 
alternative. All groups were unanimous in selecting Alternative 2 as 
the preferred alternative. The alternatives are:

1. Continue the Current Management Strategy
2. Enhance and Improve the Current Management Strategy (Preferred 
Alternative)
3. Concentrate on Forest and Rangeland Health Problems
4. Expand Forest and Livestock Production
5. Eliminate Timber Harvesting and Livestock Grazing

    A Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS was released in the 
Federal Register on November 21, 2014. Public scoping meetings were 
held in four Reservation communities in October 2015 and a Scoping 
Meetings Report was released in March 2016. An administrative draft 
DEIS was prepared and reviewed by the IRMP Core Team and appropriate 
revisions were incorporated along with supplemental information.
    Directions for submitting comments: Please include your name, 
return address, and the caption: ``DEIS Comments, Colville Reservation 
IRMP,'' on the first page of your written comments. If emailing 
comments, please use ``DEIS Comments, Colville Reservation IRMP,'' as 
the subject of your email.
    Locations where the DEIS is available for review: The DEIS is 
available for review during regular business hours at the addresses 
noted above in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. The DEIS is also 
available online at http://www.colvilletribes.com/irmp.
    To obtain a compact disc copy of the DEIS, please provide your name 
and address in writing or by voicemail to Debra Wulff, Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, at the address or phone number above in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this notice. Individual paper copies of 
the DEIS will be provided upon payment of applicable printing expenses 
by the requestor for the number of copies requested.
    Public comment availability: Comments, including names and 
addresses of respondents, will be available for public review during 
regular business hours at the BIA mailing address shown in the 
ADDRESSES section of this notice. Before including your address, 
telephone 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: This notice is published pursuant to Sec. 1503.1 of 
the Council of Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 
through 1508) and Sec. 46.305 of the Department of the Interior 
Regulations (43 CFR part 46), implementing the procedural 
requirements of the NEPA of l969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4371, et 
seq.), and is in the exercise of authority delegated to the 
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs by 209 DM 8. This notice is also 
published in accordance with federal general conformity regulations 
(40 CFR part 93).

    Dated: May 15, 2017.
Michael S. Black,
Acting Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2017-12288 Filed 6-13-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4337-15-P