[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 119 (Wednesday, June 20, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28608-28610]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-13260]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Idaho (Boise, Caribou-Targhee, Salmon-Challis, and Sawtooth 
National Forests and Curlew National Grassland); Nevada (Humboldt-
Toiyabe National Forest); Utah (Ashley, Dixie, Fishlake, Manti-La Sal, 
and Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forests); Wyoming (Bridger-Teton 
National Forest); and Wyoming/Colorado (Medicine Bow-Routt National 
Forest and Thunder Basin National Grassland) Amendments to Land 
Management Plans for Greater Sage-Grouse Conservation

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Supplemental Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental 
Impact Statement; Notice of Updated Information Concerning the Forest 
Service Greater Sage-Grouse Land and Resource Management Plan 
Amendments

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SUMMARY: This supplemental notice solicits public comments on a greater 
sage-grouse land management proposed action that could warrant land 
management plan amendments. Land management plans for National Forests

[[Page 28609]]

and Grasslands in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming 
were amended in September 2015 to incorporate conservation measures to 
support the continued existence of the greater sage-grouse. Since the 
plans were amended in 2015, scoping on specific issues was requested in 
a Notice of Intent (NOI) published in the Federal Register on November 
21, 2017 (82 FR 55346). This supplemental NOI continues the scoping 
effort by seeking comments about a proposed action to make further 
amendments to the plans. This supplemental NOI also identifies the 
planning rule provisions likely to be directly related, and so 
applicable, to proposed plan amendments.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by July 20, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Please submit comments via one of the following methods:
    1. Public participation portal (preferred): https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public/CommentInput?project=52904.
    2. Mail: Sage-grouse Amendment Comment, USDA Forest Service 
Intermountain Region, Federal Building, 324 25th Street, Ogden, UT 
84401.
    3. Email: [email protected].
    4. Facsimile: 801-625-5277.
    All comments, including names and addresses when provided, are 
placed in the record and are available for public inspection and 
copying. The public may inspect comments received online via the public 
reading room at: https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public/ReadingRoom?project=52904.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Shivik at 801-625-5667 or email 
[email protected]. Individuals who use telecommunication devices 
for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service 
(FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., Eastern Time, 
Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Forest Service is proposing to amend the 
Forest Service land management plans that were amended in 2015 
regarding greater sage-grouse conservation in the states of Colorado, 
Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah and Montana (2015 Greater Sage-Grouse 
Plans). This notice clarifies the purpose and need, proposed action, 
and the responsible officials, which were not identified in the scoping 
on specific issues that were requested in a Notice of Intent published 
in the Federal Register on November 21, 2017 (2017 NOI). The Forest 
Service is proposing amendments to land management plans that were 
amended in 2015.
    We hereby give notice that substantive requirements of the 2012 
Planning Rule (36 CFR 219) that are likely to be directly related, and 
therefore applicable, to the amendments are in sections 219.8 (a) and 
(b) (ecological and social and economic sustainability), 219.9 
(diversity of plant and animal communities), and 219.10(a) (integrated 
resource management for ecosystem services and multiple use).

Preliminary Issues

    In the 2017 NOI, the Forest Service requested public input on the 
2015 Greater Sage-grouse plan amendments. A summary of comments can be 
found here on the Intermountain Region home page: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r4/home/?cid=stelprd3843381. Public input helped 
the Forest Service to identify preliminary issues which led to the 
development of a purpose and need and proposed action for benefiting 
sage-grouse on the landscape scale. The topics identified during that 
scoping process were: Adaptive management, allowable land uses, 
disturbance caps, the Endangered Species Act, fire management and 
invasive species, habitat mapping, habitat objectives, lek buffers, 
livestock grazing, mitigation, noise limitations, population 
management, predation, required design features, role of science, 
sagebrush focal areas, socioeconomics, and wild horses and burros.

Purpose and Need

    The Forest Service published the 2017 NOI to consider the 
possibility of amending land management plans for greater sage-grouse 
that were originally amended in 2015 in the states of Colorado, Idaho, 
Nevada, Wyoming, Utah and Montana (2015 Sage-Grouse Plan Amendments). 
The need for further plan amendments is that the Forest Service has 
gained new information and understanding from the 55,000 comments 
received as a result of the 2017 NOI, within-agency scoping, and from 
coordination with the Sage Grouse Task Force (with members from state 
agencies, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and the 
Natural Resources Conservation Service). The purpose of the proposed 
action is to incorporate new information to improve the clarity, 
efficiency, and implementation of greater sage-grouse plans, including 
better alignment with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and state 
plans, in order to benefit greater sage-grouse conservation on the 
landscape scale.

Proposed Action

    The scope and scale of the proposed action is on 6.1 million acres 
of greater sage-grouse habitat on National Forest System lands in the 
Intermountain, Northern, and Rocky Mountain Regions. Specific textual 
adjustments currently under consideration can be found on the 
Intermountain Region home page: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r4/home/?cid=stelprd3843381.
    In summary, proposed actions are:
    (1) In order to streamline plans in accordance with BLM and Forest 
Service (FS) policy, the subset of priority habitat management areas 
designated as sagebrush focal areas will be eliminated, as will the use 
of mineral withdrawals in FS plans, in accordance with the limits of FS 
authority.
    (2) Text will be edited to correct minor clerical errors, for 
clarity, and to reduce redundancy within the plan and as related to 
national policy.
    (3) In order to clarify plan direction, when restrictions on 
minerals developments are required, specific requirements (i.e., 
stipulations) on habitat disturbing activities will be inserted.
    (4) In order to streamline the plans in accordance with FS and BLM 
policy, where exceptions to restrictions on minerals development are 
allowed, the details, requirements, and process of making the 
exceptions will be revised.
    (5) Updated information will be incorporated to revise mapped 
habitat management areas, and the purpose and use of habitat management 
area maps will be clarified.
    (6) Livestock management guidelines will be revised to remove 
restrictions on water development and to replace specific grass-height 
requirements with standardized use of the habitat assessment framework 
in order to better reflect current research and to align local 
management with local habitat conditions.
    (7) Because invasive plants are a primary threat to the sagebrush 
ecosystem and greater sage-grouse, invasive plant management will be 
further emphasized by adding a plan component that stresses treatment 
of invasive plants in priority habitat management areas.
    (8) In order to promote landscape-scale effectiveness, text within 
the adaptive management framework will be revised to align the FS 
framework with BLM and state-based adaptive management systems.
    (9) Plan components will be altered to focus protections for 
greater sage-grouse in priority habitat management areas in order to 
better incentivize habitat

[[Page 28610]]

disturbance to areas outside of priority habitat management areas.
    (10) Text within the compensatory mitigation framework, including 
the use of no net loss or net conservation gain elements, will be 
revised in order to promote landscape-scale effectiveness by aligning 
the FS framework with BLM and state-based compensatory mitigation 
systems.

Scoping Process

    The Forest Service is proposing amendments to 20 land management 
plans to change some of the plan components added to those plans in 
2015. Public involvement is important for adding meaningful 
participation from the early phases of planning through finalization of 
the plan amendments and subsequent monitoring. A public participation 
strategy has been designed to assist with communication within the 
Forest Service and between the Forest Service and the public. Find the 
strategy here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r4/home/?cid=stelprd3843381.

Lead and Cooperating Agencies

    If any further analysis and associated decision documents for the 
Forest Service plan amendments are completed, then the Forest Service 
will be the lead agency. Other federal, State, and local agencies, 
along with tribes and other stakeholders that may be interested in or 
affected by the proposed action are invited to participate in the 
scoping process. If eligible, they may request or be asked by the 
Forest Service to participate in the development of the environmental 
analysis as a cooperating agency. The Forest Service will consult with 
Indian tribes on a government-to-government basis in accordance with 
Executive Order 13175 and other policies.

Responsible Officials

    The responsible officials who would approve plan amendments are the 
Regional Foresters for the Intermountain, Rocky Mountain, and Northern 
Regions.

Request for Comment

    The public is encouraged to comment on the proposed action in this 
notice. The Forest Service will use an interdisciplinary approach as it 
considers the variety of resource issues and concerns.
    Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names 
and addresses of those who comment, will be part of the public record 
for this proposed action. Comments submitted anonymously will be 
accepted and considered; however, anonymous comments will not provide 
the Agency with the ability to provide the respondent with subsequent 
environmental documents.

    Dated: June 12, 2018.
Glen Casamassa,
Associate Deputy Chief, National Forest System.
[FR Doc. 2018-13260 Filed 6-19-18; 8:45 am]
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