[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 230 (Friday, December 3, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68682-68683]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-26305]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLORB06000.L10200000.EE0000.21X.LXSS043H0000.HAG 21-0079]


Notice of Intent To Prepare the Bridge Creek Area Allotment 
Management Plans Environmental Impact Statement in the Andrews Field 
Office, Burns District, Oregon

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oregon/Washington 
Burns District's Andrews Field Office intends to prepare the Bridge 
Creek Area (BCA) Allotment Management Plans (AMP) Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) and, by this notice, is announcing the beginning of the 
public scoping period to solicit public comments and identify issues.

DATES: This notice initiates the public scoping process for the EIS. 
Comments may be submitted in writing until January 3, 2022. The BLM 
will provide additional opportunities for public participation upon 
publication of the Draft EIS.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Website: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2013546/510.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: (541) 573-4411.
     Mail: BCA, c/o Burns District BLM 28910 Hwy 20 West, 
Hines, OR 97738, Attention: Don Rotell.

Documents associated with this proposal are available at the BLM Burns 
District Office, 28910 Hwy 20 West, Hines, OR 97738, or at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2013546/510.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrews Field Office Manager, Don 
Rotell; telephone (541) 573-4422, or email [email protected]. 
Contact Mr. Rotell to have your name added to the project mailing list. 
Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call 
the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at (800) 877-8339 to contact Mr. Rotell 
during normal business hours. The FRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 
days a week, to leave a message or question. You will receive a reply 
during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The EIS will analyze several alternatives 
for livestock management and related actions in the 26,378-acre project 
area in southeastern Oregon near the town of Frenchglen. The project 
covers four allotments: The Hammond, Mud Creek, Hardie Summer, and 
Hammond Fenced Federal Range allotments. The alternatives will consider 
issuance of 10-year grazing permits to up to three applicants and 
approval of four AMPs that outline seasonal grazing systems, grazing 
utilization thresholds, monitoring, and range developments. The 
proposed range developments currently include about 8 miles of new 
fence construction and a similar amount of fence removal. These 
modifications include short riparian management fences but are largely 
to realign fences along boundaries of BLM-administered public land and 
privately owned land. The 2015 Greater Sage-grouse Approved Resource 
Management Plan Amendment and Record of Decision for Oregon identified 
the entire project area as habitat for Greater Sage-grouse. Since 1980, 
approximately 38,624 acres (cumulative) in the project area have been 
impacted by fire, with some acres burning multiple times. The burned 
acres have largely been within the Hammond and Mud Creek allotments.
    There is currently no grazing preference or grazing authorization 
associated with the four allotments in the project area. The allotments 
have been largely un-grazed since 2014 following the BLM's decision to 
not renew the expiring livestock grazing authorization, which covered 
all four allotments. This decision was administratively appealed by the 
permittee, and the Secretary of the Interior resolved the 
administrative appeal in January 2019 by instructing the BLM to reissue 
the grazing permit. That decision was litigated in the U.S. District 
Court for the District of Oregon. The Court issued an order partially 
granting and partially denying a request for preliminary injunction 
that allowed only a limited amount of grazing to proceed in the 2019 
season. The Court vacated the reissued permit and related Secretarial 
action and remanded the matter to the Department.
    On January 19, 2021, the Secretary of the Interior signed a 
decision concerning the apportionment of available forage within the 
allotments and the assignment of grazing preference, and directing the 
BLM to issue a 10-year livestock grazing permit with allotment 
management plans and authorize the construction and removal of range 
improvements. On February 26, 2021, the Senior Advisor to the Secretary 
Exercising the Delegated Authority of the Assistant Secretary for Land 
and Minerals Management rescinded the decision and directed the BLM to 
``initiate any additional processes and opportunities for public 
involvement that it may determine appropriate under applicable law 
following a careful and considered review of the protests.''
    Through the public-scoping process, the BLM is seeking input on 
issues, actions, and alternatives that should be addressed in the EIS. 
Potential issues include the effects of proposed management actions on 
livestock grazing management, sagebrush ecosystem health, sage-grouse 
habitat, vegetation, fuels (including invasive

[[Page 68683]]

annual grasses), riparian/water quality/fisheries, socioeconomics, 
visual resources, and Wilderness Study Areas. Potential management 
actions to consider include alternative grazing systems and schedules; 
issuance of 10-year grazing permits in the four allotments; proposed 
AMPs; raising the allowable forage use in the Hammond allotment to 
address higher production of crested wheatgrass seedings; authorization 
of temporary, non-renewable forage use to reduce standing fine fuel 
biomass; and installation, modification, or removal of range 
developments.
    The Burns District will consult with the Burns Paiute Tribe 
throughout the EIS process. Federal, State, and local agencies, along 
with other stakeholders that may be interested or affected by the 
proposal, are invited to participate in the scoping process and, if 
eligible, may request or be requested by the BLM to participate as a 
cooperating agency. The BLM will coordinate with Federal, State, and 
local officials and the grazing permit applicants throughout the EIS 
process.
    Comments can be submitted to the BLM using one of the methods 
listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice and on the BLM's 
ePlanning page for this EIS. To be most helpful, please submit comments 
by the close of the 30-day scoping period. 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 1501.9, 1506.6; 43 CFR 4120.2 and 4130.2)

Kathryn J. Stangl,
Associate State Director, Oregon/Washington.
[FR Doc. 2021-26305 Filed 12-2-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-33-P