[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 145 (Monday, July 31, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49434-49436]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16162]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests; Oregon 
and Washington; Revision of Land Management Plan for the Blue Mountains 
Forests

AGENCY: Forest Service, Agriculture (USDA).

ACTION: Notice of intent to initiate the assessment phase of the land 
management plan revision for the Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman 
National Forests.

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, is 
initiating the Land Management Plan revision process for the Malheur, 
Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests (Blue Mountains 
Forests), located in northeast Oregon and southeast Washington. This 
process will result in three revised Land Management Plans to guide all 
resource management activities on the Blue Mountains Forests for 
approximately fifteen years. This notice announces the initiation of 
the assessment phase, the preliminary stage of the plan revision 
process. Assessments will identify and consider relevant and readily 
accessible material about ecological, social, and economic conditions 
and trends in the planning area, including best available scientific 
information. Findings will be documented in an assessment report. 
Trends and conditions identified in the assessment will help describe a 
need to change the existing plans and inform

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the revision of the three Land Management Plans.

DATES: The public will be invited to review the draft assessment and 
participate in this phase of the revision in the fall of 2023. 
Engagement opportunities will be posted on the Blue Mountains Forest 
Plan Revision website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/umatilla/home/?cid=fseprd1066821. Consultation with the Tribes will also be conducted 
as part of the assessment phase of the revision. Information will be 
shared through mailing lists, social media, and other media outlets. 
The draft assessment is anticipated for public review and comment in 
fall 2023 and will be announced in the newspapers of record for the 
Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests. The Forest 
Service will review and incorporate public comments and additional 
information from tribal consultation on the draft assessment and 
produce a final assessment to inform plan revision. The Forest Service 
may then initiate procedures pursuant to the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) to prepare revised Land Management Plans.

ADDRESSES: For questions about Land Management Plan revision or 
comments on initiating the assessment phase of plan revision, please 
address mail to: Umatilla National Forest, Attn: Darcy Weseman--Blues 
Forest Plan Revision, 72510 Coyote Rd., Pendleton, OR 97801 or via 
email to [email protected]. The majority of the revision team 
is located at the Umatilla National Forest Headquarters (72510 Coyote 
Rd., Pendleton, OR 97801); however, all three locations can provide 
information as requested: Malheur National Forest located at 431 
Patterson Bridge Rd., John Day, OR 97845 and Wallowa-Whitman National 
Forest located at 1550 Dewey Avenue, Suite A, Baker City, Oregon 97814.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Neuenschwander, Revision Team 
Leader at [email protected] or by phone 509-703-7525. 
Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf and hard of 
hearing (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 
800-877-8339, 24 hours a day, every day of the year, including 
holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of 
1976 requires that the Forest Service develop a Land Management Plan 
(Plan), for every national forest. Each National Forest and Grassland 
in the United States is governed by a Plan in accordance with the NFMA. 
Plans set desired conditions, standards, and guidelines for management, 
protection, and use of the Forest.
    The Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman Land Management Plans 
provide management direction for approximately 5.5 million acres of 
public lands and working forests under Forest Service management in 
northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The Forest Service 
began efforts to revise the Plans in 2004, with the goal of replacing 
the existing Plans that took effect in 1990. Updating the Land 
Management Plans is important for providing a framework to address 
current economic, social, and ecological conditions in and around the 
Blue Mountains area. Multiple uses provided by the National Forest, 
including livestock grazing, timber harvest, forest recreation, 
tourism, and subsistence activities, are all important to economic and 
social life in the Blue Mountains area. The Forest Service previously 
attempted to revise the Blue Mountains Land Management Plans with a 
highly contentious planning effort that spanned 15 years. Ultimately, 
the Forest Service withdrew the Blue Mountains Revised Land Management 
Plans and Final Environmental Impact Statement in March 2019, before 
the plans were finalized and implemented. Afterward, Forest Service 
leadership from the Pacific Northwest Regional Office and the Malheur, 
Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests met with the Eastern 
Oregon Counties Association to better understand concerns and identify 
opportunities to approach forest planning and management in a new way. 
The participants recognized the need to work together at a larger 
scale, which included working with other government entities within and 
surrounding the Blue Mountains geographic area that were most impacted 
by the Plans. The various government entities officially formed the 
Blues Intergovernmental Council (BIC) in November 2019, to develop 
joint recommendations on the most contentious issues identified in the 
Blue Mountains Land Management Plan Revision process. These 
recommendations will serve as a baseline to be further informed by 
public engagement, as well as tribal and agency consultation, 
throughout the plan revision process.
    The Forest Service is reinitiating Land Management Plan revision 
under the 2012 planning rule, which will include robust external 
engagement opportunities throughout the entire process. Using the 2012 
planning rule, each Forest Supervisor will sign a separate decision for 
their respective National Forest's revised Plan. This approach enhances 
opportunities for local engagement and contributions because the 
decisions will be made at the local level.
    This notice announces the start of the first stage of the process, 
during which updated information from the public, Tribes, other 
government agencies, and non-governmental parties will be compiled into 
an assessment. Information relevant to the assessment includes the 
status and trends of ecological, social, and economic conditions within 
the planning area and across the broader landscape. The planning rule 
requires the responsible official to identify and evaluate existing 
conditions and trends for 15 topic areas during the assessment (36 CFR 
219.6(b); https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-36/chapter-II/part-219/subpart-A/section-219.6).
    During this assessment phase, the Forest Service invites other 
government agencies, Tribes, non-governmental parties, and the public 
to share information about social, economic, and environmental 
conditions of the Blue Mountains Forests and the broader landscape. 
Existing information about conditions of the three National Forests, 
supplemented with information gathered through public engagement and 
tribal consultation, will be integrated into final resource 
assessments. The Forest Service will host public outreach forums to 
share progress and gather additional information. To have a successful 
public participation process, the Forest Service will incorporate 
methods and tools that provide a spectrum of opportunities for the 
public to engage throughout the Land Management Plan Revision process. 
The Forest Service will implement actions that foster community 
building and are transparent, timely, inclusive, interactive, 
respectful, and efficient. The resulting Blue Mountains National 
Forests' Plans will provide for ecosystem services and multiple uses 
through sustainable, integrated resource management.
    Responsible Officials: There will be three responsible officials, 
one for each forest. The responsible official for the Land Management 
Plans are Ann Niesen, Malheur Forest Supervisor; Eric Watrud, Umatilla 
Forest Supervisor; and Shaun McKinney Wallowa-Whitman Forest 
Supervisor.


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    Dated: July 26, 2023.
Troy Heithecker,
Associate Deputy Chief, National Forest System.
[FR Doc. 2023-16162 Filed 7-28-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3411-15-P