[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 67 (Friday, April 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24028-24030]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07290]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[BLM_OR_FRN_MO4500177896]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Resource Management Plan and 
Environmental Impact Statement for the Cascade-Siskiyou National 
Monument in Oregon/Washington and California

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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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 (FLPMA), Presidential Proclamations No. 7318 
(Establishment of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument) (June 9, 
2000) and No. 9564 (Boundary Enlargement of the Cascade-Siskiyou 
National Monument) (January 12, 2017), the Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM) has prepared a Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Cascade-Siskiyou National 
Monument (CSNM), and by this notice is providing information announcing 
the opening of the comment period on the Draft RMP/EIS and the comment 
period on the BLM's proposed areas of critical environmental concern 
(ACECs).

DATES: This notice announces the opening of a 90-day comment period for 
the Draft RMP/EIS beginning with the date following the Environmental 
Protection Agency's (EPA's) publication of its Notice of Availability 
(NOA) of the Draft RMP/EIS in the Federal Register. The EPA usually 
publishes its NOAs on Fridays.
    To afford the BLM the opportunity to consider comments in the 
Proposed RMP/Final EIS, please ensure that the BLM receives your 
comments prior to the close of the 90-day public comment period or 15 
days after the last public meeting, whichever is later.
    This notice also announces the opening of a 90-day comment period 
for proposed ACECs. To afford the BLM the opportunity to consider 
comments for proposed ACECs, please ensure that the BLM receives your 
comments prior to the close of the 90-day public comment period or 15 
days after the last public meeting, whichever is later.

ADDRESSES: The Draft RMP/EIS is available for review on the BLM 
ePlanning project website at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2023675/510. Written comments related to the CSNM Draft RMP/EIS 
may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     Website: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2023675/510.
     Mail: ATTN: CSNM RMP Project Manager, BLM Medford 
District, 3040 Biddle Rd., Medford, OR 97504.
    Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined online at 
https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2023675/510 and at the 
BLM Medford District Office, 3040 Biddle Rd., Medford, OR 97504.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Nikki Haskett, Cascade-Siskiyou 
National Monument RMP Project Manager; telephone (458) 246-8861, 
address 3040 Biddle Rd., Medford, OR 97504; email [email protected]. 
Contact Ms. Haskett to have your name added to our mailing list. 
Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of 
hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or 
TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services for contacting 
Ms. Haskett. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay 
services offered within their country to make international calls to 
the point-of-contact in the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides notice that the BLM 
Oregon/Washington and California State Directors have prepared a Draft 
RMP/EIS, announces the opening of the comment period on the Draft RMP/
EIS, and announces the comment period on the BLM's proposed ACECs. The 
planning area is located in Jackson and Klamath Counties in Oregon and 
Siskiyou County, California, and encompasses approximately 113,500 
acres of BLM-administered lands. While most of the BLM-administered 
lands are within the BLM Ashland and Klamath Falls Field Offices, 
approximately 5,000 acres are located within the BLM Redding Field 
Office.
    In response to Proclamation No. 9564, multiple plaintiffs sued the 
President and BLM, claiming that the Monument expansion violated the 
1937 Oregon and California Railroad and Coos Bay Wagon Road Grant Lands 
Act of 1937 (O&C Act). In 2017, two plaintiffs filed separate suits in 
the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A third plaintiff 
filed suit in the District of

[[Page 24029]]

Oregon. In September 2019, the District of Oregon upheld the Monument 
expansion, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed 
the District Court in April 2023. In November 2019, the District Court 
for the District of Columbia found the Monument expansion violated the 
O&C Act by ``reserving land governed by the O&C Act from sustained 
yield timber production'' and held Proclamation No. 9564 ``invalid and 
unenforceable as applied to land subject to the O&C Act.'' The 
government appealed this decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
District of Columbia, which reversed the District Court on July 18, 
2023, and upheld the Monument expansion. On March 25, 2024, the U.S. 
Supreme Court declined petitions for review of these cases.

Purpose and Need for the RMP

    The purpose and need serve to frame the identification of issues, 
alternatives development, and effects analyses. Proclamation 7318 and 
Proclamation 9564 direct the BLM to ``prepare a management plan for 
this monument'' for the specific purposes of ``protecting the objects 
of scientific and historic interest identified in Proclamation 7318 and 
in Proclamation 9564.''
    The RMP's purpose (40 CFR 1502.13) is to provide a management 
framework, including objectives and management direction, that guides 
the BLM's management of the decision area to protect and restore the 
resources, objects, and values for which the area was designated. It 
also serves to protect and restore the objects of scientific and 
historic interest identified in Presidential Proclamations Nos. 7318 
and 9564 by addressing the following:
     Protecting and restoring the diverse ecosystems that 
provide habitat for rare and endemic and special status wildlife and 
plant species.
     Protecting and restoring landscape-scale resilience for 
the area's critically important natural resources.
     Protecting intact habitats and undisturbed corridors that 
allow for animal migration and movement.
     Reducing fire risk to CSNM objects and values, as well as 
within the wildland urban interface.
     Managing discretionary uses to protect CSNM objects and 
values.
    The need for the action is to revise the 2008 CSNM RMP to encompass 
all BLM-administered lands in the monument under one Record of Decision 
and RMP that is consistent with the proclamations that established and 
expanded the CSNM (CSNM RMP Plan Evaluation, April 2022). The BLM's 
current RMPs for lands in the decision area do not address all the 
legal mandates related to management of the congressionally designated 
National Conservation Lands (i.e., Soda Mountain Wilderness; the Jenny 
Creek and Spring Creek Wild and Scenic Rivers; the Applegate Trail, 
which is part of the California National Historic Trail; and the 
Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail) and the lands included in 
President Obama's enlargement of the monument boundary. In addition, 
some aspects of the existing RMPs covering the planning area need to be 
updated to be consistent with current BLM policies.

Alternatives Including the Preferred Alternative

    The BLM has analyzed four alternatives in detail, including the no 
action alternative.
    Alternative A, the no action alternative, represents current 
management from the 2008 Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Approved 
RMP, 2016 Southwestern Oregon Approved RMP, and the 1993 Redding 
Approved RMP. In addition to the existing RMPs, there are several non-
discretionary designations established by Congress that apply to lands 
in the planning area and are not reflected in the current RMPs but are 
part of the no action alternative.
     In March 2009, Congress designated the now 24,707-acre 
Soda Mountain Wilderness in the original boundary of the CSNM (Pub. L. 
111-11, Section 1405).
     In 2009, Congress authorized the Secretary to accept any 
grazing lease that is donated by a lessee and to terminate any grazing 
lease acquired (Pub. L. 111-11, Section 1402(a)(1)(A)-(B)). Congress 
directed that the Secretary also not issue any new grazing leases on 
those lands and ensure a permanent end to livestock grazing on those 
lands (Pub. L. 111-11, Section 1402(a)(1)(C)). Additional provisions 
were described related to donations of portions of grazing leases and 
modifications to authorized levels of grazing, as well as identifying 
the permanent end to livestock grazing in the Agate, Emigrant Creek, 
and Siskiyou allotments in and near the planning area (Pub. L. 111-11, 
Section 1402(a)(2)-(3) and (b)).
     In March 2019, Congress designated 17.6 miles of Jenny 
Creek and 1.1 miles of Spring Creek as scenic rivers under the Wild and 
Scenic Rivers Act (WSRA) (Pub. L. 116-9). Both streams are primarily in 
the CSNM but also cross into the decision area for the Southwestern 
Oregon RMP.
    Alternative B emphasizes flexibility in planning-level direction, 
promotes intensive, active management to protect monument resources, 
and maximizes the potential for an array of discretionary actions that 
are compatible with the protection of CSNM objects and values. 
Alternative B would designate both ACECs and Research Natural Areas 
(RNAs).
    Alternative C emphasizes flexibility in planning-level direction 
but promotes a moderate level of active management for protection, 
maintenance, and restoration of CSNM resources, and sets some 
limitations on management actions and tools available. Alternative C 
utilizes ACEC designations to protect and restore relevant and 
important values in the CSNM.
    Alternative D would rely primarily on natural ecosystem processes 
that would allow plant community dynamics to unfold without active 
intervention. Exceptions include the management of young conifer stands 
(plantations) that are a product of past timber harvest and thinning 
around legacy trees and along wildfire evacuation routes. Alternative D 
would not designate any ACECs or RNAs.
    The BLM further considered additional alternatives but dismissed 
them from detailed analysis as explained in the Draft RMP/EIS. The 
State Directors have identified Alternative C as the preferred 
alternative. Alternative C was selected as the preferred alternative 
because it provides management decisions, including objectives and 
management direction determined to be most effective at resolving 
planning issues, protecting monument objects and values, and meeting 
the purpose and need.

Mitigation

    The BLM will identify, analyze, and consider best management 
practices to mitigate the reasonably foreseeable impacts to resources 
and monument objects. The Draft EIS analyzes all alternatives and, in 
accordance with 40 CFR 1502.14(e), will include appropriate mitigation 
measures (best management practices) not already included in the 
proposed plan or alternatives. Best management practices may include 
measures to avoid, minimize, rectify, reduce, or eliminate reasonably 
foreseeable impacts over time, and may be considered at multiple 
scales, including the landscape scale.

ACECs

    Consistent with land use planning regulations at 43 CFR 1610.7-
2(b), the BLM is announcing a comment period on the ACECs proposed for 
designation, which will be open for 90 days.

[[Page 24030]]

Comments may be submitted using any of the methods listed in the 
ADDRESSES section.
    The proposed ACECs included in the preferred alternative are:
     Cottonwood Glades--approximately 115 acres. Designation 
proposed to protect native fish, meadows, complex springs, and fen 
soils. Identified special management considerations may include 
restricting cattle from the area and restricting motorized and non-
motorized vehicular use.
     Mariposa Lily--approximately 239 acres. Designation 
proposed to protect rare and exemplary oak savanna with core 
populations of native species, such as the Bureau Sensitive Species 
Green's mariposa lily and Detlings microseris. Special management 
considerations may include restoration of native grass and forb 
components, removal of the invasive yellow star thistle, prescribed 
fire, and restrictions on vehicular activity and heavy equipment during 
fire suppression.
    The preferred alternative does not propose to designate the 
following potential ACECs or RNAs:
     Buck Prairie ACEC.
     Jenny Creek RNA.
     Lost Lake RNA.
     Mariposa Preserve Wildlife Crossing ACEC.
     Moon Prairie ACEC.
     Old Baldy RNA.
     Oregon Gulch RNA.
     Priority Wildlife Connectivity Areas ACEC.
     Scotch Creek RNA.
     Tunnel Creek ACEC.

Schedule for the Decision-Making Process

    The BLM will provide additional opportunities for public 
participation consistent with the NEPA and land use planning processes, 
including a 30-day public protest period and a 60-day Governor's 
consistency review on the Proposed RMP. The Proposed RMP/Final EIS is 
anticipated to be available for public protest in the Fall of 2024 with 
a Record of Decision and Approved RMP in January 2025.
    The BLM will hold a total of four public meetings. One meeting will 
be held virtually, and three meetings will be conducted in-person: in 
Klamath Falls, Greensprings, and Medford, Oregon. The dates and 
locations of these meetings will be announced at least 15 days in 
advance through local media, social media, newspapers, and the 
ePlanning website (see ADDRESSES).
    The BLM will continue to consult with Tribal Nations on a 
government-to-government basis in accordance with Executive Order 
13175, BLM Manual Section 1780, and other Departmental policies. Tribal 
Nation concerns, including impacts on Indian trust assets and potential 
impacts to cultural resources, will be given due consideration.
    You may submit comments on the Draft RMP/EIS in writing to the BLM 
at any public meetings or to the BLM using one of the methods listed in 
the ADDRESSES section. To be considered, comments must be received by 
the end of the 90-day comment period. The ePlanning website (see 
ADDRESSES) includes background information on the CSNM and the planning 
process.
    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 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10, 43 CFR 1610.2, 43 CFR 
1610.7-2)

Barry R. Bushue,
BLM Oregon/Washington State Director.
Gordon R. Toevs,
Acting BLM California State Director.
[FR Doc. 2024-07290 Filed 4-4-24; 8:45 am]
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