[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 40 (Thursday, February 28, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10802-10803]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-3677]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[ID-310-08-1610-DO-061D]
Notice of Intent
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior.
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Upper Snake Field Office,
intends to prepare a Resource Management Plan (RMP) and associated
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Upper Snake Field Office
of the Idaho Falls District in eastern Idaho. Publication of this
Notice also initiates a public scoping period to extend until 15 days
after the last public scoping meeting. The RMP will address management
of approximately 1.8 million acres of public land and will replace the
following land use plans: Big Desert Management Framework Plan (MFP)
(1980), Big Lost MFP (1983), Little Lost-Birch Creek MFP (1985) and the
Medicine Lodge RMP (1985).
DATES: A formal public scoping period will commence with publication of
this Notice and extend until 15 days after the last public scoping
meeting. The BLM will announce public open-house scoping meetings
through the local news media and the BLM Web site at: http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/fo/upper_snake/Planning/upper_snake_rmp.html.
To encourage local community participation and involvement, public open
houses will be held in the following locations: Idaho Falls, Rexburg,
and Arco, Idaho. Specific dates and locations for these open houses are
expected to be published in the Post Register, the Rexburg Standard
Journal, and the Arco Advertiser in the spring of 2008.
Formal scoping will end 15 days after the last scoping open house
meeting date. Comments on issues and planning criteria should be
received on or before the end of the scoping period at the address
listed below.
The public will have additional opportunities to participate in
open houses throughout the planning process to work collaboratively
with BLM in identifying the full range of issues to be addressed in the
RMP/EIS, the planning criteria to be used and development of
alternatives to be analyzed in the EIS. The BLM will also provide
formal opportunities for public participation upon publication of the
Draft RMP/EIS.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
E-mail: [email protected].
Fax: (208) 524-7505.
Mail: Bureau of Land Management, Attn: RMP Project
Manager, Upper Snake Field Office, 1405 Hollipark Drive, Idaho Falls,
ID 83401-2100.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the Upper
Snake Field Office at the above address.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information and/or to have
your name added to our mailing list, Contact: Wendy Reynolds, Field
Office Manager, Upper Snake Field Office, 1405 Hollipark Drive, Idaho
Falls, ID 83401-2100, Telephone: (208) 524-7500; E-mail: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Upper Snake Field Office and planning
area for this RMP is located in north eastern Idaho, in Blaine,
Bingham, Bonneville, Butte, Clark, Fremont, Jefferson, Madison, Power
and Teton counties.
The planning area encompasses approximately 1.8 million acres of
[[Page 10803]]
public land. The planning process will comply with the Federal Land
Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) and the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The RMP will replace the
following land use plans: Big Desert Management Framework Plan (MFP)
(1980), Big Lost MFP (1983), Little Lost-Birch Creek MFP (1985) and the
Medicine Lodge RMP (1985).
The process this RMP/EIS will use is an open collaborative approach
allowing Tribal governments, State and Federal agencies, local elected
officials, interested individuals and an interdisciplinary team with
BLM subject matter specialists to identify issues and concerns, and
develop and analyze a reasonable range of alternatives for management
of the public lands. The BLM will work collaboratively with interested
parties to identify the management decisions that are best suited to
local, regional, and national needs, interests and concerns. Agency
representatives and interested persons are invited to visit with Upper
Snake Field Office officials at any time during the EIS process. In
addition, two specific time periods are identified for the receipt of
formal comments. These two comment periods are:
(1) During the open house scoping process (ending 15 days after the
last open house meeting date), and
(2) During the 90-day formal review period following release of the
Draft RMP/EIS. This notice initiates the public scoping process to
identify planning issues and to develop planning criteria. The purpose
of the public scoping process is to determine relevant issues, concerns
and ideas that will influence the scope of the environmental analysis
and EIS alternatives. These issues also guide the planning process. The
scoping process includes an evaluation of the existing land use plans
in the context of the needs and interests of the public and tribal
members.
Public scoping (open houses) to identify specific issues to be
addressed in the RMP will offer an opportunity for the public to
provide input. Subsequent opportunities for public involvement will
occur at specific stages in the planning process. You may submit
comments in writing to the BLM at any public scoping meeting, or you
may submit them to the BLM using one of the methods listed in the
ADDRESSES section above. To be most helpful, you should submit formal
scoping comments within 15 days after the last public meeting.
Individual respondents may request confidentiality, however, all
submissions from agencies, organizations or businesses, and from
individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of
agencies, organizations or businesses, will be made available for
public inspection in their entirety. Before including your address,
phone number, e-mail 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.
In order to address issues and meet BLM planning requirements for
determining public land uses, decisions may be made for air, soil, and
water resources; vegetation (including noxious weeds); riparian areas;
forestry management (including juniper woodlands); wildlife and fishery
habitat; special status species (including threatened, endangered,
candidate, and BLM sensitive species); livestock grazing; fire
management; lands (including land tenure adjustments and rights-of-
way); locatable, leasable, salable and fluid minerals; recreation
(travel management); wilderness; visual resources; cultural and
paleontological resources; hazardous materials; and special
designations (including wild and scenic rivers and areas of critical
environmental concern). In addition, decisions may be made regarding
the conditions under which future fluid mineral leases will be issued
by the field office.
After gathering public comments on which issues the plan should
address, the suggested issues will be evaluated for their applicability
to the planning process and categorized into one of the following three
categories:
(1) Issues to be resolved in the plan;
(2) Issues resolved through policy or administrative action; or
(3) Issues beyond the scope of this plan.
This evaluation and categorization will be described in the plan
with associated rationale. In addition to the issues to be resolved in
the plan, a number of management questions and concerns will also be
addressed. The public is encouraged to help identify these questions
and concerns during the scoping period.
The BLM will use an interdisciplinary approach to develop the plan
in order to consider the variety of resources and issues identified.
Specialists with expertise in the disciplines corresponding to these
issue areas will be represented and utilized during the planning
process.
Dated: February 19, 2008.
Peter J. Ditton,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. E8-3677 Filed 2-27-08; 8:45 am]
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