[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 41 (Friday, February 29, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11140-11142]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-3924]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[AK-024-1610-DO-094L]
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan and
Environmental Impact Statement for BLM-Alaska's Eastern Interior
Planning Area
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Eastern Interior Field
Office, Fairbanks, Alaska, intends to prepare a Resource Management
Plan (RMP) with an associated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for
the Eastern Interior Planning Area and by this notice announces the
beginning of the public scoping period. Public scoping meetings will be
held in Fairbanks, Delta Junction, Tok, Eagle, Chicken, Central, and
Anchorage. Additional public scoping meetings may be held at Circle,
Chalkyitsik, Fort Yukon, Stevens Village, Beaver, Birch Creek and other
locations to be determined at a later date. The RMP will replace the
existing Steese National Conservation Area Resource Management Plan,
the White Mountains National Recreation Area Resource Management Plan,
and the Fortymile Management Framework Plan. The RMP will also make
land use decisions on previously unplanned public lands in the Upper
Black River subunit.
DATES: The public scoping period will begin with the publication of
this notice.
Formal scoping will end on July 1, 2008. The BLM will announce
public scoping meetings to identify relevant issues through local news
media, newsletters, and the BLM Web site, http://www.blm.gov/ak, at
least 15 days prior to the first meeting. We will provide formal
opportunities for public participation after release of the Draft RMP/
EIS.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
E-mail: [email protected].
Fax: (907) 474-2282.
[[Page 11141]]
Mail: BLM Eastern Interior Field Office, Attention: Jeanie
Cole, 1150 University Ave., Fairbanks, AK 99709.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the Eastern
Interior Field Office, Fairbanks, Alaska.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information and/or to have
your name added to our mailing list, contact Jeanie Cole, telephone
(907) 474-2340; e-mail [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides notice that the BLM
Eastern Interior Field Office, Fairbanks, Alaska, intends to prepare an
RMP with an associated EIS for the Eastern Interior Planning Area and
announces public scoping meetings.
The planning area is located in eastern Alaska and is bounded by
the Brooks Range on the north, the Dalton and Elliott Highways on the
west, the BLM Fairbanks/Anchorage District boundary on the south, and
the U.S.-Canada border on the east. The planning area includes four
subunits: the Steese National Conservation Area (SNCA), the White
Mountains National Recreation Area (WMNRA), the Fortymile River
subunit, and the Upper Black River subunit. Two of the subunits, the
SNCA and WMNRA, require their own separate Record of Decision (ROD) due
to their status as units of the BLM National Landscape Conservation
System. Decisions on the Fortymile and Black River subunits will be
combined into one ROD. The planning area also includes three national
wild and scenic rivers: Beaver Creek, Birch Creek, and the Fortymile
River. This planning activity encompasses approximately 8 million acres
of public land. The plan will fulfill the needs and obligations set
forth by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Land
Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), and BLM management policies. The BLM
will work collaboratively with interested parties to identify the
management decisions best suited to local, regional, and national needs
and concerns.
The purpose of the public scoping process is to determine relevant
issues that will influence the scope of the environmental analysis and
RMP alternatives. These issues also guide the planning process. You may
submit comments on issues and planning criteria 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 before July 1, 2008.
The minutes and list of attendees for each scoping meeting will be
available to the public and open for 30 days after the meeting to any
participant who wishes to clarify the views he or she expressed.
Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to
withhold your name and/or address from public review or disclosure
under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this prominently
at the beginning of your written comment. The BLM will honor such
requests to the extent allowed by law. All submissions from
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or
businesses, are available for public inspection in their entirety.
Preliminary issues and management concerns have been identified by
BLM personnel, other agencies, and in meetings with individuals and
user groups. They represent the BLM's knowledge to date regarding the
existing issues and concerns with current land management.
The major issues or management concerns that will be addressed in
this planning effort include management of: recreational use, off-
highway vehicles and access, minerals and energy resources, land tenure
and realty, wild and scenic rivers, wildlife and fisheries, and
subsistence use.
After public comments are gathered about issues the plan should
address, the issues will be placed into the following categories:
1. Issues to be resolved in the plan;
2. Issues to be resolved through policy or administrative action;
or
3. Issues beyond the scope of this plan.
The BLM will provide an explanation in the plan as to why an issue
was placed in categories two or three. In addition to these major
issues, the plan will address a number of management questions and
concerns and the public is encouraged to help identify these during the
scoping phase.
Preliminary planning criteria are:
1. Public participation by interested groups and individuals will
be encouraged throughout the RMP/EIS process.
2. Valid existing rights will be recognized and protected.
3. Subsistence uses will be considered and adverse impacts
minimized in accordance with Section 810 of the Alaska National
Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
4. The BLM will work cooperatively with State and Federal agencies,
Native corporations, Tribes, and Municipal governments. Agencies
(including federally recognized tribal governments) with jurisdiction
by law or special expertise will be consulted to determine if
cooperating agency status is appropriate and desired.
5. Wildlife habitat management will be consistent with Alaska
Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) objectives and/or the Federal
Subsistence Board requirements and mandates.
6. Resource management plans prepared by the BLM will conform to
the Bureau's H-1601-1 Land Use Planning Handbook, Appendix C, Program-
Specific and Resource-Specific Decision Guidance and supplemental
program guidance manual for Areas of Critical Environmental Concern
(ACECs) and Fluid Minerals.
7. The plan will be consistent with the standards and guidance set
forth in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Council on Environmental
Quality, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Wild and Scenic
Rivers Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, ANILCA, and other Federal
laws, regulations, and policies as required.
8. The plan will be consistent with the BLM-Alaska Land Health
Standards.
9. Off-highway vehicles designations for all public lands within
the planning area will be completed according to the regulations found
in 43 CFR 8342.
10. Areas proposed for Area of Critical Environmental Concern
designation will meet the criteria found in 43 CFR 1610.7-2.
11. The plan will address all lands within the Eastern Interior
planning area managed by the BLM (excluding military reservations).
12. Review and classification of waterways as eligible for
inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic River System will follow the
guidance found in the BLM Manual 8351, Wild and Scenic Rivers--Policy
and Program Direction for Identification, Evaluation, and Management.
13. The Economic Profile System developed for the BLM by the
Sonoran Institute, or equivalent, will be used to characterize baseline
social and economic conditions.
14. The BLM will incorporate Environmental Justice (EJ)
considerations in land use planning alternatives to adequately respond
to EJ issues facing minority populations, low income communities, and
Tribes living near public lands and using public land resources.
15. The analysis will employ guidance provided in the BLM Land Use
Planning Handbook H-1601-1, Appendix D, Social Science
[[Page 11142]]
Considerations in Land Use Planning Decisions.
16. Wilderness will not be considered in this plan unless Alaska's
Governor or a member of the Congressional Delegation for Alaska
recommends a particular area for study.
The BLM will use an interdisciplinary approach to develop the plan
to consider the variety of resource issues and concerns identified.
Specialists with expertise in the following disciplines will be
involved in the planning process: outdoor recreation, minerals and
geology, forestry, archeology, wildlife and fisheries, lands and
realty, hydrology, soils, subsistence, sociology and economics, visual
resource management, and vegetation.
Dated: February 22, 2008.
Thomas P. Lonnie,
State Director.
[FR Doc. E8-3924 Filed 2-28-08; 8:45 am]
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