[Federal Register: November 5, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 214)]
[Notices]
[Page 64583-64584]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05no04-70]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[ID-070-2824-DS-PJ04]
Fire, Fuels, and Related Vegetation Management Direction Draft
Plan Amendment and Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Upper Snake River District of the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM), located in south-
[[Page 64584]]
central and eastern Idaho, has prepared a Fire, Fuels, and Related
Vegetation Management Direction Draft Plan Amendment and Environmental
Impact Statement (Draft Plan Amendment/EIS) to consider management
direction for fire, fuels, and related uses of vegetation. This
planning process is in conformance with the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA),
and the Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy (USDI et al. 1995,
reviewed and updated in 2001). The Draft Plan Amendment/EIS is
available for public review and comment.
DATES: Written comments will be accepted for 90 days following the date
the Environmental Protection Agency publishes this Notice of
Availability in the Federal Register. Future meetings and any other
opportunities for public involvement will be announced at least 15 days
in advance through public notices, media news releases, and/or
mailings. In addition, information on public meetings will be posted on
the Internet at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.id.blm.gov/planning/fmda/index.htm. To
receive full consideration, comments must be postmarked no later than
the last day of the written comment period. (The last day of the
written comment period will be also be identified in the internet
address above, after publication of the Notice in the Federal
Register.)
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Draft Plan Amendment/EIS are available upon
request from the Pocatello Field Office, Bureau of Land Management,
4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, Idaho 83204, phone 208-478-6340, or at
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.id.blm.gov/planning/fmda/index.htm via the Internet. You may
submit written comments on the draft document by any of the following
methods:
Mail: FMDA Planning Team, Pocatello Field Office, Bureau
of Land Management, 4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, Idaho 83204.
E-mail: ID_USRD_FMDA@blm.gov.
Fax: 208-478-6376.
All public comments, including the names and mailing addresses of
respondents, will be available for public review at the BLM Pocatello
Field Office, in Pocatello, Idaho during regular business hours from
7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays, and may
be published as part of the final plan amendment/EIS. Individual
respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your
name or address from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom
of Information Act, please state this prominently at the beginning of
your written correspondence. The BLM will honor such requests to the
extent allowed by law. All submissions from organizations and
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be
available for public inspection in their entirety.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Limbach, FMDA Project Manager,
4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, Idaho 83204, phone 208-478-6392, e-mail
Eric_Limbach@blm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Fire, Fuels, and Related Vegetation
Management Direction Draft Plan Amendment/EIS was developed with broad
public participation through a three year collaborative planning
process. It addresses management on approximately 5.4 million acres of
public land in the Upper Snake River District of the BLM, comprising
the Burley, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, and Shoshone Field Offices in
south-central and eastern Idaho.
The Draft Plan Amendment/EIS would incorporate the National Fire
Plan's Cohesive Strategy and the Federal Wildland Fire Management
Policy into existing BLM land use plans. The draft EIS displays the
environmental effects of implementing those amended plans.
The purpose of the proposed fire management plan amendment is to:
Establish fire management guidance, objectives, policies,
and management actions;
Identify resource goals and methods, including desired
future condition of the fire-related vegetation resources, and
management actions necessary to achieve objectives;
Form the basis to update fire management plans and
integrate them with allotment management plans, wildlife management
plans, recreation management plans, Idaho Standards for Rangeland
Health and Guidelines for Livestock Grazing, and other applicable
plans, to the greatest extent possible; and
Provide LUP level direction to enable incremental steps
toward a long-term resource goal of conditions that minimize risk to
human life and property and maintain or restore vegetation that is
resistant to catastrophic wildfire.
Four alternatives are analyzed. Alternative A, the No Action
alternative, reflects current Land Use Plan direction, emphasizes
wildland fire suppression, and minimizes the use of wildland fire for
resource benefit. Alternative B emphasizes the increased use of fire,
including prescribed fire and wildland fire use to more closely
approximate the historical role of fire and prepare sites for
restoration treatments. Alternative C would fully implement the
Cohesive Strategy from the National Fire Plan (treats more acres with
prescribed fire than the other alternatives). Alternative D, the
Preferred Alternative, focuses on maintaining or restoring the
sagebrush steppe ecosystem and its associated wildlife species,
including sage grouse.
Dated: August 12, 2004.
K Lynn Bennett,
Bureau of Land Management, Idaho State Director.
[FR Doc. 04-23793 Filed 11-4-04; 8:45 am]
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