[Federal Register: November 10, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 217)]
[Notices]
[Page 68474-68475]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10no05-150]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WO-220-05-1020-JA-VEIS]
Notice of Availability of Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement and Environmental Report for Vegetation Treatments on Public
Lands Administered by the Bureau of Land Management in the Western
United States, Including Alaska
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability for public review and comment.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), the BLM is making available for public
review and comment a draft national programmatic EIS and environmental
report on vegetation treatments involving the use of chemical
herbicides and other methods on the public lands administered by BLM in
17 western states, including Alaska.
DATES: Written or e-mailed comments for the review of the EIS and
environmental report may be submitted through January 9, 2006. BLM will
hold public meetings to solicit written and oral comments on the
proposed action during the 60-day public review period.
Dates and time locations for the public meetings are as follows:
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Date & time Locations BLM contact
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November 28, 2005: 6 p.m. BLM Office, 333 SW Michael Campbell,
Open House, 7 p.m. Public 1st Avenue, 3rd PH: (503) 808-6031.
Meeting. Floor Conference
Room, Portland,
Oregon 97204.
November 29, 2005: 6 p.m. Clarion Hotel, 2600 Dianna Brink, PH:
Open House, 7 p.m. Public Auburn Blvd., (916) 978-4645.
Meeting. Sacramento, CA.
November 30, 2005: 6 p.m. Little America Laura J. Williams,
Open House, 7 p.m. Public Hotel, 500 South PH: (801) 539-4027.
Meeting. Main Street, Salt
Lake City, Utah
84101.
December 1, 2005: 6 p.m. Marriott Pyramid Bernie Chavez, PH:
Open House, 7 p.m. Public North, 5151 San (505) 438-7668.
Meeting. Francisco Rd. NE,
Albuquerque, NM.
December 5, 2005: 6 p.m. Grand Vista Hotel, Melodie Lloyd, PH:
Open House, 7 p.m. Public 2790 Crossroads (970) 244-3097.
Meeting. Blvd., Grand
Junction, CO.
December 6, 2005: 6 p.m. Holiday Inn--Airport Sharon Paris, PH:
Open House, 7 p.m. Public Hotel, 3300 S. (208) 373-4028.
Meeting. Vista, Boise, ID.
December 7, 2005: 6 p.m. BLM Office, 5001 Theresa Hanley, PH:
Open House, 7 p.m. Public Southgate Drive, (406) 896-5068.
Meeting. Billings, MT.
December 8, 2005: 6 p.m. Holiday Inn-- Ken Henke, PH: (307)
Open House, 7 p.m. Public Yellowstone, Room 775-6041.
Meeting. 204 West Fox Farm
Road, Cheyenne, WY.
December 13, 2005: 6 p.m. BLM Office, 4701 N Kirsten Cannon, PH:
Open House, 7 p.m. Public Torrey Pines Dr., (702) 515-5057.
Meeting. Las Vegas, NV.
December 13, 2005: 6 p.m. Courtyard by Sharon Wilson, PH:
Open House, 7 p.m. Public Marriott--Embassy (202) 425-5130.
Meeting. Row, 1600 Rhode
Island Avenue, NW.,
Washington DC.
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ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to: Project Manager,
National Vegetation EIS, BLM Nevada State Office, P.O. Box 12000, Reno,
NV 89520-0006. Comments may also be sent by e-mail to
vegeis@nv.blm.gov. Individual respondents may request confidentiality.
If you wish to withhold your name or street address from public review
or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state
this prominently at the beginning of your written comment. Such
requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. The BLM will not
consider anonymous comments. 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. The Draft EIS and
associated documents will be available for review in either hard copy
or on compact disks (CDs) at all BLM State, District, and Field Office
public rooms. The entire document can also be reviewed or downloaded at
the BLM National Web site http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.blm.gov/.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This national, draft programmatic EIS will
provide a comprehensive analysis of BLM's use of chemical herbicides in
its various vegetation treatment programs related to hazardous fuels
reduction, noxious weed and invasive terrestrial plant species
management, resource rehabilitation following catastrophic fires and
other disturbances. In addition, an accompanying environmental report
will provide an
[[Page 68475]]
assessment of the expected impacts of the use of herbicides, in
addition to other vegetation treatment methods (fire, mechanical,
manual, and biological) on up to approximately 5,030,000 acres of
public lands per year. Together, these documents will:
Consider reasonably foreseeable activities, particularly
hazardous fuels reduction treatments, emergency stabilization and
rehabilitation efforts, noxious weed, and invasive terrestrial plant
species management.
Address human health and ecological risk for proposed use
of chemical herbicides on public lands.
Provide a cumulative impact analysis of the use of
chemical herbicides in conjunction with other treatment methods.
The EIS is neither a land-use plan nor a land-use plan amendment.
The EIS and ER will provide a comprehensive programmatic NEPA document
and environmental report to allow effective tiering and incorporation
by reference of baseline cumulative impact assessment to be used for
other new, revised or existing land use and activity level plans that
involve vegetation modification or maintenance. This EIS does not
affect the status of the herbicide court injunction in Oregon.
The analysis area includes only surface estate public lands
administered by 11 BLM state offices: Alaska, Arizona, California,
Colorado, Idaho, Montana (Dakotas), New Mexico (Oklahoma/Texas/
Nebraska), Nevada, Oregon (Washington), Utah and Wyoming.
Ed Shepard,
Assistant Director, Renewable Resources and Planning.
[FR Doc. 05-22343 Filed 11-9-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-P