From: Subject: FR Doc E7-14664 Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:37:16 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/E7-14664.htm X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3138 FR Doc E7-14664 
[Federal Register: July 27, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 144)]
[Notices]              =20
[Page 41354-41355]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27jy07-81]                        =20

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[OR-930-6310-PN-LITU; HAG 07-0141]

=20
Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision To Amend=20
Resource Management Plans To Remove the Survey and Manage Mitigation=20
Measure Standards and Guidelines

AGENCY: Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act=20
(NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and the Federal Land Policy and=20
Management Act (FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), the Bureau of Land=20
Management (BLM) announces the availability of the Record of Decision=20
(ROD) to amend selected portions of the 1994 Record of Decision for the=20
Northwest Forest Plan by removing the Survey and Manage Mitigation=20
Measure Standards and Guidelines. The ROD amends Resource Management=20
Plans for the BLM Districts in western Oregon and northwestern=20
California. The U.S. Forest Service is expected to concurrently=20
announce a similar decision amending their respective Land and Resource=20
Management Plans.
    Under the Northwest Forest Plan, Survey and Manage added=20
conservation measures for rare and little known species to BLM and U.S.=20
Forest Service requirements for providing for late successional and old=20
growth forest-related species. These Survey and Manage Standards and=20
Guidelines had made it difficult for the BLM and the U.S. Forest=20
Service to meet the other resource management goals set forth in the=20
Northwest Forest Plan (i.e. timber harvest, hazardous fuels treatment,=20
and ecosystem restoration). Although the Survey and Manage Standards=20
and Guidelines are removed with this decision, conservation of rare and=20
little known species will continue to be accomplished through the other=20
elements of the Northwest Forest Plan and the BLM and U.S. Forest=20
Service's Special Status Species Programs.

ADDRESSES: The Requests to receive copies of the ROD should be sent to=20
Carol Hughes, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, OR 97208-3623, or submit e-mail=20
to ORSMSEIS@blm.gov. =
Alternatively, the ROD is available on the=20
Internet at http://fr=
webgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=3DleavingFR.html&log=3D=
linklog&to=3Dhttp://www.reo.gov/s-m2006. Copies will be =
available for=20

inspection after August 3, 2007 at BLM offices in western Oregon and=20
northwestern California. Copies of the Draft, Supplement to the Draft,=20
and Final Supplement to the 2004 Supplemental Environmental Impact=20
Statement are also available at the above address and on the Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Haske, Chief, Branch of Forest=20
Resources and Special Status Species, Bureau of Land Management, P.O.=20
Box 2965, Portland, OR 97208, telephone (503) 808-6066.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In June 2007, the BLM and U.S. Forest=20
Service released a Final Supplement to the 2004 Final Supplemental=20
Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) to Remove or Modify the Survey=20
and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines. The Final=20
Supplement presented the entire 2004 analysis, updated for new=20
information and supplemented to include:

--Responses to three deficiencies identified in August 2005 by the U.S.=20
District Court for the Western District of Washington, and;
--An additional alternative to respond to implications of a November=20
2006 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit=20
relative to the red tree vole on the BLM's Cow Catcher and Cottonsnake=20
Timber Sales in Oregon.

    The analysis covered 337 species of fungi, bryophytes, lichens,=20
mollusks, vascular plants, and 7 species of vertebrates. The analysis=20
showed that, compared to the No Action Alternatives, 53 species would=20
have insufficient habitat in all or a portion of their Northwest Forest=20
Plan range to support stable populations. However, the analysis points=20
out that these species are generally either secure in other areas of=20
their range or that State Heritage programs do not rate them imperiled=20
enough to qualify for the BLM and U.S. Forest Service's Special Status=20
Species Programs. The analysis also shows the selected alternative=20
improves the BLM and U.S. Forest Service's ability to achieve other=20
Northwest Forest Plan objectives.
    Based on the Final Supplement, a similar and nearly simultaneous=20
decision is expected from the Department of Agriculture affecting 19=20
National Forest Land and Resource Management Plans, but the Department=20
of the Interior decision is not dependent upon it.
    Four alternatives were considered in detail in the Final=20
Supplement. In addition to two action alternatives, two no-action=20
alternatives were included to examine Survey and Manage both with and=20
without changes made by the prescribed 2001, 2002, and 2003 Annual=20
Species Reviews. These reviews were

[[Page 41355]]

reconsidered in the Final Supplement because in November 2006, the U.S.=20
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled the 2001 and 2003 Annual=20
Species Review decisions for the red tree vole should have included=20
additional NEPA analysis.
    The ROD also effectively removes the Survey and Manage mitigation=20
measure from the 5,400-acre Coquille Forest, since by agreement, the=20
Coquille Forest follows the requirements of the Northwest Forest Plan=20
on the adjacent BLM Coos Bay District.
    Readers should note this ROD was signed by the Assistant Secretary,=20
Land and Minerals Management. Therefore, no administrative review=20
(``protest'') through the BLM was available on the Final Supplement=20
under 43 CFR 1610.5-2.
    The Governors of Oregon and Washington were provided with copies of=20
the Final Supplement and proposed action on May 8, 2007 for 60-day=20
consistency review. No inconsistencies with State or local plans,=20
policies, or programs were identified during the Governors' consistency=20
review of the proposed plan amendments.

Edward W. Shepard,
State Director, OR/WA, USDI Bureau of Land Management.
 [FR Doc. E7-14664 Filed 7-26-07; 8:45 am]

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