Notice2021-26305
Notice of Intent To Prepare the Bridge Creek Area Allotment Management Plans Environmental Impact Statement in the Andrews Field Office, Burns District, Oregon
Primary source
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Published
December 3, 2021
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentLand Management Bureau
Abstract
In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oregon/Washington Burns District's Andrews Field Office intends to prepare the Bridge Creek Area (BCA) Allotment Management Plans (AMP) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and, by this notice, is announcing the beginning of the public scoping period to solicit public comments and identify issues.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 230 (Friday, December 3, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 230 (Friday, December 3, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68682-68683]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-26305]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLORB06000.L10200000.EE0000.21X.LXSS043H0000.HAG 21-0079]
Notice of Intent To Prepare the Bridge Creek Area Allotment
Management Plans Environmental Impact Statement in the Andrews Field
Office, Burns District, Oregon
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oregon/Washington
Burns District's Andrews Field Office intends to prepare the Bridge
Creek Area (BCA) Allotment Management Plans (AMP) Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) and, by this notice, is announcing the beginning of the
public scoping period to solicit public comments and identify issues.
DATES: This notice initiates the public scoping process for the EIS.
Comments may be submitted in writing until January 3, 2022. The BLM
will provide additional opportunities for public participation upon
publication of the Draft EIS.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Website: <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2013546/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2013546/510</a>.
<bullet> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#246668697b6b767b66717b6667657b656974644648490a434b52"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="33717f7e6c7c616c71666c7170726c727e6373515f5e1d545c45">[email protected]</span></a>.
<bullet> Fax: (541) 573-4411.
<bullet> Mail: BCA, c/o Burns District BLM 28910 Hwy 20 West,
Hines, OR 97738, Attention: Don Rotell.
Documents associated with this proposal are available at the BLM Burns
District Office, 28910 Hwy 20 West, Hines, OR 97738, or at <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2013546/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2013546/510</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrews Field Office Manager, Don
Rotell; telephone (541) 573-4422, or email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a8eae4e5f7e7faf7eafdf7eaebe9f7e9e5f8e8cac4c586cfc7de"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d7959b9a8898858895828895949688969a8797b5bbbaf9b0b8a1">[email protected]</span></a>.
Contact Mr. Rotell to have your name added to the project mailing list.
Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call
the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at (800) 877-8339 to contact Mr. Rotell
during normal business hours. The FRS is available 24 hours a day, 7
days a week, to leave a message or question. You will receive a reply
during normal business hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The EIS will analyze several alternatives
for livestock management and related actions in the 26,378-acre project
area in southeastern Oregon near the town of Frenchglen. The project
covers four allotments: The Hammond, Mud Creek, Hardie Summer, and
Hammond Fenced Federal Range allotments. The alternatives will consider
issuance of 10-year grazing permits to up to three applicants and
approval of four AMPs that outline seasonal grazing systems, grazing
utilization thresholds, monitoring, and range developments. The
proposed range developments currently include about 8 miles of new
fence construction and a similar amount of fence removal. These
modifications include short riparian management fences but are largely
to realign fences along boundaries of BLM-administered public land and
privately owned land. The 2015 Greater Sage-grouse Approved Resource
Management Plan Amendment and Record of Decision for Oregon identified
the entire project area as habitat for Greater Sage-grouse. Since 1980,
approximately 38,624 acres (cumulative) in the project area have been
impacted by fire, with some acres burning multiple times. The burned
acres have largely been within the Hammond and Mud Creek allotments.
There is currently no grazing preference or grazing authorization
associated with the four allotments in the project area. The allotments
have been largely un-grazed since 2014 following the BLM's decision to
not renew the expiring livestock grazing authorization, which covered
all four allotments. This decision was administratively appealed by the
permittee, and the Secretary of the Interior resolved the
administrative appeal in January 2019 by instructing the BLM to reissue
the grazing permit. That decision was litigated in the U.S. District
Court for the District of Oregon. The Court issued an order partially
granting and partially denying a request for preliminary injunction
that allowed only a limited amount of grazing to proceed in the 2019
season. The Court vacated the reissued permit and related Secretarial
action and remanded the matter to the Department.
On January 19, 2021, the Secretary of the Interior signed a
decision concerning the apportionment of available forage within the
allotments and the assignment of grazing preference, and directing the
BLM to issue a 10-year livestock grazing permit with allotment
management plans and authorize the construction and removal of range
improvements. On February 26, 2021, the Senior Advisor to the Secretary
Exercising the Delegated Authority of the Assistant Secretary for Land
and Minerals Management rescinded the decision and directed the BLM to
``initiate any additional processes and opportunities for public
involvement that it may determine appropriate under applicable law
following a careful and considered review of the protests.''
Through the public-scoping process, the BLM is seeking input on
issues, actions, and alternatives that should be addressed in the EIS.
Potential issues include the effects of proposed management actions on
livestock grazing management, sagebrush ecosystem health, sage-grouse
habitat, vegetation, fuels (including invasive
[[Page 68683]]
annual grasses), riparian/water quality/fisheries, socioeconomics,
visual resources, and Wilderness Study Areas. Potential management
actions to consider include alternative grazing systems and schedules;
issuance of 10-year grazing permits in the four allotments; proposed
AMPs; raising the allowable forage use in the Hammond allotment to
address higher production of crested wheatgrass seedings; authorization
of temporary, non-renewable forage use to reduce standing fine fuel
biomass; and installation, modification, or removal of range
developments.
The Burns District will consult with the Burns Paiute Tribe
throughout the EIS process. Federal, State, and local agencies, along
with other stakeholders that may be interested or affected by the
proposal, are invited to participate in the scoping process and, if
eligible, may request or be requested by the BLM to participate as a
cooperating agency. The BLM will coordinate with Federal, State, and
local officials and the grazing permit applicants throughout the EIS
process.
Comments can be submitted to the BLM using one of the methods
listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice and on the BLM's
ePlanning page for this EIS. To be most helpful, please submit comments
by the close of the 30-day scoping period. Before including your
address, phone number, email 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.
(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.9, 1506.6; 43 CFR 4120.2 and 4130.2)
Kathryn J. Stangl,
Associate State Director, Oregon/Washington.
[FR Doc. 2021-26305 Filed 12-2-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-33-P
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