Notice2022-26151
Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the 2015 Integrated Resource Management Plan for the Colville Indian Reservation, Nespelem, Washington
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 1, 2022
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentIndian Affairs Bureau
Abstract
This notice advises the public that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), as lead agency, and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (Tribes) intends to file a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the 2015 Colville Reservation Integrated Resource Management Plan (IRMP). This notice announces that the FEIS is now available for public review.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 230 (Thursday, December 1, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 230 (Thursday, December 1, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73775-73776]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-26151]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs
[223A2100DD/AAKC001030/A0A501010.999900]
Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the 2015
Integrated Resource Management Plan for the Colville Indian
Reservation, Nespelem, Washington
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA), as lead agency, and the Confederated Tribes of the
Colville Reservation (Tribes) intends to file a Final Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) with the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) for the 2015 Colville Reservation Integrated Resource
Management Plan (IRMP). This notice announces that the FEIS is now
available for public review.
DATES: The BIA will not issue a final decision on the proposal for a
minimum of 30 days after the date that the EPA publishes its Notice of
Availability (NOA) in the Federal Register. Any comments on the FEIS
must arrive on or before the date 30 days after the EPA publishes a
Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. The Record of Decision
(ROD) on the proposed action will be issued no sooner than 30 days
after the release of the FEIS.
ADDRESSES:
Comments: You may mail or hand-deliver written comments to Randall
Friedlander, Superintendent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Colville Agency,
P.O. Box 111, 21 Colville Street, 3rd Floor NE, Nespelem, WA 99155-
0111. Please include your name, return address, and the caption ``FEIS
Comments, Colville Reservation IRMP,'' on the first page of your
written comments. You can also submit comments by email to
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#90e2f1fef4f1fcfcbef6e2f9f5f4fcf1fef4f5e2d0f2f9f1bef7ffe6"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7604171812171a1a5810041f13121a171812130436141f1758111900">[email protected]</span></a>. If emailing comments, please use ``FEIS
Comments, Colville Reservation IRMP,'' as the subject of your email.
Public Review: The FEIS is available online at <a href="http://www.colvilletribes.com/irmp">http://www.colvilletribes.com/irmp</a>. The FEIS is also available for review
during regular business hours at the following locations:
<bullet> BIA Colville Agency, 21 Colville St., 3rd Floor NE,
Nespelem, WA 99155-0111.
<bullet> Inchelium Resource Center, 12 Community Center Loop,
Inchelium, WA 99138.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Randall Friedlander, Superintendent,
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Colville Agency, P.O. Box 111, Nespelem, WA
99155-0111, (509) 634-2316.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of the proposed action is
approval the IRMP for the Tribes' natural and cultural resources. The
proposed action updates the original IRMP that was prepared and
implemented in 2000. The IRMP incorporates management goals and
objectives for the commercial forest, rangeland, and agricultural lands
of the Tribes.
The Tribes' forest products industry, livestock grazing, and
agriculture have the potential to impact the natural and human
environments of the Reservation. The FEIS analyzes the potential
impacts associated with these activities. These include impacts to land
resources such as geology, minerals, and soils, watershed function,
surface and groundwater resources, air quality, biological resources,
cultural and paleontological resources, socioeconomic conditions,
transportation and forest access roads, land use, public services,
noise, aesthetics, recreation, climate change, cumulative effects, and
indirect and growth-inducing effects.
The FEIS considers five management alternatives developed by the
Tribes' IRMP Core Team. The interdisciplinary team developed these
management alternatives for consideration and analysis and designated a
preferred alternative (Alternative 2) that was approved by the Colville
Business Council in June 2014. The team also conducted a community
survey in 2014 that asked community members to choose a preferred
alternative. All groups were unanimous in selecting Alternative 2 as
the preferred alternative. The alternatives are:
1. Continue the Current Management Strategy
2. Enhance and Improve the Current Management Strategy (Preferred
Alternative)
3. Concentrate on Forest and Rangeland Health Problems
4. Expand Forest and Livestock Production
5. Eliminate Timber Harvesting and Livestock Grazing
A Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS was released in the
Federal Register on November 21, 2014 (79 FR 69521). Public scoping
meetings were held in four Reservation communities in October 2015, and
a Scoping Meetings Report was released in March 2016. An administrative
draft DEIS was prepared and reviewed by the IRMP Core Team and
appropriate revisions were incorporated along with supplemental
information.
The Draft EIS (DEIS) was completed in November 2016. Notices of
Availability (NOA) were published in the Federal Register by the BIA on
June 14, 2017 (82 FR 27278) and the EPA on July 28, 2017 (82 FR 35200).
The public review period ended on September 11, 2017. The Response to
Comments was released on January 24, 2018. The original FEIS was
completed on August 14, 2018, and page-count revisions were completed
on December 18, 2018.
Public Comment Availability
Comments, including names and addresses of respondents, will be
[[Page 73776]]
available for public review during regular business hours at the BIA
mailing address shown in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. Before
including your address, telephone 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
This notice is published pursuant to 40 CFR 1506.10(a) of the
Council of Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR 1500 et seq.) and
43 CFR 46.305 of the Department of Interior Regulations (43 CFR part
46), the procedural requirements of the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.), and is in accordance
with the exercise of authority delegated to the Assistant Secretary--
Indian Affairs by 209 DM 8.
Bryan Newland,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2022-26151 Filed 11-30-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4337-15-P
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