Notice2023-12311
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan for the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon/Washington and California and an Associated Environmental Impact Statement
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Published
June 9, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentLand Management Bureau
Abstract
In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), Presidential Proclamations entitled "Establishment of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument" (June 9, 2000) and "Boundary Enlargement of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument" (January 12, 2017), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oregon/Washington (OR/WA) and California (CA) State Offices intend to revise a resource management plan (RMP) with an associated environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument (Monument). With this notice, the BLM announces the beginning of a 60-day public scoping period to solicit public comments and identify issues, provide the planning criteria for public review, and issue a call for nominations for areas of critical environmental concern (ACECs). This RMP revision would replace the existing 2008 Monument RMP.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 111 (Friday, June 9, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 111 (Friday, June 9, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37901-37904]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-12311]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_OR_FRN_MO4500170655]
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan for the
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon/Washington and California
and an Associated Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, as amended (FLPMA), Presidential Proclamations entitled
``Establishment of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument'' (June 9,
2000) and ``Boundary Enlargement of the Cascade-Siskiyou National
Monument'' (January 12, 2017), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
Oregon/Washington (OR/WA) and California (CA) State Offices intend to
revise a resource management plan (RMP) with an associated
environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Cascade-Siskiyou National
Monument (Monument). With this notice, the BLM announces the beginning
of a 60-day public scoping period to solicit public comments and
identify issues, provide the planning criteria for public review, and
issue a call for nominations for areas of critical environmental
concern (ACECs). This RMP revision would replace the existing 2008
Monument RMP.
DATES: The BLM requests the public submit comments concerning the scope
of the analysis, potential alternatives, and identification of relevant
information, studies, and ACEC nominations by August 8, 2023. The BLM
also requests the public submit comments on the planning criteria by
the same date identified earlier. The planning criteria will be made
available to the public within the first 30 days of the 60-day comment
period to ensure the public has at least 30 days to comment on the
planning criteria as required by the planning regulations at 43 CFR
1610.2(e).
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on issues and planning criteria
related to the Monument RMP and nominations of new ACECs by any of the
following methods:
<bullet> Website: <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2023675/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2023675/510</a>.
<bullet> Mail: ATTN: CSNM RMP Project Manager, BLM Medford
District, 3040 Biddle Rd., Medford, OR 97504.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined online at
<a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2023675/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2023675/510</a> and at the
BLM Medford District Office, 3040 Biddle Rd., Medford, OR 97504.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nikki Haskett, Cascade-Siskiyou
National Monument RMP Project Manager; (458) 246-8861, address 3040
Biddle Rd., Medford, OR 97504; email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#90f2fcfdcff3e3fefdcfe2fde0d0f2fcfdbef7ffe6"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="147678794b77677a794b667964547678793a737b62">[email protected]</span></a>. Contact Ms.
Haskett to have your name added to our mailing list. Individuals in the
United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a
speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services for contacting Ms. Haskett.
Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services
offered within their country to make international calls to the point-
of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides notice that the BLM
OR/WA and CA State Directors intend to prepare an RMP with an
associated EIS for the Monument, announces the beginning of the scoping
process, seeks public input on issues and relevant planning criteria,
and invites the public to nominate ACECs. The planning area is in
Jackson and Klamath Counties in Oregon and Siskiyou County in
California and encompasses approximately 113,500 acres of BLM-
administered lands. While most of the BLM-administered lands are within
the BLM Ashland and Klamath Falls Field Offices in Oregon,
approximately 5,000 acres are located within the BLM Redding Field
Office in California.
In response to Presidential Proclamation No. 9564 (Boundary
Enlargement of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument January 12,
2017), multiple plaintiffs sued the President and the BLM, claiming
that the monument expansion violated the Oregon and California Revested
Lands Sustained Yield Management Act of 1937 (the O&C Act). In 2017,
two plaintiffs filed separate suits in the U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia. A third plaintiff filed suit in the District of
Oregon. In September 2019, the District of Oregon upheld the monument
expansion, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed
the District Court's judgment in April 2023. In November 2019, the
District Court for the District of Columbia held that the monument
expansion violated the O&C Act by ``reserving land governed by the O&C
Act from sustained yield timber production'' and held Presidential
Proclamation No. 9564 ``invalid and unenforceable as applied to land
subject to the O&C Act.'' The United States has appealed this decision
to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Although the outcome of this appeal is uncertain, the BLM is exercising
its discretion to initiate preliminary planning steps with the
understanding that the BLM retains the ability to modify or terminate
any planning effort in response to the outcome of the litigation.
Purpose and Need for the RMP
This RMP will provide a management framework, including goals,
objectives, and management direction, to guide management of the
Monument. The RMP purposes and needs will frame issue identification,
alternatives development, and effects analyses. The following purposes
are explicitly provided in Presidential Proclamations No. 7318
(Establishment of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument) and No. 9564,
other designating legislation, and/or have been identified based on key
present and historical Monument management challenges. Planning for
these purposes will be crucial for development of an RMP that provides
direction for addressing critical management challenges. Associated
problems and opportunities that the RMP will address are also
summarized.
1. Protect and/or restore the unique and varied natural and
scientific resources in the Monument. This includes Monument objects
identified in the proclamations, including:
a. A landscape of ecological wonder with unmatched biological
diversity that provides habitat connectivity, watershed protection, and
landscape-
[[Page 37902]]
scale resilience for the area's critically important natural resources.
b. The varied and diverse plant communities that support the
diverse, rare, and endemic wildlife and plant species that populate
them.
c. The intact habitats and undisturbed corridors that allow for
animal migration and movement.
d. The unique and varied geological features and landscapes that
exist.
e. A landscape that provides opportunities for scientific and
historic studies and an invaluable resource to scientists and
conservationists wishing to research and sustain the functioning of the
landscape's ecosystems into the future.
Challenges and Opportunities: The Monument is home to a spectacular
variety of rare species of plants and animals, whose survival depends
upon its continued ecological integrity. Ecological integrity refers to
the degree to which an area's natural ecosystem processes have either
remained intact or been interrupted through human intervention. The
checkerboard pattern of ownership within the monument, the lack of fire
due to fire exclusion, and activities such as timber harvest, livestock
grazing, and road building have changed natural processes across the
monument landscape. These current and past activities continue to
present management challenges. Additionally, recreation and visitor use
in the monument continues to increase.
The Monument's biodiversity is internationally recognized and
provides an invaluable resource to scientists. Evolutionary biologists
have identified this area as a center of endemism and diversity for
springsnails, and researchers have discovered four new species of
mygalomorph spiders in the Monument. Scientific research and monitoring
activities play a crucial role in supporting an adaptive management
approach in the land use planning process. They contribute to effective
and science-based management decisions and help us understand the
intricate web of actions and reactions in an ecosystem as changes are
introduced or disturbances occur.
The BLM will explore various ways of protecting and restoring the
Monument's natural and scientific resources, including the Monument
objects, by identifying acceptable existing conditions, educating
visitors, setting research priorities, and providing for public access
and enjoyment where access does not conflict with the protection of
Monument objects.
2. Protect and or restore the historical and cultural understanding
and appreciation related to the Monument, including Monument objects.
These objects include historic and prehistoric features on the
landscape that provide traces of the presence of human use in the
Monument, both by Native American and Euro-American settlers.
Challenges and Opportunities: Public visitation, permitted
activities, and climate change have the potential to impact cultural
resources, including the Monument's historic and prehistoric features.
Management decisions are needed to clarify how to select and prioritize
protection and restoration of these features and our understanding of
and appreciation for them.
3. Reduce fire risk to important fire-susceptible Monument objects,
and adjacent wildland urban interface lands.
Challenges and Opportunities: The lack of fire due to fire
exclusion and the checkerboard pattern of ownership within the Monument
continue to present management challenges. Much of the planning area
has a checkerboard pattern of ownership of intermixed private, state,
Bureau of Reclamation, and BLM-administered lands. The private lands
are comprised of rural residential areas, the small communities of
Greensprings, Lincoln, and Pinehurst, and private and industrial
forests. This is an area commonly referred to as the wildland urban
interface.
4. Protect a range of habitats that can be resistant and resilient
to large-scale disturbance such as fire, insects and disease, invasive
species, drought, or floods, events likely to be exacerbated by climate
change.
Challenges and Opportunities: Climate change is leading to changes
in disturbance regimes and severities (e.g., drought, fire, insects,
and disease). For example, long-term drought has led to declining
stream flows and historically low reservoir levels, which impacts
aquatic habitats and species that depend on them. Drought and
subsequent insect damage have caused substantial mortality in forest
stands, increasing fuel loading, and reducing resilience to fire.
5. Manage discretionary uses in the Monument in the context of
protecting Monument objects and values.
Challenges and Opportunities: Public land uses in the Monument,
such as recreation and livestock grazing, are important to the economic
opportunities and quality of life of the local communities surrounding
the Monument. These uses, and others, can present management challenges
for the BLM. Since designation in 2000, controversy and disputes have
existed among interested parties regarding BLM's discretionary uses,
particularly because designation as a national monument requires the
BLM to protect the objects and values within its boundary. External
interests span the spectrum from supporting a wide variety of uses and
activities to promoting strong preservation interests. Establishing
management that best protects the Monument's objects and values while
considering other compatible uses is vital in this planning effort.
Preliminary Alternatives
The BLM will analyze a range of alternatives that explore and
evaluate different ways of achieving its purposes and needs. The
alternatives will explore different outcomes to be addressed through
this planning effort to better understand the trade-offs of different
land management approaches. The BLM welcomes comments on all
preliminary alternatives, as well as suggestions for additional
alternatives.
Preliminary Planning Criteria
The planning criteria guide the planning effort and lay the
groundwork for effects analysis by identifying the preliminary issues
and their analytical frameworks. The BLM has identified preliminary
issues for the planning area from early engagement conducted for this
planning effort with Federal, State, and local agencies, Tribal
Nations, and interested participants. The BLM will provide the planning
criteria within the timeframe identified in DATES earlier. The planning
criteria will be available for public review and comment at the
ePlanning website (see ADDRESSES).
Summary of Expected Impacts
Consistent with protection of the Monument's objects of scientific
and historic interest identified in Presidential Proclamations No. 7318
and No. 9564, implementation of a new RMP may impact--either
beneficially or adversely--resources, resource uses, and special
designations within the Monument, including soils, water, vegetation,
cultural and historic resources, paleontological resources, visual
resources, recreation, livestock grazing, social and economic values,
and other human and environmental resources.
Schedule for the Decision-Making Process
The BLM will provide additional opportunities for public
participation consistent with NEPA and BLM land use planning processes,
including a 90-day comment period on the Draft RMP/EIS, then a 30-day
public protest period, as well as a concurrent 60-day
[[Page 37903]]
Governor's consistency review, on the Proposed RMP. The Draft RMP/EIS
is anticipated to be ready for public review in early 2024, and the
Proposed RMP/Final EIS is anticipated to be available for public
protest in fall 2024, with an approved RMP and Record of Decision
completed in late 2024.
Public Scoping Process
This Notice of Intent initiates the scoping period and public
review of the planning criteria, which guide the development and
analysis of the Draft RMP/EIS. The BLM will hold a total of four
scoping meetings. One scoping meeting will be held virtually. Three
scoping meetings will be conducted in-person: one in Ashland, Oregon,
one in Greensprings, Oregon, and one in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Details
of all meetings will be announced once known. In compliance with
Department of the Interior public health guidelines, the BLM may need
to hold public meetings in a virtual format if county-level
transmission of COVID-19 is ``high'' at the time of the public
meetings. In that case, the BLM will hold four virtual public meetings.
The specific dates and locations of these scoping meetings will be
announced at least 15 days in advance through local media, social
media, newspapers, and the ePlanning website (see ADDRESSES).
The ePlanning website (see ADDRESSES) also includes, or will
include, background information on the Monument, an overview of the
planning process, preliminary planning criteria, and interim management
guidance. You may submit comments on issues, potential alternatives,
relevant information and analyses, and the preliminary planning
criteria in writing to the BLM at any public scoping meeting, or to the
BLM using one of the methods listed in the ADDRESSES section.
Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs)
There are five ACECs within the Monument: Jenny Creek, Tunnel
Creek, Moon Prairie, Lost Lake, and Old Baldy. This notice invites the
public to comment on whether to retain the existing ACECs and whether
to nominate areas on BLM-administered lands for ACEC consideration. To
assist the BLM in evaluating nominations for consideration in the Draft
RMP/EIS, please provide supporting descriptive materials, maps, and
evidence of the relevance and importance of resources or hazards by the
close of the public scoping period to facilitate timely evaluation (see
DATES and ADDRESSES). The BLM has identified the anticipated issues
related to the consideration of ACECs in the planning criteria.
Tribal Coordination
The Monument planning process will provide Tribal Nations multiple
ways to engage, including, but not limited to, through government-to-
government coordination and consultation, consultation under Section
106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) (54 U.S.C.
306108), and participation as cooperating agencies.
Cooperating Agencies
Federal, State, and local agencies, along with Tribal Nations, may
request or be asked by the BLM to participate as cooperating agencies.
At this time, the BLM has identified the following potential
cooperating agencies:
<bullet> National Park Service,
<bullet> U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
<bullet> NOAA, Fisheries,
<bullet> U.S. Geological Survey,
<bullet> U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs,
<bullet> Oregon Department of Environmental Quality,
<bullet> Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife,
<bullet> California Department of Fish and Wildlife,
<bullet> Oregon Department of Transportation,
<bullet> California Department of Transportation,
<bullet> Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department,
<bullet> California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection,
<bullet> Klamath County Commissioners,
<bullet> Jackson County Commissioners,
<bullet> Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors,
<bullet> City of Ashland,
<bullet> City of Klamath Falls, and
<bullet> All nine affiliated Tribal Nations that wish to
participate.
Responsible Official
The OR/WA and the CA State Directors are the deciding officials for
this planning effort.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
The nature of the decision to be made will be the State Directors
selection of land use planning decisions for managing BLM-administered
lands within the Monument that protect the objects and values
identified in Proclamation 7318 and Proclamation 9564. Uses on the
Monument may be allowed to the extent they are consistent with
Proclamation 7318 and Proclamation 9564 and the protection of the
objects and values within the Monument.
Interdisciplinary Team
The BLM will use an interdisciplinary approach in developing the
RMP/EIS to consider the variety of resource issues and concerns
identified. Specialists with expertise in various disciplines, such as
cultural resources, Native American concerns, paleontology, minerals,
lands/access, recreation, special designations, wildlife, livestock
grazing, soils, water resources, vegetation, rangeland management,
fisheries, fire management, woodlands/forestry, socioeconomics,
environmental justice, visual resources, air quality, and climate
change will be involved in the planning process.
Additional Information
The BLM will identify, analyze, and consider mitigation to address
the reasonably foreseeable impacts to resources from the proposed RMP
and all analyzed alternatives and, in accordance with 40 CFR
1502.14(e), include appropriate mitigation measures not already
included in the proposed plan or alternatives. Mitigation may include
avoidance, minimization, rectification, reduction or elimination over
time, and compensation, and may be considered at multiple scales,
including the landscape scale.
The BLM will coordinate its NEPA and land use planning processes
with its efforts to ensure compliance with section 7 of the Endangered
Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1536) and Section 106 of the NHPA, as provided
in 36 CFR 800.2(d)(3), including the public involvement requirements of
section 106. Information about historic and cultural resources and
threatened and endangered species within the area potentially affected
by the proposed plan will assist the BLM in identifying and evaluating
impacts to such resources.
The BLM will consult with Tribal Nations on a government-to-
government basis in accordance with Executive Order 13175 and
applicable Departmental policies. Tribal concerns, including impacts on
American Indian trust assets and potential impacts on cultural
resources, will be given due consideration. The BLM intend to hold a
series of government-to-government consultation meetings beginning
during the public scoping period. The BLM will send invitations to
interested Tribal Nations at least 30-days prior to the meetings. The
BLM will provide additional opportunities for government-to-government
consultation during the NEPA process.
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other
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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 and 43 CFR 1610.2.)
Barry Bushue,
BLM Oregon/Washington State Director.
Karen Mouritsen,
BLM California State Director.
[FR Doc. 2023-12311 Filed 6-8-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-24-P
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