Notice2023-16162
Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests; Oregon and Washington; Revision of Land Management Plan for the Blue Mountains Forests
Primary source
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Published
July 31, 2023
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentForest Service
Abstract
The Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, is initiating the Land Management Plan revision process for the Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests (Blue Mountains Forests), located in northeast Oregon and southeast Washington. This process will result in three revised Land Management Plans to guide all resource management activities on the Blue Mountains Forests for approximately fifteen years. This notice announces the initiation of the assessment phase, the preliminary stage of the plan revision process. Assessments will identify and consider relevant and readily accessible material about ecological, social, and economic conditions and trends in the planning area, including best available scientific information. Findings will be documented in an assessment report. Trends and conditions identified in the assessment will help describe a need to change the existing plans and inform the revision of the three Land Management Plans.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 145 (Monday, July 31, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 145 (Monday, July 31, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49434-49436]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16162]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests; Oregon
and Washington; Revision of Land Management Plan for the Blue Mountains
Forests
AGENCY: Forest Service, Agriculture (USDA).
ACTION: Notice of intent to initiate the assessment phase of the land
management plan revision for the Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman
National Forests.
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SUMMARY: The Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, is
initiating the Land Management Plan revision process for the Malheur,
Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests (Blue Mountains
Forests), located in northeast Oregon and southeast Washington. This
process will result in three revised Land Management Plans to guide all
resource management activities on the Blue Mountains Forests for
approximately fifteen years. This notice announces the initiation of
the assessment phase, the preliminary stage of the plan revision
process. Assessments will identify and consider relevant and readily
accessible material about ecological, social, and economic conditions
and trends in the planning area, including best available scientific
information. Findings will be documented in an assessment report.
Trends and conditions identified in the assessment will help describe a
need to change the existing plans and inform
[[Page 49435]]
the revision of the three Land Management Plans.
DATES: The public will be invited to review the draft assessment and
participate in this phase of the revision in the fall of 2023.
Engagement opportunities will be posted on the Blue Mountains Forest
Plan Revision website: <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/umatilla/home/?cid=fseprd1066821">https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/umatilla/home/?cid=fseprd1066821</a>. Consultation with the Tribes will also be conducted
as part of the assessment phase of the revision. Information will be
shared through mailing lists, social media, and other media outlets.
The draft assessment is anticipated for public review and comment in
fall 2023 and will be announced in the newspapers of record for the
Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests. The Forest
Service will review and incorporate public comments and additional
information from tribal consultation on the draft assessment and
produce a final assessment to inform plan revision. The Forest Service
may then initiate procedures pursuant to the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) to prepare revised Land Management Plans.
ADDRESSES: For questions about Land Management Plan revision or
comments on initiating the assessment phase of plan revision, please
address mail to: Umatilla National Forest, Attn: Darcy Weseman--Blues
Forest Plan Revision, 72510 Coyote Rd., Pendleton, OR 97801 or via
email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a6d5cb88c0d588c4cad3c3d5c0c9d4c3d5d2d5e6d3d5c2c788c1c9d0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="85f6e8abe3f6abe7e9f0e0f6e3eaf7e0f6f1f6c5f0f6e1e4abe2eaf3">[email protected]</span></a>. The majority of the revision team
is located at the Umatilla National Forest Headquarters (72510 Coyote
Rd., Pendleton, OR 97801); however, all three locations can provide
information as requested: Malheur National Forest located at 431
Patterson Bridge Rd., John Day, OR 97845 and Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest located at 1550 Dewey Avenue, Suite A, Baker City, Oregon 97814.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Neuenschwander, Revision Team
Leader at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3855515b50595d5416565d4d5d564b5b504f59565c5d4a784d4b5c59165f574e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3c51555f545d59501252594959524f5f544b5d5258594e7c494f585d125b534a">[email protected]</span></a> or by phone 509-703-7525.
Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf and hard of
hearing (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at
800-877-8339, 24 hours a day, every day of the year, including
holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Forest Management Act (NFMA) of
1976 requires that the Forest Service develop a Land Management Plan
(Plan), for every national forest. Each National Forest and Grassland
in the United States is governed by a Plan in accordance with the NFMA.
Plans set desired conditions, standards, and guidelines for management,
protection, and use of the Forest.
The Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman Land Management Plans
provide management direction for approximately 5.5 million acres of
public lands and working forests under Forest Service management in
northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The Forest Service
began efforts to revise the Plans in 2004, with the goal of replacing
the existing Plans that took effect in 1990. Updating the Land
Management Plans is important for providing a framework to address
current economic, social, and ecological conditions in and around the
Blue Mountains area. Multiple uses provided by the National Forest,
including livestock grazing, timber harvest, forest recreation,
tourism, and subsistence activities, are all important to economic and
social life in the Blue Mountains area. The Forest Service previously
attempted to revise the Blue Mountains Land Management Plans with a
highly contentious planning effort that spanned 15 years. Ultimately,
the Forest Service withdrew the Blue Mountains Revised Land Management
Plans and Final Environmental Impact Statement in March 2019, before
the plans were finalized and implemented. Afterward, Forest Service
leadership from the Pacific Northwest Regional Office and the Malheur,
Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests met with the Eastern
Oregon Counties Association to better understand concerns and identify
opportunities to approach forest planning and management in a new way.
The participants recognized the need to work together at a larger
scale, which included working with other government entities within and
surrounding the Blue Mountains geographic area that were most impacted
by the Plans. The various government entities officially formed the
Blues Intergovernmental Council (BIC) in November 2019, to develop
joint recommendations on the most contentious issues identified in the
Blue Mountains Land Management Plan Revision process. These
recommendations will serve as a baseline to be further informed by
public engagement, as well as tribal and agency consultation,
throughout the plan revision process.
The Forest Service is reinitiating Land Management Plan revision
under the 2012 planning rule, which will include robust external
engagement opportunities throughout the entire process. Using the 2012
planning rule, each Forest Supervisor will sign a separate decision for
their respective National Forest's revised Plan. This approach enhances
opportunities for local engagement and contributions because the
decisions will be made at the local level.
This notice announces the start of the first stage of the process,
during which updated information from the public, Tribes, other
government agencies, and non-governmental parties will be compiled into
an assessment. Information relevant to the assessment includes the
status and trends of ecological, social, and economic conditions within
the planning area and across the broader landscape. The planning rule
requires the responsible official to identify and evaluate existing
conditions and trends for 15 topic areas during the assessment (36 CFR
219.6(b); <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-36/chapter-II/part-219/subpart-A/section-219.6">https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-36/chapter-II/part-219/subpart-A/section-219.6</a>).
During this assessment phase, the Forest Service invites other
government agencies, Tribes, non-governmental parties, and the public
to share information about social, economic, and environmental
conditions of the Blue Mountains Forests and the broader landscape.
Existing information about conditions of the three National Forests,
supplemented with information gathered through public engagement and
tribal consultation, will be integrated into final resource
assessments. The Forest Service will host public outreach forums to
share progress and gather additional information. To have a successful
public participation process, the Forest Service will incorporate
methods and tools that provide a spectrum of opportunities for the
public to engage throughout the Land Management Plan Revision process.
The Forest Service will implement actions that foster community
building and are transparent, timely, inclusive, interactive,
respectful, and efficient. The resulting Blue Mountains National
Forests' Plans will provide for ecosystem services and multiple uses
through sustainable, integrated resource management.
Responsible Officials: There will be three responsible officials,
one for each forest. The responsible official for the Land Management
Plans are Ann Niesen, Malheur Forest Supervisor; Eric Watrud, Umatilla
Forest Supervisor; and Shaun McKinney Wallowa-Whitman Forest
Supervisor.
[[Page 49436]]
Dated: July 26, 2023.
Troy Heithecker,
Associate Deputy Chief, National Forest System.
[FR Doc. 2023-16162 Filed 7-28-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3411-15-P
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