Notice2024-30542
Notice of Availability of the Bridge Creek Area Allotment Management Plans Draft Environmental Impact Statement in the Andrews Field Office, Burns District, Oregon
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
January 10, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentLand Management Bureau
Abstract
In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Bridge Creek Area Allotment Management Plans.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 6 (Friday, January 10, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 6 (Friday, January 10, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2018-2019]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-30542]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_OR_FRN_MO4500181460]
Notice of Availability of the Bridge Creek Area Allotment
Management Plans Draft Environmental Impact Statement in the Andrews
Field Office, Burns District, Oregon
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, as amended (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces
the availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for
the Bridge Creek Area Allotment Management Plans.
DATES: To afford the BLM the opportunity to consider comments in the
Draft EIS, please ensure that the BLM receives your comments within 45
days following the date the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
publishes its Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Draft EIS in the
Federal Register. The EPA usually publishes its NOAs on Fridays.
ADDRESSES: Written comments related to the Bridge Creek Area Allotment
Management Plans Draft EIS may be submitted 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#33717f7e6c7c616c71666c7170726c727e6373515f5e1d545c45"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="084a444557475a574a5d574a4b4957494558486a6465266f677e">[email protected]</span></a>.
<bullet> Fax: (541) 573-4411.
<bullet> Mail: Bureau of Land Management, Burns District, ATTN: Don
Rotell BCA Draft EIS, 28910 Hwy. 20 West, Hines, OR 97738.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the Burns
District Office, 28910 Hwy. 20 West, Hines, OR 97738, or online 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: District Manager, Donald Rotell, BLM
Burns District Office, 28910 Highway 20 West, Hines, Oregon 97738;
telephone: (541) 573-4422; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8ac8c6c7d5c5d8d5c8dfd5c8c9cbd5cbc7dacae8e6e7a4ede5fc"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b6f4fafbe9f9e4e9f4e3e9f4f5f7e9f7fbe6f6d4dadb98d1d9c0">[email protected]</span></a>.
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. Individuals
outside the United States should use the relay services offered
[[Page 2019]]
within their country to make international calls to the point-of-
contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Bridge Creek Area consists of
approximately 39,062 acres in southeastern Oregon within the Hammond,
Mud Creek, Hardie Summer, and Hammond Fenced Federal Range (FFR)
Allotments, located approximately 60 miles south of Burns, Oregon, near
the town of Frenchglen. The allotments are located within the Andrews
Field Office and partially within the Steens Mountain Cooperative
Management and Protection Area.
There is currently no grazing preference or grazing authorization
associated with the four allotments in the project area. Through the
alternatives in the EIS, the BLM will consider whether to issue 10-year
grazing permits and approve 4 Allotment Management Plans that outline
seasonal grazing systems, grazing utilization thresholds, monitoring,
and range developments. Following issuance of the Final EIS, BLM would
sign a Record of Decision (ROD). If the ROD selects livestock grazing
as an action, the BLM will issue a separate decision allocating forage
and grazing permits by following the grazing regulations applying to
conflicting applications at 43 CFR 4130.1-2. The BLM received multiple
applications for grazing permits following a Notice of Available Forage
issued in 2020.
In 2023, the BLM assessed these four allotments for conformance to
Standards and Guidelines (S&Gs) for achieving rangeland health as part
of the 2023 Bridge Creek Area Land Health Assessment and determined
that not all applicable standards within these four allotments were
achieved. Causal factors included shrub cover reduction through fire
and historic sagebrush removal, crested wheatgrass seeding and
maintenance, annual grass increases following fire, juniper
encroachment, drought, upstream impacts, channel incisions caused by
grazing practices prior to 1984, and current unauthorized grazing.
The purpose of the action is to: (1) respond to external requests
to consider issuing 10-year term livestock grazing permit(s) for the
Hammond, Mud Creek, Hardie Summer, and Hammond FFR allotments; (2)
consider assigning grazing preference to one or more base properties;
(3) respond to requests to adjust pasture and allotment boundaries and
animal unit months (AUMs); (4) respond to an external request to
increase active use AUMs in the Hammond Allotment to manage its higher
crested wheatgrass production; (5) implement allotment management plans
for the Hammond, Hardie Summer, Mud Creek, and Hammond FFR allotments;
and (6) reduce standing fine fuel biomass through biological thinning
of forage in the Hammond, Hardie Summer, and Mud Creek allotments.
The BLM need for the action is to: (1) respond to external requests
for issuance of grazing permit(s) and modification of grazing
management related activities; (2) ensure that grazing management
practices occurring on public land meet the Standards of Rangeland
Health and conform with the Guidelines for Livestock Grazing
Management; (3) ensure any authorized livestock grazing is consistent
with applicable Resource Management Plans; (4) ensure proper active use
of AUM levels, season of use, and livestock management to maintain or
improve the land health, vigor, and ecological processes within the
allotments; and (5) reduce fine fuel biomass accumulation to maintain
plant vigor.
The BLM is analyzing five alternatives. Across all of the action
alternatives, a common objective is to strive to meet or make
significant progress toward meeting Oregon/Washington Standards for
Rangeland Health & Guidelines for Livestock Grazing (BLM 1997), to
comply with 2015 Oregon Greater Sage-Grouse (GRSG) Resource Management
Plan Amendment (Greater Sage-Grouse ARMPA; BLM 2015b) objectives, and
comply with the statutory and regulatory requirements of FLPMA and the
Taylor Grazing Act of 1934.
Alternative 1 would include issuing grazing permit(s) for the
allotments with terms and conditions identical to the previously issued
permit, which expired in 2014. This alternative would not include any
range developments.
Alternative 2 is the Agency Developed Alternative and would include
issuance of an allotment management plan and grazing permit(s) with
site specific terms and conditions, range developments, and revised
allotment and/or pasture boundaries to provide periodic growing season
rest, flexibility, and adaptive management to all allotments. This
alternative would increase permitted AUMs within the Hammond Allotment
and authorize limited non-renewable grazing, construction of 6.5 miles
of new fences, and removal of 8.7 miles of fencing.
Alternative 3 would include issuance of grazing permit(s) with site
specific terms and conditions, range developments, changes to allotment
and pasture boundaries, a modified season of use for each allotment to
ensure periodic growing season rest in all pastures and authorize
limited non-renewable grazing. This alternative would increase AUMs
permitted within all allotments, and authorize construction of 1 new
corral, up to 2.7 miles of water pipelines, 3 troughs, 7.6 miles of new
fences, and removal of 5.6 miles of fencing.
Alternative 4 would include issuing grazing permit(s) with reduced
AUMs, a restricted season of use, and would not include any boundary
adjustments or constructing or removing any range developments.
Alternative 5 is the No Action Alternative; no livestock grazing
permits would be issued, and no new developments would be authorized or
constructed. Should the BLM determine to hold public meetings, the
specific date(s) and location(s) of any meeting will be announced in
advance through local media press releases and the project's ePlanning
page shown in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.
Comments on the draft EIS must be submitted in accordance with the
DATES section of this notice to the contacts listed in the ADDRESSES
section of this notice. To assist the BLM in identifying issues and
concerns related to this project, comments should be as specific as
possible.
Public Disclosure of Comments: 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 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10) (2023).)
Donald Rotell,
District Manager, Burns District.
[FR Doc. 2024-30542 Filed 1-8-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-24-P
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