[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 48 (Friday, March 12, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11907-11908]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-5258]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLIDC02000-L16100000-DR0000-LXSS034D0000-4500006432]
Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the
Cottonwood Field Office Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact
Statement, and Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement for the Cottonwood Field Office Resource Management
Plan
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability and notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability
of the Record of Decision (ROD)/Approved Resource Management Plan (RMP)
for the Cottonwood Field Office located in northern Idaho. The Idaho
State Director signed the ROD on December 21, 2009, excluding decisions
regarding domestic sheep and goat grazing to be addressed in a
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The signed ROD
constitutes the final decision of the BLM for all other management
direction and makes the Approved RMP effective immediately.
The BLM Cottonwood Field Office, Cottonwood, Idaho, intends to
prepare a Supplemental EIS for the Cottonwood RMP to analyze the
impacts of domestic sheep and goat grazing in four allotments that
overlap or occur in the vicinity of bighorn sheep habitat. These four
allotments are located along the Salmon River, east of Riggins, Idaho,
in Idaho County. The BLM will provide opportunities for public
participation upon publication of the Draft Supplemental EIS.
DATES: The ROD includes several implementation-level decisions
regarding motorized travel routes. The decisions identifying routes of
travel within designated areas for motorized vehicles are
implementation decisions and are appealable under 43 CFR Part 4. These
decisions are contained in the Travel and Transportation section of the
Approved RMP. Any party adversely affected by the proposed route
identifications may appeal within 30 days of publication of this Notice
of Availability pursuant to 43 CFR, Part 4, Subpart E. The appeal
should state the specific route(s), as identified in Appendix A of the
Approved RMP, on which the decision is being appealed. The appeal must
be filed with the Cottonwood Field Manager at the above listed address.
Please consult the appropriate regulations (43 CFR, Part 4, Subpart E)
for further appeal requirements.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD/Approved RMP are available upon request
from the Field Manager, Cottonwood Field Office, Bureau of Land
Management, 1 Butte Drive, Cottonwood, Idaho 83522, or at the following
Web site: http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/fo/cottonwood/planning/cottonwood_resource.html. Copies of the ROD/Approved RMP are available
for public inspection at the Cottonwood Field Office, 1 Butte Drive,
Cottonwood, Idaho. Interested persons may also review the ROD/Approved
RMP at the following Web site: http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/fo/cottonwood/planning/cottonwood_resource.html.
Appeals must be filed with the Field Manager of the Cottonwood
Field Office at 1 Butte Drive, Cottonwood, Idaho 83522.
[[Page 11908]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact the
Cottonwood Field Office, telephone (208) 962-3245; address 1 Butte
Drive, Cottonwood, Idaho 83522.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Cottonwood RMP was developed with broad
public participation through a four-year collaborative planning process
in accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976,
as amended, and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as
amended. This RMP addresses management on approximately 130,000 acres
of public land in the Cottonwood Field Office. The Cottonwood RMP is
designed to achieve or maintain desired future conditions developed
through the planning process. It includes a series of management
actions to meet the desired resource conditions for forest, upland, and
riparian vegetation; wildlife habitats; cultural and visual resources;
and recreation.
The BLM received five protest letters on the Proposed RMP/Final
EIS. The BLM Director granted only those protest issues related to
domestic sheep grazing within bighorn sheep habitat and remanded this
specific portion of the RMP back to the BLM Idaho State Office for
further analysis. No inconsistencies with State or local plans,
policies, or programs were identified during the Governor's consistency
review of the Proposed RMP/Final EIS. As a result, with the exception
of decisions regarding domestic sheep and goat grazing, the approved
Cottonwood RMP is essentially the same as Alternative B in the Proposed
RMP/Final EIS published in June 2008, and only minor editorial
modifications were made in preparing the ROD and Approved RMP.
By this Notice, the BLM, Cottonwood Field Office is announcing its
intent to prepare a Draft Supplemental EIS to analyze the impacts of
domestic sheep and goat grazing in four allotments that overlap or
occur in the vicinity of bighorn sheep habitat along the Salmon River
east of Riggins, Idaho. The area has been grazed historically by
domestic sheep and goats and overlaps with bighorn sheep habitat. The
BLM will be inviting other government entities (Federal, State, Tribal
and local), with special expertise or jurisdiction, to be cooperators
during preparation of the Supplemental EIS. Upon completion, this Draft
Supplemental EIS will be released for public review and comment.
Thomas H. Dyer,
Idaho State Director.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 1502.9, and 1508.22.
[FR Doc. 2010-5258 Filed 3-11-10; 8:45 am]
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