Jump to main content.

Notice of Intent To Prepare a ACEC/River Management Plan and EIS for the Wild and Scenic Klamath River in Oregon and That Portion of the Klamath River Down to the Slack Water of Copco Reservoir in California

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

 [Federal Register: November 27, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 228)]
[Notices]
[Page 70731-70732]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27no00-70]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management


Notice of Intent To Prepare a ACEC/River Management Plan and EIS
for the Wild and Scenic Klamath River in Oregon and That Portion of the
Klamath River Down to the Slack Water of Copco Reservoir in California

AGENCIES: Bureau of Land Management Oregon and California, Oregon Parks
and Recreation Department.

ACTION: Notice of Intent To Prepare an ACEC/River Management Plan and
Environmental Impact Statement for the Klamath River in Southern Oregon
and Northern California.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969, the Bureau of Land Management, Lakeview District/
Klamath Falls Resource Area will be directing the preparation of an
ACEC/River Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
evaluating the impacts of river uses in southern Oregon and northern
California.

DATES: This is a scoping notice and responses to scoping are to be
received at the Klamath Falls Resource Area Office, 2795 Anderson
Avenue, Bldg. 25, Klamath Falls, OR 97603 by January 31, 2001.
    Public scoping meetings for the River Management Plan will be held
after the first of the year, 2001, in Klamath Falls, Oregon and/or
Copco or Yreka or Redding, California.
    The Draft River Management Plan and DEIS analysis would be
available for public review by the fall of 2001. Comments will be
accepted for the DEIS for 90 days. After incorporation of DEIS comments
the document will be finalized and re-sent out for review after the
first of the year, 2002. Comments will be accepted on the FEIS for 30
days.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Manager, Bureau of Land
Management, Klamath Falls Resource Area, 2795 Anderson Avenue, Klamath
Falls, OR 97603, ATTN: Klamath River Plan.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Frazier, Natural Resources
Branch Chief, (541) 883-6916.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed ACEC/River Management Plan is
located on the Klamath Falls Resource Area of the Lakeview District,
Oregon and the Redding Field Office, California. An ACEC designation
for this project was completed as part of the Klamath Falls Resource
Area Resource Management Plan (1995). The Upper Klamath River was
designated by the Secretary of the Interior as a Scenic River and was
included in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system under section
2(a)(ii) of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act on September 22,
1994. The same reach of river was designated a State Scenic Waterway in
1988 under Oregon's State Scenic Waterway Act.
    The ACEC designation begins from the John C. Boyle Dam.
    The purposes of undertaking an ACEC/River Management Plan and EIS
at this time are to evaluate current river uses in an environmental
document that will then be included as part of the environmental review
in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Relicensing process
of hydroelectric uses on the river in 2005. The depth of analysis on
some issues for the ACEC/River Management Plan will be dependent upon
the results of scoping.
    Tentative issues to be addressed are water quality and quantity,
fisheries, recreation, cultural resources, wildlife, botanical
resources, scenic river, and hydroelectric relicensing processes.

[[Page 70732]]

    The proposed project area for the Klamath River in Oregon is @11
miles long from the John C. Boyle Dam to the OR/CA State Line and
encompasses @4960 acres. The California portion of the project is from
the OR/CA State Line to the slack water of Copco Reservoir in
California, a distance of @10 miles and encompasses @4200 acres.
    The proposed project is within Klamath County, Oregon and Siskiyou
County, California. The proposed project is approximately 12-25 miles
south west of Klamath Falls, Oregon beginning at the John C. Boyle Dam.
    The BLM/Klamath Falls Resource Area, 2795 Anderson Avenue, Bldg.
25, Klamath Falls, OR 97603, (541) 883-6916 will be the lead agency in
preparation of documents. Future documents will be available from this
address. Related documents include the Final Eligibility and
Suitability Report for the Upper Klamath Wild and Scenic River Study
(1990) (Department of the Interior). Copies of this document are
available from the Klamath Falls Resource Area office. Another related
document is the Klamath Wild and Scenic River Eligibility Report and
Environmental Assessment (1994) (National Park Service, Pacific
Northwest Region). Copies of this document are available at the
National Park Service, Northwest Regional Office, 909 First Avenue,
Seattle, WA 98104-1060.
    The interdisciplinary team will be made up of a team leader,
wildlife, fisheries, botany, archaeology, recreation, hydrology, and
planning specialists. An Interagency Review Committee comprised of
representatives from county, state, and federal agencies will ensure
the project complies with regulatory processes in California and
Oregon. The Upper Basin Subcommittee of the Klamath Provincial Advisory
Committee will assist in the gathering of information from private
river users, local private landowners and other interested parties to
include in the interdisciplinary analysis.
    The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is a cooperative agency
in the preparation of this document. Other cooperating agencies are the
BLM/Redding Field Office in California. The proposed project is for the
BLM/Klamath Falls Resource Area to prepare an ACEC/River Management
Plan and Environmental Impact Statement for the Klamath River project
area. For this River Management Plan and EIS, the State of Oregon will
prepare a chapter in the EIS document that will be the management plan
for the State scenic waterway and the scenic river.
    Comments, including names and addresses of respondents, will be
available for public review at the Klamath Falls Resource Area office
during regular business hours (8 a.m.to 5 p.m., M-F, except holidays)
and may be published as part of the EIS or other related documents.
Individuals may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your
name or address from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom
of Information Act, you must state this promptly at the beginning of
your written comment. Such request will be honored to the extent
allowed by law. All submissions from organizations or businesses, and
from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials
of organizations or businesses, will be made available for public
inspection in their entirety.
    If this management direction is approved, one or more of the
alternatives would amend the Klamath Falls Resource Area Resource
Management Plan (June 1995) and the Redding Resource Management Plan
(June 1993). If the proposed direction amends the RMP plans in both
California and Oregon, Bureau of Land Management regulations and
associated manuals and handbooks for land use planning would apply.

    Sincerely,
Teresa A. Raml,
Manager, Klamath Falls Resource Area.
[FR Doc. 00-30064 Filed 11-24-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-U

 
 

Local Navigation

Jump to main content.