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Notice of Availability for the Draft Pocatello Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, Idaho

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

 [Federal Register: January 5, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 3)]
[Notices]
[Page 577-578]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05ja07-50]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[ID-320-1610 DP-050D]

Notice of Availability for the Draft Pocatello Resource
Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, Idaho

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Draft Resource Management Plan/
Environmental Impact Statement (Draft RMP/EIS) for the Pocatello Field
Office and by this notice is announcing the opening of the public
comment period.

DATES: To assure that they will be considered, BLM must receive written
comments on the Draft RMP/EIS within 90 days following the date the
Environmental Protection Agency publishes a notice of availability in
the Federal Register. The BLM will announce future meetings or hearings
and any other public involvement activities at least 15 days in advance
through public notices, media news releases, and/or mailings.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on the Draft RMP/EIS by any of the
following methods:
    ? Mail: Pocatello RMP Planning Team, Pocatello Field Office,
Bureau of Land, Management, 4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, Idaho 83204.
    ? E-mail: ID_Pocatello_RMP@blm.gov.
    ? Fax: 208-478-6376.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Terry Lee Smith, RMP Project Manager,
4350 Cliffs Drive, Pocatello, Idaho 83204, phone 208-478-6340, e-mail 
Terry_Lee_Smith@blm.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Draft RMP/EIS was developed with broad
public participation through a collaborative planning process. This
Draft RMP/EIS addresses management on approximately 613,800 acres of
public land in the BLM Pocatello Field Office of the Idaho Falls
District, in southeastern Idaho. The new RMP will replace the Malad
Management Framework Plan (MFP), approved in 1981, and will revise the
Pocatello RMP, approved in 1988.
    The purpose of the RMP is to:
    ? Provide a single, comprehensive land use plan that will
guide future management of the public lands and interests,
    ? Provide objectives, land use allocations, and management
direction to maintain, improve, or restore resource conditions and
provide for the economic needs of the local region,
    ? Address land use conflicts and new issues, and
    ? Provide management direction that identifies where and
under what circumstances particular activities will be allowed on
public lands while incorporating the mandate of multiple uses in
accordance with FLPMA.

[[Page 578]]

    Four alternatives are analyzed in the draft RMP/EIS. Alternative A,
the No Action Alternative, reflects the continuation of present
management based upon existing land use plans and plan amendments.
Alternative B emphasizes a moderate level of protection, restoration,
enhancement, and use of resources and services to meet land use
objectives by utilizing an array of adaptive and prescriptive measures
that would be implemented to protect vegetation, and habitat, and
promote the continuation of multiple resource management. Alternative C
reflects management strategies to preserve and protect ecosystem health
which emphasize active and specific measures to protect and enhance
vegetation and habitat for special status species, fish, and wildlife.
This alternative reflects a reduction in resource production goals for
food, fiber, and minerals; and emphasizes restoring the sagebrush
steppe, forest vegetation and riparian areas. Alternative D emphasizes
management strategies to produce goods and services while maintaining
or improving the production of, and providing protection for the
sagebrush steppe, forest vegetation and riparian areas. Alternatives B
and C include a 400-acre Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC)
designation known as Petticoat Peak to provide special protective
management for native plants. Management constraints associated with
this ACEC would include the following:
    ? The Off Highway Vehicle designation would be ``Closed.''
    ? Wildland fire would be suppressed.
    ? Public lands would be retained.
    ? The area would be identified as an ``Exclusion'' area for
Right of Ways.
    ? Fluid minerals would be leased with a ``No Surface
Occupancy'' stipulation.
    ? If necessary, livestock grazing would be adjusted to
maintain the values of the ACEC.
    ? A withdrawal for locatable minerals would be pursued.
    ? The area would be a priority for weed control.
    The preferred alternative is Alternative B.
    Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will
be available for public review at the BLM Pocatello Field Office, in
Pocatello, Idaho, during regular business hours, 7:45 a.m. to 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays, and may be published as
part of the final EIS. Individual respondents may request
confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or street address
from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information
Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your written
comment. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law.
All submissions from organizations and businesses, and from individuals
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations
or businesses, will be available for public inspection in their
entirety.
    Copies of the Draft RMP/EIS are available upon request from the
Pocatello Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, 4350 Cliffs Drive,
Pocatello, Idaho 83204, phone 208-478-6340, or at 
http://www.id.blm.gov/planning/fmda/index.htm via the Internet.

    Dated: August 22, 2006.
Bud C. Cribley,
Bureau of Land Management, Acting Idaho State Director.

    Editorial Note: This document was received at the Office of the
Federal Register on December 28, 2006.

[FR Doc. E6-22569 Filed 1-4-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-GG-P

 
 

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