Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision To Amend Resource Management Plans To Remove the Survey and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines, 41354-41355 [E7-14664]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• Bureau of Land Management
• Land Management Bureau

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 144 (Friday, July 27, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41354-41355]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-14664]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[OR-930-6310-PN-LITU; HAG 07-0141]


Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision To Amend 
Resource Management Plans To Remove the Survey and Manage Mitigation 
Measure Standards and Guidelines

AGENCY: Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act (FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) announces the availability of the Record of Decision 
(ROD) to amend selected portions of the 1994 Record of Decision for the 
Northwest Forest Plan by removing the Survey and Manage Mitigation 
Measure Standards and Guidelines. The ROD amends Resource Management 
Plans for the BLM Districts in western Oregon and northwestern 
California. The U.S. Forest Service is expected to concurrently 
announce a similar decision amending their respective Land and Resource 
Management Plans.
    Under the Northwest Forest Plan, Survey and Manage added 
conservation measures for rare and little known species to BLM and U.S. 
Forest Service requirements for providing for late successional and old 
growth forest-related species. These Survey and Manage Standards and 
Guidelines had made it difficult for the BLM and the U.S. Forest 
Service to meet the other resource management goals set forth in the 
Northwest Forest Plan (i.e. timber harvest, hazardous fuels treatment, 
and ecosystem restoration). Although the Survey and Manage Standards 
and Guidelines are removed with this decision, conservation of rare and 
little known species will continue to be accomplished through the other 
elements of the Northwest Forest Plan and the BLM and U.S. Forest 
Service's Special Status Species Programs.

ADDRESSES: The Requests to receive copies of the ROD should be sent to 
Carol Hughes, P.O. Box 3623, Portland, OR 97208-3623, or submit e-mail 
to ORSMSEIS@blm.gov. Alternatively, the ROD is available on the 
Internet at https://www.reo.gov/s-m2006. Copies will be available for 
inspection after August 3, 2007 at BLM offices in western Oregon and 
northwestern California. Copies of the Draft, Supplement to the Draft, 
and Final Supplement to the 2004 Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement are also available at the above address and on the Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Haske, Chief, Branch of Forest 
Resources and Special Status Species, Bureau of Land Management, P.O. 
Box 2965, Portland, OR 97208, telephone (503) 808-6066.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In June 2007, the BLM and U.S. Forest 
Service released a Final Supplement to the 2004 Final Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) to Remove or Modify the Survey 
and Manage Mitigation Measure Standards and Guidelines. The Final 
Supplement presented the entire 2004 analysis, updated for new 
information and supplemented to include:

--Responses to three deficiencies identified in August 2005 by the U.S. 
District Court for the Western District of Washington, and;
--An additional alternative to respond to implications of a November 
2006 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 
relative to the red tree vole on the BLM's Cow Catcher and Cottonsnake 
Timber Sales in Oregon.

    The analysis covered 337 species of fungi, bryophytes, lichens, 
mollusks, vascular plants, and 7 species of vertebrates. The analysis 
showed that, compared to the No Action Alternatives, 53 species would 
have insufficient habitat in all or a portion of their Northwest Forest 
Plan range to support stable populations. However, the analysis points 
out that these species are generally either secure in other areas of 
their range or that State Heritage programs do not rate them imperiled 
enough to qualify for the BLM and U.S. Forest Service's Special Status 
Species Programs. The analysis also shows the selected alternative 
improves the BLM and U.S. Forest Service's ability to achieve other 
Northwest Forest Plan objectives.
    Based on the Final Supplement, a similar and nearly simultaneous 
decision is expected from the Department of Agriculture affecting 19 
National Forest Land and Resource Management Plans, but the Department 
of the Interior decision is not dependent upon it.
    Four alternatives were considered in detail in the Final 
Supplement. In addition to two action alternatives, two no-action 
alternatives were included to examine Survey and Manage both with and 
without changes made by the prescribed 2001, 2002, and 2003 Annual 
Species Reviews. These reviews were

[[Page 41355]]

reconsidered in the Final Supplement because in November 2006, the U.S. 
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled the 2001 and 2003 Annual 
Species Review decisions for the red tree vole should have included 
additional NEPA analysis.
    The ROD also effectively removes the Survey and Manage mitigation 
measure from the 5,400-acre Coquille Forest, since by agreement, the 
Coquille Forest follows the requirements of the Northwest Forest Plan 
on the adjacent BLM Coos Bay District.
    Readers should note this ROD was signed by the Assistant Secretary, 
Land and Minerals Management. Therefore, no administrative review 
(``protest'') through the BLM was available on the Final Supplement 
under 43 CFR 1610.5-2.
    The Governors of Oregon and Washington were provided with copies of 
the Final Supplement and proposed action on May 8, 2007 for 60-day 
consistency review. No inconsistencies with State or local plans, 
policies, or programs were identified during the Governors' consistency 
review of the proposed plan amendments.

Edward W. Shepard,
State Director, OR/WA, USDI Bureau of Land Management.
 [FR Doc. E7-14664 Filed 7-26-07; 8:45 am]
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