Revision of Land and Resource Management Plan for Cibola National Forest Mountain Ranger Districts: Counties of Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Lincoln, McKinley, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, and Valencia, New Mexico, 6945-6947 [2015-02545]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
• Forest Service

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 26 (Monday, February 9, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6945-6947]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02545]


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Notices
                                                Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 26 / Monday, February 9, 2015 / 
Notices

[[Page 6945]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Revision of Land and Resource Management Plan for Cibola National 
Forest Mountain Ranger Districts: Counties of Bernalillo, Catron, 
Cibola, Lincoln, McKinley, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, and 
Valencia, New Mexico

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to revise the Cibola National Forest Mountain 
Ranger Districts Land and Resource Management Plan and prepare an 
associated Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: As directed by the National Forest Management Act, the USDA 
Forest Service is revising the existing Cibola Land and Resource 
Management Plan (hereafter referred to as Forest Plan) through 
development of an associated National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). This notice describes the 
documents (assessment Report, summaries of public meetings, preliminary 
needs-for-change statements) available for review and how to obtain 
them; summarizes the needs for change to the existing Forest Plan; 
provides information concerning public participation and engagement, 
including the process for submitting comments; provides an estimated 
schedule for the planning process, including the time available for 
comments, and includes the names and addresses of agency contacts who 
can provide additional information.

DATES: Comments concerning the Needs for Change and Proposed Action 
provided in this notice will be most useful in the development of the 
revised plan and draft EIS if received by April 3, 2015. The agency 
expects to release a draft revised plan and draft EIS, developed 
through a collaborative public engagement process, by late Fall 2015 or 
Winter 2015/2016 and a final revised plan and final EIS by Summer 2017.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to: Forest Planner, Cibola National 
Forest and National Grasslands, 2113 Osuna Rd. NE., Albuquerque, NM 
87113.
    To learn of locations of meetings and related information or to 
request copies of documents, go to https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/cibola/landmanagement/planning/?cid=fsbdev3_065627 or send an email to: 
cibolamtnsplanrevision@fs.fed.us.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Champe Green, Forest Planner, Cibola 
National Forest and National Grasslands, Forest Service, USDA; 505-346-
3900.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Elaine Kohrman, Forest Supervisor, Cibola 
National Forest and National Grasslands, 2113 Osuna Rd. NE., 
Albuquerque, NM 87113.

Nature of the Decision To Be Made

    The Cibola National Forest is preparing an EIS to revise the 
existing Forest Plan. The EIS process is meant to inform the Forest 
Supervisor so she can decide which alternative best maintains and 
restores National Forest System terrestrial and aquatic resources while 
providing ecosystem services and multiple uses, as required by the 
National Forest Management Act and the Multiple Use Sustained Yield 
Act.
    The revised Forest Plan will describe the strategic intent of 
managing the Forest for the next 10 to 15 years and will address the 
identified needs for change to the existing land management plans. The 
revised Forest Plan will provide management direction in the form of 
desired conditions, objectives, standards, guidelines, and suitability 
of lands. It will identify delineation of new management areas and 
geographic areas across the Forest; identify the timber sale program 
quantity; make recommendations to Congress for Wilderness designation; 
and list rivers and streams eligible for inclusion in the National Wild 
and Scenic Rivers System. The revised Forest Plan will also provide a 
description of the plan area's distinctive roles and contributions 
within the broader landscape, identify watersheds that are a priority 
for maintenance or restoration, include a monitoring program, and 
contain information reflecting expected possible actions over the life 
of the plan.
    The revised Forest Plan will provide strategic direction and a 
framework for decision making during the life of the plan, but it will 
not make site-specific project decisions and will not dictate day-to-
day administrative activities needed to carry on the Forest Service's 
internal operations. The authorization of project-level activities will 
be based on the guidance/direction contained in the revised plan, but 
will occur through subsequent project specific decision-making, 
including NEPA analysis.
    The revised Forest Plan will provide broad, strategic guidance 
designed to supplement, not replace, overarching laws and regulations. 
Though strategic guidance will be provided, no decisions will be made 
regarding the management of individual roads or trails, such as those 
that might be associated with a Travel Management plan under 36 CFR 
part 212. Some issues, although important, are beyond the authority or 
control of a Forest Plan and will not be addressed during revision. For 
example, no decision regarding locatable mineral availability will be 
made, though standards will be brought forward or developed that would 
mitigate impacts should an availability decision be necessary in the 
future.

Needs for Change and Proposed Action

    According to the National Forest Management Act, forest plans are 
to be revised on a 10 to 15 year cycle. The purpose and need for 
revising the current Forest Plan is (1) the Forest Plan is over 29 
years old and 14 years beyond the intended plan period in NFMA, (2) to 
address changes in economic, social, and ecological conditions, new 
policies and priorities, and new information based on monitoring and 
scientific research, and (3) to address the preliminary needs for 
change to the existing plan, which are summarized below. Extensive 
public and employee involvement, along with a science-based assessment 
of the conditions and trends of the Forest's ecological, social, and 
economic resources, have helped to identify theses preliminary needs 
for change to the existing Forest Plan.
    The Proposed Action is to revise the Forest Plan to address these 
identified needs for change to the existing Forest Plan. Alternatives 
to the Proposed Action will be developed to address the

[[Page 6946]]

significant issues that will be identified through scoping.
    What follows is a summary of the preliminary needs for change. A 
more fully developed description of the preliminary needs for change, 
is available for review on the plan revision Web site at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/cibola/landmanagement/planning/?cid=fsbdev3_065627.

Throughout the Plan

    There is a need to address, either by plan direction or other plan 
content, how all resource management should be prioritized given 
varying levels of funding.
    There is a need to redraw the management area configuration used in 
the 1985 Plan. There is a need to update plan component language for 
the resources, goods, and services provided by the Cibola, and to 
remove plan components that are redundant with existing law, 
regulation, or policy.
    There is a need to better recognize and potentially enhance the 
role of the Cibola National Forest in supporting local economies 
through both commodity production and services-such as recreation and 
tourism.

Across Multiple Resource Areas

    There is a need to include plan direction addressing potential 
climate change effects and invasive species on the Cibola and to 
include a plan monitoring program.
    There is a need to provide direction for an integrated resource 
approach to the use of planned fire and to address fuel accumulations 
in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI).

Ecological Integrity

    There is a need to provide direction for achieving sustainability 
and resiliency for and minimizing risks to vegetation community 
composition and structure and for restoring natural disturbance cycles 
where appropriate.
    There is a need to provide direction to promote the achievement and 
maintenance of satisfactory soil condition.
    There is a need to provide updated management direction for the 
protection, maintenance, and restoration of riparian vegetation and 
channel morphology in the plan area and for restoration of priority 
watersheds.
    There is a need to provide direction on the sustainable management 
of groundwater, springs, wetlands, riparian areas, and perennial waters 
and their interconnections.
    There is a need to update plan direction on providing a sustainable 
water supply for multiple uses (wildlife, livestock, recreation, and 
mining) and public water supplies.
    There is a need to provide direction pertinent to riparian 
management zones around all lakes, perennial and intermittent streams, 
and open water wetlands.
    There is a need to update direction addressing air quality and 
forest management.
    There is a need to develop plan direction to contribute to the 
recovery and conservation of federally recognized species, maintain 
viable populations of species of conservation concern, and maintain 
common and abundant species within the plan area.
    There is a need to provide direction addressing habitat(s) for 
plant and animal species important to tribes and other traditional 
communities.
    There is a need to provide direction for managing aquatic passage 
and terrestrial habitat connectivity.

Cultural and Historic Resources

    There is a need to update direction on the stabilization and 
preservation of historic properties and address the role of management 
of historic properties in economic development.
    There is a need to update management direction for American Indian 
and non-Indian traditional cultural properties and sacred sites.
    There is a need to provide direction addressing management of 
historic and contemporary cultural uses by federally recognized Indian 
tribes and traditional communities not considered under tribal 
relations.
    There is a need to address, at either the management or geographic 
area scale, the inventory and management of historic properties and 
other cultural resources and uses.
    There is a need to provide direction that addresses the alignment 
of management of historic properties and landscapes, sacred sites, 
contemporary uses, and tribal cultural needs with other resource 
management objectives (particularly but not limited to ecosystem 
restoration). There is a need to provide direction on the 
identification and documentation of historic properties at risk of 
damage or destruction from catastrophic wildland fire.
    There is a need to update direction addressing immitigable adverse 
effects to historic properties.

Areas of Tribal Importance

    There is a need to update direction addressing consistency of 
activities with legally mandated trust responsibilities to tribes.
    There is a need to update direction regarding sacred sites, sacred 
places, natural and cultural resources important to tribes, and 
requests for reburial of human remains and cultural items.
    There is a need to update plan direction regarding administration 
of temporary closure orders to ensure privacy for tribes engaged in 
cultural and ceremonial activities.
    There is a need to update direction on design, location, 
installation, maintenance, and abandonment of towers, facilities, and 
alternative infrastructure within communication and energy generation 
sites, giving due consideration to the value and importance of high 
places (mountaintops and ridges) that may be sacred sites or important 
cultural landscapes to tribes.

Multiple Uses

    There is a need to provide plan direction for restoration 
treatments for those geographic areas and vegetation types that are 
most outside of the natural range of variability while considering 
capability of local infrastructure, contractors, and markets.
    There is a need to provide direction for management and removal of 
miscellaneous forest products for commercial, noncommercial, tribal 
and/or land grant use.
    There is a need to provide direction to the livestock grazing 
program that incorporates adaptive management toward ecosystem-based 
desired conditions.

Recreation

    There is a need to integrate sustainable recreation management with 
that of other Forest resources and to provide guidance for managing a 
sustainable trails program while addressing use conflicts.
    There is a need to provide management direction on the Continental 
Divide National Scenic Trail.
    There is a need to provide guidance for managing recreation 
activities that occur in areas sensitive to resource degradation or at 
risk due to high visitation.
    There is a need to update direction on managing recreational 
aviation activities, caves, and recreational activities associated with 
wildlife, fish, and cultural/historic sites.
    There is a need to update plan direction and guidance for 
implementing the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum classification system 
and incorporating scenic integrity objectives for managing scenic 
resources.

[[Page 6947]]

Designated Areas

    There is a need to update direction for managing designated 
Inventoried Roadless Areas, eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers, designated 
Research Natural Areas, and for managing designated wilderness.
    There is a need to provide direction on management of areas that 
may be recommended for wilderness, during the interim period while 
Congress is considering designation.
    There is a need to provide direction for areas that may be 
recommended for various other designations.

Infrastructure

    There is a need to update direction on the management of 
infrastructure and for road maintenance in watersheds identified as 
being impaired or at-risk.

Land Status and Ownership, Use and Access

    There is a need to update direction for obtaining legal access that 
addresses public, private landowner, tribal, land grant, and management 
needs and for progressing toward a contiguity of the land base and a 
reduction of small unmanageable tracts.

Energy, Minerals and Special Uses

    There is a need to provide updated direction regarding management 
of recreational mining, mineral exploration and extraction, and the use 
of common minerals.
    There is a need to update plan direction for managing existing or 
proposed transmission corridors and renewable energy generation.
    There is a need to provide direction addressing safety concerns 
pertinent to maintenance activities associated with existing energy and 
communication corridors.

Public Involvement

    The Cibola NF initiated public engagement activities in October 
2012 and held 29 public meetings and collaborative work sessions 
through July 2014 to explain the plan revision process and to solicit 
comments, opinions, data, and ideas from members of the public, 
governmental entities, tribes, land grants, and non-governmental 
organizations. Six of these meetings introduced and explained the 
Cibola's Forest Plan revision effort and called for input and data 
pertinent to the assessment of conditions, trends, and risks to 
sustainability. Ten meetings were held to explain the draft assessment 
report subsequent to its release in April 2014 and to solicit comments, 
and 13 collaborative work sessions followed, focusing on the needs for 
change to the 1985 Cibola Forest Plan, based on findings from the 
assessment and comments received. Attendance at the 29 meetings 
numbered approximately 600, and nearly 1,800 comment letters or forms 
were received either at the meetings or by email, postal mail, Web-
form, or a Web-based interactive mapping tool. Comments received were 
displayed on Web-based public reading rooms. Public input on both the 
assessment report and initial needs-for-change statements was used to 
update both documents. Information to the public was provided by a 
dedicated Forest Plan revision Web page and through mailings, flyers, 
news releases, Twitter, and radio and television interviews. Any 
comments related to the Cibola's assessment report that are received 
following the publication of this Notice may be considered in the 
affected environment sections of the draft and final environmental 
impact statements.

Scoping Process

    Written comments received in response to this notice will be 
analyzed to complete the identification of the needs for change to the 
existing plan, further develop the proposed action (initial development 
of the proposed revised plan), and identify potential significant 
issues. Significant issues will, in turn, form the basis for developing 
alternatives to the proposed action. Comments on the preliminary needs 
for change and proposed action will be most valuable if received by 
April 3, 2015, and should clearly articulate the reviewer's opinions 
and concerns. Development of the proposed revised plan and associated 
EIS will occur with opportunities for public engagement throughout the 
revision process.
    Comments received in response to this notice, including the names 
and addresses of those who comment, will be part of the public record. 
Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted and considered in the 
NEPA process; however, anonymous comments will not provide the Agency 
with the ability to provide the respondent with subsequent 
environmental documents. See the below Objection process material, 
particularly the requirements for filing an objection, for how 
anonymous comments are handled during the objection process. Refer to 
the Forest's Web site https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/cibola/landmanagement/planning/?cid=fsbdev3_065627 for information on when 
public meetings will be scheduled for refining the proposed action and 
identifying possible alternatives to the proposed action.

Applicable Planning Rule

    Preparation of the revised Forest Plan for the Cibola National 
Forest began with the assessment of the conditions and trends of the 
Forest's ecological, social, and economic resources, initiated under 
the planning procedures contained in the 2012 Forest Service planning 
rule (36 CFR 219 (2012)).

Permits or Licenses Required To Develop the Proposed Action

    No permits or licenses are needed for the development or revision 
of a forest plan.

Decisions Will Be Subject to Objection

    The decision to approve the revised Forest Plan for the Cibola 
National Forest Mountain Ranger Districts will be subject to the 
objection process identified in 36 CFR part 219 Subpart B (219.50 to 
219.62). According to 36 CFR 219.53(a), those who may file an objection 
are individuals and entities who have submitted substantive formal 
comments related to plan revision during the opportunities provided for 
public comment during the planning process.

Documents Available for Review

    The Needs for Change documentation, the Assessment Report including 
specialist reports, summaries of the public meetings and public meeting 
materials, and public comments are posted on the Forest's Web site at: 
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/cibola/landmanagement/planning/?cid=fsbdev3_065627.
    As necessary or appropriate, the material available on this site 
will be further adjusted as part of the planning process using the 
provisions of the 2012 planning rule.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1600-1614; 36 CFR part 219 [77 FR 21260-
21273].

Responsible Official.

    Dated: February 2, 2015.
Elaine Kohrman,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 2015-02545 Filed 2-6-15; 8:45 am]
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