Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Bruneau-Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat Project, Owyhee County, Idaho, 84611-84612 [2016-28236]

Download as PDF mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 226 / Wednesday, November 23, 2016 / Notices HUD pursuant to the Governmentwide Suspension and Debarment regulations at 2 CFR parts 180 and 2424; 2. An individual or entity that is currently suspended, debarred or otherwise restricted by any department or agency of the federal government or of a state government from doing business with such department or agency; 3. An individual or entity that is currently debarred, suspended, or excluded from doing mortgage related business, including having a business license suspended, surrendered or revoked, by any federal, state or local government agency, division or department; 4. An entity that has had its right to act as a Government National Mortgage Association (‘‘Ginnie Mae’’) issuer terminated and its interest in mortgages backing Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities extinguished by Ginnie Mae; 5. An individual or entity that is in violation of its neighborhood stabilizing outcome obligations or post-sale reporting requirements under a Conveyance, Assignment and Assumption Agreement executed for any previous mortgage loansale of HUD; 6. An employee of HUD’s Office of Housing, a member of such employee’s household, or an entity owned or controlled by any such employee or member of such an employee’s household with household to be inclusive of the employee’s father, mother, stepfather, stepmother, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter, grandparent, grandson, granddaughter, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-inlaw, sister-in-law, son-in-law, daughterin-law, first cousin, the spouse of any of the foregoing, and the employee’s spouse; 7. A contractor, subcontractor and/or consultant or advisor (including any agent, employee, partner, director, or principal of any of the foregoing) who performed services for or on behalf of HUD in connection with the sale; 8. An individual or entity that knowingly acquired or will acquire prior to the sale date material nonpublic information, other than that information which is made available to Bidder by HUD pursuant to the terms of this Qualification Statement, about mortgage loans offered in the sale; 9. An individual or entity that knowingly uses the services, directly or indirectly, of any person or entity ineligible under 1 through 10 to assist in preparing any of its bids on the mortgage loans; 10. An individual or entity which knowingly employs or uses the services VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:04 Nov 22, 2016 Jkt 241001 of an employee of HUD’s Office of Housing (other than in such employee’s official capacity); or The Qualification Statement has additional representations and warranties which the prospective bidder must make, including but not limited to the representation and warranty that the prospective bidder or its Related Entities are not and will not knowingly use the services, directly or indirectly, of any person or entity that is, any of the following (and to the extent that any such individual or entity would prevent the prospective bidder from making the following representations, such individual or entity has been removed from participation in all activities related to this sale and has no ability to influence or control individuals involved in formation of a bid for this sale): (1) An entity or individual is ineligible to bid on any included reverse mortgage loan or on the pool containing such reverse mortgage loan because it is an entity or individual that: (a) serviced or held such reverse mortgage loan at any time during the two-year period prior to the bid, or (b) is any principal of any entity or individual described in the preceding sentence; (c) any employee or subcontractor of such entity or individual during that two-year period; or (d) any entity or individual that employs or uses the services of any other entity or individual described in this paragraph in preparing its bid on such reverse mortgage loan. Freedom of Information Act Requests HUD reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to disclose information regarding HVLS 2017–1, including, but not limited to, the identity of any successful qualified bidder and its bid price or bid percentage for any pool of loans or individual loan, upon the closing of the sale of all the Mortgage Loans. Even if HUD elects not to publicly disclose any information relating to SFLS 2017–1, HUD will disclose any information that HUD is obligated to disclose pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act and all regulations promulgated thereunder. Scope of Notice This notice applies to HVLS 2017–1 and does not establish HUD’s policy for the sale of other mortgage loans. Dated: November 16, 2016. Edward L. Golding, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing. [FR Doc. 2016–28244 Filed 11–22–16; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4210–67–P PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 84611 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Land Management [15XL LLIDB00100 LF1000000.HT0000 LXSS020D0000 241A 4500084766] Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Bruneau-Owyhee SageGrouse Habitat Project, Owyhee County, Idaho Bureau of Land Management, Interior. ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) for the proposed BruneauOwyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat (BOSH) Project and by this notice is announcing the opening of the comment period. DATES: To ensure comments will be considered, the BLM must receive written comments on the BruneauOwyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat Project Draft EIS within 45 days of this Notice of Availability being published 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 releases, and mailings. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the proposed BruneauOwyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat Project by any of the following methods: • Web site: https://www.blm.gov/id/st/ en/prog/nepa_register/BOSH-juniperremoval.html. • Email: blm_id_bruneauo wyheesagegrouse@blm.gov. • Fax: 208–384–3205. • Mail: 3948 S. Development Ave., Boise, ID 83705. Please title your correspondence, ‘‘BOSH Project’’ and include ‘‘Attn: Mike McGee.’’ Electronic copies of the proposed Bruneau-Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat Project Draft EIS are available at the BLM Boise District Office at the above address; you may also view or download the Draft EIS at the Web site listed above. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike McGee, Project Lead/Wildlife Biologist, 3948 S. Development Ave., Boise, ID 83705; via email at blm_id_bruneauowyheesagegrouse @blm.gov; or phone (208) 384–3464. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Relay Service at 1–800–877– 8339 to contact Mr. McGee. The Service SUMMARY: E:\FR\FM\23NON1.SGM 23NON1 mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES 84612 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 226 / Wednesday, November 23, 2016 / Notices is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question with Mr. McGee. You will receive a reply during normal business hours. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Loss of suitable sage-grouse habitat from conversion of sagebrush steppe to juniper woodlands is a major threat to Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in southwest Idaho. The BLM, in collaboration with other Federal and State agencies and local groups, is proposing to remove encroaching juniper in areas that would provide the greatest benefit to existing sage-grouse habitat and improve the long-term viability and persistence of sage-grouse in the BOSH project area. The purpose of the project is to restore, improve, and maintain Greater SageGrouse habitat at a landscape scale that is being and/or has been degraded by the encroachment of western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) into sagebrush communities. The proposed BOSH project boundary encompasses approximately 1.5 million acres in the BLM Owyhee and Bruneau Field Office management areas in Owyhee County, Idaho. Within the proposed project area, an approximately 600,000-acre focal treatment area has been identified based on modeling and treatment criteria. The preferred alternative is to remove all juniper within 3 kilometers of occupied sagegrouse leks (breeding habitat areas where male sage-grouse gather each spring to perform courtship displays to attract and mate with females), all juniper in the early phases of encroachment (greater than 20 percent canopy cover), as well as 5-acre or smaller patches of later phases of juniper encroachment (less than 20 percent canopy cover) in riparian areas deemed important for sage-grouse in the focal treatment area. Old growth juniper trees, as identified in the Draft EIS, will not be removed during these treatments. Proposed treatment methods include cutting juniper with handsaws or chainsaws, lopping with pruning shears, or using heavy equipment such as a track-hoe fitted with a grinding implement (masticator) or a shearing implement (large, powerful pruning shears). Juniper material (logs, branches, etc.) may be scattered on site and left, or the material may be jackpot-burned or piled and burned where scattering cut material is not feasible or desirable (e.g., where there would be too much material to scatter, or in riparian areas). The focal treatment area includes approximately 47,000 acres of designated wilderness where only nonmotorized hand tools would be used to VerDate Sep<11>2014 18:04 Nov 22, 2016 Jkt 241001 cut juniper, which must be less than or equal to eight inches diameter at breast height, and access to treatment areas would be permitted on foot only. Juniper treatment in wilderness is included in the preferred alternative because 92 percent of the wilderness area (43,000 acres) is identified as a Priority Habitat Management Area for sage-grouse, and the remaining 8 percent (4,000 acres) is considered a General Habitat Management Area. Habitat management areas are delineated in the Record of Decision for the 2015 Greater Sage-Grouse Approved Resource Management Plan Amendments for Idaho and Southwest Montana. The BLM used the Minimum Requirements Decision Guide (MRDG) to ensure that juniper treatments in wilderness areas would produce the least disturbance possible (e.g., hand saws only, no vehicle travel off designated roads, foot traffic only, etc.). The other alternatives analyzed in the draft EIS include the No Action alternative (i.e., present management would continue as usual and the project would not be implemented in any form) and an action alternative to treat juniper on approximately 553,000 acres within the project area boundary that excludes wilderness (i.e., juniper in the 47, 000 acres of designated wilderness would remain untreated). Internal meetings and meetings with collaborators to discuss and develop the project proposal began in 2013. A 30day public scoping period was held from January 20 to February 20, 2015 to aid the BLM in project development. The scoping period included public meetings held at the Boise District Office on February 4, 2015 and at the Owyhee County Historical Museum on February 5, 2015. Important issues identified during internal and public scoping and addressed in the document include effects to the following: wildlife habitat (especially sage-grouse and migratory birds), native plant communities, riparian areas and vegetation, soils, visual resources, spread of noxious weeds and invasive plants, wilderness values, recreation values, cultural resources, and social values. Please note that public comments and information submitted including names, street addresses, and email addresses of persons who submit comments will be available for public review and disclosure at the above address during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays. Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your PO 00000 Frm 00066 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 comment, you should be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10. Lara Douglas, BLM Boise District Manager. [FR Doc. 2016–28236 Filed 11–22–16; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4310–GG–P DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Ocean Energy Management [Docket No. BOEM–2016–0003]; [MAA104000] Notice of Availability of the 2017–2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Interior. ACTION: Notice of availability. AGENCY: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is announcing the availability of the 2017–2022 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final Program (‘‘Proposed Final Program’’ or ‘‘PFP’’). This proposal is the last of three proposals for the 2017–2022 OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program that will succeed the current, 2012–2017 Program. The PFP provides information and analyses to inform the Secretary of the Interior’s (Secretary) decision on the size, timing, and location of leasing in the 2017–2022 Program. Section 18 of the OCS Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1344) specifies a multi-step process of consultation and analysis that must be completed before the Secretary may approve a new OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program, commonly known as the FiveYear Program. The required steps following this notice include a minimum 60-day period after the submission of the PFP to the President and Congress before the Secretary may approve the 2017–2022 Program. Concurrently with this notice, and pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), BOEM is publishing a Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the 2017– 2022 Program. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Kelly Hammerle, Five-Year Program Manager, at (703) 787–1613 or Kelly.hammerle@boem.gov. SUMMARY: E:\FR\FM\23NON1.SGM 23NON1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 226 (Wednesday, November 23, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 84611-84612]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-28236]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[15XL LLIDB00100 LF1000000.HT0000 LXSS020D0000 241A 4500084766]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Proposed Bruneau-Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat Project, 
Owyhee County, Idaho

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (NEPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has 
prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) for the 
proposed Bruneau-Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat (BOSH) Project and by this 
notice is announcing the opening of the comment period.

DATES: To ensure comments will be considered, the BLM must receive 
written comments on the Bruneau-Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat Project 
Draft EIS within 45 days of this Notice of Availability being published 
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 releases, and mailings.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the proposed Bruneau-
Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat Project by any of the following methods:
     Web site: https://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/prog/nepa_register/BOSH-juniper-removal.html.
     Email: blm_id_bruneauowyheesagegrouse@blm.gov.
     Fax: 208-384-3205.
     Mail: 3948 S. Development Ave., Boise, ID 83705.
    Please title your correspondence, ``BOSH Project'' and include 
``Attn: Mike McGee.'' Electronic copies of the proposed Bruneau-Owyhee 
Sage-Grouse Habitat Project Draft EIS are available at the BLM Boise 
District Office at the above address; you may also view or download the 
Draft EIS at the Web site listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike McGee, Project Lead/Wildlife 
Biologist, 3948 S. Development Ave., Boise, ID 83705; via email at 
blm_id_bruneauowyheesagegrouse@blm.gov; or phone (208) 384-3464. 
Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call 
the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 to contact Mr. McGee. The 
Service

[[Page 84612]]

is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or 
question with Mr. McGee. You will receive a reply during normal 
business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Loss of suitable sage-grouse habitat from 
conversion of sagebrush steppe to juniper woodlands is a major threat 
to Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in southwest Idaho. 
The BLM, in collaboration with other Federal and State agencies and 
local groups, is proposing to remove encroaching juniper in areas that 
would provide the greatest benefit to existing sage-grouse habitat and 
improve the long-term viability and persistence of sage-grouse in the 
BOSH project area. The purpose of the project is to restore, improve, 
and maintain Greater Sage-Grouse habitat at a landscape scale that is 
being and/or has been degraded by the encroachment of western juniper 
(Juniperus occidentalis) into sagebrush communities.
    The proposed BOSH project boundary encompasses approximately 1.5 
million acres in the BLM Owyhee and Bruneau Field Office management 
areas in Owyhee County, Idaho. Within the proposed project area, an 
approximately 600,000-acre focal treatment area has been identified 
based on modeling and treatment criteria. The preferred alternative is 
to remove all juniper within 3 kilometers of occupied sage-grouse leks 
(breeding habitat areas where male sage-grouse gather each spring to 
perform courtship displays to attract and mate with females), all 
juniper in the early phases of encroachment (greater than 20 percent 
canopy cover), as well as 5-acre or smaller patches of later phases of 
juniper encroachment (less than 20 percent canopy cover) in riparian 
areas deemed important for sage-grouse in the focal treatment area. Old 
growth juniper trees, as identified in the Draft EIS, will not be 
removed during these treatments.
    Proposed treatment methods include cutting juniper with handsaws or 
chainsaws, lopping with pruning shears, or using heavy equipment such 
as a track-hoe fitted with a grinding implement (masticator) or a 
shearing implement (large, powerful pruning shears). Juniper material 
(logs, branches, etc.) may be scattered on site and left, or the 
material may be jackpot-burned or piled and burned where scattering cut 
material is not feasible or desirable (e.g., where there would be too 
much material to scatter, or in riparian areas).
    The focal treatment area includes approximately 47,000 acres of 
designated wilderness where only non-motorized hand tools would be used 
to cut juniper, which must be less than or equal to eight inches 
diameter at breast height, and access to treatment areas would be 
permitted on foot only. Juniper treatment in wilderness is included in 
the preferred alternative because 92 percent of the wilderness area 
(43,000 acres) is identified as a Priority Habitat Management Area for 
sage-grouse, and the remaining 8 percent (4,000 acres) is considered a 
General Habitat Management Area. Habitat management areas are 
delineated in the Record of Decision for the 2015 Greater Sage-Grouse 
Approved Resource Management Plan Amendments for Idaho and Southwest 
Montana. The BLM used the Minimum Requirements Decision Guide (MRDG) to 
ensure that juniper treatments in wilderness areas would produce the 
least disturbance possible (e.g., hand saws only, no vehicle travel off 
designated roads, foot traffic only, etc.).
    The other alternatives analyzed in the draft EIS include the No 
Action alternative (i.e., present management would continue as usual 
and the project would not be implemented in any form) and an action 
alternative to treat juniper on approximately 553,000 acres within the 
project area boundary that excludes wilderness (i.e., juniper in the 
47, 000 acres of designated wilderness would remain untreated).
    Internal meetings and meetings with collaborators to discuss and 
develop the project proposal began in 2013. A 30-day public scoping 
period was held from January 20 to February 20, 2015 to aid the BLM in 
project development. The scoping period included public meetings held 
at the Boise District Office on February 4, 2015 and at the Owyhee 
County Historical Museum on February 5, 2015. Important issues 
identified during internal and public scoping and addressed in the 
document include effects to the following: wildlife habitat (especially 
sage-grouse and migratory birds), native plant communities, riparian 
areas and vegetation, soils, visual resources, spread of noxious weeds 
and invasive plants, wilderness values, recreation values, cultural 
resources, and social values.
    Please note that public comments and information submitted 
including names, street addresses, and email addresses of persons who 
submit comments will be available for public review and disclosure at 
the above address during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), 
Monday through Friday, except holidays.
    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10.

Lara Douglas,
BLM Boise District Manager.
[FR Doc. 2016-28236 Filed 11-22-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-GG-P
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