Klamath Falls 

Resource Area 

Planning Update

Fall 2008

Klamath Falls Resource Area

BLM

Public Lands - USA: Use, Share, Appreciate
As the Nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natural resources. This 

includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fi sh 

and wildlife, preserving the environmental and cultural values of our national parks and 

historical places, and providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. 

The Department assesses our energy and mineral resources and works to assure that 

their development is in the best interest of all our people. The Department also has a 

major responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who 

live in Island Territories under U.S. administration.

BLM/OR/WA/PL-08/098+1792

Cover Photograph: Bertha, the big bullfrog, with radio transmitter. Photo by Zia Gray. 
United States Department of the Interior 

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT 

Klamath Falls Resource Area 

2795 Anderson Avenue, Building 25 

Klamath Falls, Oregon 97603-7891 

Phone: (541) 883-6916 | Fax: (541) 884-2097 

E-Mail Address: Username@or.blm.gov 

IN REPLY REFER TO: 

1614(014) 

KLAMATH FALLS RESOURCE AREA PLANNING UPDATE 

Fall 2008 

Planning Update General Information – This Planning Update provides information about activities 

proposed on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Klamath Falls Resource Area. A table is included that 

provides the location and brief description of most activities proposed within the Resource Area. (Refer to the 

map following the table.) Additional information can be obtained from the contact person listed in the project 

descriptions or the Resource Area Planner. As certain projects reach stages for public involvement, news 

releases and public notices may be published in the Herald and News. If you have any questions on this 

update or recommendations for improvement, please notify us in person or call (541) 883-6916. In addition, 

please contact us if you wish to be removed from the mailing list. 

Written comments to a specific environmental assessment should be sent or delivered to the Field Manager, 

Klamath Falls Resource Area, by the close of (or postmarked by) the last day of the comment period 

specified. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail 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. 

 

Western Oregon Plan Revision Process Update – The draft environmental impact statement was released 

on August 9, 2007 for public review and comment. The comment period closed on January 11, 2008, and after 

consideration of public comments, a proposed resource management plan and final environmental impact 

statement will be issued in the fall of 2008. 

Periodic updates on the process are published as plan revision newsletters located on the BLM Internet web 

page at: http://www.blm.gov/or/plans/wopr. Planning documents are available in printed format, on CD, or 

via the Internet. The BLM maintains an extensive plan revision mailing list. If you wish to be on either the 

postal or electronic mailing list, please write to Western Oregon Plan Revisions, POB 2965, Portland, Oregon 

97208; or call 503-808-6629, or email orwopr@blm.gov. 

Forestry Categorical Exclusions - Certain activities within the BLM’s forestry program have been 

categorically excluded from preparation of an Environmental Assessment (EA) or Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS). The purpose of a categorical exclusion is to eliminate the need for unnecessary paperwork 

under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Specifically, Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) 

regulations for NEPA at 40 CFR §1508.4 state that: 

"’Categorical exclusion’ means a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have 

a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in 

procedures adopted by a Federal agency in implementation of these regulations (Sec. 1507.3) and for 

which, therefore, neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is 
required...Any procedures under this section shall provide for extraordinary circumstances in which a 

normally excluded action may have a significant environmental effect.” 

In implementation of the NEPA regulations, the BLM has developed categorical exclusions for certain forest 

silvicultural activities, such as reforestation, pre-commercial treatments, brush control, sample tree falling, 

and salvage, commercial thinning, and hazardous fuels reduction of limited acres. In developing categorical 

exclusions, the BLM demonstrated through rulemaking procedures how these actions do not typically result in 

significant environmental effects and set forth the methodology and criteria used to define the categories of 

actions. These rulemaking procedures included extensive public involvement and input, and CEQ review, 

regarding appropriate limits on the use of the categorical exclusion to assure that any categorically excluded 

action would remain within the effects of actions covered in the analysis for the rulemaking. 

As such, in deciding whether to proceed with such actions, the BLM will review their particular conditions to 

ensure that no extraordinary circumstances exist, as listed in the Department of the Interior’s NEPA Manual at 

516 DM 2, Appendix 2 that would preclude the use of a categorical exclusion. The Klamath Falls Field Office 

maintains an on-site NEPA register that lists ongoing actions, and seeks information from the public as to 

whether extraordinary circumstances exist for any of these ongoing actions that are categorically excluded. An 

“extraordinary” circumstance is one that could have significant environmental effects beyond the “ordinary” 

circumstances already described and considered as applicable to the excluded actions in the rulemaking 

procedure. These categorically excluded actions, by regulation, do not require the documentation necessary 

for an EA or EIS. The public was also provided a formal opportunity to participate in the agency’s review and 

approval of these categorically excluded activities. Given this context, the BLM may choose to proceed with 

these actions as part of the ordinary course of business in managing forest land with the posting of a notice of 

decision on the District internet site. This notice would advise the public of the formal administrative review 

process for these individual actions available under 43 CFR §4.450. Depending on circumstances, however, 

the BLM may invoke, by publishing a notice in a local newspaper of record, the administrative review process 

under 43 CFR §5003 for certain individual forest management actions. 

Sincerely, 

/s/ Donald J. Holmstrom

Manager, Klamath Falls Resource Area 
Klamath Falls Resource Area, Fall 2008 Planning Update - Page 3

SCHEDULE OF PROPOSED PROJECTS

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT * KLAMATH FALLS RESOURCE AREA * 2795 ANDERSON AVENUE, BLDG. #25 * KLAMATH FA

PHONE NUMBER: (541) 883-6916 

PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION LOCATION MAP 

REF. # 

STATUS OF 

ANALYSIS 

ANALYSIS 

COMPLETION 

PRO

IMPLEM

CX = Categorical Exclusion, DNA = Determination of NEPA Adequacy, EA = Environmental Assessment, EIS = Environmental Impact Statement, D

Timber Management – New Projects

Buck 23 Timber Sale – An estimated 400 acre timber sale in the Spencer Creek watershed near Buck Lake. Includes Density Management and Regeneration Harvest 

T38S., R5E., Sec. 

27, & 36 

23, 26, #19 EA/FONSI complete. Decision Record scheduled for Fall 2008 Propose

Novem

Cold Onion EA & Timber Sale – for the Cold Creek and Onion 

Springs timber sales in Jenny Creek Watershed 

T38S., R.5E., Sec. 33, 34 

T.39S., R.6E., Sec. 2,11-13 #26 

Public scoping 

done. EA in 

preparation 

Winter 2008 

Proposed 

Cold Creek 

Onion Spri

Timber Management – Recent Decisions

PVJ Timber Sale EA – Density Management Timber Sale

Decision Record T41S, R7E, Sec. 7, 9, 15 #17 

EA completed. 

Public comment 

closed 7/8/08. 

Decision Record 

signed 7/29/08 

Sold on 

2

Buck 13 Timber Sale Decision Record – Est. 30-40 acre timber sale near Buck Lake in Spencer Ck watershed. Density Mgmt and Regeneration Harvest

T.38S., R5E., Sec.13 #14 

EA completed. 

Public comment 

closed 8/10/08. 

Decision Record 

signed 8/27/08 

Propose

Septemb

Gerber Stew Stewardship Contract – New Projects

2008 Juniper Yarding / Utilization EA – This will analyze the utilization of previously cut juniper on ten units totaling approximately 5,300 acres

Various locations None 

Initial scoping 

April 2008. EA 

preparation. 

in Fall 2008 Sprin

Lands/Minerals Management – Recent Decisions

Burlington-Northern Communication Site Building Replacement Hamaker Mountain #2 CX completed 7/22/08 FalQuicksilver Chip Haul road Use Right-of-way Willow Valley #6 CX completed 7/28/08 Fal

Wildlife Management – New Projects

Dog Hollow Vegetation Treatment 

T40S, R14E, Sec 12,13,24 

T40S, R14.5E, Sec 7, 16-

20, 28-30 

#35 CX in progress FY 2009 FY 

Prescribed Burning and Fuels Treatment – New Projects

Chicken Hills DDR Fuel Treatment and Rx Fire T40S, R7E, Sec. 29 #3 On hold FY 2009 FY 

Bly Mountain Fuels Reduction and Range Improvement Bly Mountain #27 EA in progress FY 2009 FY 

Recreation – New Projects

Off-highway Vehicle (OHV) Route Designation Resource Area Wide None EA in progress FY 2009 FY 

Hydrology – New Projects

Wood River Channel Restoration Wood River Wetland #8 EA in progress FY 2008 FY 
Klamath Falls Resource Area, Fall 2008 Planning Update - Page 4

SCHEDULE OF PROPOSED PROJECTS

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT * KLAMATH FALLS RESOURCE AREA * 2795 ANDERSON AVENUE, BLDG. #25 * KLAMATH FA

PHONE NUMBER: (541) 883-6916 

PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION LOCATION MAP STATUS OF ANALYSIS PRO

REF. # ANALYSIS COMPLETION IMPLEM

Hydrology – Recent Decisions

Wood River Well Maintenance Wood River Wetland #8 CX completed 8/1/08 Fal

Gerber Tributaries Riparian Thinning Various None CX completed 9/15/08 Fal

Range Management – New Projects

EA completed. 

Kellison Allotment Grazing Lease Modification T38S, R11E, Sec. 27, 34 #5 Public comment FY 2009 FY 

closed 5/5/08. 

Rajnus & Son Allotment Grazing Lease Modification T40S, R12E, Sec. 5, 8, 9, 15, 17, 19-21 #7 EA completed. Public comment closed 5/5/08. FY 2009 FY 

Interdisciplinary – Landscape Level Analysis

RMP Revision – As per the final settlement agreement to the American Forest Resource Council vs. BLM litigation, the BLM is directed to revise RMPs in western Oregon by December, 2008. 

Resource Area Wide None FEIS in preparation. FY 2008 RMP Re

2

Spencer Creek Landscape Analysis – Analysis of several proposed actions (road treatments, vegetation treatments, prescribed burning, etc.).

Spencer Creek 5th Field 

Watershed None 

Initial scoping 

complete. EA in 

progress 

FY 2009 200
Klamath Falls Resource Area, Fall 2008 Planning Update - Page 5

SCHEDULE OF PROPOSED PROJECTS

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT * KLAMATH FALLS RESOURCE AREA * 2795 ANDERSON AVENUE, BLDG. #25 * KLAMATH FAL

PHONE NUMBER: (541) 883-6916 

PROJECT TITLE & DESCRIPTION LOCATION MAP SPECIAL AREAS STATUS OF ANALYSIS COMP

REF. # AFFECTED D

Rangeland Health Standards Assessments – in progress 

These assessments compare the monitoring information collected against the five Standards for Rangeland Health and propose management changes if current grazin

Standards, or not making significant improvement towards meeting them. Changes are implemented through the grazing decision or agreement pro

Haught Allotment (#0801) Buck Butte #43 None Known Assessment in Progress FY 

Mills Creek Allotment (#0865) East of Malin #36 None Known Assessment in Progress FY 

Bryant-Lyon Allotment (#0840) East of Malin #36 None Known Assessment in Progress FY 

Rajnus Bros. Allotment (#0849) Southeast of Klamath Falls #29 None Known Assessment in progress FY 

Swede Cabin (#0847) Northeast of Bly, Oregon #32 None Known Assessment completed FY 

7C Allotment (#0853) Northeast of Bly, Oregon #32 None Known Assessment completed FY 

Rangeland Health Standards Assessments – completed in FY 2008*

North Horsefly (#0821) Near Bly, Oregon #27 None Known Assessment completed NovemNorth Horsefly (#0823) Near Bly, Oregon #27 None Known Assessment completed NovemPope Allotment (#0848) Southeast of Klamath Falls #15 None Known 

Assessment completed 

Novem

Harpold Chaining Allotment (#0836) Near Bonanza, Oregon #1 None Known Assessment completed Novem

*A total of 68 Rangeland Health Standards Assessments have been completed to date, which encompasses approximately 90% of the KFRA. 
Klamath Falls Resource Area, Fall 2008 Planning Update - Page 6

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND OUTREACH 

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT * KLAMATH FALLS RESOURCE AREA * 2795 ANDERSON AVENUE, BLDG. #25 * KLAMATH FA

PHONE NUMBER: (541) 883-6916 

Yearly Scheduled Events - 2008 

Event/Activity Date Location Contact(s) # of Participant

Wilderness & Horse Packing Clinic May 2-4 Klamath County Fairgrounds Scott Senter 

International Migratory Bird Day May 10 Veteran’s Memorial Park Steve Hayner RAP Camp June 15-21 Camp Esther Applegate Scott Senter Klamath County 

*

Fair August 7-10 Klamath County Fairgrounds Scott Senter 

National Public Lands Day September 20 Topsy Campground Scott Senter Sixth Grade Forestry Tour September 23-25 Clover Creek Educational Area Greg Reddell 

Numbers of public participants for large events are estimates. 
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

LAKEVIEW DISTRICT

Klamath Falls Resource Area

Planning Update

 Fall 2008

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

March 3, 1849

No warranty is made by the Bureau of Land Management as to 

the accuracy, reliabilit y, or completenes s of these data for 

individual or aggregate use with other data. Original data were 

compiled from various sources. This information may not meet 

National Map Accuracy Standards. This product was developed 

through digital means and may be updated without notification.

Klamath

Falls

Bonanza

Malin Merrill

Chiloquin

Klamath

River

Sprague

River

Upper

 Klamath

 Lake

Gerber

Reservoir

Agency

Lake

140

140

140

97

97

62

66

39

70

OREGON

CALIFORNIA

S

E

N

W

Project Location

U.S. Highway

State Highway

BLM Administered Land

LEGEND

97

39

8

17

6

29

2

3

46

15

14

1

19 26

32

27

43

36

35

5

7

Klamath Falls

Resource Area

OREGON

MAP AREA

4 0 4 8 Miles

4 0 4 8 Kilometers

R 15 E

T

41

S

T

40

S

T

39

S

T

38

S

T

37

S

T

36

S

R 5 E R 6 E R 7 E R 8 E R 9 E R 10 E R 11 E R 12 E R 13 E R 14 E R 14.5 E

R 13 E R 14 E R 11.5 E R 11 E R 12 E

R 8 E R 9 E R 10 E

R 7 E

T

35

S

T

34

S

R 7.5 E
UNITED STATES

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Klamath Falls Resource Area

2795 Anderson avenue, Building 25

Klamath Falls, Oregon 97603-7891

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE

B