[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 48 (Friday, March 12, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11907-11908]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-5258]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLIDC02000-L16100000-DR0000-LXSS034D0000-4500006432]


Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the 
Cottonwood Field Office Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact 
Statement, and Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement for the Cottonwood Field Office Resource Management 
Plan

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability and notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability 
of the Record of Decision (ROD)/Approved Resource Management Plan (RMP) 
for the Cottonwood Field Office located in northern Idaho. The Idaho 
State Director signed the ROD on December 21, 2009, excluding decisions 
regarding domestic sheep and goat grazing to be addressed in a 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The signed ROD 
constitutes the final decision of the BLM for all other management 
direction and makes the Approved RMP effective immediately.
    The BLM Cottonwood Field Office, Cottonwood, Idaho, intends to 
prepare a Supplemental EIS for the Cottonwood RMP to analyze the 
impacts of domestic sheep and goat grazing in four allotments that 
overlap or occur in the vicinity of bighorn sheep habitat. These four 
allotments are located along the Salmon River, east of Riggins, Idaho, 
in Idaho County. The BLM will provide opportunities for public 
participation upon publication of the Draft Supplemental EIS.

DATES: The ROD includes several implementation-level decisions 
regarding motorized travel routes. The decisions identifying routes of 
travel within designated areas for motorized vehicles are 
implementation decisions and are appealable under 43 CFR Part 4. These 
decisions are contained in the Travel and Transportation section of the 
Approved RMP. Any party adversely affected by the proposed route 
identifications may appeal within 30 days of publication of this Notice 
of Availability pursuant to 43 CFR, Part 4, Subpart E. The appeal 
should state the specific route(s), as identified in Appendix A of the 
Approved RMP, on which the decision is being appealed. The appeal must 
be filed with the Cottonwood Field Manager at the above listed address. 
Please consult the appropriate regulations (43 CFR, Part 4, Subpart E) 
for further appeal requirements.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD/Approved RMP are available upon request 
from the Field Manager, Cottonwood Field Office, Bureau of Land 
Management, 1 Butte Drive, Cottonwood, Idaho 83522, or at the following 
Web site: http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/fo/cottonwood/planning/cottonwood_resource.html. Copies of the ROD/Approved RMP are available 
for public inspection at the Cottonwood Field Office, 1 Butte Drive, 
Cottonwood, Idaho. Interested persons may also review the ROD/Approved 
RMP at the following Web site: http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/fo/cottonwood/planning/cottonwood_resource.html.
    Appeals must be filed with the Field Manager of the Cottonwood 
Field Office at 1 Butte Drive, Cottonwood, Idaho 83522.

[[Page 11908]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact the 
Cottonwood Field Office, telephone (208) 962-3245; address 1 Butte 
Drive, Cottonwood, Idaho 83522.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Cottonwood RMP was developed with broad 
public participation through a four-year collaborative planning process 
in accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, 
as amended, and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 
amended. This RMP addresses management on approximately 130,000 acres 
of public land in the Cottonwood Field Office. The Cottonwood RMP is 
designed to achieve or maintain desired future conditions developed 
through the planning process. It includes a series of management 
actions to meet the desired resource conditions for forest, upland, and 
riparian vegetation; wildlife habitats; cultural and visual resources; 
and recreation.
    The BLM received five protest letters on the Proposed RMP/Final 
EIS. The BLM Director granted only those protest issues related to 
domestic sheep grazing within bighorn sheep habitat and remanded this 
specific portion of the RMP back to the BLM Idaho State Office for 
further analysis. No inconsistencies with State or local plans, 
policies, or programs were identified during the Governor's consistency 
review of the Proposed RMP/Final EIS. As a result, with the exception 
of decisions regarding domestic sheep and goat grazing, the approved 
Cottonwood RMP is essentially the same as Alternative B in the Proposed 
RMP/Final EIS published in June 2008, and only minor editorial 
modifications were made in preparing the ROD and Approved RMP.
    By this Notice, the BLM, Cottonwood Field Office is announcing its 
intent to prepare a Draft Supplemental EIS to analyze the impacts of 
domestic sheep and goat grazing in four allotments that overlap or 
occur in the vicinity of bighorn sheep habitat along the Salmon River 
east of Riggins, Idaho. The area has been grazed historically by 
domestic sheep and goats and overlaps with bighorn sheep habitat. The 
BLM will be inviting other government entities (Federal, State, Tribal 
and local), with special expertise or jurisdiction, to be cooperators 
during preparation of the Supplemental EIS. Upon completion, this Draft 
Supplemental EIS will be released for public review and comment.

Thomas H. Dyer,
Idaho State Director.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 1502.9, and 1508.22.

[FR Doc. 2010-5258 Filed 3-11-10; 8:45 am]
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