50986 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 190 / Friday, October 2, 2009 / Notices 

eucalyptus trees) than would have been 

disturbed by UII–NI. The increased 

development acreage in UII–NII would 

occur in the eucalyptus grove and areas 

previously proposed as revegetated 

areas. 

Notice is hereby given that on May 20, 

2009, the Proposed Action (Alternative 

1) was selected and a FONSI 

determination was made for the action 

as described in the final EA for the San 

Bruno Mountain HCP Amendment. As 

authorized by the provisions of the Act 

(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), we issued an 

amended permit (TE–215574–5) to the 

Cities of Brisbane, South San Francisco, 

and Daly City, and the County of San 

Mateo, subject to certain conditions set 

forth in the permit. The permit 

amendment was granted only after we 

determined it was applied for in good 

faith, that granting the permit 

amendment would not be to the 

disadvantage of the listed species, and 

that granting the permit amendment was 

consistent with the purposes and policy 

set forth in the Act. 

John Enbring, 

Acting Deputy Regional Director, Pacific 

Southwest Region, Sacramento, California. 

[FR Doc. E9–23763 Filed 10–1–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[LLOR932000–L16100000–DF0000– 

LXSS062H0000; HAG 9–0209] 

Notice of Availability of Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

Vegetation Treatments Using 

Herbicides on Bureau of Land 

Management Lands, Oregon 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA), the Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) has prepared a Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) 

for Vegetation Treatments Using 

Herbicides on BLM Lands in Oregon 

(Vegetation Treatments DEIS) 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 Vegetation 

Treatments DEIS within 60 days 

following the date the Environmental 

Protection Agency publishes its Notice 

of Availability in the Federal Register. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: 

• Web site: http://www.blm.gov/or/ 

plans/vegtreatmentseis/ 

• E-mail: orvegtreatments@blm.gov. 

• Mail: Vegetation Treatments EIS 

Team, P.O. Box 2965, Portland, OR 

97208–2965. 

Copies of the Vegetation Treatments 

DEIS are available on the Internet at: 

http://www.blm.gov/or/plans/ 

vegtreatmentseis/. Requests to receive 

printed or CD copies of the DEIS should 

be sent to one of the addresses listed 

above. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Todd Thompson, EIS Project Manager, 

by mail at Bureau of Land 

Management—OR932, P.O. Box 2965, 

Portland, OR 97208; by telephone at 

(503) 808–6326; or by email to the EIS 

Team at the address listed above. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1984, 

the BLM was prohibited from using 

herbicides in Oregon by a U.S. District 

Court injunction issued in Northwest 

Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, 

et al. v. Block, et al. (Civ. No. 82–6273– 

E). Following completion of an EIS 

examining the use of four herbicides 

just on noxious weeds, the injunction 

was modified by the court in November 

1987 (Civ. No. 82–6272–BU). For the 

subsequent 22 years, the BLM in Oregon 

has limited its herbicide use to the four 

herbicides analyzed and limited use of 

those four herbicides to the control and 

eradication of Federal-, state-, or countylisted noxious weeds. In that time, new 

herbicides have become available that 

can be used in smaller doses, are more 

target-specific, and are less likely to 

adversely affect people and other nontarget organisms. These new herbicides 

are being used by adjacent cooperating 

agencies and landowners to achieve 

better invasive weed control. Further, 

there are limited additional native 

vegetation treatment needs that would 

be more feasibly met, and more 

efficiently accomplished with selected 

herbicides. 

In 2007, the BLM Washington Office 

(WO220) completed the Vegetation 

Treatments Using Herbicides on Bureau 

of Land Management Lands in 17 

Western States Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) 

and related Record of Decision making 

18 herbicides available for a full range 

of non-commodity vegetation treatments 

in 17 western states including Oregon. 

Oregon cannot implement that decision, 

however, until and unless the District 

Court injunction is lifted. The DEIS 

being released today, Vegetation 

Treatments Using Herbicides on BLM 

Lands in Oregon, tiers to the PEIS, 

incorporates additional detailed 

analysis regarding the potential for 

human and environmental risks specific 

to Oregon and addresses the issues in 

the 1984 District Court decision and 

other information specific to Oregon. 

The additional analysis is similar to that 

presented in a similar EIS completed by 

the Forest Service in Oregon in 2005. 

The DEIS is programmatic, addressing 

all 15.7 million acres in Oregon and 

addressing all 18 herbicides approved 

for use by the 2007 Record of Decision 

for the PEIS and being used in the other 

16 western states. The DEIS analyzes 

one ‘‘no action’’ alternative, one ‘‘no 

herbicide’’ alternative, and 3 action 

alternatives which were shaped in part 

by the comments received during 12 

public scoping meetings held 

throughout Oregon in July 2008. No 

projects will be authorized; site-specific 

projects will be subject to additional 

National Environmental Policy Act 

analysis. 

The analysis indicates that by using 

BLM manual section and policy 

standard operating procedures, along 

with PEIS-adopted mitigation measures, 

human and environmental risk from the 

use of herbicides is both minimized and 

reduced from current levels. The 

proposed action would also slow the 

spread of noxious weeds on BLM lands 

by about 50 percent and result in 2.2 

million fewer infested acres in 15 years 

than under current program capabilities. 

Following the public comment 

period, the BLM will prepare a Final 

Environmental Impact Statement and 

Record of Decision. These are planned 

for release in mid-summer 2010. 

The responsible official for the EIS is 

the BLM Oregon and Washington State 

Director. No public hearings or meetings 

are planned during the public comment 

period for the DEIS. Please note that 

public comments and information 

submitted; including the names, street 

addresses, and email addresses of 

respondents; will be available for public 

review and disclosure during regular 

business hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), 

Monday through Friday, except 

holidays, at the following address: 333 

SW. 1st Avenue, Portland, OR 97204. 

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 


pwalker on DSK8KYBLC1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 190 / Friday, October 2, 2009 / Notices 50987 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Edward W. Shepard, 

State Director, Oregon/Washington BLM. 

[FR Doc. E9–23678 Filed 10–1–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–33–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

National Park Service 

National Mall and Memorial Parks, 

Washington, DC; Notice of Availability 

of a Finding of No Significant Impact 

for the Proposed West Potomac Park 

Levee Project 

AGENCY: Department of the Interior, 

National Park Service. 

ACTION: Notice of Availability of a 

Finding of No Significant Impact. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and 

National Park Service (NPS) NEPA 

guidelines, NPS prepared and, from 

January 30 to March 2, 2009, made 

available for a 30-day public review an 

Environmental Assessment (EA) 

evaluating the potential impacts of 

proposed improvements to the existing 

West Potomac Park Levee System which 

extends from 23rd Street, NW., to the 

grounds of the Washington Monument 

in Washington, DC. The goal of this 

project is to improve the reliability of 

the existing levee in order to meet the 

current post-Hurricane Katrina 

standards for flood protection as 

required by the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers (USACE) and the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency 

(FEMA). The existing levee protects 

much of the monumental core and large 

portions of downtown Washington, DC. 

After the end of the 30-day public 

review period, the NPS selected for 

implementation, the preferred 

alternative as described in the EA, and 

determined it will not have a significant 

impact on the quality of the human 

environment and that an Environmental 

Impact Statement is not required. In 

making that selection and 

determination, the NPS considered the 

information and analysis contained in 

the EA and the comments received 

during the public review period. The 

NPS has accordingly prepared a Finding 

of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the 

proposed West Potomac Park Levee 

Project. The FONSI is also accompanied 

by an errata sheet that corrected some 

minor inaccuracies and updated some 

information. The errata did not result in 

any changes in the overall findings of 

the EA and had no bearing on its 

determination of no significant impact. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Doug Jacobs, Deputy Associate Regional 

Director for Lands, Resources and 

Planning, National Capital Region, 

National Park Service, 1100 Ohio Drive, 

SW., Washington, DC 20242, by 

telephone at (202) 619–7025 or by email at doug_jacobs@nps.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since the 

Potomac Park levee was constructed in 

the late 1930’s, the levee system has 

relied upon a temporary earthen closure 

being built across 17th Street in the 

event of a flood emergency. Based on 

new policies since Hurricane Katrina 

(33 CFR 208.10), the USACE has 

deemed the temporary 17th Street 

closure unreliable and consequently 

gave the levee an unacceptable 

inspection rating. For this reason, 

FEMA’s most recently proposed 100- 

year floodplain map for this area reflects 

a 100-year flood event as if the 

currently-designed 17th Street closure 

did not exist (44 CFR part 67, 72 FR 

54631–54635). This new mapping 

would place portions of southeast and 

downtown Washington, DC, including 

the monumental core, within the 100- 

year flood insurance rate zone. The 

placement would require additional 

flood insurance and/or costly upgrades 

to comply with building standards for 

those facilities that would fall within 

the new 100-year floodplain. In 

addition, a number of projects that are 

currently in development on the 

National Mall would need to be revised 

and could be delayed in order to comply 

with these building codes. At the 

District of Columbia’s request, FEMA 

agreed to delay issuance of the new 

floodplain map until November, 2009, 

in order to allow the District and the 

NPS time to design and implement a 

solution that will reliably stop a 100- 

year flood at 17th Street, NW., and 

therefore make re-mapping unnecessary. 

In addition, the USACE requested that 

the solution be designed in such a 

manner as to allow for easy 

modification to meet the higher level of 

protection authorized by Congress in 

1936 but never funded. The 

congressionally authorized level of 

protection is roughly equivalent to a 

187-year storm. The District and NPS 

agreed that any improvements to the 

levee should be consistent with the 

current authorization so that the 

congressionally authorized level of 

protection can ultimately be achieved 

once funding is appropriated. 

The EA evaluated five alternatives, all 

of which incorporate a permanent 

structure from Overlook Terrace in 

Constitution Gardens to the west side of 

17th Street and another permanent 

structure on the east side of 17th Street 

which extends into the natural rise of 

the Washington Monument Grounds. 

The intervening space across 17th Street 

will have footings designed to receive a 

temporary post and panel closure 

system that would be deployed only 

during a major flood event. The 

permanent structures on either side of 

17th Street will be a combination of 

earthen berms and concrete walls/ 

embankments which will be clad in 

stone during a subsequent phase of the 

project. Since full funding for the entire 

project was not certain, all of the 

alternatives in this EA are presented in 

a phased approach. 

The NPS identified Alternative 1B as 

its Preferred Alternative and has 

selected it for implementation. During 

the completion of this EA, it became 

apparent that considerable costs and 

time of construction and, therefore, time 

of disturbance to the National Mall and 

visitors, could be avoided if the levee at 

17th Street was constructed to the 

higher level of protection initially, if 

funding would be available. Under 

Phase 1 of the alternative, a levee 

closure structure will be constructed at 

17th Street, approximately 253 feet 

south of the centerline of Constitution 

Avenue, NW. The closure structure will 

consist of two symmetrical curved 

concrete flood walls built to the height 

of the Congressionally-authorized 

solution and set back approximately 23 

feet to the east and west of 17th Street. 

The flood walls will require the regrading of both the northwest corner of 

the Monument Grounds as well as the 

eastern edge of Constitution Gardens 

between the Overlook Terrace and 17th 

Street. Tree planting and final 

landscaping will also be completed as 

the first phase of the project. In the 

second phase of implementation, the 

remaining visible sections of the levee 

wall at 17th Street will be clad in stone 

to match the historic character of the 

adjacent cultural landscapes and 

historic resources. The cladding will 

enhance the aesthetic quality and 

character of the landscape to mitigate 

against adverse effects associated with 

concrete walls. 

Phase Two includes a pedestrian path 

and additional landscaping. 

Improvements to the other parts of the 

Potomac Levee will also occur as part of 

the second phase of implementation 

since the existing conditions at 23rd 

Street, NW. and the Reflecting Pool do 

not meet the Congressionally-authorized 

level of protection. At the southwest 

corner of 23rd Street and Constitution 

Avenue, NW., portions of the site will 

be re-graded and raised by 

approximately one to two feet. Along 


pwalker on DSK8KYBLC1PROD with NOTICES