[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 228 (Monday, November 27, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70731-70732]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-30064]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management


Notice of Intent To Prepare a ACEC/River Management Plan and EIS 
for the Wild and Scenic Klamath River in Oregon and That Portion of the 
Klamath River Down to the Slack Water of Copco Reservoir in California

AGENCIES: Bureau of Land Management Oregon and California, Oregon Parks 
and Recreation Department.

ACTION: Notice of Intent To Prepare an ACEC/River Management Plan and 
Environmental Impact Statement for the Klamath River in Southern Oregon 
and Northern California.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969, the Bureau of Land Management, Lakeview District/
Klamath Falls Resource Area will be directing the preparation of an 
ACEC/River Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 
evaluating the impacts of river uses in southern Oregon and northern 
California.

DATES: This is a scoping notice and responses to scoping are to be 
received at the Klamath Falls Resource Area Office, 2795 Anderson 
Avenue, Bldg. 25, Klamath Falls, OR 97603 by January 31, 2001.
    Public scoping meetings for the River Management Plan will be held 
after the first of the year, 2001, in Klamath Falls, Oregon and/or 
Copco or Yreka or Redding, California.
    The Draft River Management Plan and DEIS analysis would be 
available for public review by the fall of 2001. Comments will be 
accepted for the DEIS for 90 days. After incorporation of DEIS comments 
the document will be finalized and re-sent out for review after the 
first of the year, 2002. Comments will be accepted on the FEIS for 30 
days.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Manager, Bureau of Land 
Management, Klamath Falls Resource Area, 2795 Anderson Avenue, Klamath 
Falls, OR 97603, ATTN: Klamath River Plan.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Frazier, Natural Resources 
Branch Chief, (541) 883-6916.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed ACEC/River Management Plan is 
located on the Klamath Falls Resource Area of the Lakeview District, 
Oregon and the Redding Field Office, California. An ACEC designation 
for this project was completed as part of the Klamath Falls Resource 
Area Resource Management Plan (1995). The Upper Klamath River was 
designated by the Secretary of the Interior as a Scenic River and was 
included in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system under section 
2(a)(ii) of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act on September 22, 
1994. The same reach of river was designated a State Scenic Waterway in 
1988 under Oregon's State Scenic Waterway Act.
    The ACEC designation begins from the John C. Boyle Dam.
    The purposes of undertaking an ACEC/River Management Plan and EIS 
at this time are to evaluate current river uses in an environmental 
document that will then be included as part of the environmental review 
in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Relicensing process 
of hydroelectric uses on the river in 2005. The depth of analysis on 
some issues for the ACEC/River Management Plan will be dependent upon 
the results of scoping.
    Tentative issues to be addressed are water quality and quantity, 
fisheries, recreation, cultural resources, wildlife, botanical 
resources, scenic river, and hydroelectric relicensing processes.

[[Page 70732]]

    The proposed project area for the Klamath River in Oregon is @11 
miles long from the John C. Boyle Dam to the OR/CA State Line and 
encompasses @4960 acres. The California portion of the project is from 
the OR/CA State Line to the slack water of Copco Reservoir in 
California, a distance of @10 miles and encompasses @4200 acres.
    The proposed project is within Klamath County, Oregon and Siskiyou 
County, California. The proposed project is approximately 12-25 miles 
south west of Klamath Falls, Oregon beginning at the John C. Boyle Dam.
    The BLM/Klamath Falls Resource Area, 2795 Anderson Avenue, Bldg. 
25, Klamath Falls, OR 97603, (541) 883-6916 will be the lead agency in 
preparation of documents. Future documents will be available from this 
address. Related documents include the Final Eligibility and 
Suitability Report for the Upper Klamath Wild and Scenic River Study 
(1990) (Department of the Interior). Copies of this document are 
available from the Klamath Falls Resource Area office. Another related 
document is the Klamath Wild and Scenic River Eligibility Report and 
Environmental Assessment (1994) (National Park Service, Pacific 
Northwest Region). Copies of this document are available at the 
National Park Service, Northwest Regional Office, 909 First Avenue, 
Seattle, WA 98104-1060.
    The interdisciplinary team will be made up of a team leader, 
wildlife, fisheries, botany, archaeology, recreation, hydrology, and 
planning specialists. An Interagency Review Committee comprised of 
representatives from county, state, and federal agencies will ensure 
the project complies with regulatory processes in California and 
Oregon. The Upper Basin Subcommittee of the Klamath Provincial Advisory 
Committee will assist in the gathering of information from private 
river users, local private landowners and other interested parties to 
include in the interdisciplinary analysis.
    The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is a cooperative agency 
in the preparation of this document. Other cooperating agencies are the 
BLM/Redding Field Office in California. The proposed project is for the 
BLM/Klamath Falls Resource Area to prepare an ACEC/River Management 
Plan and Environmental Impact Statement for the Klamath River project 
area. For this River Management Plan and EIS, the State of Oregon will 
prepare a chapter in the EIS document that will be the management plan 
for the State scenic waterway and the scenic river.
    Comments, including names and addresses of respondents, will be 
available for public review at the Klamath Falls Resource Area office 
during regular business hours (8 a.m.to 5 p.m., M-F, except holidays) 
and may be published as part of the EIS or other related documents. 
Individuals may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your 
name or address from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom 
of Information Act, you must state this promptly at the beginning of 
your written comment. Such request will be honored to the extent 
allowed by law. All submissions from organizations or businesses, and 
from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials 
of organizations or businesses, will be made available for public 
inspection in their entirety.
    If this management direction is approved, one or more of the 
alternatives would amend the Klamath Falls Resource Area Resource 
Management Plan (June 1995) and the Redding Resource Management Plan 
(June 1993). If the proposed direction amends the RMP plans in both 
California and Oregon, Bureau of Land Management regulations and 
associated manuals and handbooks for land use planning would apply.

    Sincerely,
Teresa A. Raml,
Manager, Klamath Falls Resource Area.
[FR Doc. 00-30064 Filed 11-24-00; 8:45 am]
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