68474 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 217 / Thursday, November 10, 2005 / Notices 

Susanville Indian Rancheria; California 

Department of Water Resources; 

California Department of Fish and 

Game; Lassen County, CA; Washoe 

County, NV; City of Reno; City of 

Sparks; Airport Authority of Washoe 

County; and Truckee Meadows Regional 

Planning Agency. 

Public participation has occurred 

throughout the EIS process. A Notice of 

Intent to Prepare an EIS was published 

in the Federal Register on September 

15, 2003 and the public comment period 

was initiated. A public scoping open 

house was held in Reno, NV in October 

2003 and eight additional presentations 

were conducted between October 2003 

and April 2004. A Notice of Availability 

for the Draft EIS was published in the 

Federal Register on May 20, 2005 and 

a 60-day comment period was initiated. 

Two public open houses and three local 

government presentations were 

conducted in Reno, NV and one 

community public meeting was 

conducted in Susanville, CA. A total of 

26 comment letters were received on the 

Draft EIS and the letters and responses 

to comments are included in the Final 

EIS. 

Comments on the Final EIS should be 

as specific as possible and should refer 

to specific pages or chapters in the 

document. After the comment period 

ends, all comments will be considered 

by the BLM in preparing the Record of 

Decision (ROD). 

Dated: September 27, 2005. 

Donald T. Hicks, 

Manager, Carson City Field Office. 

[FR Doc. 05–22345 Filed 11–9–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–HC–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[WO–220–05–1020–JA–VEIS] 

Notice of Availability of Draft 

Programmatic Environmental Impact 

Statement and Environmental Report 

for Vegetation Treatments on Public 

Lands Administered by the Bureau of 

Land Management in the Western 

United States, Including Alaska 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability for public 

review and comment. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) 

of the National Environmental Policy 

Act of 1969 (NEPA), the BLM is making 

available for public review and 

comment a draft national programmatic 

EIS and environmental report on 

vegetation treatments involving the use 

of chemical herbicides and other 

methods on the public lands 

administered by BLM in 17 western 

states, including Alaska. 

DATES: Written or e-mailed comments 

for the review of the EIS and 

environmental report may be submitted 

through January 9, 2006. BLM will hold 

public meetings to solicit written and 

oral comments on the proposed action 

during the 60-day public review period. 

Dates and time locations for the 

public meetings are as follows: 

Date & time Locations BLM contact 

November 28, 2005: 6 p.m. Open House, 7 

p.m. Public Meeting.

BLM Office, 333 SW 1st Avenue, 3rd Floor 

Conference Room, Portland, Oregon 97204.

Michael Campbell, PH: (503) 808–6031. 

November 29, 2005: 6 p.m. Open House, 7 

p.m. Public Meeting.

Clarion Hotel, 2600 Auburn Blvd., Sacramento, CA.Dianna Brink, PH: (916) 978–4645. 

November 30, 2005: 6 p.m. Open House, 7 

p.m. Public Meeting.

Little America Hotel, 500 South Main Street, 

Salt Lake City, Utah 84101.

Laura J. Williams, PH: (801) 539–4027. 

December 1, 2005: 6 p.m. Open House, 7 p.m. 

Public Meeting.

Marriott Pyramid North, 5151 San Francisco 

Rd. NE, Albuquerque, NM.

Bernie Chavez, PH: (505) 438–7668. 

December 5, 2005: 6 p.m. Open House, 7 p.m. 

Public Meeting.

Grand Vista Hotel, 2790 Crossroads Blvd., 

Grand Junction, CO.

Melodie Lloyd, PH: (970) 244–3097. 

December 6, 2005: 6 p.m. Open House, 7 p.m. 

Public Meeting.

Holiday Inn—Airport Hotel, 3300 S. Vista, 

Boise, ID.

Sharon Paris, PH: (208) 373–4028. 

December 7, 2005: 6 p.m. Open House, 7 p.m. 

Public Meeting.

BLM Office, 5001 Southgate Drive, Billings, 

MT.

Theresa Hanley, PH: (406) 896–5068. 

December 8, 2005: 6 p.m. Open House, 7 p.m. 

Public Meeting.

Holiday Inn—Yellowstone, Room 204 West 

Fox Farm Road, Cheyenne, WY.

Ken Henke, PH: (307) 775–6041. 

December 13, 2005: 6 p.m. Open House, 7 

p.m. Public Meeting.

BLM Office, 4701 N Torrey Pines Dr., Las 

Vegas, NV.

Kirsten Cannon, PH: (702) 515–5057. 

December 13, 2005: 6 p.m. Open House, 7 

p.m. Public Meeting.

Courtyard by Marriott—Embassy Row, 1600 

Rhode Island Avenue, NW., Washington 

DC.

Sharon Wilson, PH: (202) 425–5130. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be sent to: Project Manager, National 

Vegetation EIS, BLM Nevada State 

Office, P.O. Box 12000, Reno, NV 

89520–0006. Comments may also be 

sent by e-mail to vegeis@nv.blm.gov. 

Individual respondents may request 

confidentiality. If you wish to withhold 

your name or street address from public 

review or from disclosure under the 

Freedom of Information Act, you must 

state this prominently at the beginning 

of your written comment. Such requests 

will be honored to the extent allowed by 

law. The BLM will not consider 

anonymous comments. All submissions 

from organizations and businesses, and 

from individuals identifying themselves 

as representatives or officials of 

organizations or businesses, will be 

available for public inspection in their 

entirety. The Draft EIS and associated 

documents will be available for review 

in either hard copy or on compact disks 

(CDs) at all BLM State, District, and 

Field Office public rooms. The entire 

document can also be reviewed or 

downloaded at the BLM National Web 

site http://www.blm.gov/. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

national, draft programmatic EIS will 

provide a comprehensive analysis of 

BLM’s use of chemical herbicides in its 

various vegetation treatment programs 

related to hazardous fuels reduction, 

noxious weed and invasive terrestrial 

plant species management, resource 

rehabilitation following catastrophic 

fires and other disturbances. In 

addition, an accompanying 

environmental report will provide an 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 217 / Thursday, November 10, 2005 / Notices 68475 

assessment of the expected impacts of 

the use of herbicides, in addition to 

other vegetation treatment methods 

(fire, mechanical, manual, and 

biological) on up to approximately 

5,030,000 acres of public lands per year. 

Together, these documents will: 

• Consider reasonably foreseeable 

activities, particularly hazardous fuels 

reduction treatments, emergency 

stabilization and rehabilitation efforts, 

noxious weed, and invasive terrestrial 

plant species management. 

• Address human health and 

ecological risk for proposed use of 

chemical herbicides on public lands. 

• Provide a cumulative impact 

analysis of the use of chemical 

herbicides in conjunction with other 

treatment methods. 

The EIS is neither a land-use plan nor 

a land-use plan amendment. The EIS 

and ER will provide a comprehensive 

programmatic NEPA document and 

environmental report to allow effective 

tiering and incorporation by reference of 

baseline cumulative impact assessment 

to be used for other new, revised or 

existing land use and activity level 

plans that involve vegetation 

modification or maintenance. This EIS 

does not affect the status of the 

herbicide court injunction in Oregon. 

The analysis area includes only 

surface estate public lands administered 

by 11 BLM state offices: Alaska, 

Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, 

Montana (Dakotas), New Mexico 

(Oklahoma/Texas/Nebraska), Nevada, 

Oregon (Washington), Utah and 

Wyoming. 

Ed Shepard, 

Assistant Director, Renewable Resources and 

Planning. 

[FR Doc. 05–22343 Filed 11–9–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–84–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Reclamation 

South Delta Improvements Program, 

Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta, 

California 

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of Availability of the 

Draft Environmental Impact Statement/ 

Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) 

and notice of public workshops and 

hearings. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Reclamation 

(Reclamation) and the California 

Department of Water Resources (DWR) 

have made available for public review 

and comment the Draft EIS/EIR for the 

South Delta Improvements Program 

(SDIP). 

The proposed SDIP would (1) 

construct and operate a fish control gate 

at the Head of Old River; (2) construct 

and operate up to 3 flow control gates 

(one each in Middle River, Grant Line 

Canal, and Old River, near the Tracy 

Pumping Plant) to maintain adequate 

water quality and water levels available 

for agricultural diversions in the south 

Delta, downstream of the Head of Old 

River; (3) dredge various channels 

within the south Delta to improve 

conveyance; (4) construct extensions of 

up to 24 shallow agricultural diversions; 

(5) increase water deliveries by 

increasing the maximum diversion 

through the existing intake gates at 

Clifton Court Forebay to 8,500 cubic feet 

per second; and (6) implement an 

interim operations regime between 

December 15 and March 15 until the 

permanent gates are fully operable. 

DATES: Submit written comments on the 

Draft EIS/EIR on or before February 7, 

2006 to the address provided below. 

Public meetings will be held to discuss 

the purpose and content of the Draft 

EIS/EIR. The public meetings will be 

held as follows: 

• December 6, 2005, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., 

Sacramento, CA. 

• December 7, 2005, 7 to 9 p.m., 

Stockton, CA. 

• December 8, 2005, 7 to 9 p.m., 

Oakland, CA. 

• December 13, 2005, 7 to 9 p.m., 

Visalia, CA. 

• December 14, 2005, 1 to 3 p.m., Los 

Angeles, CA. 

Three public hearings have been 

scheduled to receive oral or written 

comments regarding the project’s 

environmental effects: 

• January 18, 2005, 1 to 4 p.m., 

Sacramento CA. 

• January 24, 2005, 1 to 3 p.m., Los 

Angeles, CA. 

• January 25, 2005, 1 to 4 p.m., 

Stockton, CA. 

ADDRESSES: The locations of the public 

meetings are: 

• Resources Auditorium, 1416 Ninth 

Street, Sacramento, CA. 

• American Legion Post 803, 3110 

West Lane, Stockton, CA. 

• CSU East Bay Oakland Conference 

Room, 1000 Broadway, Oakland, CA. 

• Mill Creek Auditorium, 3100 West 

Main, Visalia, CA. 

• Junipero Serra State Building, 

Carmel Room 225, 320 West Fourth 

Street, Los Angeles, CA. 

The locations of the public hearings 

are: 

• CALFED, Bay Delta Room, 5th 

Floor, 650 Capitol Mall, Sacramento CA 

(need driver’s license to enter the 

building; no picture phones allowed). 

• Junipero Serra State Building, 

Carmel Room 225, 320 West Fourth 

Street, Los Angeles, CA. 

• Department of General Services 

Auditorium, 31 East Channel Street, 

Stockton, CA. 

Hardcopy comments may be mailed to 

Mr. Paul Marshall, SDIP EIS/EIR 

Comments, State of California 

Department of Resources, Bay Delta 

Office, 1416 Ninth Street, Sacramento, 

California, 95814. Electronic comments 

may be emailed to sdip 

comments@water.ca.gov, or posted on 

the SDIP Web site at http:// 

sdip.water.ca.gov. 

See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

section for locations where copies of the 

Draft EIS/EIR are available for public 

review. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Sharon McHale, Reclamation Program 

Manager, at 916–978–5086, or e-mail: 

smchale@mp.usbr.gov; or Mr. Paul A. 

Marshall, DWR Program Manager at 

916–653–2118, or e-mail at 

marshall@water.ca.gov. The Draft EIS/ 

EIR may be viewed at http:// 

sdip.water.ca.gov or at Reclamation’s 

Web site at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/ 

nepa/nepa_projdetails.

cfm?Project_ID=316. To request a copy 

of the Draft EIS/EIR, please contact Ms. 

McHale as indicated above. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Draft 

EIS/EIR addresses facilities-related 

impacts including the effects of project 

construction and operation on 

hydrology, water quality, fish resources, 

recreation, vegetation and wildlife, 

visual resources, cultural resources, 

land use, geology, soils, seismicity, 

groundwater, traffic and circulation, air 

quality, noise, and public health and 

safety. Diversion-related impacts 

include the effects of increased 

diversions from the Bay Delta and 

associated changes in Reclamation’s 

operation of Central Valley Project 

(CVP) facilities and DWR’s operation of 

State Water Project (SWP) facilities. 

Project diversions therefore may directly 

or indirectly affect the Sacramento 

River, its tributaries, San Joaquin River, 

its tributaries, and Delta resources 

including water supply, fish and aquatic 

habitat, riparian vegetation and habitat, 

water quality, recreation, visual and 

cultural resources. The Draft EIS/EIR 

also evaluates potential growthinducing impacts for the CVP and SWP 

water service areas. An evaluation of 

cumulative hydrologic and water 

service area impacts associated with 

reasonably foreseeable actions is also 

included.