Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 188 / Friday, September 26, 2008 / Notices 55867 

federal, state, and local government 

agencies, tribal governments, and other 

interested parties. There have been 

various opportunities for the public to 

provide input on this plan via public 

meetings, open houses, and multiple 

scoping periods where public comments 

have been solicited. 

The PRMP/FEIS considers four 

alternatives and will include the use of 

community-based working groups to 

assist with site-specific travel planning. 

The PRMP/FEIS addresses the following 

five major issues: 

(1) How will vegetation on the BLM 

lands be managed to achieve healthy 

ecosystems while providing for a broad 

range of multiple uses? 

(2) How will the BLM lands be 

managed to provide wildlife and fish 

habitat, and to conserve and recover 

special status and priority species? 

(3) How should the BLM manage 

motorized public travel to meet the 

needs for public access and resource 

uses while minimizing user conflicts 

and impacts to air, soil, watershed, 

vegetation, wildlife, and other resource 

values? 

(4) How should recreation be 

managed to accommodate the full range 

of recreational uses enjoyed by the 

public on the BLM lands? 

(5) Which areas, if any, should be 

managed as special designations, and 

how should they be managed to protect 

values that warrant their special 

designation status? The Preferred 

Alternative (Alternative B) includes 

active vegetation management to restore 

vegetation communities with associated 

forest product quantities being the same 

as, or slightly higher than, current 

levels, riparian management zones 

where meeting site-specific riparian 

objectives would receive primary 

consideration, and continuation of 

livestock grazing at approximately the 

same as current levels while meeting 

Land Health Standards. The Preferred 

Alternative would entail designation of 

four Areas of Critical Environmental 

Concern (ACEC), totaling 70,644 acres 

in area, with special management 

proposed for relevant and important 

values, as well as recommending two 

river segments, with a total length of 5.7 

miles, as suitable for Wild and Scenic 

River Designation. 

Comments on the Draft RMP/EIS 

received from the public and from the 

internal BLM review were incorporated 

as appropriate into the PRMP/FEIS. 

Public comments resulted in the 

addition of clarifying text and slight 

alterations of the Preferred Alternative 

but did not significantly change 

proposed land use decisions. 

Instructions for filing a protest with 

the Director of the BLM regarding the 

PRMP/FEIS may be found in the Dear 

Reader letter of the PRMP/FEIS for the 

Butte Field Office and at 43 CFR 

1610.5–2. E-mailed and faxed protests 

will not be accepted as valid protests 

unless the protesting party also provides 

the original letter by either regular or 

overnight mail postmarked by the close 

of the protest period. Under these 

conditions, the BLM will consider the emailed or faxed protest as an advance 

copy and it will receive full 

consideration. If you wish to provide 

the BLM with such advance 

notification, please direct fax protests to 

the attention of the BLM protest 

coordinator at (202) 452–5112, and emails to Brenda_HudgensWilliams@blm.gov. 

All protests, including the follow-up 

letter, if e-mailing or faxing, must be in 

writing and mailed to the appropriate 

address as set forth in the ADDRESSES

section above. 

Before including your phone number, 

e-mail address, or other personal 

identifying information in your protest, 

you should be aware that your entire 

protest—including your personal 

identifying information—may be made 

publicly available at any time. While 

you can ask us in your protest to 

withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 43 CFR 1610.2, 

and 43 CFR 1610.5–1. 

Theresa M. Hanley, 

Acting State Director. 

[FR Doc. E8–22543 Filed 9–25–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–DN–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[NV–040–1610–DR; 08–08807; TAS: 

14X1109] 

Notice of Availability: Record of 

Decision for the Ely Resource 

Management Plan/Environmental 

Impact Statement, Nevada 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) announces the 

availability of the Record of Decision 

(ROD) for the Approved Resource 

Management Plan (RMP) for the Ely 

RMP planning area located in eastcentral Nevada in Lincoln, White Pine 

and a portion of Nye counties. The 

Nevada State Director signed the ROD 

on August 20, 2008, which constitutes 

the final decision of the BLM and makes 

the Approved RMP effective 

immediately. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD/ 

Approved RMP are available on request 

from the District Manager, Ely District 

Office, Bureau of Land Management, 

702 North Industrial Way, Ely, Nevada 

89301 or via the Internet at: http:// 

www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/ 

ely_field_office.html. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information contact Jeff Weeks, 

RMP Project Manager, at (775) 289–1825 

or e-mail to: elyrmp@blm.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

following entities participated in 

development of the RMP as cooperating 

agencies with special expertise: Great 

Basin National Park; Humboldt-Toiyabe 

National Forest; Nellis Air Force Base; 

Nevada Department of Transportation; 

Nevada Division of Minerals; Nevada 

Department of Wildlife; Nevada State 

Historic Preservation Office; Lincoln 

County; Nye County; White Pine 

County; Duckwater Shoshone Tribe; Ely 

Shoshone Tribe; Moapa Band of Paiutes; 

and the Yomba Shoshone Tribe. 

The public involvement and 

collaboration process implemented for 

this effort included six open houses 

during scoping; presentations to 

interested organizations upon their 

invitation; presentations to and 

suggestions from the Mojave/Southern 

Great Basin and the Northeastern Great 

Basin Resource Advisory Councils 

(RACs); distribution of information via 

the Ely RMP Web site and periodic 

planning bulletins; six public meetings 

on the Draft RMP/EIS; and public and 

agency review and comment on the 

Draft RMP/EIS. 

The planning area contains 

approximately 11,500,000 acres of 

public lands administered by the BLM 

Ely District. The Approved RMP 

describes the management direction to 

meet desired resource conditions 

through watershed analyses for 

livestock grazing, wildlife habitat, and 

special status species, while managing 

for mineral exploration and 

development, renewable energy 

development, recreational uses, areas of 

critical environmental concern. It also 

provides for land tenure adjustments to 

meet community growth needs. 

The preferred alternative, Alternative 

E of the Draft RMP, was carried forward 

into the Proposed RMP and Final EIS 

(PRMP/FEIS) as the Proposed Plan. The 

PRMP/FEIS was made available on 

November 30, 2007 and sent to 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
55868 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 188 / Friday, September 26, 2008 / Notices 

individuals, groups, and agencies who 

requested a copy, or as required by 

regulation or policy. 

A 30-day protest period was provided 

on the land use plan decisions 

contained in the Proposed RMP/Final 

EIS in accordance with 43 CFR Part 

1610.5–2. Six protests were received 

(two from the same party), three of the 

six letters were subsequently resolved 

by the BLM Director, whose decision 

constitutes final agency action for the 

U.S. Department of the Interior. The 

main protest issues in these letters 

pertained to special status species, 

wildlife, livestock grazing, watershed 

management, and level of detail of 

decisions in the Proposed RMP. No 

changes to proposed management 

actions resulted from the resolution of 

the protests. 

Three of the six protest letters 

received were determined not to have 

standing under the regulations at 43 

CFR 1610.5–2. During the process of 

reviewing protest letters, the BLM 

became aware of a mapping error and 

potentially unnecessary management 

direction for the proposed ACEC at the 

Rock Animal Corral. The BLM has 

determined that the area does not 

require special management as an ACEC 

to protect its relevant and important 

values. Protection of the values can be 

achieved by maintaining the current 

designation as the Rock Animal Corral 

archaeological site with existing 

restrictions on fluid and solid mineral 

leasing, locatable minerals and mineral 

material sales on the 160 acre site. This 

is consistent with the current 

management in Alternative A in the 

Proposed RMP. The Approved RMP 

reflects that change. 

The BLM provided the Governor of 

Nevada with a 60-day Governor’s 

Consistency Review as provided by the 

regulations. No specific inconsistencies 

with state or local plans, policies, or 

programs were noted from the review. 

BLM received comments from the 

Nevada Department of Wildlife and the 

Nevada Division of Water Resources. 

BLM responded to the Department of 

Wildlife comments with a meeting and 

a letter. No changes to the Approved 

RMP resulted from the Governors’ 

Consistency Review. Based upon 

comments received during the protest 

period, some minor editorial 

modifications have been made in 

preparing the Approved RMP. These 

modifications provide further 

clarification of some of the decisions/ 

maps. 

In accordance with Section 7 of the 

Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issued a 

Biological Opinion. The USFWS 

Biological Opinion has been included as 

an appendix to the ROD/Approved 

RMP. 

The ROD serves as the final decision 

for the land use plan decisions 

described in the Approved RMP. The 

ROD also contains implementation-level 

decisions for Paleontological Resource 

Management, Travel Management route 

identifications, and Forest/Woodland 

and Other Plant Products. These 

decisions are included in the Approved 

RMP. Designations, such as route 

closures are planning-level decisions. 

These implementation-level decisions 

are appealable under 43 CFR Part 4. Any 

party adversely affected by the 

(proposed) implementation decisions 

may appeal the decisions within 30 

days of publication of this Notice of 

Availability pursuant to 43 CFR, Part 4, 

Subpart E. The appeal should state the 

specific decision(s) in the Approved 

RMP which are being appealed. 

The appeal must be filed with the Ely 

District Manager at the address listed 

above. Please consult the appropriate 

regulations (43 CFR, Part 4, Subpart E) 

for further appeal requirements. 

(Authority: H–1790–1–National 

Environmental Policy Act Handbook) 

Ron Wenker, 

Nevada State Director. 

[FR Doc. E8–22540 Filed 9–25–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–HC–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[MT–070–1990–EX] 

Notice of Availability of the Final 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

the Proposed ‘‘M’’ Pit Mine Expansion 

at the Montana Tunnels Mine, 

Jefferson County, MT 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and 

the Federal Land Policy and 

Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA, 43 

U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), a Final 

Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) 

has been prepared for the Montana 

Tunnels Mine ‘‘M’’ Pit Mine Expansion. 

The mine permit is administered by the 

Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) 

Butte Field Office and the Montana 

Department of Environmental Quality. 

Operations on public lands in the 

permit area are on mining claims 

located in accordance with the General 

Mining Law of 1872, as amended (30 

U.S.C. 22 et seq.). 

DATES: The FEIS will be available for 

review for 30 days following the date 

the Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA) publishes the Notice of 

Availability in the Federal Register. A 

Record of Decision (ROD) will be 

prepared following the 30-day public 

availability period. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of the FEIS have 

been sent to affected federal, state, and 

local government agencies and to 

interested parties. Copies of the FEIS are 

available for public inspection at the 

Montana Department of Environmental 

Quality, 1520 East 6th Avenue, Helena, 

MT 59620–0901 and the Bureau of Land 

Management, Butte Field Office, 106 N. 

Parkmont, Butte, MT 59701. Interested 

parties may also review the FEIS on the 

Internet at http://www.deq.mt.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Greg 

Hallsten, Montana Department of 

Environmental Quality, P.O. Box 

200901, Helena, MT 59620–0901; or 

David Williams, Bureau of Land 

Management, Butte Field Office, 106 N. 

Parkmont, Butte, MT 59701. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Montana Tunnels Mine is a 1200 acre 

lead, zinc, gold and silver mine located 

T. 7 N., R. 4 W. in Jefferson County 5 

miles west of Jefferson City, Montana. In 

September 2004, Montana Tunnels, Inc. 

submitted an application to expand 

their operation. The Notice of Intent to 

prepare the EIS was published in the 

Federal Register, 70 FR 8612 on 

February 22, 2005 and the Notice of 

Availability of the Draft EIS was 

announced in the Federal Register, 73 

FR 7588–89 on February 8, 2008. 

Comments on the Draft EIS received 

from the public, from other agencies, 

and from the internal DEQ and BLM 

review were incorporated into the FEIS. 

These comments resulted in the 

addition of clarifying text but did not 

significantly change the alternatives. 

The FEIS addresses three alternatives 

associated with the Montana Tunnels 

Mine ‘‘M’’ Pit Mine Expansion: The No 

Action Alternative, the Proposed Action 

Alternative, and the Agency Modified 

Alternative, which is the preferred 

alternative. The No Action Alternative 

would limit mine disturbance to 1200 

acres, and the mine would close in 

2010. The Proposed Action Alternative 

would result in disturbance of 1452 

acres and a pit depth of 4250. This 

Alternative would result in the loss of 

approximately 2600 feet of Clancy Creek 

as the stream would be diverted around 

the expanded open pit in both a pipe 

and open flow channel. A portion of the 

Clancy Creek flow would be diverted 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES