[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 141 (Monday, July 24, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37900-37902]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-18063]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[OR-110-95-6350-00]
Medford District Resource Management Plan and Record of Decision
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability, Medford District Resource Management
Plan and record of decision.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (40 CFR 1550.2), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, (43 CFR 1610.2 (g)), the Department of the Interior, Bureau of
Land Management (BLM), Medford District provides notice of availability
of the Approved Resource Management Plan (ARMP) and Record of Decision
(ROD) for the Medford District. The Approved RMP will provide the
framework to guide land and resource allocations and management
direction for the next 10 to 20 years in the Medford District. This
ARMP supersedes the existing Josephine and Jackson/Klamath management
framework plans and other related documents for managing BLM
administered lands and resources in the subject area. The Medford
District is responsible for management of BLM administered lands and
minerals in all or portions of Jackson, Josephine,
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Douglas, Curry, and Coos Counties. These counties are located in
southwestern Oregon. The Medford District is responsible for management
of approximately 866,278 acres of surface and an additional 4,672 acres
of subsurface (split-estate) lands.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the ARMP/ROD are available upon request by
contacting the Medford District Office, Bureau of Land Management, 3040
Biddle Road, Medford, Oregon, 97504. The telephone number is 503-770-
2200. This document has been sent to all those individuals and groups
who were on the mailing list for the Medford District Proposed Resource
Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement. Copies of the
Approved RMP are also available for inspection in the public room at
the BLM Oregon/Washington State Office, 1515 SW Fifth St. Portland,
Oregon; and Jackson and Josephine County libraries during normal office
hours.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dave Jones, District Manager, Medford District Office, Bureau of Land
Management, 3040 Biddle Road, Medford, Oregon, 97504. He can also be
reached by telephone number at 503-770-2200 or by FAX at 503-770-2400.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Medford District Approved RMP/ROD is
essentially the same as the Medford District Proposed Resource
Management Plan presented in the October, 1994 Proposed Resource
Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement (PRMP/FEIS). No
significant changes have been made from the Proposed RMP.
However, some minor changes and clarifying language has been made
in response to protests the BLM received on the PRMP/FEIS and as a
result of staff review. Minor changes include: changes to the visual
resource management class and rural interface area designation in the
Cobleigh Road area; clarification of the timber harvest deferral in the
Cascade/Siskiyou Ecological Emphasis Area; language revisions made to
tighten the link between the approved RMP and the 1994 Record of
Decision for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management
Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl and
Standards and Guidelines for Management of Habitat for Late-
Successional and Old-Growth Forest Related Species Within the Range of
the Northern Spotted Owl (or Northwest Forest Plan/ROD); and finally,
revisions were made that incorporate guidelines issued by the Regional
Ecosystem Office since the issuance of the 1994 Record of Decision
named above. Such guidelines may clarify or interpret the 1994 Record
of Decision. Seven alternatives that encompass a spectrum of realistic
management options were considered in the planning process. The final
plan is a mixture of the management objectives and actions that, in the
opinion of the BLM, best resolve the issues and concerns that
originally drove the preparation of the plan and also meet the plan
elements or adopt decisions made in the 1994 Record of Decision for
Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning
Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl and Standards
and Guidelines for Management of Habitat for Late-Successional and Old-
Growth Forest Related Species Within the Range of the Northern Spotted
Owl (or Northwest Forest Plan/ROD). The Northwest Forest Plan/ROD was
signed by the Secretary of the Interior who directed the BLM to adopt
it in its Resource Management Plans for western Oregon. Further, those
decisions were upheld by the United States District Court for the
Western District of Washington on December 21, 1994. Following is a
summary of some of the major decisions made through this planning
effort.
Ecosystem Management and Forest Product Production: The BLM
administered lands are allocated to Riparian Reserves, Late-
Successional Reserves, Administratively Withdrawn Areas, Congressional
Reserves, Applegate Adaptive Management Area, and Matrix (Connectivity/
Diversity Blocks and General Forest Management Areas). An Aquatic
Conservation Strategy will be applied to all lands and waters under BLM
administration. An allowable sale quantity for commercial forest
products is established. A process for monitoring, evaluating and
amending or revising the plan is described.
Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC): The plan designates
or redesignates the following 30 areas as ACECs, Research Natural
Areas, Outstanding Natural Areas or a combination thereof: Eight Dollar
Mountain (1,247 public acres), King Mountain Rock Garden (67 public
acres), Table Rocks (1,240 public acres), Bill Creek (40 public acres),
Bobby Creek-ACEC (428 public acres), Cedars of Beaver Creek (39 public
acres), Crooks Creek (149 public acres), Baker Cypress (10 public
acres), French Flat (656 public acres), Hole-in-the-Rock (63 public
acres), Hoxie Creek (255 public acres), Iron Creek (286 public acres),
Jenny Creek (966 public acres), Moon Prairie (91 public acres), Pilot
Rock (544 public acres), Poverty Flat (29 public acres), Rough and
Ready Creek (1164 public acres), Sterling Mine Ditch (141 public
acres), Tin Cup (84 public acres), Bobby Creek-RNA (1,702 public
acres), Brewer Spruce Enlargement (1,384 public acres), Grayback Glade
(1,069 public acres), Holton Creek (423 public acres), Lost Lake (384
public acres), North Fork Silver Creek (499 public acres), Old Baldy
(166 public acres), Oregon Gulch (1,047 public acres), Pipe Fork (529
public acres), Round Top Butte (604 public acres), Scotch Creek (1,797
public acres). Management direction for the individual ACECs is
prescribed in the ARMP/ROD, but may be supplemented or clarified in
coordinated resource management activity plans, watershed analyses or
other applicable interagency and/or multi-program decision documents.
The ACECs have been designated to protect or enhance a wide variety of
natural values or processes or to protect the public from natural
hazards or provide for research natural areas as components of the
Oregon Natural Heritage system. Restricted or prohibited uses are
described in the ARMP and are designed to meet the management
objectives for each area. Prescriptions typically include restrictions
on the use of prescribed fire or fire suppression techniques,
restrictions on motor vehicle use or the removal of vegetative
materials, no-surface-occupancy clauses for mineral or energy leases or
permits, prohibition of new rights-of-way, etc.
Wild and Scenic Rivers: Big Windy Creek (6.8 miles), East Fork of
Big Windy Creek (3.6 miles), Dulong Creek (1.7 miles), and Howard Creek
(7.0 miles) have been determined to be administratively suitable for
designation as a component of the national Wild and Scenic Rivers
System under a wild river classification. All administratively suitable
or eligible (pending further study) river segments will be managed
under BLM interim management guidelines pending further legislative or
administrative consideration, as applicable. In addition, all other
potentially eligible, free-flowing rivers or streams adjacent to BLM
administered lands in the subject planning area were reviewed.
Off-Highway-Vehicle (OHV) Use: the ARMP/ROD makes the following
designations for OHV management in the Medford District/Area: 391,400
acres will be open; 441,700 acres will be restricted to designated
existing roads and trails and/or seasonally closed; and 25,200 acres
will be closed to all use, except for specified administrative or
emergency uses. In addition, the ARMP/
[[Page 37902]]
ROD provides for road closures to meet ecosystem management objectives.
Such closures may be permanent or seasonal, and by use of signs, gates,
barriers or total road de-construction and site restoration.
Land Tenure Adjustment: The ARMP/ROD identifies approximately
292,100 acres of BLM administered lands which will be retained in
public ownership, 558,800 acres of BLM lands which may be considered
for exchange under prescribed circumstances, and 7,600 acres of BLM-
administered land which may be available for sale or disposal under
other authorized processes. The ARMP also provides criteria for the
acquisition of lands, or interests in lands, where such acquisition
would meet objectives of the various resource programs. The plan
allocates 71,100 acres as right-of-way exclusion areas and 819,300
acres as right-of-way avoidance areas.
Special Recreation and Visual Resource Management Areas: The plan
identifies 5 new or existing Special Recreation Management Areas. They
are the Hyatt Lake-Howard Prairie SRMA (17,000 acres), The Pacific
Crest National Scenic Trail SRMA (12, 086 acres), Rogue National Wild
and Scenic River SRMA (14,277 acres) Lost Creek Lake SRMA (9,492
acres), and the Galesville Lake SRMA (3,977 acres). The plan allocates
1,800 acres of BLM administered lands for 40 existing or potential
recreation sites. The plan also allocates lands for 30 existing or
potential trails, totaling 240 miles. The plan also identifies
management objectives for four visual resource management
classifications.
Mineral and Energy Resource Management: Approximately 845,500 areas
or 97 percent of BLM administered lands remain open to leasable energy/
mineral leasing, and 829,000 acres or 96 percent are available for
hardrock mineral mining claim location.
Dated: July 17, 1995.
Wayne Kuhn,
Acting District Manager, Medford District.
[FR Doc. 95-18063 Filed 7-21-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6350-00-M
