[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 190 (Friday, October 2, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50986-50987]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-23678]
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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.
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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 county-listed
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 non-target 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
[[Page 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]
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