[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 24, 1999)] [Notices] [Pages 14263-14264] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 99-7264] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Land Management [CA-310-1030-00-HDWT] Headwaters Forest Reserve, California AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior. ACTION: Notice of interim management guidelines. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, in cooperation with the State of California, will put into place interim management guidelines for the Headwaters Forest Reserve in Humboldt County, California. Under these Interim Management Guidelines, pedestrian access will be allowed into the Headwaters Forest Reserve. Other uses as cited below, on lands in the Headwaters Forest Reserve, will not be allowed on a temporary basis, subject to 43 CFR 8364: Unauthorized use by motorized and non-motorized vehicles in accordance with 43 CFR 8341.2, use of firearms (43 CFR 8365.1-4), overnight camping (43 CFR 8364.1(a)), equestrian use (43 CFR 8364.1(a)), and to the issuance of special use permits including but not limited to special forest products/vegetation collection (43 CFR 8365.1-5(2)), and recreation (43 CFR 8364.1(a)). Decisions on long term public uses at the Headwaters Forest Reserve will be made through the cooperative management plan to be developed over the next year. Employees, agents and permittees of the BLM may be exempt from these restrictions as determined by the Field Manager. These temporary restrictions are necessary to (1) protect aquatic threatened and endangered species from further ecosystem damage caused by accelerated sedimentation of waterways by unstable road conditions, (2) protect terrestrial threatened and endangered species from unregulated, un-analyzed impacts, and (3) ensure public safety. These temporary restrictions will remain in effect until a formal planning process with full public participation is completed. The planning process will include: a comprehensive ecosystem analysis (watershed analysis) compliant with the standards and guidelines of the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP), a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis, an approved United States Fish and Wildlife (USFW) Section 7 Biological Consultation, and an approved National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Consultation. These processes will lead to a final management plan and record of decision. The formal planning process is scheduled to begin later this year, with appropriate calls for public involvement. DATES: Restrictions are effective March 24, 1999. ADDRESSES: Maps and supporting documentation of the Headwaters Reserve are available for review at the following location: Bureau of Land Management, Arcata Field Office, 1695 Heindon Road, Arcata, CA, 95521. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lynda J. Roush, BLM, Arcata Field Manager (707) 825-2300. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The new Headwaters Forest Reserve, described in Section 501 of the 1998 Interior Appropriations Act as the Headwaters Forest and Elk River Property Acquisition, provides a unique opportunity for Federal, State, and local agencies to combine their strengths and involve the public in a Cooperative Resource Management Planning (CRMP) approach. A cooperative agreement among the three levels of government, along with a broad spectrum of interest groups, will oversee and help direct future management of the area. Such an approach will foster and perpetuate a public sense of stewardship for these important biological resources. The land acquisition, funded by the State of California and the Federal Government, will be managed as one landscape, with a seamless meshing of government and private sector entities. Cooperative management will be the cornerstone of the Headwaters Forest. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will be the managing agency representing the Federal government. Now that [[Page 14264]] acquisition is complete, the BLM will help lead the development of a management plan. The focus of the management plan is the protection and monitoring of threatened and endangered species and their aquatic and terrestrial habitats, particularly within the old-growth redwood groves. Management of the surrounding second-growth would include significant restoration activities to accelerate the return of old- growth dependent species. Virgin old-growth forest stands will not be subject to silvicultural practices. The re-establishment of natural drainage networks will include extensive road restoration with the goal of removing, decommissioning, or stabilizing the entire existing road network and re-instating natural processes over time in an essential roadless landscape. Recreation activities and visitor services at the Headwaters Forest Reserve will be developed through the planning process. Visitor use will be managed in a manner consistent with the management of late-successional and old-growth forest habitats and the species they support. Opportunities for recreation use will be an evolving program where demand and impacts of uses will be analyzed over time. Management of the area will rely on findings of a detailed and comprehensive ecosystem analysis (watershed analysis) and an assessment of forest stand conditions. The findings of these analyses will set the ecological parameters within which all management will be conducted, including restoration, research, recreation, transportation, and monitoring. Extensive public involvement, along with public outreach and education, will be a vital component in the analysis process. Lynda J. Roush, Arcata Field Manager. [FR Doc. 99-7264 Filed 3-22-99; 12:22 pm] BILLING CODE 4130-40-P