[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 103 (Friday, May 27, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33702-33703]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-12605]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLNVC00000.L16100000.DR0000; 14-08807; MO# 4500084731]
Notice of Availability Nevada and California Greater Sage-Grouse
Bi-State Distinct Population Segment Land Use Plan Amendment and Record
of Decision
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability
of the Record of Decision (ROD) for the approved Nevada and California
Greater Sage-Grouse Bi-State Distinct Population Segment Land Use Plan
Amendment (LUPA) for the Carson City District and the Tonopah Field
Office located in Nevada. The Nevada State Director signed the ROD on
May 27, 2016, which constitutes the final decision of the BLM and makes
the LUPA effective immediately.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD/approved LUPA are available upon request
from the Carson City District Manager, Bureau of Land Management, 5665
Morgan Mill Road, Carson City, NV 89701, Battle Mountain District
Manager, Bureau of Land Management, 50 Bastian Road, Battle Mountain,
NV 89820 or via the Internet at http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/carson_city_field.html. Copies of the ROD/approved LUPA are available
for public inspection at the Carson City or Battle Mountain District
Offices at the above addresses.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Colleen Sievers, Project Manager,
telephone: 775-885-6168; address: 5665 Morgan Mill Rd., Carson City, NV
89701; email: [email protected]. Persons who use a
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above
individual during normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours
a day, seven days a week, to leave a message or question with the above
individual. You will receive a reply during normal business hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Nevada California Greater Sage-Grouse
Bi-State Distinct Population Segment Land Use Plan will amend the
Carson City Field Office Consolidated Resource Management Plan (RMP)
(2001) and the Tonopah Field Office RMP (1997). The LUPA and associated
environmental
[[Page 33703]]
impact statement (EIS) were developed using a collaborative planning
process. The United States Forest Service (USFS) was the lead agency
for preparing the EIS and LUPA. The BLM was a cooperating agency. The
LUPA encompasses approximately 280,000 acres of public land
administered by the BLM Nevada, located in Carson City, Douglas,
Esmeralda, Lyon, and Mineral counties in Nevada and Alpine County,
California. The decision area does not include private lands, State
lands, tribal lands, or Federal lands not administered by the BLM. The
LUPA/ROD will add goals, objectives, action, and best management
practices specifically designed to conserve, enhance, and restore
habitats to provide for the long-term viability of the Greater Sage-
Grouse Bi-State Distinct Population Segment (BSSG). The LUPA provides
direction at the land-use-plan level to include regulatory mechanisms
for the management and conservation of BSSG habitats within the BLM
Carson City and Battle Mountain Districts to support the BSSG
population management objectives within the States of Nevada and
California.
The proposed LUPA/final EIS was made available to the public on
February 13, 2015 (80 FR 8081). Three valid protest letters were
received and seven issues were identified. No inconsistencies were
identified by the Offices of the Governor for the States of California
or Nevada during the Governor's consistency review. The Director's
Protest Report is available from the Carson City District's Web site
at: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/carson_city_field.html.
The following changes to the Proposed Amendment are made final in
the ROD/Approved Amendment as a result of protests raised during the
protest process and additional agency discussions: Set a total
anthropogenic disturbance of no more than 3 percent of the total BSSG
habitat on Federal lands within the Bodie Mountain/Grant, Desert Creek/
Fales, and White Mountains population management unit boundaries (PMU);
and a total anthropogenic disturbance of no more than 1.5 percent of
the total BSSG habitat on Federal lands within the Pine Nut Mountains
PMU; tall structures, which could serve as predator perches, will not
be authorized within 4 miles of an active or pending lek; designate
right-of-way exclusion areas within BSSG habitat for new high-power
(120kV) transmission line corridors, rights-of-way, facilities, or
construction areas in habitat (outside of existing corridors); and
clarify that connective areas will be maintained or enhanced.
The EIS analyzes three alternatives: Alternative A (no action),
Alternative B (Modified Proposed Action), and Alternative C
(conservation). The BLM Proposed Plan Amendment is the same as
Alternative B with the language modified to be consistent with BLM
planning language. The BLM Proposed Plan Amendment as described in the
Final EIS was selected in the ROD, with some modifications and
clarifications based on protests raised during the protest process and
additional agency discussions. The ROD adopts the final EIS's goals and
objections and the management actions to reach those goals and
objections.
The ROD does not directly implement any specific action. Future
actions will be consistent with the management direction in the
approved LUPA and will be made through a future decision-making
process, including appropriate environmental review. Examples of site-
specific planning efforts for resource-use activities are special
recreation permits and right-of-way grants.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6.
John F. Ruhs,
State Director, Nevada.
[FR Doc. 2016-12605 Filed 5-26-16; 8:45 am]
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