80 FR 29731 - Notice of Availability of the Winnemucca District Resource Management Plan and Record of Decision, Nevada

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 99 (May 22, 2015)

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability of the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Approved Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Winnemucca District located in northern Nevada. The Nevada State Director signed the ROD on May 21, 2015, which constitutes the final decision of the BLM and makes the Approved RMP effective immediately.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 99 (Friday, May 22, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29731-29732]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-12190]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLNVW00000.L16100000.DQ0000. LXSS015F0000 241A; 12-08807; 
MO#4500073892; TAS: 14X5017]


Notice of Availability of the Winnemucca District Resource 
Management Plan and Record of Decision, Nevada

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 Resource Management 
Plan (RMP) for the Winnemucca District located in northern Nevada. The 
Nevada State Director signed the ROD on May 21, 2015, which constitutes 
the final decision of the BLM and makes the Approved RMP effective 
immediately.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD/Approved RMP are available upon request 
from the Winnemucca District Manager, Bureau of Land Management, 5100 
E. Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, NV 89445 or via the Internet at http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_information/rmp.html. Copies of the 
ROD/Approved RMP are available for public inspection at the Winnemucca 
District at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Zwaantje Rorex, RMP Team Lead, 
telephone 775-623-1727; address 5100 E. Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, 
Nevada 89445; 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, 7 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 Winnemucca District RMP will replace the 
existing 1982 Sonoma-Gerlach and Paradise-Denio Management Framework 
Plans (MFPs) and one land use plan amendment titled the Paradise-Denio 
and Sonoma-Gerlach Management Framework Plan-Lands Amendment (January 
1999). The RMP and associated EIS were developed using a collaborative 
planning process. Collaboration included working with nine cooperating 
agencies, development of alternatives utilizing a sub-group of the 
Sierra Front-Northwestern Great Basin Resource Advisory Council and 
input through coordination and consultation with Native American/Tribal 
interests. The RMP planning area encompasses approximately 7.2 million 
acres of public land administered by the Winnemucca District, located 
in Humboldt, Pershing, and parts of Lyon, Churchill and Washoe 
counties, Nevada. The RMP decision area does not include private lands, 
State lands, Indian Reservations, Federal lands not administered by BLM 
or lands within the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon, Emigrant Trails 
National Conservation Area (NCA), except for administratively combining 
portions of two herd management areas (HMAs) into one HMA. The NCA is 
covered under the ROD and RMP for the Black Rock Desert-High Rock 
Canyon Emigrant Trails NCA and associated wilderness, and other 
contiguous lands in Nevada (July 2004). The RMP describes the actions 
and landscape-level conservation and management to meet desired 
resource goals and objectives for natural resources including wildlife 
habitat, sensitive and threatened or endangered species habitat, 
watersheds, and wild horses and burros. While the RMP contains some 
conservation management measures for the Greater Sage-Grouse habitats, 
the Nevada and Northeastern California Greater Sage-Grouse Plan 
Amendment and EIS will fully analyze applicable Greater-Sage Grouse 
conservation measures, consistent with BLM Instruction Memorandum No. 
2012-044. The BLM expects to make a comprehensive set of decisions for 
managing Greater-Sage Grouse on lands administered by the Winnemucca 
District in the Record of Decision for the Nevada and Northeastern 
California Greater Sage-Grouse Plan Amendment and EIS. The RMP 
addresses protection and preservation of cultural resources, scenic 
values and management of recreation. Multiple uses, including livestock 
grazing, minerals, and lands and realty actions, are also addressed.
    The proposed RMP/Final EIS was made available to the public on 
September 6, 2013 in 78 FR 54909. Nine valid protest letters were 
received and 21 issues were identified. No comments were received as a 
result of the Governor's consistency review. The Director's Protest 
Resolution Report is available from the Winnemucca District's RMP Web 
site at: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_information/rmp.html.
    As a result of resolving protest issues, the following changes were 
made to the final RMP: added language to management action for 
vegetation-riparian/wetlands (action VRW 1.1.1) to clarify adaptive 
management; included the Snowstorms Mountains-fence for HMA boundary 
adjustments in action WHB 1.2; clarified management action for 
cooperative agreements with livestock permittees in action LG 5.4; and 
corrected response to public comment in Appendix M regarding areas to 
be closed to livestock grazing within certain allotments. Other minor 
editorial modifications to provide further clarification of some of the 
decisions were made. Reformatting of the final RMP resulted in 
renumbering

[[Page 29732]]

of some of the management actions, noted in the document itself. 
Clarifications on management actions and corrections regarding the 
analysis provided in the EIS are described in the ROD. These include 
actions pertaining to vegetation (range), fish and wildlife habitat, 
special status species habitat (specifically Greater Sage-Grouse), wild 
horse and burro, livestock grazing, and lands and realty.
    During the development of the final RMP and ROD, the Pine Forest 
Range Wilderness was designated through the presidential approval of 
the National Defense Authorization Act (December 19, 2014) Public Law 
113-291, section 3064. The ROD and RMP reflect changes to management 
actions based on this designation.
    The EIS analyzed four alternatives: Alternative A (no action), 
Alternative B (use intensive), Alternative C (environmental 
protection), and Alternative D (the Preferred Alternative). The 
Preferred Alternative as described in the proposed RMP was selected in 
the ROD, with some minor clarifications based on protests. The ROD 
adopts the RMP's goals and objectives and management actions to reach 
those goals and objectives. The ROD does not directly implement any 
specific action. Future actions will be consistent with the management 
direction in the approved RMP 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 mine plans of operation or rangeland health assessments. The 
approved RMP provides for the development of future implementation 
plans for special recreation management areas, communication sites, 
acquired lands, and travel and transportation management.
    The approved RMP also describes future step down plans for resource 
protection including rangeland health assessments, cultural and 
paleontological management plans, wild horse and burro herd management 
plans, and an invasive weed control plan.

    Authority:  40 CFR 1506.6

Amy Lueders,
State Director, Nevada.
[FR Doc. 2015-12190 Filed 5-21-15; 8:45 am]
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