81 FR 35796 - Notice of Availability of the Draft Medford District Resource Management Plan Amendment and Environmental Assessment: Table Rocks Area of Critical Environmental Concern Proposed Boundary Change and Supplementary Rules

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 107 (June 3, 2016)

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment and Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) titled Medford District RMP Amendment and EA: Table Rocks Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) Proposed Boundary Change and Supplementary Rules and, by this notice, is announcing the opening of the comment period.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 107 (Friday, June 3, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35796-35798]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-13130]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLORM05000.L63340000.DU0000.16XL1116AF; HAG 16-0047]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Medford District Resource 
Management Plan Amendment and Environmental Assessment: Table Rocks 
Area of Critical Environmental Concern Proposed Boundary Change and 
Supplementary Rules

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a 
Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment and Draft Environmental 
Assessment (EA) titled Medford District RMP Amendment and EA: Table 
Rocks Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) Proposed Boundary 
Change and Supplementary Rules and, by this notice, is announcing the 
opening of the comment period.

[[Page 35797]]


DATES: To ensure that comments will be considered, the BLM must receive 
written comments on the Draft RMP Amendment/Draft EA within 60 days 
following the date the BLM publishes its notice of the Draft RMP 
Amendment/Draft EA in the Federal Register. The BLM will announce 
future meetings or hearings and any other public participation 
activities at least 15 days in advance through public notices, media 
releases, and/or mailings.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the Medford District RMP 
Amendment and EA: Table Rocks ACEC Proposed Boundary Change and 
Supplementary Rules by any of the following methods:
     Web site: https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/nepa/nepa_register.do.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: (541) 618-2400.
     Mail: 3040 Biddle Road, Medford, OR 97504.
    Copies of the Medford District RMP Amendment and EA: Table Rocks 
ACEC Proposed Boundary Change and Supplementary Rules are available in 
the Medford District Office at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anthony Kerwin, District Planning and 
Environmental Coordinator; telephone (541) 618-2402; address 3040 
Biddle Road, Medford, OR 97504; 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 proposed action includes the following:
     Add to Table Rocks ACEC designation 863 acres the BLM has 
acquired since the original 1986 ACEC designation. The parcels include 
40 acres on Lower Table Rock in Township 36 South, Range 2 West, 
Section 4; 557 acres on Upper Table Rock in Township 35 South, Range 2 
West, Sections 25, 26, 35, & 36; and 266 acres on Upper Table Rock in 
Township 36 South, Range 2 West, Section 2.
     Remove from ACEC designation 0.9 acres located in Township 
36 South, Range 2 West, Section 1, located across Modoc Road from the 
Upper Table Rock trailhead parking lot (Map 2 inset).
     Establish the ACEC boundary around an area totaling 4,864 
acres which would encompass contiguous BLM and TNC lands and lands 
under conservation easement. The establishment of the larger ACEC 
boundary would not establish an ACEC or authorize any BLM decisions or 
actions on non-BLM lands (including existing TNC lands).
     In the future, incorporate lands acquired within or 
adjacent to the expanded ACEC boundary if they meet the relevance and 
importance criteria for the Table Rocks ACEC and require special 
management attention.
     Establish the following supplemental rules:
    a. No discharge of firearms, or discharge of gas or air powered 
weapons, including paintball and paintball-like weapons.
    b. No motorized vehicles or non-motorized mechanized vehicles that 
are propelled or powered by any means.
    c. No dogs or other domestic animals outside of trailhead parking 
areas, except on trails signed as allowing leashed dogs in the Camp 
White zone.
    d. No metal detectors or digging, scraping, disturbing, or removing 
natural land features for any purpose.
    e. No campfires or overnight camping.
    The ACEC boundary and designation changes would amend the 1995 
Medford RMP. The adoption of the supplementary rules is an 
implementation-level action.
    The supplementary rules would make permanent the Temporary 
Restrictions that were implemented in 2014 to protect the resource 
values of the 1,243 acres of ACEC lands and the 852 acres of acquired 
BLM lands. Those restrictions were published in the Federal Register on 
March 26, 2014, and prohibited the above-mentioned activities in the 
Table Rocks ACEC and associated, acquired lands.
    The Table Rocks ACEC was designated in 1986 by an amendment to the 
Medford District Management Framework Plan. The area, which includes 
1,003 acres on Upper Table Rock and 240 acres on Lower Table Rock, was 
designated an ACEC to recognize and protect botanical and geological 
features, threatened and endangered and special status species, and 
natural systems. The vernal pools, ecology, Limnanthes pumila ssp. 
pumila (plant species: Dwarf woolly meadowfoam), and geology met the 
criteria for relevance and importance to qualify the area as an ACEC.
    Between 1979 and 2009, TNC acquired several parcels on the Table 
Rocks which they have managed as the Table Rocks Preserve. In 1980, TNC 
was granted a perpetual conservation easement on 795 acres of private 
land on Lower Table Rock. In 2009, TNC purchased a parcel with funds 
provided in part by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB). As a 
condition of the OWEB grant, TNC granted OWEB a perpetual easement on 
898 acres of the purchased lands on both Table Rocks. The Nature 
Conservancy's management objectives are to protect ecological diversity 
and to provide scenic and biologic continuity between the Table Rocks 
and the Rogue River while protecting the area from potential 
development.
    As of 2012, the BLM and TNC own all vernal pool habitats on the 
summits and most of the flanks of the Table Rocks, totaling 4,864 
acres. Since the 1986 ACEC designation, the BLM has acquired three 
parcels from TNC--40 acres on Lower Table Rock to develop trailhead 
facilities and 823 acres in two separate parcels on Upper Table Rock. 
The BLM anticipates acquiring a fourth acquisition from TNC in 2016 
consisting of five parcels totaling 221 acres. These parcels were 
evaluated in 2013 in an ACEC review and were determined to contain 
ecological, historical, cultural and scenic resources, and potential 
recreational values similar and supplemental to the original ACEC. They 
meet the criteria for relevance and importance for an ACEC and are 
under temporary management consistent with management of the rest of 
the Table Rocks ACEC until they are officially designated as part of 
the ACEC. While these lands are within the proposed ACEC boundary, they 
will not be part of the ACEC; however, this allows the BLM to 
incorporate lands we expect to acquire in the future within this 
boundary into the ACEC without having to prepare another RMP Amendment.
    The BLM issued a Notice of Intent to Prepare an RMP Amendment on 
September 8, 2014. Publication of the Notice of Intent initiated the 
public scoping process, with public comments accepted until October 8, 
2014. The BLM also sent 366 letters to various agencies, organizations, 
and landowners located within the planning area. Over 70 responses were 
received, and many requested a public meeting. On October 16, 
approximately 50 people attended an evening open house held at the BLM 
Medford District Office. Because of the interest in the project, the 
public comment period was extended to November 25, 2015. Another 26 
comments were received. The main issue raised by the public during 
scoping was opposition to the scale and scope of the proposed 13,556-
acre ACEC and concern over what the proposed ACEC boundary would mean 
to private property rights within the boundary. In response, the BLM 
decreased the size of

[[Page 35798]]

the proposed boundary in the current proposed action to only include 
BLM- and TNC-administered lands. No other unresolved issues were 
identified during scoping.
    Scoping conducted for the Table Rocks Temporary Restrictions EA in 
2013 was also considered during development of the Draft Plan Amendment 
and EA. Scoping for the temporary restrictions included visitor surveys 
conducted at the Table Rocks in 2011 by the Southern Oregon Research 
Center at Southern Oregon University; discussing hunting issues with 
representatives from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Rocky 
Mountain Elk Foundation, and Oregon Hunters Association; and meeting 
with the Jackson County Commissioners, who submitted a comment that 
generated local newspaper and television interest. One comment on the 
EA was received from the Jackson County Office of County Council which 
proposed that the BLM should consider implementing temporary 
restrictions only on the BLM lands that were previously owned by TNC.
    This notice begins the 30-day comment period for the Draft Medford 
District RMP Amendment and EA: Table Rocks Area of Critical 
Environmental Concern (ACEC) Proposed Boundary Change and Supplementary 
Rules. Please note that public comments and information submitted--
including names, street addresses, and email addresses of persons who 
submit comments--will be available for public review and disclosure at 
the above-address during regular business hours (8:00 a.m. to 4:00 
p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays.
    Before including your address, phone number, email 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 cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

    Authority:  40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10, 43 CFR 1610.2

Jamie E. Connell,
Acting State Director, Oregon/Washington.
[FR Doc. 2016-13130 Filed 6-2-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-33-P