81 FR 84611 - Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Bruneau-Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat Project, Owyhee County, Idaho

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 226 (November 23, 2016)

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) for the proposed Bruneau-Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat (BOSH) Project and by this notice is announcing the opening of the comment period.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 226 (Wednesday, November 23, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 84611-84612]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-28236]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[15XL LLIDB00100 LF1000000.HT0000 LXSS020D0000 241A 4500084766]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Proposed Bruneau-Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat Project, 
Owyhee County, Idaho

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 (NEPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has 
prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) for the 
proposed Bruneau-Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat (BOSH) Project 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 Bruneau-Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat Project 
Draft EIS within 45 days of this Notice of Availability being published 
in the Federal Register. The BLM will announce future meetings or 
hearings and any other public involvement activities at least 15 days 
in advance through public notices, media releases, and mailings.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the proposed Bruneau-
Owyhee Sage-Grouse Habitat Project by any of the following methods:
     Web site: http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/prog/nepa_register/BOSH-juniper-removal.html.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 208-384-3205.
     Mail: 3948 S. Development Ave., Boise, ID 83705.
    Please title your correspondence, ``BOSH Project'' and include 
``Attn: Mike McGee.'' Electronic copies of the proposed Bruneau-Owyhee 
Sage-Grouse Habitat Project Draft EIS are available at the BLM Boise 
District Office at the above address; you may also view or download the 
Draft EIS at the Web site listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike McGee, Project Lead/Wildlife 
Biologist, 3948 S. Development Ave., Boise, ID 83705; via email at 
[email protected]; or phone (208) 384-3464. 
Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call 
the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 to contact Mr. McGee. The 
Service

[[Page 84612]]

is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or 
question with Mr. McGee. You will receive a reply during normal 
business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Loss of suitable sage-grouse habitat from 
conversion of sagebrush steppe to juniper woodlands is a major threat 
to Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in southwest Idaho. 
The BLM, in collaboration with other Federal and State agencies and 
local groups, is proposing to remove encroaching juniper in areas that 
would provide the greatest benefit to existing sage-grouse habitat and 
improve the long-term viability and persistence of sage-grouse in the 
BOSH project area. The purpose of the project is to restore, improve, 
and maintain Greater Sage-Grouse habitat at a landscape scale that is 
being and/or has been degraded by the encroachment of western juniper 
(Juniperus occidentalis) into sagebrush communities.
    The proposed BOSH project boundary encompasses approximately 1.5 
million acres in the BLM Owyhee and Bruneau Field Office management 
areas in Owyhee County, Idaho. Within the proposed project area, an 
approximately 600,000-acre focal treatment area has been identified 
based on modeling and treatment criteria. The preferred alternative is 
to remove all juniper within 3 kilometers of occupied sage-grouse leks 
(breeding habitat areas where male sage-grouse gather each spring to 
perform courtship displays to attract and mate with females), all 
juniper in the early phases of encroachment (greater than 20 percent 
canopy cover), as well as 5-acre or smaller patches of later phases of 
juniper encroachment (less than 20 percent canopy cover) in riparian 
areas deemed important for sage-grouse in the focal treatment area. Old 
growth juniper trees, as identified in the Draft EIS, will not be 
removed during these treatments.
    Proposed treatment methods include cutting juniper with handsaws or 
chainsaws, lopping with pruning shears, or using heavy equipment such 
as a track-hoe fitted with a grinding implement (masticator) or a 
shearing implement (large, powerful pruning shears). Juniper material 
(logs, branches, etc.) may be scattered on site and left, or the 
material may be jackpot-burned or piled and burned where scattering cut 
material is not feasible or desirable (e.g., where there would be too 
much material to scatter, or in riparian areas).
    The focal treatment area includes approximately 47,000 acres of 
designated wilderness where only non-motorized hand tools would be used 
to cut juniper, which must be less than or equal to eight inches 
diameter at breast height, and access to treatment areas would be 
permitted on foot only. Juniper treatment in wilderness is included in 
the preferred alternative because 92 percent of the wilderness area 
(43,000 acres) is identified as a Priority Habitat Management Area for 
sage-grouse, and the remaining 8 percent (4,000 acres) is considered a 
General Habitat Management Area. Habitat management areas are 
delineated in the Record of Decision for the 2015 Greater Sage-Grouse 
Approved Resource Management Plan Amendments for Idaho and Southwest 
Montana. The BLM used the Minimum Requirements Decision Guide (MRDG) to 
ensure that juniper treatments in wilderness areas would produce the 
least disturbance possible (e.g., hand saws only, no vehicle travel off 
designated roads, foot traffic only, etc.).
    The other alternatives analyzed in the draft EIS include the No 
Action alternative (i.e., present management would continue as usual 
and the project would not be implemented in any form) and an action 
alternative to treat juniper on approximately 553,000 acres within the 
project area boundary that excludes wilderness (i.e., juniper in the 
47, 000 acres of designated wilderness would remain untreated).
    Internal meetings and meetings with collaborators to discuss and 
develop the project proposal began in 2013. A 30-day public scoping 
period was held from January 20 to February 20, 2015 to aid the BLM in 
project development. The scoping period included public meetings held 
at the Boise District Office on February 4, 2015 and at the Owyhee 
County Historical Museum on February 5, 2015. Important issues 
identified during internal and public scoping and addressed in the 
document include effects to the following: wildlife habitat (especially 
sage-grouse and migratory birds), native plant communities, riparian 
areas and vegetation, soils, visual resources, spread of noxious weeds 
and invasive plants, wilderness values, recreation values, cultural 
resources, and social values.
    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 a.m. to 4 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.

Lara Douglas,
BLM Boise District Manager.
[FR Doc. 2016-28236 Filed 11-22-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-GG-P