Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for an Off-Highway Vehicle Amendment to Resource Management Plans and Forest Plans

The Montana/Dakotas BLM administers 8.5 million acres of public land within 10 field offices. Each office manages OHV use under a land use plan. These land use plans allow for three designations of vehicle use; open, limited, and closed. These land use plans vary considerably in OHV designations. More recent plans limit OHV use to existing or designated roads and trails in portions of the area, while older plans were developed prior to the increased use of OHVs and leave most areas open. Currently, 5 million acres are open for unrestricted travel, 3.4 million acres are limited seasonally or yearlong to existing or designated roads and trails, and 99,000 acres are closed. The FS administers 18.2 million acres of land in Montana and the Dakotas located within nine national forests and the Dakota Prairie Grasslands. Each national forest manages OHV use as part of their forest plans. The OHV use is prohibited in all designated wilderness areas. Forest plans allow for three designations of use in other areas; open, restricted, and closed. Forest plans vary considerably in the amount of area designated for these uses. Some forests have many areas that are open while other forests have few open areas. Some forests restrict OHV use to designated roads and trails only. All forest plans were prepared prior to the recent increase in OHV use and the new development of all terrain vehicle technology. One of the many opportunities on public land is traveling the backcountry for recreational pursuits, such as sight-seeing, wood cutting, fishing, hunting, and other activities as provided by the direction of existing land management and resource plans. Some of this use occurs on public lands where OHV use is currently limited to existing or designated roads and trails. It is the goal of both agencies to provide for a wide spectrum of dispersed recreation activities that will minimize environmental impacts and minimize conflicts between user groups. However, there are large areas of public land that are open to cross-country travel off roads and trails. This unrestricted use has the potential to continue the spread of noxious weeds, create user conflicts, cause erosion, damage cultural sites, and disrupt wildlife and wildlife habitat. The magnitude of these impacts is not known at this time. With an increase in OHV traffic and changes in OHV technology, the public and land management agencies recognize the need to evaluate the current management decisions for those areas where driving off roads and trails is allowed. A change in management direction would be accomplished through an EIS and an interagency plan amendment. The plan amendment would address the use of wheeled, motorized vehicles designed for and/or capable of travel off roads and trails. The BLM and FS propose changing the areas currently open seasonally or yearlong to cross-country OHV use to a designation that allows for travel only on roads and trails. However, this would not change most of the current limited or closed designations, or designated intensive use areas. Travel planning currently under consideration at individual FS and BLM offices will continue and those analyses with recent decisions will remain in place under this proposal. Exceptions for off-road travel will be considered for game retrieval, camping, or disabled access. Access allowed under the terms and conditions of a federal lease or permit would not be affected by the proposal. This broad scale decision as proposed would be an interim decision until revision or completion of travel management plans. After the plan amendment is completed, the BLM and FS would continue to develop travel plans for geographical areas (i.e., landscape analysis, watershed plans, or activity plans). Through travel planning, roads and trails would be inventoried, mapped, and designated as open or closed. Travel planning may identify areas for trail development or further limit travel off roads and trails. Travel planning may require implementation over a 10 to 15 year period. Snowmobile use will not be addressed in this particular proposal. The agencies agree that to do so would lengthen the process significantly. In addition, the resource impacts associated with snowmobile use are different enough to warrant a separate analysis. The agencies are currently exploring options for addressing snowmobile use. The scoping period for the plan amendment and EIS will begin in January 1999, and open houses will be held in February 1999. The dates, times and locations of these open houses will be announced in local newspapers, and other news media, and available from the local offices of the BLM and FS. A draft plan amendment and EIS should be available for review in June 1999, with public meetings in July 1999. The comment period on the draft plan amendment and EIS will be 90 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes the notice of availability in the Federal Register.

Authority: Sec. 202, Pub. L. 94-579, 90 Stat. 2747 (43 U.S.C. 1712), Sec. 6, Pub. L. 94-588, 90 Stat. 2949 (16 U.S.C. 1604). Larry E. Hamilton, State Director. Dale N. Bosworth, Regional Forester. [FR Doc. 99-1438 Filed 1-21-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4310-DN-P