Requirement for Further Environmental Analysis

Site-specific planning by Interdisciplinary Teams (IDTs) will precede most on-the-ground management activities. Interdisciplinary Teams are comprised of relevant resource management disciplines. The IDT process includes, as appropriate, field examination of resources, identification of alternative management actions, and analysis. Adjacent land uses would be considered during site-specific land management planning. Although the RMP implementing actions are described by individual resources, most activities will be consolidated and considered in inter-disciplinary, multi-resource activity plans and based on watershed analyses.

Site-specific environmental analysis and documentation (including Environmental Assessments (EAs), categorical exclusions or administrative determinations where appropriate, and RMP conformance determination) will be accomplished for each action or type of treatment under consideration. Where the action is to be accomplished by a contractor or timber sale purchaser, the EA or other environmental analysis is a primary means for determining appropriate contract stipulations. Where the action is to be accomplished by BLM personnel, the environmental analysis is a primary means for determining how it will be conducted. When determining whether activities retard or prevent attainment of Aquatic Conservation Strategy objectives, the scale of analysis typically will be BLM analytical watersheds or similar units.

Watershed analysis or province analysis will often precede environmental analysis of specific proposals, and the findings of such preceding analyses will be addressed in documentation of the environmental analyses. Similarly, late-successional reserve assessments will precede activities in those reserves and their findings will be addressed in environmental analysis of those activities. Ultimately, watershed analysis will serve as the basis for developing project-specific proposals and determining monitoring and restoration needs for a watershed. Project-specific NEPA planning will use information developed from watershed analysis. By improving understanding of the ecological structures, functions, processes and interactions occurring within a watershed, watershed analysis will enhance the ability to predict direct, indirect and cumulative impacts of specific proposals in that watershed.

Analyses of proposals for the use of prescribed fire will adhere to the requirements of the Clean Air Act and the State Implementation Plan (including the Visibility Protection Plan and Smoke Management Plan).

Interdisciplinary impact analysis will be tiered within the framework of applicable environmental analyses. Tiering is used to prepare more specific documents without duplicating relevant parts of previously prepared general documents. The more specific EA or EIS cannot lead directly to a change in the decisions based on the more general EIS to which it is tiered. It could, however, result in some interim management direction pending plan revision, or a proposal to amend the plan. If an EA indicates potential for significant impacts that are seriously different from those described in an existing EIS, a new EIS (or supplement to an existing EIS) may be required.

Specific proposals for treatment to manage competing vegetation and for control of noxious weeds will be addressed in site-specific environmental assessments.

Availability of EAs for public review will be announced in a minimum of one, and generally all, of the following ways:

News release distributed to the newsroom of area newspapers, TV, and radio stations;
Notices posted in the public area at the District Office;
Mailings to known interested/affected people, groups, Tribal units, governmental agencies and businesses. These mailings may include, but are not limited to, District Program Periodic District Planning and Project Update progress reports; and
Legal notices in one or more newspapers circulated in the project area.