Requirement for Further Environmental Analysis

Site-specific planning by interdisciplinary teams would precede most on-the-ground management activities. Interdisciplinary teams are comprised of relevant resource management disciplines. The interdisciplinary team process includes field examination of resources, identification of alternative management actions, and analysis. Adjacent land uses would be considered during site-specific land management planning.

Site-specific environmental analysis and documentation (including environmental assessments, categorical exclusions or administrative determinations where appropriate, and resource management plan 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 environmental assessment 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. Ultimately, watershed analysis will serve as the basis for developing project-specific proposals and determining monitoring and restoration needs for a watershed. Project-specific National Environmental Policy Act 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). Conformity determinations, to evaluate whether BLM actions comply with the State Implementation Plan, will be conducted in association with site-specific environmental analysis, where emissions can be most reasonably forecasted in quantified terms. These analyses will specifically evaluate the effects of project-specific prescribed burning on nonattainment areas.

Accurate assessment of local and airshed-level air quality effects of ecosystem management may require cumulative effects analysis, reflecting all relevant BLM actions, as well as expected actions of other parties. Coordination with other agencies is implicit. Cumulative effects analysis will include consideration of the effects on visibility and regional haze. Where extensive fuel hazard reduction by prescribed burning is considered, the analysis also will consider the impact of prescribed burning on wildfire emissions. This will be done in a quantified trade-off analysis, comparing emissions from prescribed fire with potential emissions from wildfires if prescribed burning is not accomplished. Factors considered when establishing the geographic boundaries for a cumulative effects analysis include whether the action will result in impacts that cross administrative boundaries, and whether the action will affect sensitive air quality regions (for example, Class I areas and nonattainment areas). Resultant analysis may be based on airsheds.

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 environmental assessment or other environmental analysis cannot lead directly to a change in the decisions based on the more general environmental impact statement 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 environmental assessment indicates potential for significant impacts that are seriously different from those described in an existing environmental impact statement, a new environmental impact statement (or supplement to an existing environmental impact statement) 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 environmental assessments for public review will be announced in a minimum of one 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 Klamath Falls Resource Area office;
Mailings to known interested/affected people, groups, tribal units, governmental agencies and businesses. These mailings may include, but are not limited to, District Planning Update progress reports.
Legal notices in one or more newspapers circulated in the project area.