4331-15
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_CA_FRN_MO4500179115]
Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final
Environmental Impact Statement for the Redding and Arcata Field Offices
Northwest California Integrated Resource Management Plan, California.
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as
amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as
amended (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Proposed
Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for
the Redding Field Office and Arcata Field Office Northwest California Integrated
Resource Management Plan and by this notice is announcing the start of a 30-day protest
period of the Proposed RMP.
DATES: This notice announces a 30-day protest period to the BLM on the Proposed
RMP beginning with the date following the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)
publication of its Notice of Availability (NOA) of the Proposed RMP/Final EIS in the
Federal Register. The EPA usually publishes its NOAs on Fridays. Protests must be
postmarked or electronically submitted on the BLM’s ePlanning site during the 30-day
protest period.
ADDRESSES: The Proposed RMP and Final EIS is available on the BLM ePlanning
project website at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2012803/510.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined online at

https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2012803/510 and at the Arcata Field
Office and Redding Field Office.
Instructions for filing a protest with the BLM for the Proposed Northwest
California Integrated Resource Management Plan can be found at
https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/filing-a-planprotest and at 43 CFR 1610.5-2. The address for filing a protest is: the ePlanning
website listed above or BLM Director, Attention: Protest Coordinator (HQ210), Denver
Federal Center, Building 40 (Door W-4), Lakewood, CO 80215
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Victoria Callahan, Planning and
Environmental Specialist, telephone: (707) 825-2315; address: Bureau of Land
Management, Arcata Field Office, 1695 Heindon Road, Arcata, California 95521-4573;
email: vslaughter@blm.gov or Chad Endicott, Planning and Environmental Specialist,
telephone: (530) 224-2140; address: Bureau of Land Management, Redding Field Office,
6640 Lockheed Drive, Redding, CA 96002-9003; email: cendicott@blm.gov. Individuals
in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability
may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services for
contacting Ms. Callahan or Mr. Endicott. Individuals outside the United States should use
the relay services offered within their country to make international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides notice that the BLM
California State Director has prepared a Proposed RMP and Final EIS and provides
information announcing the availability on the Proposed RMP and Final EIS. The
planning area is in Mendocino, Humboldt, Del Norte, Siskiyou, Trinity, Shasta, Tehama,
and Butte counties, California, and encompasses approximately 382,200 acres of public
land and approximately 295,100 subsurface acres of Federal mineral estate.

Current Arcata Field Office and Redding Field Office management is identified in
their respective 1992 and 1993 RMPs. All existing management as described in the
Arcata Field Office and Redding Field Office approved RMPs remains in effect until and
unless replaced or modified by the Northwest California Integrated Resource
Management Plan Approved RMP and Record of Decision. Separate management plans
guide BLM management for National Monuments, National Conservation Areas, and
similar designations within the planning area.
Other non-BLM-administered lands within the planning area include the Six
Rivers, Shasta-Trinity, Klamath, Lassen, Plumas, and Mendocino National Forests;
Lassen Volcanic and Redwoods National Parks; the Whiskeytown and Smith River
National Recreation Areas; the Sacramento Castle Rock and Humboldt Bay National
Wildlife Refuges; and Black Butte Lake (managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers).
In addition, Tribal lands and reservations for 31 federally recognized Native American
Tribes fall within the planning area, and the BLM-administered lands include ancestral
territories, sacred sites, gathering areas, and other places important to Tribes. The Bureau
of Reclamation manages numerous land holdings and facilities within the planning area,
including six hydroelectric dams and lands that are co-managed with the BLM under a
memorandum of agreement with the Redding Field Office near the Shasta Dam and
Keswick Reservoir. In addition to federally managed lands, there are an extensive
number of State of California-managed beaches, parks, wildlife areas, and recreation
areas in the planning area. The Arcata Field Office and Redding Field Office have taken
these non-BLM-administered lands into account in this planning effort.
In preparing the Proposed RMP, the BLM evaluated in detail four alternatives in
the Final EIS, including the No Action Alternative (Alternative A) and three action
alternatives (Alternatives B, C, and D) that were based on known resource use and issues
in the planning area. Alternative B emphasizes resource connectivity and resiliency.

Under Alternative B, the BLM would manage for multiple use and maintenance of
corridors of relatively undeveloped areas to provide for connectivity of wildlife and
fisheries habitat, and to serve as a resilient refuge from ongoing development and climate
change. This, in turn, would provide recreational and aesthetic resources for public
enjoyment. Alternative C emphasizes community access and development. Under
Alternative C, the BLM would also manage for multiple use and public enjoyment with
an emphasis on recreational opportunity and access, travel and utility opportunities, and
social and economic benefits. Alternative D aims to create opportunities for resource
uses, such as recreation, motorized and mechanized travel, and livestock grazing, while
maintaining ecological function and meeting land capability to protect habitat
connectivity. All action alternatives would enable the BLM to manage for multiple use
and long-term sustainability and provide for public use and enjoyment of BLMadministered lands.
These action alternatives are analyzed against the No Action Alternative (current
management) and comply with the BLM’s management responsibilities and regulatory
requirements.
The State Director has identified Alternative D as the preferred alternative.
Alternative D was found to best meet the State Director’s planning guidance and,
therefore, was selected as the preferred alternative. By including components of all
alternatives considered, Alternative D strikes a balance between the action alternatives to
provide community access and development, while ensuring wildlife connectivity and
ecosystem resilience.
Public review of the Draft Northwest California Integrated RMP and EIS began
on September 29, 2023, and ended on December 28, 2023. The BLM held two virtual and
two in-person public meetings across the planning area during the 90-day comment
period. Comments received on the Draft RMP and EIS were considered and incorporated

in the Proposed RMP and Final EIS as appropriate. Public and cooperating agency
comments and further internal BLM review resulted in the addition of clarifying text and
refinement of Alternative D, including, but not limited to, updated suitability
determinations for six Wild and Scenic Rivers segments, and revised goals, objectives,
and management direction for the Riparian Management Areas.
Protest of the Proposed RMP
The BLM planning regulations state that any person who participated in the
preparation of the RMP and has an interest that will or might be adversely affected by
approval of the Proposed RMP may protest its approval to the BLM Director. Protest on
the Proposed RMP constitutes the final opportunity for administrative review of the
proposed land use planning decisions prior to the BLM adopting an approved RMP.
Instructions for filing a protest regarding the Proposed RMP with the BLM Director may
be found online at
https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/filing-a-planprotest and at 43 CFR 1610.5-2. All protests must be in writing and mailed to the
appropriate address or submitted electronically through the BLM ePlanning project
website, as set forth in the ADDRESSES section earlier. Protests submitted
electronically by any means other than the ePlanning project website will be invalid
unless a protest is also submitted as a hard copy. The BLM Director will render a written
decision on each protest. The Director’s decision shall be the final decision of the
Department of the Interior. Responses to valid protest issues will be compiled and
documented in a Protest Resolution Report made available following the protest
resolution online at: https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/publicparticipation/protest-resolution-reports. Upon resolution of protests, the BLM will issue
a Record of Decision (ROD) and Approved RMP.

Before including your phone number, email address, or other personal identifying
information in your protest, you should be aware that your entire protest – including your
personal identifying information – may be made publicly available at any time. While
you can ask us in your protest 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, 43 CFR 1610.5)

Gordon R. Toevs,
Acting State Director.
[FR Doc. 2024-13463 Filed: 6/20/2024 8:45 am; Publication Date: 6/21/2024]