Department of the Interior
Departmental
Manual
Effective Date:
5/8/08
Series: Environmental Quality Programs
Part 516: National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
Chapter 11: Managing the NEPA Process--Bureau of Land
Management
Originating Office: Bureau of Land Management
516 DM 11
11.1 Purpose.
This chapter provides supplementary
requirements for implementing provisions of 516 DM Chapters 1 through 6 for the
Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The BLM’s National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) Handbook (H-1790-1) provides additional guidance.
11.2 NEPA
Responsibilities.
A. The
Director and Deputy Director(s) are responsible for the BLM NEPA compliance
activities.
B. The
Assistant Director, Renewable Resources and Planning, is responsible for
national NEPA compliance leadership and coordination, program direction,
policy, and protocols development, and implementation of the same at the line
management level. The Division of Planning
and Science Policy, within the Assistant Directorate, Renewable Resources and
Planning, has the BLM lead for the NEPA compliance program direction and
oversight.
C. The
BLM Office Directors and other Assistant Directors are responsible for
cooperating with the Assistant Director, Renewable Resources and Planning, to
ensure that the BLM NEPA compliance procedures operate as prescribed within
their areas of responsibility.
D. The
BLM Center Directors are responsible for cooperating with the Assistant
Director, Renewable Resources and Planning, to ensure that the BLM NEPA
compliance procedures operate as prescribed within their areas of
responsibility.
E. The
State Directors are responsible to the Director/Deputy Director(s) for overall
direction, integration and implementation of the BLM NEPA compliance procedures
in their states. This includes managing
for the appropriate level of public notification and participation, and
ensuring production of quality environmental review and decision
documents. Deputy State Directors serve
as focal points for NEPA compliance matters at the state level.
F. The
District and Field Managers are responsible for NEPA compliance at the local
level.
11.3 External
Applicants’ Guidance.
A. General.
(1) For all external proposals, applicants should make initial
contact with the Responsible Official (District Manager, Field Manager, or
State Director) responsible for the affected public lands as soon as possible
after determining the BLM’s involvement.
This early contact is necessary to allow the BLM to consult early with
appropriate state and local agencies and tribes and with interested private
persons and organizations, and to commence its NEPA process at the earliest
possible time.
(2) When a proposed action has the potential to affect public lands
in more than one administrative unit, the applicant may initially contact any Responsible
Official whose jurisdiction is involved.
The BLM may then designate a lead office to coordinate between BLM
jurisdictions.
(3) Potential applicants may secure from the Responsible Official a
list of NEPA and other relevant regulations and requirements for environmental
review related to each applicant’s proposed action. The purpose of making these regulations and
requirements known in advance is to assist the applicant in the development of
an adequate and accurate description of the proposed action when the applicant
submits their project application. The
list provided to the applicant may not fully disclose all relevant regulations
and requirements because additional requirements could be identified after
review of the applicant’s proposal document(s) and as a result of the “scoping”
process.
(4) The applicant is encouraged to advise the BLM of their
intentions early on in their planning process.
Early communication is necessary so that the BLM can efficiently advise
the applicant on the anticipated type of NEPA review required, information
needed, and potential data gaps that may or may not need to be filled, so that the
BLM can describe the relevant regulations and requirements likely to affect the
proposed action(s), and to discuss scheduling expectations.
B. Regulations. The following list of potentially relevant
regulations should be considered at a minimum.
Many other regulations affect public lands--some of which are specific
to the BLM, while others are applicable across a broad range of federal
programs (e.g., Protection of Historic and Cultural Programs--36 Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) Part 800).
(1) Resource Management Planning--43 CFR 1610;
(2) Withdrawals--43 CFR 2300;
(3) Land Classification--43 CFR 2400;
(4) Disposition: Occupancy and Use--43 CFR 2500;
(5) Disposition: Grants--43 CFR 2600;
(6) Disposition:
Sales--43 CFR 2700;
(7) Use: Rights-of-Way--43 CFR 2800;
(8) Use: Leases and Permits--43 CFR 2900;
(9) Oil and Gas Leasing--43 CFR 3100;
(10) Geothermal Resources Leasing--43 CFR 3200;
(11) Coal Management--43 CFR 3400;
(12) Leasing of Solid Minerals Other than Coal/Oil
Shale--43 CFR 3500;
(13) Mineral Materials Disposal--43 CFR 3600;
(14) Mining Claims Under the General Mining
Laws--43 CFR 3800;
(15) Grazing Administration--43 CFR 4100;
(16) Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro
Management--43 CFR 4700;
(17) Forest Management--43 CFR 5000;
(18) Wildlife Management--43 CFR 6000;
(19) Recreation Management--43 CFR 8300; and
(20) Wilderness Management--43 CFR 6300.
11.4 General
Requirements. The Council on
Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations state that federal agencies shall
reduce paperwork and delay (40 CFR 1500.4 and 1500.5) to the fullest extent
possible. The information used in any
NEPA analysis must be of high quality.
Accurate scientific analysis, agency expert comments, and public scrutiny
are essential to implementing the NEPA (40 CFR 1500.1(b)). Environmental documents should be concise and
written in plain language (40 CFR 1502.8), so they can be understood and should
concentrate on the issues that are truly significant to the action in question
rather than amassing needless detail (40 CFR 1500.1(b)).
A. Reduce
paperwork and delays: The Responsible
Official will avoid unnecessary duplication of effort and promote cooperation
with other federal agencies that have permitting, funding, approving, or other
consulting or coordinating requirements associated with the proposed
action. The Responsible Official shall,
as appropriate, integrate NEPA requirements with other environmental review and
consultation requirements (40 CFR 1500.4(k)); tier to broader environmental
review documents (40 CFR 1502.20); incorporate by reference relevant studies
and analyses (40 CFR 1502.21); adopt other agency environmental analyses (40
CFR 1506.3); and supplement analyses with new information (40 CFR 1502.9).
B. Eliminate
duplicate tribal, state, and local governmental procedures (40 CFR 1506.2): The Responsible Official will cooperate with
other governmental entities to the fullest extent possible to reduce
duplication between federal, state, local and tribal requirements in addition
to, but not in conflict with, those in the NEPA. Cooperation may include the following: common databases; joint planning processes;
joint science investigations; joint public meetings and hearings; and joint environmental
assessment (EA) level and joint environmental impact statement (EIS) level
analyses using joint lead or cooperating agency status.
C. Consult
and coordinate: The Responsible Official
will determine early in the process the appropriate type and level of
consultation and coordination required with other federal agencies and with
state, local and tribal governments.
After the NEPA review is completed, coordination will often continue
throughout project implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
D. Involve
the public: The public must be involved
early and continuously, as appropriate, throughout the NEPA process. The Responsible Official shall ensure that:
(1) The type and level of public involvement shall be commensurate
with the NEPA analysis needed to make the decision.
(2) When feasible, communities can be involved through
consensus-based management activities.
Consensus-based management includes direct community involvement in the BLM
activities subject to NEPA analyses, from initial scoping to implementation and
monitoring of the impacts of the decision.
Consensus-based management seeks to achieve agreement from diverse
interests on the goals, purposes, and needs of the BLM plans and activities and
the methods needed to achieve those ends.
The BLM retains exclusive decision-making responsibility and shall
exercise that responsibility in a timely manner.
E. Implement
Adaptive Management: The Responsible
Official is encouraged to build “Adaptive Management” practice in to their
proposed actions and NEPA compliance activities and train personnel in this
important environmental concept.
Adaptive Management in the DOI is a system of management practices based
on clearly identified outcomes, monitoring to determine if management actions
are meeting outcomes, and the facilitation of management changes to ensure that
outcomes are met, or reevaluated as necessary. Such reevaluation may require new or
supplemental NEPA compliance. Adaptive
Management recognizes that knowledge about natural resource systems is sometimes
uncertain and is the preferred method for addressing these cases. The preferred alternative should include
sufficient flexibility to allow for adjustments in implementation in response
to monitoring results.
F. Train
for public and community involvement: The BLM employee(s) that facilitate(s)
public and community involvement in the NEPA process should have training in
public involvement, alternative dispute resolution, negotiation, meeting
facilitation, collaboration, and/or partnering.
G. Limitations
on Actions during the NEPA process: The
following guidance may aid in fulfilling the requirements of 40 CFR 1506.1. During
the preparation of a program or plan NEPA document, the Responsible Official
may undertake any major Federal action within the scope and analyzed in the existing NEPA document supporting the
current plan or program, so long as there is adequate NEPA documentation to
support the individual action.
11.5 Plan
Conformance. Where a BLM land use
plan (LUP) exists, a proposed action must be in conformance with the plan. This means that the proposed action must be
specifically provided for in the plan, or if not specifically mentioned, the
proposal must be clearly consistent with the terms, conditions, and decisions
of the plan or plan as amended. If it is
determined that the proposed action does not conform to the plan, the
Responsible Official may:
A. reject
the proposal,
B. modify
the proposal to conform to the land use plan, or
C. complete
appropriate plan amendments and associated NEPA compliance requirements prior
to proceeding with the proposed action.
11.6 Existing
Documentation (Determination of NEPA Adequacy). The Responsible Official may consider using
existing NEPA analysis for a proposed action when the record documents show
that the following conditions are met.
A. The
proposed action is adequately covered by (i.e., is within the scope of and
analyzed in) relevant existing analyses, data, and records; and
B. There
are no new circumstances, new information, or unanticipated or unanalyzed
environmental impacts that warrant new or supplemental analysis. If the Responsible Official determines that
existing NEPA documents adequately analyzed the effects of the proposed action,
this determination, usually prepared in a Determination of NEPA Adequacy (DNA) worksheet to provide the
administrative record support, serves as an interim step in the BLM’s internal
decision-making process. The DNA is
intended to evaluate the coverage of existing documents and the significance of
new information, but does not itself provide NEPA analysis. If the Responsible Official concludes that the
proposed action(s) warrant additional review, information from the DNA worksheet
may be used to facilitate the preparation of the appropriate level of NEPA
analysis. The BLM’s NEPA Handbook and
program specific regulations and guidance describe additional steps needed to
make and document the agency’s final determination regarding a proposed
action.
11.7 Actions
Requiring an Environmental Assessment (EA).
A. An
EA is a concise public document that serves to:
(1) Provide sufficient evidence and analysis
for determining whether to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) or a
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI);
(2) Aid the BLM's compliance with NEPA when an
EIS is not necessary; and
(3)
Facilitate preparation of an EIS when
one is necessary.
B. Unlike
an EIS that requires much more, an EA must include the following four items
identified in 40 CFR 1508.9(b):
(1) The need for the proposal.
(2) Alternatives as described in Section
102(2)(E) of NEPA.
(3) The environmental impacts of the proposed
action and alternatives.
(4) A listing of agencies and persons
consulted.
C. An
EA is usually the appropriate NEPA document for:
(1) Land Use Plan Amendments;
(2) Land use plan implementation decisions, including but not
limited to analysis for implementation plans such as watershed plans or
coordinated resource activity plans, resource use permits (except for those
that are categorically excludable), and site-specific project plans, such as
construction of a trail.
D. An
EA should be completed when the Responsible Official is uncertain of the
potential for significant impacts and needs further analysis to make the
determination.
E. If,
for any of these actions, it is anticipated or determined that an EA is not
appropriate because of potential significant impacts, an EIS will be prepared.
11.8 Major
Actions Requiring an EIS.
A. An
EIS level analysis should be completed when an action meets either of the two following
criteria.
(1) If the impacts of a proposed action are
expected to be significant; or
(2) In circumstances where a proposed action is
directly related to another action(s), and cumulatively the effects of the
actions taken together would be significant, even if the effects of the actions
taken separately would not be significant,
B. The
following types of BLM actions will normally require the preparation of an EIS:
(1) Approval of Resource Management Plans.
(2) Proposals for Wild and Scenic Rivers and National Scenic and
Historic Trails.
(3) Approval of regional coal lease sales in a coal production
region.
(4) Decisions to issue a coal preference right lease.
(5) Approval of applications to the BLM for major actions in the
following
categories:
(a) Sites for steam-electric powerplants,
petroleum refineries, synfuel plants, and industrial facilities; and
(b) Rights-of-way for major reservoirs, canals,
pipelines, transmission lines, highways, and railroads.
(6) Approval of operations that would result in liberation of
radioactive tracer materials or nuclear stimulation.
(7) Approval of any mining operations where the area to be mined,
including any area of disturbance, over the life of the mining plan, is 640
acres or larger in size.
C. If
potentially significant impacts are not anticipated for these actions, an EA
will be prepared.
11.9 Actions
Eligible for a Categorical Exclusion (CX). The Departmental Manual (516 DM 2.3A(3) and 516
DM 2, Appendix 2) requires that before any action described in the following
list of CXs is used, the list of “extraordinary circumstances” must be reviewed
for applicability. If a CX does not pass
the “extraordinary circumstances” test, the proposed action analysis defaults
to either an EA or an EIS. When no
“extraordinary circumstances” apply, the following activities do not require
the preparation of an EA or EIS. In
addition, see 516 DM 2, Appendix 1 for a list of DOI-wide categorical
exclusions. As proposed actions are
designed and then reviewed against the CX list, proposed actions or activities must
be, at a minimum, consistent with the DOI and the BLM regulations, manuals,
handbooks, policies, and applicable land use plans regarding design features, best
management practices, terms and conditions, conditions of approval, and stipulations.
A. Fish
and Wildlife.
(1) Modification of existing fences to provide improved wildlife
ingress and egress.
(2) Minor modification of water developments to improve or
facilitate wildlife use (e.g., modify enclosure fence, install flood valve, or
reduce ramp access angle).
(3) Construction of perches, nesting platforms, islands, and similar
structures for wildlife use.
(4) Temporary emergency feeding of wildlife during periods of
extreme adverse weather conditions.
(5) Routine augmentations, such as fish stocking, providing no new
species are introduced.
(6) Relocation of nuisance or depredating wildlife, providing the
relocation does not introduce new species into the ecosystem.
(7) Installation of devices on existing facilities to protect animal
life, such as raptor electrocution prevention devices.
B. Oil,
Gas, and Geothermal Energy.
(1) Issuance of future interest leases under the Mineral Leasing Act
for Acquired Lands, where the subject lands are already in production.
(2) Approval of mineral lease adjustments and transfers, including
assignments and subleases.
(3) Approval of unitization agreements, communitization agreements,
drainage agreements, underground storage agreements, development contracts, or
geothermal unit or participating area agreements.
(4) Approval of suspensions of operations, force majeure
suspensions, and suspensions of operations and production.
(5) Approval of royalty determinations, such as royalty rate
reductions.
(6) Approval of Notices of Intent to conduct geophysical exploration
of oil, gas, or geothermal, pursuant to 43 CFR 3150 or 3250, when no temporary
or new road construction is proposed.
C. Forestry.
(1) Land cultivation and silvicultural
activities (excluding herbicide application) in forest tree nurseries, seed
orchards, and progeny test sites.
(2) Sale and removal of individual trees or
small groups of trees which are dead, diseased, injured, or which constitute a
safety hazard, and where access for the removal requires no more than
maintenance to existing roads.
(3) Seeding or reforestation of timber sales or
burn areas where no chaining is done, no pesticides are used, and there is no
conversion of timber type or conversion of non-forest to forest land. Specific reforestation activities covered
include: seeding and seedling plantings, shading, tubing (browse protection),
paper mulching, bud caps, ravel protection, application of non-toxic big game
repellant, spot scalping, rodent trapping, fertilization of seed trees, fence
construction around out-planting sites, and collection of pollen, scions and
cones.
(4) Pre-commercial thinning and brush control
using small mechanical devices.
(5) Disposal of small amounts of miscellaneous
vegetation products outside established harvest areas, such as Christmas trees,
wildings, floral products (ferns, boughs, etc.), cones, seeds, and personal use
firewood.
(6) Felling, bucking, and scaling sample trees
to ensure accuracy of timber cruises.
Such activities:
(a) Shall be limited to an average of one tree
per acre or less,
(b) Shall be limited to gas-powered chainsaws
or hand tools,
(c) Shall not involve any road or trail
construction,
(d) Shall not include the use of ground based
equipment or other manner of timber yarding, and
(e) Shall be limited to the Coos Bay, Eugene,
Medford, Roseburg, and Salem Districts and Lakeview District, Klamath Falls
Resource Area in Oregon.
(7) Harvesting live trees not to exceed 70
acres, requiring no more than 0.5 mile of temporary road construction. Such activities:
(a) Shall not include even-aged regeneration
harvests or vegetation type conversions.
(b) May include incidental removal of trees for
landings, skid trails, and road clearing.
(c) May include temporary roads which are
defined as roads authorized by contract, permit, lease, other written
authorization, or emergency operation not intended to be part of the BLM
transportation system and not necessary for long-term resource management. Temporary roads shall be designed to
standards appropriate for the intended uses, considering safety, cost of
transportation, and impacts on land and resources; and
(d) Shall require the treatment of temporary
roads constructed or used so as to permit the reestablishment by artificial or
natural means, or vegetative cover on the roadway and areas where the
vegetative cover was disturbed by the construction or use of the road, as
necessary to minimize erosion from the disturbed area. Such treatment shall be designed to
reestablish vegetative cover as soon as practicable, but at least within 10
years after the termination of the contract.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
(i) Removing
individual trees for sawlogs, specialty products, or fuelwood.
(ii) Commercial thinning of overstocked stands
to achieve the desired stocking level to increase health and vigor.
(8) Salvaging dead or dying trees not to exceed
250 acres, requiring no more than 0.5 mile of temporary road construction. Such activities:
(a) May include incidental removal of live or
dead trees for landings, skid trails, and road clearing.
(b) May include temporary roads which are
defined as roads authorized by contract, permit, lease, other written
authorization, or emergency operation not intended to be part of the BLM
transportation system and not necessary for long-term resource management. Temporary roads shall be designed to
standards appropriate for the intended uses, considering safety, cost of
transportation, and impacts on land and resources; and
(c) Shall require the treatment of temporary
roads constructed or used so as to permit the reestablishment, by artificial or
natural means, of vegetative cover on the roadway and areas where the
vegetative cover was disturbed by the construction or use of the road, as
necessary to minimize erosion from the disturbed area. Such treatment shall be designed to
reestablish vegetative cover as soon as practicable, but at least within 10
years after the termination of the contract.
(d) For this CX, a dying tree is defined as a
standing tree that has been severely damaged by forces such as fire, wind, ice,
insects, or disease, and that in the judgment of an experienced forest
professional or someone technically trained for the work, is likely to die
within a few years. Examples include,
but are not limited to:
(i) Harvesting
a portion of a stand damaged by a wind or ice event.
(ii) Harvesting
fire damaged trees.
(9) Commercial and non-commercial sanitation harvest of trees to
control insects or disease not to exceed 250 acres, requiring no more than 0.5
miles of temporary road construction.
Such activities:
(a) May include
removal of infested/infected trees and adjacent live uninfested/uninfected
trees as determined necessary to control the spread of insects or disease; and
(b) May include incidental removal of live or
dead trees for landings, skid trails, and road clearing.
(c) May include temporary roads which are
defined as roads authorized by contract, permit, lease, other written
authorization, or emergency operation not intended to be part of the BLM
transportation system and not necessary for long-term resource management. Temporary roads shall be designed to
standards appropriate for the intended uses, considering safety, cost of
transportation, and impacts on land and resources; and
(d) Shall require the treatment of temporary
roads constructed or used so as to permit the reestablishment, by artificial or
natural means, of vegetative cover on the roadway and areas where the
vegetative cover was disturbed by the construction or use of the road, as
necessary to minimize erosion from the disturbed area. Such treatment shall be designed to
reestablish vegetative cover as soon as practicable, but at least within 10
years after the termination of the contract.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
(i) Felling
and harvesting trees infested with mountain pine beetles and immediately
adjacent uninfested trees to control expanding spot infestations; and
(ii) Removing or destroying trees infested or
infected with a new exotic insect or disease, such as emerald ash borer, Asian
longhorned beetle, or sudden oak death pathogen.
D. Rangeland Management.
(1) Approval of transfers of grazing
preference.
(2) Placement and use of temporary (not to
exceed one month) portable corrals and water troughs, providing no new road
construction is needed.
(3) Temporary emergency feeding of livestock or
wild horses and burros during periods of extreme adverse weather conditions.
(4) Removal of wild horses or burros from
private lands at the request of the landowner.
(5) Processing (transporting, sorting,
providing veterinary care, vaccinating, testing for communicable diseases,
training, gelding, marketing, maintaining, feeding, and trimming of hooves of)
excess wild horses and burros.
(6) Approval
of the adoption of healthy, excess wild horses and burros.
(7) Actions required to ensure compliance with
the terms of Private Maintenance and Care agreements.
(8) Issuance of title to adopted wild horses
and burros.
(9) Destroying old, sick, and lame wild horses
and burros as an act of mercy.
(10) Vegetation management activities, such as
seeding, planting, invasive plant removal, installation of erosion control
devices (e.g., mats/straw/chips), and mechanical treatments, such as crushing,
piling, thinning, pruning, cutting, chipping, mulching, mowing, and prescribed
fire when the activity is necessary for the management of vegetation on public
lands. Such activities:
(a) Shall not exceed 4,500 acres per prescribed
fire project and 1,000 acres for other vegetation management projects;
(b) Shall not be conducted in Wilderness areas
or Wilderness Study Areas;
(c) Shall
not include the use of herbicides, pesticides, biological treatments or the
construction of new permanent roads or other new permanent infrastructure;
(d) May include temporary roads which are
defined as roads authorized by contract, permit, lease, other written
authorization, or emergency operation not intended to be part of the BLM
transportation system and not necessary for long-term resource management. Temporary roads shall be designed to
standards appropriate for the intended uses, considering safety, cost of
transportation, and impacts on land and resources; and
(e) Shall require the treatment of temporary
roads constructed or used so as to permit the reestablishment, by artificial or
natural means, of vegetative cover on the roadway and areas where the
vegetative cover was disturbed by the construction or use of the road, as
necessary to minimize erosion from the disturbed area. Such treatment shall be designed to
reestablish vegetative cover as soon as practicable, but at least within 10
years after the termination of the contract.
(11) Issuance of livestock grazing permits/leases where:
(a) The new
grazing permit/lease is consistent with the use specified on the previous
permit/lease, such that
(i) the
same kind of livestock is grazed,
(ii) the
active use previously authorized is not exceeded, and
(iii) grazing does not occur more than 14 days earlier or
later than as specified on the previous permit/lease, and
(b) The grazing
allotment(s) has been assessed and evaluated and the Responsible Official
has documented in a determination that
the allotment(s) is
(i) meeting
land health standards, or
(ii) not
meeting land health standards due to factors that do not include existing
livestock grazing.
E. Realty.
(1) Withdrawal extensions or modifications, which only establish a
new time period and entail no changes in segregative effect or use.
(2) Withdrawal revocations, terminations, extensions, or
modifications; and classification terminations or modifications which do not
result in lands being opened or closed to the general land laws or to the
mining or mineral leasing laws.
(3) Withdrawal revocations, terminations, extensions, or
modifications; classification terminations or modifications; or opening actions
where the land would be opened only to discretionary land laws and where
subsequent discretionary actions (prior to implementation) are in conformance
with and are covered by a Resource Management Plan/EIS (or plan amendment and
EA or EIS).
(4) Administrative conveyances from the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) to the State of Alaska to accommodate airports on lands
appropriated by the FAA prior to the enactment of the Alaska Statehood Act.
(5) Actions taken in conveying mineral interest where there are no
known mineral values in the land under Section 209(b) of the Federal Land Policy
and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA).
(6) Resolution of class one color-of-title cases.
(7) Issuance of recordable disclaimers of interest under Section 315
of FLPMA.
(8) Corrections of patents and other conveyance documents under Section
316 of FLPMA and other applicable statutes.
(9) Renewals and assignments of leases, permits, or rights-of-way
where no additional rights are conveyed beyond those granted by the original
authorizations.
(10) Transfer or conversion of leases, permits, or rights-of-way from
one agency to another (e.g., conversion of Forest Service permits to a BLM
Title V Right-of-way).
(11) Conversion of existing right-of-way grants to Title V grants or
existing leases to FLPMA Section 302(b) leases where no new facilities or other
changes are needed.
(12) Grants of right-of-way wholly within the boundaries of other
compatibly developed rights-of-way.
(13) Amendments to existing rights-of-way, such as the upgrading of
existing facilities, which entail no additional disturbances outside the
right-of-way boundary.
(14) Grants of rights-of-way for an overhead line (no pole or tower on
BLM land) crossing over a corner of public land.
(15) Transfers of land or interest in land to or from other bureaus or federal
agencies where current management will continue and future changes in
management will be subject to the NEPA process.
(16) Acquisition of easements for an existing road or issuance of
leases, permits, or rights-of-way for the use of existing facilities, improvements,
or sites for the same or similar purposes.
(17) Grant of a short rights-of-way for utility service or terminal
access roads to an individual residence, outbuilding, or water well.
(18) Temporary placement of a pipeline above ground.
(19) Issuance of short-term (3 years or less) rights-of-way or land use
authorizations for such uses as storage sites, apiary sites, and construction
sites where the proposal includes rehabilitation to restore the land to its
natural or original condition.
(20) One-time issuance of short-term (3 years or less) rights-of-way or
land use authorizations which authorize trespass action where no new use or
construction is allowed, and where the proposal includes rehabilitation to
restore the land to its natural or original condition.
F. Solid
Minerals.
(1) Issuance of future interest leases under the Mineral Leasing Act
for Acquired Lands where the subject lands are already in production.
(2) Approval of mineral lease readjustments, renewals, and transfers
including assignments and subleases.
(3) Approval of suspensions of operations, force majeure
suspensions, and suspensions of operations and production.
(4) Approval of royalty determinations, such as royalty rate
reductions and operations reporting procedures.
(5) Determination and designation of logical mining units.
(6) Findings of completeness furnished to the Office of Surface
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement for Resource Recovery and Protection Plans.
(7) Approval of minor modifications to or minor variances from
activities described in an approved exploration plan for leasable, salable, and
locatable minerals (e.g., the approved plan identifies no new surface
disturbance outside the areas already identified to be disturbed).
(8) Approval of minor modifications to or minor variances from
activities described in an approved underground or surface mine plan for
leasable minerals (e.g., change in mining sequence or timing).
(9) Digging of exploratory trenches for mineral materials, except in
riparian areas.
(10) Disposal of mineral materials, such as sand, stone, gravel,
pumice, pumicite, cinders, and clay, in amounts not exceeding 50,000 cubic
yards or disturbing more than 5 acres, except in riparian areas.
G. Transportation.
(1) Incorporation of eligible roads and trails in any transportation
plan when no new construction or upgrading is needed.
(2) Installation of routine signs, markers, culverts, ditches,
waterbars, gates, or cattleguards on/or adjacent to roads and trails identified
in any land use or transportation plan, or eligible for incorporation in such
plan.
(3) Temporary closure of roads and trails.
(4) Placement of recreational, special designation, or information
signs, visitor registers, kiosks, and portable sanitation devices.
H. Recreation
Management. Issuance of Special
Recreation Permits for day use or overnight use up to 14 consecutive nights;
that impacts no more than 3 staging area acres; and/or for recreational travel
along roads, trails, or in areas authorized in a land use plan. This CX cannot
be used for commercial boating permits along Wild and Scenic Rivers. This CX cannot be used for the establishment
or issuance of Special Recreation Permits for “Special Area” management (43 CFR
2932.5).
I. Emergency
Stabilization. Planned actions in
response to wildfires, floods, weather events, earthquakes, or landslips that
threaten public health or safety, property, and/or natural and cultural
resources, and that are necessary to repair or improve lands unlikely to
recover to a management-approved condition as a result of the event. Such activities shall be limited to: repair and installation of essential erosion
control structures; replacement or repair of existing culverts, roads, trails,
fences, and minor facilities; construction of protection fences; planting,
seeding, and mulching; and removal of hazard trees, rocks, soil, and other
mobile debris from, on, or along roads, trails, campgrounds, and watercourses. These activities:
(1) Shall be completed within one year following the event;
(2) Shall not include the use of herbicides or pesticides;
(3) Shall not include the construction of new roads or other new
permanent infrastructure;
(4) Shall not exceed 4,200 acres; and
(5) May include temporary roads which are defined as roads
authorized by contract, permit, lease, other written authorization, or
emergency operation not intended to be part of the BLM transportation system
and not necessary for long-term resource management. Temporary roads shall be designed to
standards appropriate for the intended uses, considering safety, cost of
transportation, and impacts on land and resources; and
(6) Shall require the treatment of temporary roads constructed or
used so as to permit the reestablishment by artificial or natural means, or
vegetative cover on the roadway and areas where the vegetative cover was
disturbed by the construction or use of the road, as necessary to minimize
erosion from the disturbed area. Such
treatment shall be designed to reestablish vegetative cover as soon as
practicable, but at least within 10 years after the termination of the contract
J. Other.
(1) Maintaining land use plans in accordance with 43 CFR 1610.5-4.
(2) Acquisition of existing water developments (e.g., wells and
springs) on public land.
(3) Conducting preliminary hazardous materials assessments and site
investigations, site characterization studies and environmental
monitoring. Included are siting,
construction, installation and/or operation of small monitoring devices such as
wells, particulate dust counters and automatic air or water samples.
(4) Use of small sites for temporary field work camps where the
sites will be restored to their natural or original condition within the same
work season.
(5) Reserved.
(6) A single trip in a one month period for data collection or
observation sites.
(7) Construction of snow fences for safety purposes or to accumulate
snow for small water facilities.
(8) Installation of minor devices to protect human life (e.g.,
grates across mines).
(9) Construction of small protective enclosures, including those to
protect reservoirs and springs and those to protect small study areas.
(10) Removal of structures and materials of no historical value, such
as abandoned automobiles, fences, and buildings, including those built in
trespass and reclamation of the site when little or no surface disturbance is
involved.
(11) Actions where the BLM has concurrence or co-approval with another
DOI agency and the action is categorically excluded for that DOI agency.
(12) Rendering formal classification of lands as to their mineral character,
waterpower, and water storage values.