United States Department of the Interior BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT Prineville District Office
3050 N.E. 3rd Street
Prineville, Oregon 97754
IN REPLY REFER TO:
DOI-BLM-OR-P040-2014-00048-EA
4130 (ORP040)
SEP 3
2014
Dear Interested Public:
The Prineville District is proposing to apply Imazapic herbicide on up to 15,000 acres ofBLM managed
lands that burned in the South Fork Complex wildfire. The purpose of this treatment would be to reduce
the spread and dominance of annual and invasive grasses (N. African grass, cheatgrass, and medusahead
rye). This will allow for the recovery of native grasses, protect critical wildlife habitats, and alter future
fuel profiles to limit fire spread and reduce fire fighter exposure.
The project area includes approximately 22,000 acres ofBLM lands within the Phillip W. Schneider
wildlife management area near the South Fork of the John Day River.
The project's planning team anticipates preparing an environmental assessment (EA) and documenting
the decision with a Decision Record. Imazapic is a pre-emergent herbicide that binds to the soil and kills
annual grasses as they germinate early in the spring. The wildfire has provide a unique opportunity to
reduce the amount of available seed of these plants thus limiting their potential expansion and dominance
and the corresponding detrimental impacts to critical wildlife habitats and fire regimes. It is the team's
intent to utilize BLM's authority under 43 CFR 4190.1 to issue a full force and effect decision if a
Finding of No Significant Impact is reached. Issuing such a decision would allow BLM to apply the
herbicide prior to snow fall of this year. This would provide control during the early season germination
next spring that if left unchecked would produce additional seeds making future control even more
difficult.
Project's Purpose
Limit invasive non-native N. African grass (Ventenata dubia), cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and
medusahead rye (Taeniatherum caput-medusae) expansion within the .fire area.
Allow perennial vegetation to reestablish thus maintaining and restoring critical fish and wildlife habitats
and fire regimes and reduce future fire fighter exposure by lessening the frequency, severity, and extent of
future wildfires in the area.
The Proposed Action
Apply Imazapic herbicide with ground and aerially based platforms on up to 15,000 acres ofBLM
administered lands that burned and are at risk of being overrun by invasives. Initial application would be
scheduled for the fall of 2015 with subsequent treatment possible in the fall of 2016 thru 2018.
The No Action Alternative
The No Action Alternative would result in no treatment of invasive annual grass. Following fires annual
grasses exploit the modified conditions and utilize key nutrient to out compete perennial graminiods thus
increasing their dominance in on a site, expand into additional disturbed sites, and perpetuate this cycle by
creating continuous fuel beds that support more frequent and extensive wildfires in the future. The effects
of this alternative would be to allow the invasive species to spread and grow unchecked and out compete
and displace native grasses.
Your Participation
I am inviting your comments on this proposal. To be most helpful, comments should be as specific as
possible. To be most helpful, your comment should identify a different way to meet the purpose of the
project; provides new information about the proposed actions or potential effects; suggests methodologies
and the reason(s) why they should be used; or identifies a source of credible research which, if used in the
analysis, could result in different effects.
The District will not be responding through letters or phone calls to your comments but comments
received in response to this solicitation, including names and addresses of those who comment, will be
considered part of the public record on this proposed action and will be available for public inspection.
Comments submitted anonymously will be accepted and considered.
Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in
your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment - including your personal identifying
information- may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to
withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Your comments can be mailed to 3050 NE Third St, Prineville, OR 97754 or sent via e-mail to
BLM_OR_PR_ [email protected]. The BLM will accept written comments postmarked or received at the
BLM office by 10/3/2014. The Environmental Assessment and all other NEP A related documents to this
project will be posted to the BLM's website at: http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/prineville/plans/index.php
For further information, contact Monte Kuk, Project Leader at 541-416-6700-6749 or by email at
[email protected].
Sincerely
{({~'/f/
' ieJd Manager, Central Oregon Resource Area