# Notice of Availability of Record of Decision for the Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment/Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for Management of Port-Orford-Cedar in Southwest Oregon
**AGENCY:**
Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
**ACTION:**
Notice of Availability (NOA) of Record of Decision (ROD).
**SUMMARY:**
In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), and BLM management policies, the BLM announces the availability of the ROD/RMP Amendment for Management of Port-Orford-Cedar in Southwest Oregon, affecting the Coos Bay, Medford, and Roseburg Districts. The Oregon State Director will sign the ROD/RMP Amendment, which becomes effective immediately.
**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:**
Ken Denton, SEIS Team Leader, P.O. Box 2965, Portland, Oregon 97208, telephone (503) 326-2368, e-mail *[email protected],* or visit the SEIS Web site at *http://www.or.blm.gov/planning/Port-Orford-Cedar_SEIS/.*
**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:**
Port-Orford-cedar is killed by an exotic root disease ( *Phytophthora lateralis* ) that is linked, at least in part, to transport of spore-infested mud by humans and animals. Water-borne spores then readily spread the disease down slope and down stream.
The Management of Port-Orford-Cedar in Southwest Oregon ROD/RMP Amendment was developed with public participation through a year-long planning process. This ROD/RMP Amendment, together with a similar one signed by the Forest Service in March, 2004, addresses management on approximately 270,000 acres of Port-Orford-cedar stands in the planning area. The ROD/RMP Amendment will help maintain Port-Orford-cedar as an ecologically and economically significant species on BLM lands. It includes a series of generally required actions, actions that can be applied to specific projects when there is a management risk to Port-Orford-cedar, and an emphasis on keeping the disease out of uninfested watersheds.
The Port-Orford-cedar RMP Amendment is essentially the same as Alternative 2 in the Proposed RMP Amendment/Final SEIS published on January 23, 2004 (see Notice of Availability, *Federal Register* , p. 3340). The BLM received five protests to the Proposed Amendment/Final SEIS. As a result of the protests, minor modifications were made in preparing the ROD/RMP Amendment. These modifications adopted a mitigation measure described in the SEIS, adopted NOAA-Fisheries consultation recommendations for monitoring and examining stream temperatures, corrected errors that were noted during review of the Proposed Amendment/Final SEIS, and provide further clarification for the decision. No inconsistencies with state or local plans, policies, or programs were identified during the Governor's Consistency Review of the Proposed Amendment/Final SEIS.
Judy Ellen Nelson,
Acting Associate State Director, Oregon and Washington, Bureau of Land Management.