Final Upper Snake East Travel Management Plan Environmental Assessment, Finding of No Significant Impacts, Decision Record (Selection of Route Network), and Implementation Guide Available for Public Review.

Background Information

The Upper Snake Field Office (USFO) has developed a travel and transportation management plan (TTMP) for the eastern portion of the USFO. This includes BLM managed lands in areas such as Henry’s Lake/Island Park, Teton Valley, Tex Creek/Willow Creek, west of North Menan Butte and the Snake River. Maps identifying the Upper Snake East Travel Management Area (TMA) are located at the left under "Maps".

The USFO originally released maps of the inventoried routes within the Upper Snake East TMA in 2016. Open houses were held in June 2016 to provide local input and expertise into the TTMP. Comments on the inventoried routes were gathered through October 14, 2016. 

The USFO sought additional public comments with the release of the draft environmental assessment and potential route alternatives in March of 2023 with public review through July 10, 2023, allowing ample time for the public to review routes on the ground during the summer of 2023. Three open houses were conducted in Idaho Falls, Driggs, and Ashton during this period. Comments received during the public review were analyzed and helped inform the preferred alternative and changes to the environmental assessment. The BLM has released a final environmental assessment for the Upper Snake East TTMP.

The USFO developed the Upper Snake East TTMP environmental assessment to be in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The NEPA was passed by Congress in 1969 and signed into law on January 1, 1970. This legislation established a landmark national environmental policy which, among other things, encourages environmental protection and informed decision-making. It provides the means to carry out these goals by:

• mandating that every Federal agency prepare a detailed statement of the effects of “major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.”

• establishing the need for agencies to consider alternatives to those actions.

• requiring the use of an interdisciplinary process in developing alternatives and analyzing environmental effects.

• requiring that each agency consult with and obtain comments of any Federal agency which has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved.

• requiring that detailed statements and the comments and views of the appropriate Federal, State, tribal, and local agencies be made available to the public.

In addition to setting policy goals for environmental planning, the NEPA created the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), in the Executive Office of the President, to be the “caretaker” of the NEPA. The NEPA and the CEQ regulations establish procedures to ensure proper consideration of environmental concerns, but they do not dictate a particular result or decision. The CEQ regulations also require that agencies “make diligent efforts to involve the public in preparing and implementing their NEPA procedures” (40 CFR 1506.6(a)).

The NEPA directs the BLM to “study, develop, and describe appropriate alternatives to recommended courses of action in any proposal that involves unresolved conflicts concerning alternative uses of available resources;…” (NEPA Sec102(2)(E))

Four management alternatives (the No Action and three action alternatives) are presented in detail in this Upper Snake East TTMP. Each alternative represents a distinct plan for managing BLM-administered public land resources and uses. These alternatives provide a range of choices for achieving the purpose and need; resolving the planning issues; providing a mix of resource protection, management use, and development; meeting established planning criteria; and meeting federal laws, regulations, policies, and standards, including the multiple-use mandate of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA; 43 U.S.C. 35 § 1701 et seq.)

Alternative Themes: The alternatives in the environmental assessment, were developed as themes, reflecting issues that emerged through internal and external scoping. The themes are as follows:

• Alternative A: Alternative A represents no action/continuation of current management for travel on the BLM-managed lands within the TMA. This alternative includes a seasonal human entry closure for the Stinking Springs area. This alternative serves as the baseline against which potential effects from any of the action alternatives B-D can be compared.

• Alternative B: Alternative B provides for lower levels of motorized use opportunities while emphasizing more natural and cultural resource protections than Alternatives C or D. This alternative also includes seasonal human entry closures for four locations where no entry is allowed in these areas including motorized and non-motorized activities and four areas where BLM restricts mode of travel to reduce conflict with big game and waterfowl. This alternative includes consideration and consistency with existing travel management on surrounding lands.

• Alternative C: Alternative C represents a variety of route designations which resolve resource and access needs in a blended manner while accommodating a wider variety of the BLM’s programs and priorities than Alternative B. This alternative also includes seasonal human entry closures for four locations where no entry is allowed in these areas including motorized and non-motorized activities and four areas where BLM restricts mode of travel  to reduce conflict with big game and waterfowl. This alternative includes consideration and consistency with existing travel management on surrounding lands.

• Alternative D: Alternative D emphasizes an expanded range of travel route use opportunities as compared to Alternatives B and C while still providing protections for natural and cultural resources. This alternative includes seasonal human entry closure for the Stinking Springs area. This alternative also includes consideration and consistency with existing travel management on surrounding lands.

The Decision Record selects a route network for the Upper Snake East TMA.

Appeal period ended 6/31/2024.