Summary: The Navajo Forestry Department has prepared this programmatic environmental assessment for the Navajo Forestlands Integrated Resources Management Plan (IRMP) (2018) in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 and other relevant Federal laws and regulations. It assesses the potential environmental impacts of the Preferred Management Plan and Alternative Management Options described in the plan. Federal guidelines define an IRMP as a tribe’s strategic plan for the comprehensive management of its’ resources. It is a policy based on the vision that the tribe and tribal landowners have for their reservation. As the lead agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA’s) fiduciary responsibilities include oversight of agricultural and forest resources on tribal trust lands and associated resources management plans. The BIA’s federal action to fund and approve the IRMP obligates them to conduct a review under NEPA.
NEPA is a procedural statute intended to ensure Federal agencies consider the environmental impacts of their actions in the decision-making process. The NEPA process requires federal agencies to incorporate other relevant federal and tribal statutory and regulatory requirements, such as Endangered Species Act (ESA) evaluations and consultations, National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) Section 106 consultation, and specific tribal statutes and regulations into decision making. NEPA regulations are found a 40 CFR Part 1500.
The document is programmatic in nature, because it focuses on the policies and broad actions of the agency, as opposed to site-specific actions. The use of Programmatic EAs is encouraged for actions that are identical and/or confined to a geographic location as they address common environmental issues and eliminate the need to replicate the review of those issues in subsequent projects. Future projects or site-specific actions will require either a Categorical Exclusion (CE) or Environmental Assessment (EA) to complete the NEPA review process. EAs and CEs will tier to this Programmatic EA in which broad scope environmental impact statements will analyze policy or program issues.
Welcome! Thank you for participation in reviewing and giving your feedback for the Navajo Nation Forestlands Integrated Resource Management Plan.
Here are the links:
The Navajo Nation Forestlands IRMP
The IRMP Programmatic Environmental Assessment