[Federal Register: November 18, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 222)]
[Notices]
[Page 67604-67606]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18no04-117]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[CO-100-1610-DO]
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan and
Associated Environmental Impact Statement for the Little Snake Field
Office
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management; Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: This document provides notice that the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) intends to prepare an Resource Management Plan (RMP)
and associated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Little
Snake Field Office. The planning area is located in Northwest Colorado
in Moffat, Routt, and Rio Blanco Counties. The plan will provide a
framework to guide subsequent management decisions on approximately 1.3
million acres of BLM-administered public lands and 1.1 million acres of
subsurface mineral estate administered by the BLM. Preparation of this
RMP and EIS will conform with the Federal Land Policy and Management
Act (FLPMA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Federal
Regulations, and BLM management policies. The BLM will work
collaboratively with a broad range of interested parties to identify
management decisions that are best suited to local, regional, and
national needs and concerns.
[[Page 67605]]
DATES: This notice initiates the public scoping process. Comments on
the scope of the plan, including issues or concerns that should be
considered, should be submitted in writing to the address listed below
and will be accepted throughout the creation of the Draft RMP/Draft
EIS. All public meetings will be announced through the local news
media, newsletters, and the BLM Web site at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.co.blm.gov/lsra/rmp
.
ADDRESSES: Please mail written comments to the BLM, Little Snake Field
Office, 455 Emerson St., Craig, Colorado, 81625 or fax to (970) 826-
5002. Comments should be sent to the above address or may be sent by
electronic mail (e-mail) to colsrmp@blm.gov. Comments submitted during
this planning process, including names and street addresses of
respondents will be available for public review at the Little Snake
Field Office during regular business hours 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except holidays. Individual respondents may
request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name and address
from public review or disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act,
you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comments. Such
requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All submissions
from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or
businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their
entirety.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information or to have
your name added to the Little Snake RMP Mailing List, contact Jeremy
Casterson at the Little Snake Field Office (see address above),
telephone (970) 826-5071.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides notice that the
Little Snake Field Office will revise its current RMP. The RMP to be
prepared for the public lands administered by the Little Snake Field
Office will identify goals, objectives, standards and guidelines for
management of a variety of resources and values. The RMP will
demonstrate active engagement of the community in a collaborative
planning effort. The plan will specify actions, constraints, and
general management practices necessary to achieve desired conditions.
The scope of the RMP will be comprehensive. Certain existing standards
and guidelines and other BLM plans will be incorporated into the RMP,
such as the Colorado Rangeland Health Standards and Guidelines, and the
Uniform Format for Oil and Gas Lease Stipulations. This notice provides
the public an opportunity to suggest issues, concerns, needs, and
resource use, development and protection opportunities for
consideration in preparation of the plan. A number of decisions related
to various resource values and programs will be made as a result of
this planning effort. The major issues identified to date include (1)
Management of upland vegetation; (2) management of riparian areas and
water quality concerns; (3) energy and mineral development; (4) special
management areas; (5) recreation management; (6) travel management; (7)
cultural resources and paleontology and Native American concerns; (8)
management of wildlife, including conservation and recovery of special
status species; (9) socio-economic values; and (10) land and realty
issues.
In addition to the major issues, a number of management questions
and concerns will be addressed in the plan. Issues and management
concerns may be identified by interested parties during the scoping
phase. After gathering public comments on what issues the plan should
address, the suggested issues will be placed in one of three
categories:
(1) Issues to be resolved in the plan;
(2) Issues resolved through policy or administrative action; or
(3) Issues beyond the scope of the plan.
BLM will provide feedback to the public on the final issues to be
addressed in the plan. An interdisciplinary approach will be used to
develop the plan in order to consider the variety of resource issues
and concerns identified. Disciplines involved in the planning process
will include specialists with expertise in rangeland management,
minerals and geology, outdoor recreation, archaeology, wildlife, lands
and realty, hydrology, soils, sociology and economics.
The following planning criteria have been proposed to guide the
development of the plan, to avoid unnecessary data collection and
analyses, and to ensure the plan is tailored to the issues. Other
criteria may be identified during the public scoping process. After
gathering comments on planning criteria, BLM will finalize the criteria
and provide feedback to the public on the criteria to be used
throughout the planning process.
The plans will be completed in compliance with the Federal
Land Policy and Management Act (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seg.) and the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Decisions in the plan will
strive to be compatible with the existing plans and policies of
adjacent local, State and Federal agencies as long as the decisions are
in conformance with Federal laws and regulations. The plan will
recognize valid existing rights.
Complete the planning work on time and on budget. Focus
the collaborative effort so that the collaborators can see that they
make a difference, within a timeframe that is reasonable and
achievable.
Recognize the specific niche that federal lands provide
both to the nation and to the surrounding community. A successful plan
will be one that is responsive to both national needs and community
needs.
Public participation will be encouraged throughout the
process as per the attached Public Participation Plan. Collaborate and
build relationships with tribes, state and local governments, federal
agencies, local stakeholders and others in the community of interest of
the plan as normal business. Collaborators are regularly informed and
offered timely and meaningful opportunities to participate in the
planning process.
Road and trail access (and OHV management) guidance will
be incorporated into the plan to ensure public and resource needs are
met.
The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) inventory
results will be integrated into land use planning and energy use
authorizations. Environmental protection and energy production are both
desirable and necessary objectives of sound land management practices
and are not to be considered mutually exclusive priorities;
For all stipulations developed in new land use plans and
to further improve consistency and understanding of lease stipulations,
State and Field offices will use the Uniform Format for Oil and Gas
Lease Stipulations prepared by the Rocky Mountain Regional Coordinating
Committee in March 1989. Lease stipulations will be reviewed for
consistency with neighboring field offices and States, and where there
are discrepancies, efforts will be undertaken to try and get
consistency.
The lifestyles and concerns of area residents will be
recognized in the plan. A socio-economic assessment of the planning
area will be prepared to identify, analyze and review the social and
economic considerations of the plans.
The plan will incorporate the Colorado Rangeland Health
Standards and Guidelines. It will lay out a strategy for ensuring that
proper grazing
[[Page 67606]]
practices are followed. Grazing will be managed to maintain or improve
the health of the public lands by incorporating conditions to enhance
resource conditions into permitted operations.
Contain an adaptive framework that incorporates regular
monitoring and evaluation to adjust management within the direction of
the existing plan. Included in the range of potential actions for each
adaptive management decision, a ``fallback'' decision will be prepared,
which would be expected to achieve the outcome. The plan will have
realistic desired conditions and achievable objectives consistent with
likely budgets and the design criteria.
Lands with wilderness characteristics may be managed to
protect and/or preserve some or all of those characteristics. This may
include protecting certain lands in their natural condition and/or
providing opportunities for solitude, or primitive and unconfined types
of recreation.
Identify existing and potential corridors (potential
corridors include existing ROW routes that can be considered for
additional facilities and thus be considered a corridor if not already
so designated); Identify existing and potential ROW development sites
such as energy development areas (e.g., wind energy sites) and
communication sites; Describe likely development of potential corridors
and other ROW sites as a basis for impact assessment.
The BLM will work cooperatively with interested parties to
identify the management decisions that are best suited to local,
regional, and national interests. A local citizen-based stewardship
group, the Northwest Colorado Stewardship (NWCOS), will engage with the
BLM in the RMP revision. NWCOS is an independent community-centered
stewardship group that will focus its efforts on a community
assessment, developing a community vision for the landscape, and a
community alternative.
Dated: September 24, 2004.
John E. Husband,
Field Manager.
[FR Doc. 04-25618 Filed 11-17-04; 8:45 am]