[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 156 (Friday, August 13, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49514-49515]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-19917]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[CO-100-1610 DQ]
Notice of Availability for the Little Snake Proposed Resource
Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, Colorado
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, the Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Proposed Resource Management
Plan (RMP)/Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Little
Snake Field Office.
DATES: The BLM planning regulations (43 CFR 1610.5-2) provide that any
person who meets the conditions as described in the regulations may
protest the BLM's Proposed RMP. A person who meets the conditions and
files a protest must file the protest within 30 days of the date that
the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its Notice in the Federal
Register.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Little Snake Proposed RMP/Final EIS have been
sent to affected Federal, State, and local government agencies and to
interested parties. Copies of the Proposed RMP/Final EIS are also
available for public inspection at the following locations:
1. Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office, 2850
Youngfield Street, Lakewood, Colorado 80215.
2. Bureau of Land Management, Little Snake Field Office, 455
Emerson Street, Craig, Colorado 81625.
Interested persons may also review the Proposed RMP/Final EIS at the
following Web site: http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/lsfo/plans/rmp_revision.html. Upon request, additional copies in limited numbers of
both paper and digital formats are available.
All protests must be in writing and mailed to the following
addresses:
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Regular mail: Overnight mail:
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BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda BLM Director (210), Attention:
Williams, P.O. Box 66538, Washington, Brenda Williams, 1620 L
DC 20035. Street, NW., Suite 1075,
Washington, DC 20036.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeremy Casterson, RMP Project Manager,
455 Emerson Street, Craig, Colorado 81625, 970-826-5071, [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 BLM-administered subsurface mineral estate. The
Little Snake Field Office area is currently being managed under its
1989 RMP, which has been amended for Oil and Gas Leasing (1991), Black-
Footed Ferret Reintroduction (1996), Land Health Standards (1997), and
the Emerald Mountain Land Exchange (2007).
The Draft RMP/EIS was made available for public review for a 90-day
period beginning in February 2007. After the careful review and
consideration of all public comments, changes to Alternative C (the
Preferred Alternative as described in the Draft RMP/EIS) have been made
to clarify management direction, incorporate as appropriate management
direction from other alternatives analyzed, and update the effects
analysis.
The Little Snake Field Office has worked extensively with
interested and affected publics and cooperating agencies in the
development of the Proposed RMP/Final EIS. Cooperating agencies
include: Moffat County, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the City of Steamboat Springs, and
the Juniper Water Conservancy District.
During the public review of the Draft RMP/EIS, the Environmental
Protection Agency, in consultation with the BLM, identified areas where
additional air quality information would augment the existing analysis
in the Draft RMP/EIS. As a result, on December 19, 2007, the BLM
published its Notice of Intent to prepare additional air quality
analysis in the Federal Register. On October 10, 2008, the BLM
published the Notice of Availability (NOA) in the Federal Register for
Additional Air Quality Impact Assessment to support the Little Snake
Draft RMP/EIS. On November 19, 2008, the BLM published a Notice of
Correction to the NOA for additional air quality information in the
Federal Register. The additional air quality analysis information was
released to the public for review and comment. A response to these
comments and all other public comments is included in the Proposed RMP/
Final EIS.
The Proposed RMP/Final EIS addresses many issues important to the
area, including energy development, special designations,
transportation and travel management, wildlife habitat and socio-
economic values. Four alternatives were analyzed in the Proposed RMP/
Final EIS.
Alternative A, the No Action Alternative, would maintain present
uses by continuing present management direction and activities.
Commodity production and unrestricted off-highway vehicle (OHV) travel
would be allowed throughout a majority of the planning area.
Alternative B would allow the greatest extent of resource use
within the planning area, while maintaining the basic protection needed
to sustain resources. Under this alternative, constraints on commodity
production for the protection of sensitive resources would be the least
restrictive within the limits defined by law, regulation, and BLM
policy. Fewer areas would be limited or closed to OHV use than under
the No Action Alernative.
[[Page 49515]]
Alternative C, the Proposed RMP, would emphasize multiple resource
use in the planning area by protecting sensitive resources, including
high priority sagebrush habitat, through performance-based approaches.
Commodity production would be balanced with providing protection for
wildlife habitat, vegetation, and natural values. More areas would be
limited or closed to OHV use than under the No Action Alternative.
Alternative D would allow the greatest extent of resource
protection within the planning area, while still allowing resource use.
Commodity production would be constrained to protect natural resource
values or to accelerate improvement in their condition. Under this
alternative there would be an increase in areas closed or limited to
OHV use than in Alternative C, the Proposed RMP.
In the Proposed RMP (Alternative C), Irish Canyon is designated as
an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC). The ACEC objective
would be to protect sensitive plants, remnant plant communities,
cultural and geologic values, and scenic quality. The area would be
closed to oil and gas leasing, limited to designated routes for OHVs,
withdrawn from locatable mineral entry, managed as Visual Resource
Management Class II, and designated as a right-of-way exclusion area
unless associated with valid existing rights.
ACEC proposals that were determined to meet the relevance and
importance criteria, but not designated as ACECs in the Proposed RMP
because they were deemed not warranted for special management attention
include: Lookout Mountain, Limestone Ridge, Cross Mountain Canyon,
White-tailed Prairie Dog habitat, and 11 additional areas proposed to
protect sensitive plants and plant communities (Cold Desert Shrublands
occurrences, Gibben's beardtongue occurrences, Bull Canyon, G Gap,
Little Juniper Canyon, the Bassett Spring, No Name Spring, Pot Creek,
Whiskey Springs, Willow Spring, and Deception Creek).
Instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the BLM
regarding the Proposed RMP/Final EIS may be found in the Dear Reader
letter of the Little Snake Proposed RMP/Final EIS and at 43 CFR 1610.5-
2. E-mail and faxed protests will not be considered as valid protests
unless the protesting party also provides the original letter by either
regular or overnight mail postmarked by the close of the protest
period. Under these conditions, the BLM will consider the e-mail or
faxed protest as an advance copy and it will receive full
consideration. If you wish to provide the BLM with such advance
notification, please direct faxed protests to the attention of Brenda
Hudgens-Williams, BLM protest coordinator, at (202) 912-7212, and e-
mails to [email protected].
All protests, including the follow-up letter (if e-mailing or
faxing) must be in writing and mailed to the appropriate address, as
set forth in the ADDRESSES section above.
Before including your phone number, e-mail address, or other
personal identifying information in your protest, you should be aware
that your entire protest--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your protest to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Helen M. Hankins,
State Director.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 43 CFR 1610.2 and 1610-1.
[FR Doc. 2010-19917 Filed 8-12-10; 8:45 am]
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