[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 39 (Wednesday, February 27, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13373-13374]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-04343]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLWO200000.13X.L1010.LXSICLMT0000.PH]


Notice of Availability of the Colorado Plateau Rapid Ecoregional 
Assessment

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of the Bureau of Land 
Management's (BLM) first Rapid Ecoregional Assessment (REA) covering 
land in four western states. The Colorado Plateau REA includes parts of 
Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. It has an area of 32,387 square 
miles and includes all or portions of 16 BLM field offices.

ADDRESSES: The REA, and its associated data, are available through the 
BLM Web site at: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/Landscape_Approach.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Prentice, Natural Resource 
Specialist, 202-912-7223, [email protected]. Persons who use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above 
individuals during business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours a 
day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question with the above 
individual. You will receive a reply during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice announces the availability of 
the first REA issued by the BLM covering land in four western states. 
Although the BLM is publishing this Notice for the first REA, 
subsequent REAs will be made available on the Web site listed in the 
ADDRESSES section without publication in the Federal Register. REAs 
assemble information that can be used to guide public lands management. 
They use existing scientific information to identify resource 
conditions and trends within an ecoregion, a large geographic area that 
shares similar characteristics. This innovative large-scale approach is 
designed to help identify patterns of environmental change that may not 
be evident when managing smaller land areas. Additional REAs covering 
the Central Basin and Range, Mojave Basin and Range, Northwestern Great 
Plains/Northwestern Glaciated Plains, Middle Rockies, Sonoran Desert, 
and the Seward Peninsula-Nulato Hills-Kotzebue Lowlands ecoregions are 
in preparation and will be made publicly available on the BLM Web site 
as they are completed. In 2013, the BLM plans to complete REAs for the 
Northern Basin and Range, Snake River Plain, Wyoming Basin, and Yukon 
River Lowlands/Kuskokwim Mountains/Lime Hills, all of which began in 
2011. The BLM is conducting pre-assessment work for potential REAs in 
the Beaufort Coastal Plain, Brooks Hills, Chihuahuan Desert, Southern 
Great Plains (3 ecoregions), and Madrean Archipelago. Each REA 
highlights and maps areas of both high and low ecological values. Lands 
with relatively high ecological values can be managed to ensure that 
their wildlife habitat is properly conserved. Lands with relatively low 
ecological value could be best-suited for siting future development, 
such as transmission lines. Each REA also gauges the potential risks to 
these lands from four key environmental ``change agents:'' Climate 
change, wildfires, invasive species, and development. REAs use 
information about the natural resources of all the lands within an 
ecoregion. In this way, the REAs can provide a foundation for 
formulating coordinated strategies that can respond more effectively to 
climate change, wildfire, and other environmental challenges that 
transcend land management boundaries. The BLM prepared its REAs in 
cooperation with

[[Page 13374]]

other Federal and state land management agencies.
    Procedural Requirements: The REAs provide science-based information 
and tools for land managers and stakeholders to consider in resource 
planning and decision-making processes, such as Resource Management 
Plans and Environmental Impact Statements. Consequently, the REAs do 
not contain findings and recommendations, nor do they make management 
decisions or allocate resource uses. The issuance of REAs by the BLM 
does not constitute a rulemaking.

Edwin Roberson,
Assistant Director, Bureau of Land Management.
[FR Doc. 2013-04343 Filed 2-26-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-P