[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 169 (Friday, August 30, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53777-53778]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-21118]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLWY93000 L16100000.DU0000]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Visual Resource Management
and Areas of Critical Environmental Concern Amendment to the Resource
Management Plan for the Rawlins Field Office and Associated
Environmental Assessment, WY
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, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a
Draft Visual Resources Management and Area of Critical Environmental
Concern (ACEC) Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment and a Draft
Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Draft Amendment for the Rawlins
Field Office, Wyoming, and by this notice is announcing the opening of
the comment period.
DATES: To ensure that comments will be considered, the BLM must receive
written comments on the Draft RMP Amendment and Draft EA within 60 days
following the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its
Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. The BLM will announce
future meetings or hearings and any other public involvement activities
at least 15 days in advance through public notices, media releases,
and/or mailings, and the BLM Web site at: http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/programs/Planning/rmps/rawlins.html.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the Draft Visual Resource
Management and Areas of Critical Environmental Concern Amendment to the
RMP for the Rawlins Field Office, Wyoming, and associated Draft EA by
any of the following methods:
Email: [email protected]. Please reference
Rawlins VRM Review in the subject line.
Fax: 307-328-4224.
Mail: Bureau of Land Management, Rawlins Field Office,
1300 North Third Street, Rawlins, Wyoming 82301, or P.O. Box 2407,
Rawlins, Wyoming 82301-2407.
All comments must include a legible full name and address on the
envelope, letter, fax, postcard, or email. Copies of the Draft Visual
Resource Management and Areas of Critical Environmental Concern
Amendment to the RMP for the Rawlins Field Office, Wyoming, and
associated Draft EA are available at the Rawlins Field Office, at the
above address, and at the following locations:
Bureau of Land Management, High Desert District Office,
280 Highway 191 North, Rock Springs, WY 82901, and
Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming State Office, 5353
Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, WY 82009.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sheila Lehman, Rawlins Field Office
Planning and Environmental Coordinator:
Telephone: 307-328-4200
Mail: Bureau of Land Management, Rawlins Field Office,
1300 North Third Street, Rawlins, WY 82301-2407
Email: [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 individual during normal 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 document provides notice that the BLM
Field Office in Rawlins, Wyoming, has prepared a Draft RMP amendment
with an associated EA, is announcing the beginning of the 60-day
comment period, and seeks public comment on Visual Resource Management
issues and proposed ACECs. The planning area is located in Albany,
Carbon, Laramie, and eastern Sweetwater counties, Wyoming, and
encompasses approximately 2,791,721 acres. The planning area does not
include public land affected by the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Visual
RMP Amendment and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The Notice of
Intent to prepare the amendment to the RMP was published on April 11,
2012 (77 FR 21803), and a 30-day public scoping period was held
following publication from April 11, 2012, through May 10, 2012. The
scoping comments were used during the preparation of the RMP Amendment
and associated EA to help identify issues and concerns associated with
the amendment, and to form the following alternatives:
Alternative 1: No Action--Continuation of existing
management direction for Visual Resources and ACECs; new information
and data would not be incorporated;
Alternative 2: Emphasis on the Development of Resources;
incorporating new Visual Resource Inventory information and reducing
the Blowout Penstemon ACEC;
Alternative 3: Emphasis on the Protection of Resources;
incorporating new Visual Resource Inventory information and expanding
the Blowout Penstemon ACEC;
Alternative 4: Emphasis on the Conservation of Resources;
incorporating new Visual Resource Inventory information and expanding
the Blowout Penstemon ACEC (Preferred Alternative).
This plan amendment addresses protests received following the
publication of the 2008 Rawlins Proposed RMP/Final EIS, which
identified issues with the Rawlins Field Office's analysis of both
Visual Resources and the designation of ACECs. The Visual Resource
Management decisions in the Proposed RMP/Final EIS were remanded and
not approved in the Record of Decision until a complete Visual
Resources Inventory was completed and a Visual Resource Management RMP
amendment could be developed. In addition, comments received during
initial scoping of the 2008 Rawlins RMP included nominations of five
additional ACECs within the Rawlins Field Office boundary. Because the
BLM did not review or consider relevance and importance criteria for
the nominated ACECs in the 2008 Rawlins RMP planning process, these
nominated areas are analyzed for ACEC designation in this planning
process. The following ACEC nominations were evaluated to determine if
the relevance and importance criteria were met, but were not included
in any alternative because they did not meet relevance or importance
criteria:
McCarty Canyon; for scenic quality and wildlife habitat;
Seminoe and Pathfinder Reservoirs; for sensitive plant
species, scenic quality, and wildlife habitat;
Flattop Mountain; for sensitive plant species, scenic
quality, and wildlife habitat; and
Ferris Mountain; for sensitive plant species and scenic
quality.
The Ferris Dunes area was nominated as an ACEC in the 2008 Rawlins
RMP for several sensitive plant species, a unique sand dune community
and habitat, the desert kangaroo rat, and for scenic quality. The
nominated Ferris
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Dunes ACEC area includes the current Blowout Penstemon ACEC and
additional area surrounding the existing ACEC. The nominated area was
found to meet the relevance and importance criteria. The area is
considered in this EA with additional use restrictions which would
occur if the area is formally designated including limiting off-road
travel and locatable/leasable mineral entry, intensive management of
surface disturbing activities, and control of pesticide use. The RMP
plan amendment will comply with the National Environmental Policy Act,
the Federal Land Policy Management Act, and other applicable laws,
executive orders, regulations, and be consistent with applicable
policies. The planning effort will recognize valid existing rights.
Decisions in the amendment will apply only to the BLM-administered
public lands and Federal mineral estate in the planning area.
A collaborative and multi-jurisdictional approach will be used to
jointly determine the desired future condition and management direction
for Visual Resources and ACECs in the Rawlins Field Office Planning
Area. To the extent possible and consistent with applicable laws,
regulations and policies, the BLM management and planning decisions
will complement the planning and management decisions of other
agencies, State and local governments, and Native American tribes, with
jurisdictions intermingled with, and adjacent to, the planning area.
A total of 9,369 comments were received during scoping, of which
214 were considered to be unique. A majority of the comments were
received by individuals and non-governmental organizations, and
identified the following key issues:
1. Impacts to historic trails and roads;
2. Potential changes to existing land use planning and consistency
with current management;
3. Continuation of public involvement;
4. Socioeconomic impacts; and
5. Impacts of additional ACEC designations.
Please note that public comments and information submitted
including names, street addresses, and email addresses of persons who
submit comments will be available for public review and disclosure at
the above address during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.),
Monday through Friday, except holidays. You may submit comments in
writing to the BLM at any public meeting, or you may submit them to the
BLM using one of the methods listed in the ``ADDRESSES'' section above.
For your comments to be most effective and fully considered, you should
submit comments by the close of the 60-day comment period.
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you may
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 43 CFR 1610.2
Donald A. Simpson,
State Director, Wyoming.
[FR Doc. 2013-21118 Filed 8-29-13; 8:45 am]
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