[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 183 (Friday, September 20, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57878-57880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-22785]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLCOS00000 L16100000.DJ0000]
Notice of Availability of the Proposed Bureau of Land Management
Tres Rios Field Office and San Juan National Forest Land and Resource
Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
Proposed Land and Resource Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact
Statement (LRMP/Final EIS) for the San Juan Public Lands Planning Area
in Colorado, and by this notice is announcing its availability. The
LRMP/Final EIS is a jointly prepared BLM and
[[Page 57879]]
United States Forest Service (USFS) document and also addresses
management of National Forest System lands administered by the San Juan
National Forest. Release of the USFS document is addressed under a
separate notice.
DATES: The BLM planning regulations provide that any person who meets
the conditions as described in the regulations may protest the BLM's
LRMP/Final EIS. 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 it in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Tres Rios Field Office LRMP/Final EIS have
been sent to affected Federal, State and local government agencies; and
interested parties. A list of the locations where copies of the LRMP/
Final EIS are available for public inspection can be found in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Interested persons may also
review the LRMP/Final EIS on the Internet at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/sanjuan/landmanagement/planning, http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/sjplc/land_use_planning.html.
All protests to the BLM must be in writing and mailed to one of the
following addresses:
Regular Mail: BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda Hudgens-
Williams, P.O. Box 71383, Washington, DC 20024-1383.
Overnight Mail: BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda Hudgens-
Williams, 20 M Street SE., Room 2134LM, Washington, DC 20003.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shannon Manfredi, Plan Revision Team
Leader, telephone 970-385-1229; 15 Burnett Court, Durango, CO 81301;
email [email protected]. For BLM-specific issues, contact Gina Jones,
BLM Southwest District NEPA Specialist, telephone 970-240-5381; 2465 S.
Townsend Avenue, Montrose, CO 81401; 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: The BLM planning area is located within
Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata, Montezuma, Montrose, San Juan, and San
Miguel counties in southwestern Colorado. Approximately 504,400 surface
acres and 704,300 acres of subsurface mineral estate administered by
the BLM Tres Rios Field Office are addressed by the proposed management
decisions in the LRMP and analyzed in the Final EIS. The lands within
the planning area are currently managed under the 1985 San Juan/San
Miguel Resource Management Plan, as amended. The current RMP was
approved in 1985 and has been amended seven times. The BLM inventoried
Wilderness Study Areas in 1980, recommended to Congress in 1991, and
manages them consistent with BLM Manual 6330-Management of BLM
Wilderness Study Areas so as not to impair the suitability of such
areas for preservation as wilderness until such time that Congress
makes a final wilderness decision.
The BLM worked extensively with communities, interested and
affected publics and cooperating agencies to develop the LRMP/Final
EIS. Cooperating agencies include the Town of Rico, Colorado. Comments
received from the public on the Draft LRMP/Draft EIS and from internal
agency review were considered and incorporated as appropriate into the
LRMP/Final EIS. Based on public comments, the BLM identified the need
to prepare a Supplement to the Draft EIS to consider the Reasonable
Foreseeable Development potential of oil and gas in the Gothic Shale
Gas Play. In addition to the Supplement, public comments resulted in
the addition of updated information and clarifying text, but did not
substantially change proposed land use plan decisions. The following
four alternatives are analyzed in the Final EIS:
Alternative A represents the continuation of current management
direction under the existing San Juan/San Miguel Resource Management
Plan (1985), as amended. Alternative B, the proposed alternative,
provides for a mix of multiple-use activities, with a primary emphasis
on maintaining most of the large, contiguous blocks of undeveloped
lands; enhancing various forms of recreation opportunities; and
maintaining the full diversity of uses including mineral development
and rangeland vegetation management. Alternative C provides for a mix
of multiple-use activities with a primary emphasis on maintaining the
undeveloped character of the planning area. Management of resource uses
would be more constrained than proposed under Alternatives A, B and D.
In some cases and in some areas, uses would be excluded to protect
sensitive resources. Alternative D, provides for a mix of multiple-use
activities, identifying the most lands for maximum development to
produce a higher level of commodity goods and services compared to the
other alternatives.
The proposed LRMP (Alternative B) would establish two Areas of
Environmental Concern (ACEC), Gypsum Valley and Anasazi Culture Area,
totaling approximately 14,274 acres to provide special management to
protect relevant and important cultural, historic, scenic, and natural
resource values. The proposed plan would also apply protective
management to approximately 11,869 acres of inventoried lands with
wilderness characteristics in two different areas. Public lands
available for renewable energy development, mineral development, land
use authorization, systems of designated travel routes, and other uses
would be provided for under the proposed plan, which would delineate
and, as necessary, apply limitations on these uses. In addition,
management parameters and prescriptions would be applied to a variety
of natural, cultural and visual resources including air and water
quality; wildlife habitat; forests and woodlands; and other components
of the biological, physical and cultural environment.
Copies of the Tres Rios Field Office LRMP/Final EIS are available
for public inspection at the Web sites listed in the ADDRESSES section
above, and at the following locations:
San Juan Public Lands Center, 15 Burnett Court, Durango,
CO 81301
Dolores Public Lands Office, 29211 Highway 184, Dolores,
CO 81323
Columbine Ranger District, 367 Pearl Street, Bayfield, CO
81122
Pagosa Ranger District, 180 Pagosa Street, Pagosa Springs,
CO 81147
BLM Colorado State Office, 2850 Youngfield Street,
Lakewood, CO 80215
USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, 740 Simms St.,
Golden, CO 80401
Libraries in the following locations in Colorado: Cortez;
Durango; Pagosa Springs; Dove Creek; Norwood; Silverton; Colorado State
University, Ft. Collins; University of Colorado, Boulder; and Fort
Lewis College, Durango.
Instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the BLM
regarding the LRMP/Final EIS may be found in the ``Dear Reader'' Letter
of the LRMP/Final EIS and at 43 CFR 1610.5-2. Emailed protests will not
be accepted 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
[[Page 57880]]
these conditions, the BLM will consider the emailed protest as an
advance copy and it will receive full consideration. If you wish to
provide the BLM with such advance notification, please direct emails to
[email protected]. All protests, including the follow-up letter to
emails, must be in writing and mailed to the appropriate address as set
forth in the ADDRESSES section above.
Before including your phone number, email 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.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10, 43 CFR 1610.2, 43 CFR
1610.5.
Helen M. Hankins,
BLM Colorado State Director.
[FR Doc. 2013-22785 Filed 9-19-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310&ndashJB-P