[Federal Register: December 14, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 240)]
[Notices]
[Page 71148-71150]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr14de07-61]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[CO-800-1610-DP 016C]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Notice of Availability of Draft San Juan Land Management Plan and
Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Colorado
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior. Forest Service,
Agriculture.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Forest and Rangeland Renewable
Resources Planning Act of 1974 (RPA), as amended by the National Forest
Management Act of 1976, (NFMA, Sec. 6, 16 U.S.C. 1600.), and the
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. 1701
et seq.), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) San Juan Field Office and
San Juan National Forest, U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has prepared a
Draft Land Management Plan/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DLMP/
DEIS) for the public and National Forest System Lands under their
jurisdiction and by this notice is announcing the opening of the
comment period. The BLM San Juan Field Office and San Juan National
Forest are managed under Service First. The San Juan Public Lands
Center (SJPLC) is the joint USFS/BLM Service First Office responsible
for the management of these public lands. Service First is a
partnership strategy to provide better customer service and be more
cost effective in the delivery of those services to users of the public
lands in southwest Colorado. This notice also meets BLM requirements in
43 CFR part 1610, 7-2(b) concerning potential Areas of Critical
Environmental Concern (ACECs).
DATES: The San Juan DLMP/DEIS will be available for public review for
90 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its
Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. The SJPLC can best use
comments and resource information submitted within
[[Page 71149]]
this review period. The SJPLC will announce future meetings or hearings
and any other public involvement activities at least 15 days in advance
through public notices, local media news releases, and/or mailings, and
posting on the project Web site at http://ocs.fortlewis.edu/forestPlan.
Public meetings will be held in Pagosa Springs, Durango and
Cortez, Colorado and in other locations, if warranted.
ADDRESSES: The document will be available electronically at the
following Web site: http://ocs.fortlewis.edu/forestPlan. Copies of the
DLMP/DEIS are also available at the following government office
addresses during regular business hours:
San Juan Public Lands Center, 15 Burnett Court, Durango,
CO 81301.
Columbine Field Office, 367 Pearl St., Bayfield, CO 81122.
Dolores Public Lands Office, 100 North 6th St., Dolores,
CO 81323.
Pagosa Springs Field Office, 180 Pagosa Street, Pagosa
Springs, CO 81147.
Colorado State Office BLM, 2850 Youngfield Street,
Lakewood, CO 80215.
USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, 740 Simms St,
Golden, CO 80401.
Libraries in Cortez, CO; Durango, CO; Pagosa Springs, CO; Colorado
State University, Ft. Collins, CO; University of Colorado, Boulder, CO;
and Ft. Lewis College, Durango, CO 81301
You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Web site: http://ocs.fortlewis.edu/forestPlan.
Facsimile: (916) 456-6724
Mail: LMP Comments, San Juan Plan Revision, P.O. Box
162909, Sacramento, California 95816-2909.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shannon Manfredi, Planning Team Leader
at San Juan Public Land Center, 15 Burnett Ct., Durango, CO 81301.
Phone: (970) 385-1229. To have your name added to the San Juan Plan
Revision mailing list, or to view and download the DLMP/DEIS in
Portable Document Format (PDF) go to the project Web site: http://ocs.fortlewis.edu/forestPlan
.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The planning area is located in Southwest
Colorado in Archuleta, Conejos, Dolores, Hinsdale, La Plata, Mineral,
Montezuma, Montrose, Rio Grande, San Juan, San Miguel counties. The
plan will provide a framework to guide subsequent management decisions
on approximately 1,867,800 acres of the San Juan National Forest. Of
the 1,867,800 acres, BLM administers 500,000 surface acres and 300,000
acres of subsurface mineral estate. San Juan Public Land Center is
currently being managed under the BLM 1985 San Juan/San Miguel Resource
Management Plan (RMP) and the 1983 San Juan National Forest Land
Management Plan.
Bureau of Land Management Resource Management Plan
The current RMP was approved in 1985 and has been amended five
times. Wilderness Study Areas were designated in 1980 and are currently
being managed under interim guidance provided by the Interim Management
Policy and Guidance for Lands under Wilderness Review until such time
that Congress makes a final wilderness decision. This revised Plan
discusses how those lands would be managed if Congress released them
from wilderness study.
Forest Service Land Management Plan
The current San Juan National Forest Land Management Plan was
approved in 1983, with a major amendment in 1992 and twenty other
amendments. This revised Plan has been prepared using the provisions of
the 1982 planning rule (36 CFR part 219), as provided by the 2004
interpretative rule which clarified the transition provisions of the
planning rule adopted on November 9, 2000.
The SJPLC has worked extensively with the community, interested and
affected publics, and cooperating agencies in development of the DLMP/
DEIS. The SJLPC conducted a broad community-based public input process.
Cooperating agencies include Montezuma County, and the City of Rico,
Colorado. Four alternatives are analyzed in the DLMP/DEIS.
Alternative A, the No Action Alternative, is the
continuation of present management under the existing BLM and Forest
Service plans. It meets the requirements of the NEPA that a no action
alternative be considered. The current levels of products, services,
and outputs of multiple use management from the public lands in the
planning area would continue except for fluctuations due to budget.
Activities such as timber harvest and oil and gas development would
potentially occur over a greater percentage of the San Juan Public
Lands in Alternative A than in other alternatives.
Alternative B, the Preferred Alternative, provides a mix
of multiple-use activities with a primary emphasis on maintaining most
of the large, contiguous blocks of undeveloped lands and enhancing
various forms of recreation opportunities, while maintaining the
diversity of uses and active forest and rangeland vegetation
management. Alternative B is focused on balancing the ideas of
maintaining ``working forest and rangelands'' and of retaining ``core,
undeveloped lands.'' Uses and activities that require roads, such as
timber harvesting and oil and gas development would be focused in areas
that already have roads. Relatively undeveloped areas, that currently
do not have roads would, for the most part, remain that way.
Alternative C, provides a mix of multiple-use activities
with primary emphasis on the undeveloped character of the San Juan.
Production of goods from vegetation management would continue but may
be secondary to other non-commodity objectives. Management provisions
under this alternative would emphasize the undeveloped character of
large blocks of contiguous land and non-motorized recreational
activities to a greater degree than the other alternatives.
Alternative D, provides a mix of multiple-use activities
with a primary emphasis on the working forest and rangelands to produce
the highest amounts of commodity goods and services of the
alternatives. This alternative would allow the greatest extent of
resource use within the planning area, while maintaining ecosystem
management principles to protect and sustain resources. Potential
impacts to sensitive resource values would be mitigated on a case-by-
case basis.
As required by Section 202(c)(3) of FLPMA, the DLMP/DEIS considers
the designation of ACECs on BLM administered lands. Potential ACEC
acres vary by alternative as shown in the table below.
[[Page 71150]]
Acres of BLM-Managed Surface Estate Proposed To Be Managed as ACECs Under the Alternatives in the Draft LMP/EIS
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Alternative B
Values and use limitations Alternative A (Preferred) Alternative C Alternative D
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Big Gypsum Valley 0 6,062 17,116 0
Values: Natural systems (sensitive plants)
Limitations: Apply a no surface occupancy (NSO)
stipulation for oil and gas leasing and other
surface disturbing activities, limit Off
Highway Vehicle (OHV) to designated routes,
manage as Visual Resource Management (VRM) II
Mud Springs/Remnant Ansazi ACEC 1,160 0 1,160 0
Values: Cultural and natural systems
Limitations: Apply a no surface occupancy (NSO)
stipulation for oil and gas leasing and other
surface disturbing activities, limit Off
Highway Vehicle (OHV) to designated routes, and
allow no new routes
Silvies Pocket 0 0 707 0
Value: Natural systems (sensitive plants)
Limitations: Manage as VRM II, apply NSO
stipulation for oil and gas leasing and other
surface disturbing activities, and limit Off
Highway Vehicle (OHV) to designated routes
Grassy Hills 0 0 420 0
Value: Natural systems (sensitive plants)
Limitations: Apply NSO stipulation for oil and
gas leasing and other surface disturbing
activities, limit OHV to designated routes, use
grazing systems to protect prairie dog habitat
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Total Acres................................. 1,160 6,062 19,403 0
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Other key management concerns addressed in the Draft LMP/DEIS
include:
Balancing Management between the ideas of maintaining
``Working Forest and Rangelands'' and Retaining ``Core Undeveloped
Areas'',
Recreation and Travel Management,
Management of Special Areas and Unique Landscapes
(including ACECs, Forest Service wilderness recommendations, and
suitability of rivers for Congressional designation into the Wild and
Scenic Rivers System),
Oil and Gas Leasing and Development.
Comments, including names and addresses of respondents, will be
available for public review at the SJPLC, and will be subject to
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Before
including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal
identifying information in your comment, be advised that your entire
comment--including your personal identifying information--may be made
publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to
withhold from public review your personal identifying information, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Sally Wisely,
Colorado State Director.
Mark Stiles,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. E7-24208 Filed 12-13-07; 8:45 am]
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