[Federal Register: February 18, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 32)]
[Notices]
[Page 7800-7801]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18fe03-75]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WY-040-1610-DS]
Notice of Availability of the Supplemental Draft Environmental
Impact Statement for the Jack Morrow Hills Coordinated Activity Plan/
Draft Green River Resource Management Plan Amendment
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of the Supplemental Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (SDEIS) for the Jack Morrow Hills Coordinated Activity
Plan (CAP)/Draft Green River Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment,
Wyoming.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in cooperation with the
State of Wyoming, county governments, and conservation districts
located within the planning area, have prepared an SDEIS for the Jack
Morrow Hills CAP/Draft RMP Amendment. This is an integrated activity
planning effort for the BLM-administered public lands and resources in
the Jack Morrow Hills area, located in Sweetwater, Fremont, and
Sublette Counties, Wyoming. When completed, the EIS for the Jack Morrow
Hills CAP/Green River RMP Amendment will provide more specific
management direction to address potential conflicts among energy
resources development, recreational activities and facilities,
livestock
[[Page 7801]]
grazing, important wildlife habitat, cultural resources, and other
important resource and land uses in the planning area. The planning
area encompasses approximately 622,000 acres, of which 585,000 acres
are public land surface and Federal mineral estate administered by the
BLM through its Rock Springs Field Office in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The
SDEIS documents the analysis of five alternatives, ranging from
preservation to full development. Ultimately, the approved EIS for the
Jack Morrow Hills CAP/RMP Amendment will include land and resource
management decisions for fluid mineral leasing and mineral location in
the core area, where these decisions were deferred in the Green River
RMP prepared in 1997. These decisions will constitute an amendment to
the Green River RMP. Other decisions made in the Green River RMP, in
the balance of the planning area, may also be modified, resulting in
further amendment to the RMP. Other actions resulting from this
planning effort are expected to include the use of adaptive management
approaches to decision making. Areas involved include: transportation
planning, off-highway-vehicular use designations and designation of
roads for use, livestock grazing practices, recreational activities and
facilities, identification of rights-of-way windows and concentration
and avoidance areas, and prescriptions for managing wildlife habitat.
DATES: Written comments on the SDEIS for the Jack Morrow Hills CAP/
Draft RMP Amendment will be accepted for 90 days following the date the
Environmental Protection Agency publishes the notice of availability of
the SDEIS for the Jack Morrow Hills CAP/ Draft RMP Amendment in the
Federal Register, projected to be February 14, 2003. Future meetings or
hearings and any other public involvement activities will be announced
at least 15 days in advance through public notices, media news
releases, or mailings.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to: Jack Morrow Hills CAP
Team Leader, Bureau of Land Management, Rock Springs Field Office, 280
Highway 191 North, Rock Springs, Wyoming 82901. Please visit Web site
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=www.wy.blm.gov/jmhcap for a link to submit comments by electronic mail.
Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to
withhold your name or street address from public review or from
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this
prominently at the beginning of your written comments. Such requests
will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All submissions from
organizations and businesses, and from individuals identifying
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or
businesses, will be available for public inspection in their entirety.
Copies of the SDEIS for the Jack Morrow Hills CAP/Draft RMP Amendment
are available in the Rock Springs Field Office at the above address;
the Bureau of Land Management Lander Field Office, 1335 Main Street,
Lander, Wyoming 82520; and the Bureau of Land Management Wyoming State
Office, 5353 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009. The
supplemental draft EIS will also be available on the internet at the
above Web site address. Anyone wishing to be placed on the mailing list
for the Jack Morrow Hills CAP planning effort should contact the Rock
Springs Field Office at the above address.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ted Murphy, Acting Field Manager, or
Renee Dana, Jack Morrow Hills CAP Team Leader, Rock Springs Field
Office, Bureau of Land Management, at the above address; or phone 307-
352-0256.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Based upon concerns raised by the public
during preparation of the Green River RMP, the BLM is now preparing the
SDEIS for the Jack Morrow Hills CAP/Draft RMP Amendment. When
completed, the EIS for the Jack Morrow Hills CAP/RMP Amendment will
provide management direction for the protection of important resources
(e.g., desert elk and other big game habitat, unique sand dune-mountain
shrub habitat, unstabilized-stabilized sand dunes), while allowing for
appropriate levels of leasing and development of energy resources,
recreational activities, livestock grazing, and other activities. The
planning area encompasses the Steamboat Mountain, Greater Sand Dunes,
Oregon Buttes, and White Mountain Petroglyphs Areas of Critical
Environmental Concern (ACEC). There are also seven Wilderness Study
Areas (WSAs) and part of the South Pass Historic Landscape ACEC located
in the planning area.
The entire planning area contains about 622,330 acres of Federal,
State, and private lands. The core area, where the Green River RMP
fluid minerals leasing and mineral location decisions have been
deferred, contains approximately 85,000 acres. This planning effort
addresses the level and timing of mineral leasing and development,
while sustaining other important land and resource uses such as big
game habitat, recreation, and livestock grazing. Other actions
considered in this planning effort include use of adaptive management
approaches to decisionmaking. Based on monitoring of actual impacts and
effectiveness of management, BLM proposes to adapt management practices
for transportation planning, off-highway-vehicular use designations and
designation of roads for use, livestock grazing practices, recreational
activities and facilities, identification of rights-of-way corridors
and avoidance areas, and prescriptions for managing wildlife habitat.
Public participation has been sought through scoping, public
meetings, and field trips to ensure that this planning effort addresses
all issues and concerns from those interested in the management of the
public lands within the planning area.
The BLM's preferred alternative consists of management actions from
the other alternatives and a few actions that are unique to the
Preferred Alternative. The Preferred Alternative employs the technique
of Adaptive Management (AM). AM is a process of studying and monitoring
the effects of incremental implementation of management decisions. The
AM process includes identification, selection, and monitoring of
indicators and thresholds. These measures are chosen to clarify and
enhance information about the effect of land management decisions.
Existing decisions are modified based on the new information and
another round of adaptive decisions is begun. Opportunities for public
participation will be provided throughout the AM process. Development
of the preferred alternative was based on public comment and the
analysis of the other alternatives and was formulated to represent the
best mix and balance for a multiple use land and resource management
activity plan for the BLM-administered public lands and resources in
the planning area. Comments regarding the AM process are important to
assist in the final document as it relates to process, thresholds, and
monitoring indicators.
There are seven existing wilderness study areas (WSAs) within the
planning area. Until Congress acts, the WSAs will be managed under the
Interim Wilderness Management Policy.
Alan L. Kesterke,
Acting State Director.
[FR Doc. 03-2369 Filed 2-12-03; 4:51 pm]
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