[Federal Register: October 20, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 203)]
[Notices]
[Page 62008-62010]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20oc06-78]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[NM-510-1610-DS-025G]
Notice of Availability (NOA)
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of the Special Status Species Draft
Resource Management Plan Amendment/ Environmental Impact Statement
(DRMPA/EIS), New Mexico.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), the BLM has prepared a
Special Status Species DRMPA/EIS for the Pecos District and by this
Notice is announcing the opening of the comment period.
DATES: To assure that they will be considered, the BLM must receive
written comments on the DRMPA/EIS within 90 days following the date the
Environmental Protection Agency publishes their NOA in the Federal
Register. The BLM will announce future meetings or hearings and any
other
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public involvement activities at least 15 days in advance through
public notices, media news releases, and/or mailings.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods: Web
Site: http://www.nm.blm.gov; E-mail: NMRFO_Comments@blm.gov; Fax: 505-
627-0276; or Mail: BLM Roswell Field Office, Attention: RMPA, 2909 West
Second Street, Roswell, NM 88201.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information or to have
your name added to the Special Status Species
DRMPA[bs]EIS Mailing List, contact Howard Parman,
Planning Team Leader, at the Roswell Field Office (see ADDRESSES
above), telephone 505-627-0272. Requests for information may be sent
electronically to: NMRFO_Comments@blm.gov with ``Attention: Special
Status Species DRMPA Information Request'' in the subject line.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The planning area for the Special Status
Species DRMPA[bs]EIS, which includes 847,491 acres of
BLM-administered public lands, is located in Chaves, Eddy, Lea, and
Roosevelt Counties, New Mexico. A map of the planning area is available
on the Web site (see ADDRESSES above). The planning area includes all
surface and subsurface (mineral estate) lands managed by BLM within the
planning area.
The BLM-administered public lands within the planning area are
currently managed under interim management guidelines issued on August
5, 2004. Interim management is in accordance with the decisions in the
1988 Carlsbad RMP, as amended, and the 1997 Roswell RMP. The BLM will
continue to manage these lands in accordance with the interim
management guidelines until the RMPA is completed and a Record of
Decision is signed.
The purpose of the DRMPA[bs]EIS is to amend the
existing Resource Management Plans, in order to protect and enhance
lesser prairie-chicken and sand dune lizard habitats, while allowing
other uses to continue. The Special Status Species
DRMPA[bs]EIS documents the direct, indirect, and
cumulative environmental impacts of six alternative plans for BLM-
administered public lands within the planning area.
The DRMPA/EIS describes the physical, biological, cultural,
historic, and socioeconomic resources in and around the surrounding
planning area. The focus for impact analysis was based on resource
issues and concerns identified during scoping and public involvement
activities and opportunities. Potential impacts of concern regarding
possible management direction and planning decisions (not in priority
order) are: development of energy resources, special management
designation, special status species management, livestock grazing, and
off-highway vehicle designations.
Six alternatives were analyzed in detail: The No Action Alternative
represents the continuation of existing management plans, policies, and
decisions as established in the 1988 Carlsbad RMP (as amended) and the
1997 Roswell RMP. Alternative A represents a strategy developed by the
Southeast New Mexico Lesser Prairie Chicken Working Group to give
greater protection to the Lesser prairie chicken and the sand dune
lizard. Alternative B represents the working group's strategy and adds
more emphasis to sand dune lizard habitat and surface reclamation.
Alternative C represents the continuation of interim management,
originally put in place by the BLM to preserve management options in
the planning area. Alternative D focuses management efforts on
preserving occupied habitat. Alternative E analyzes the impacts of an
Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) nomination. (See below
for additional information about the ACEC.) The BLM's preferred
alternative is Alternative B.
Since the publication of the Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare a
DRMPA[bs]EIS in the Federal Register on November 18,
2004, scoping meetings, economic workshops, and mailings have been
conducted to solicit public comments and input. The Pecos District
Office has been providing updates on the development of the DRMPA/EIS
to the Chaves, Eddy, and Lea County Boards of Commissioners, and the
New Mexico Resource Advisory Council. Tribal governments with interests
in the planning area were also contacted. In addition to Chaves, Eddy,
and Lea counties, the New Mexico State Land Office, the New Mexico
Department of Agriculture, and New Mexico Department of Game and Fish,
applied for, and were granted, Cooperating Agency status for the
development of the DRMPA/EIS.
The DRMPA/EIS considers the nomination of one ACEC. Alternative E
describes the proposed Lesser Prairie Chicken ACEC, and analyzes the
impacts of establishing this ACEC. This ACEC would be four tracts
totaling approximately 231,040 acres. Resource use limitations in this
ACEC include a 5-year moratorium on all livestock grazing and new oil
and gas activities within the proposed ACEC south of U.S. Highway 380
and the two small portions of the proposed ACEC straddling U.S. Highway
70; no new oil or gas well drilling allowed within 0.9 mile of an
active lesser prairie chicken lek within the proposed ACEC; and no new
rights-of-way granted within 0.9 mile of an active lesser prairie
chicken lek within the proposed ACEC. Within the Adaptive Management
Area of the proposed ACEC, experimental reductions in livestock grazing
would be conducted, including no livestock grazing on at least 1 square
mile within 1.5 miles of lesser prairie chicken lek sites; and light
intensity livestock grazing after June 30 on at least 1 square mile
within 1.5 miles of lesser prairie chicken lek sites. Each grazing
treatment experiment would be conducted on a minimum of five sites.
From the publication date of the NOI in the Federal Register,
through February 5, 2005, the BLM solicited comments and received 10
written letters, comment forms, and e-mails from interested parties. In
addition, four scoping meetings were held to provide the public with an
opportunity to acquire information about the planning process and its
status, and how to submit comments.
These public meetings were held in Portales, New Mexico, on January
11, 2005, Roswell, New Mexico, on January 13, 2005, Carlsbad, New
Mexico, on January 18, 2005, and Hobbs, New Mexico, on January 20,
2005. The four meetings resulted in approximately 64 oral comments from
the public. All comments presented throughout the process have been
considered. Background information and maps used in developing the
Draft RMPA/EIS are available for public viewing at the Roswell Field
Office at the above address.
Comments that are e-mailed or faxed must include ``Comments on
Special Status Species DRMPA/EIS'' in the subject line. Individual
respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your
name or street address, or both, 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. The BLM will not consider
anonymous comments. All submissions from organizations and businesses
will be made available for public inspection in their entirety.
Copies of the Special Status Species DRMPA/EIS will be available
for public inspection at the following locations: BLM New Mexico State
Office, 1474 Rodeo Road, Santa Fe, NM 87505; BLM Carlsbad Field Office,
620 East Greene,
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Carlsbad, NM 88220; BLM Roswell Field Office, 2909 West Second Street,
Roswell, NM 88201. The current RMPs/EISs, and all other documents
relevant to this planning process, are available for public review at
the Field Offices at the above addresses.
Dated: June 6, 2006.
Linda S.C. Rundell,
New Mexico State Director.
[FR Doc. E6-17452 Filed 10-19-06; 8:45 am]
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