[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 38 (Friday, February 25, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-4240]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: February 25, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
[UT-934-03-4410-03]

 

Upcoming Planning Effort in Eastern Utah

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Call for information and update.

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SUMMARY: This notice is a follow up to the notice that appeared in the 
January 1993 Federal Register concerning revision of the Grand Resource 
Area Management Plan, Moab District, Utah, Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM). It has been determined appropriate to expand the planning area 
beyond the Grand Resource Area to include the Price River Resource Area 
of the Moab District and the Book Cliffs Resource Area of the Vernal 
District. The plan will be referred to as the Eastern Utah Resource 
Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (RMP/EIS). As part 
of this effort, data will be acquired to amend and update the adjacent 
San Rafael, San Juan, and Diamond Mountain RMPs. The BLM will 
coordinate with the adjourning BLM Districts in Utah and Colorado.
    By expanding the planning area, the BLM will be able to include 
complete ecosystems in the evaluation and analysis of resource issues. 
This expanded area will encompass a major portion of the Colorado 
Plateau in Utah. This notice is intended to inform the public that the 
planning area has been expanded and to invite public participation. 
Public comment will be solicited throughout the planning process. In 
the January 1993 notice for the Grand Resource Area, a call was made 
for nominations of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) and 
Wild and Scenic River (W&SR) segments, along with a request for 
submission of technical mineral resource information. The above 
information is requested for the expanded planning area, along with 
submission of technical coal resource information, outdoor recreation 
use data, and information on the wildlife resources and issues in the 
planning area. This call for information will include information on 
W&SR segments in the adjacent San Rafael and San Juan Resource Areas 
and on water depletion as it affects threatened and endangered species 
in the Colorado River drainage system.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Wayne Erickson, Project Manager, Utah State Office, 324 South State 
Street, suite 301, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111; Michael O'Donnell, Team 
Leader, Bureau of Land Management, Moab District Office, 82 East 
Dogwood, Moab, Utah 84532; or Jerry Kenczka, Team Leader, Vernal 
District, 170 South 500 East, Vernal, Utah 84078. Office hours are: 
Utah State Office, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., telephone (801) 539-4051; 
Moab District, 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., telephone (801) 259-2100; Vernal 
District, 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., telephone (801) 781-4400, Monday 
through Friday, except holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This plan will be prepared under 43 CFR part 
1610 to meet the requirements of section 202 of the Federal Land Policy 
and Management Act and section 102 of the National Environmental Policy 
Act. Decisions generated during this planning process will validate or 
supersede land-use planning decisions presented in the 1983 Price River 
Management Framework Plan (MFP), the 1985 Book Cliffs RMP, and the 1985 
Grand RMP. The RMP/EIS will also incorporate decisions relating to 
policy and regulatory changes initiated or enacted since 1983.
    The planning area, which includes the Book Cliffs, Price River, and 
Grand Resource Areas, covers approximately 3,907,000 acres of public 
land in Uintah, Emery, Carbon, Grand, and San Juan Counties in eastern 
Utah. Additionally, the planning area includes approximately 307,000 
acres of split-estate where the minerals are in Federal ownership and 
the surface is in other Federal agency, State, private, or tribal 
ownership. Portions of the San Juan, Diamond Mountain, and the San 
Rafael Resource Areas will be included in this plan for limited 
specific areas.
    The planning effort will formulate resource decisions based on the 
environmental and socioeconomic needs within the planning area. 
Coordination will take place with the State of Utah; the Ute Indian 
Tribe; Federal agencies such as the National Park Service, USDA Forest 
Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs; as well as other county and private entities. The plan will 
consider management of the Federal subsurface mineral estate.
    The following planning issues have been identified: Vegetative 
management for livestock, wildlife habitat management, and watershed 
management, access and transportation needs, mineral activities, 
recreation management, cultural resource management, and threatened and 
endangered species recovery-implementation plans. In addition, a unique 
wildlife initiative in the Book Cliffs and increased recreation use in 
the Grand Resource Area will be addressed and alternative management 
solutions analyzed.
    As a part of the planning process, requests for nominations for 
ACEC designations are encouraged. Nominations must include a map as 
well as a discussion on why an ACEC is necessary and what special 
management would be proposed. Nominations will be evaluated, and final 
designations will be made through the planning process. The public is 
also invited to nominate potential W&SR segments. Maps or a description 
of the specific streams for study by the team should accompany the W&SR 
nomination. Opportunity is also provided at this time for submission of 
relevant technical information regarding mineral resources in the 
planning area. Specifically, as a part of this planning effort, a call 
for coal and other resource information is hereby requested to solicit 
indications of interest and information on coal resources development 
potential and other resources which may be affected by coal development 
for lands in the planning area. Industry, State and local governments, 
and the general public may submit information on lands that should be 
considered for coal leasing, including statements describing why the 
lands should be considered for leasing. Proprietary data marked as 
confidential may be submitted as response to this call for coal and 
other resource information, however, this data may be submitted to the 
Authorized Officers only. The Authorized Officers are the Resources 
Area and District Managers of the Vernal and Moab Districts. This data 
will be used, along with other published information, in the evaluation 
of mineral resource potential and to assist in making resource-
allocation decisions. This data will not be included in the public 
record.
    Public participation is being sought at this time to ensure that 
all issues, problems, and concerns from those interested in the 
management of lands within the planning area are considered. Public 
response is requested by September 30, 1994. The development of the 
land-use plan is a public process; and the public is invited to assist 
in the identification of issues, the scope of the EIS, and the 
nomination of special-designation areas. Public workshops will be held 
in April 1994 to discuss planning issues. The date, time, and location 
of these workshops will be announced at a later date in local 
newspapers. Additional public participation will be encouraged 
throughout this process.
    Public participation will again be requested at the time the draft 
RMP/EIS is initiated, in October 1994, and the proposed RMP/Final EIS 
is completed in 1997. Notice of availability of these documents will be 
published at the appropriate times.
James M. Parker,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 94-4240 Filed 2-24-94; 8:45 am]
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