[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 15, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-6072]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: March 15, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management
[A-060-04-4350-08]

 

Intent To Prepare Northern and Eastern Colorado Desert 
Coordinated Management Plan, To Amend the California Desert Plan, and 
To Analyze Impacts in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS); 
Invitation To Participate in the Identification of Issues

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Amended notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: Amended notice is hereby given that the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM), in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service (FWS), the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG), and 
Joshua Tree National Monument (JTNM), will develop a comprehensive land 
use plan and environmental impact statement (EIS) for federal public 
lands in California's Northern and Eastern Colorado Desert.

AREA: Portions of California counties of Imperial, Riverside, and San 
Bernardino.
    The plan will identify measures to implement the recovery tasks 
called for by the FWS in its ``Recovery Plan for the Desert Tortoise 
(Mojave Population)'', and address the needs of other significant and 
special status plants and wildlife. The plan will amend BLM's 
California Desert Conservation Area Plan of 1980.
    The plan and EIS for the Eastern Colorado Desert, the original 
target area, has been expanded for efficiency to include the Northern 
Colorado Desert and the cooperating agencies. The original Notice of 
Intent, published on January 4, 1993, is hereby amended.

DATES: BLM is seeking the involment of interested publics, 
organizations and other local, state and federal agencies in the 
identification of issues that should be addressed in the plan and EIS. 
Written comments should be received or post-marked by [30 days after 
publication] to allow for compilation into a report on issues 
assessment.
    A new series of public workshops has been scheduled as follows:

March 29, 1994, 7-9 p.m.
    Blythe City Council Chambers, 220 N. Spring St., Blythe, CA
March 30, 1994, 7-9 p.m.
    Needles City Council Chambers, 1111 Bailey Ave., Needles, CA
March 31, 1994, 7-9 p.m.
    Imperial Irrigation District Auditorium, 1285 Broadway, El Centro, 
CA
April 5, 1994, 7-9 p.m.
    BLM Yuma District Office, 3150 Winsor Ave., Yuma, AZ
April 6, 1994, 7-9 p.m.
    BLM Palm Springs Office, 63-500 Garnet Ave., Palm Springs, CA
April 7, 1994, 7-9 p.m.
    Park Headquarters Conference Room, Joshua Tree National Monument, 
54485 National Monument Dr., Twenty-Nine Palms, CA

    With the reinitiation of this plan all comments received during the 
last year from previous public meetings and by letter will still be 
considered and need not be resubmitted.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Team Leader, Northern & Eastern 
Colorado Desert Coordinated Management Plan, Bureau of Land Management, 
6221 Box Springs Blvd., Riverside, CA 92507.

FOR ADDITIONAL FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Richard E. Crowe, Bureau of Land Management, 6221 Box Springs Blvd., 
Riverside, CA 92507, (909) 697-5216/5200.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Desert Tortoise, Gopherus agassisii, was 
listed as a threatened species by the FWS on April 2, 1990, under the 
federal Endangered Species Act. It is also listed as threatened under 
the State's endangered species act. Populations have been in decline 
for a number of years due to human and disease factors. In April, 1993, 
the FWS issued a Draft Recovery Plan for the Desert Tortoise (Mojave 
Population). This document requires that federal land managing 
jurisdictions prepare and implement plans for the recovery and 
delisting of the Mojave populations of Desert Tortoise. Three of the 
target Desert Wildlife Management Areas--the Chuckwalla Bench, Joshua 
Tree (in part), and Chemehuevi--are in the Northern and Eastern 
Colorado Desert Recovery Units in California. One or another of them 
are common to BLM, JTNM and also the Chocolate Mountains Gunnery Range, 
administered by the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma. A request is 
being made to the U.S. Marine Corps for that agency to become a 
cooperating member of the project.
    The boundary for the planning area, which is about 5.5 million 
acres in size, is described as follows: I-40 Freeway to the north, the 
boundary of the California Desert Conservation Area to the east, the 
north edge of the Imperia Sand Dunes to the south, and the eastern 
boundary of the West Mojave Coordinated Management Plan to the west.
    The two tortoise recovery units are very large in area, overlaying 
private and public lands managed by many jurisdictions. Recovery has 
many implications for use and management of the desert by the public 
and agencies. Therefore, this plan will be an ecosystem management 
plan. The goal is that it be comprehensive enough to satisfy the goal 
of the Recovery Plan, to meet the needs of agencies' resource 
management programs, and to preclude the need for further major land 
use plans and additional listings of species under the ESA.
    At the heart of managing desert resources (both their uses and 
protection), including tortoise populations, is the management of 
access for vehicles. Therefore, the designation of vehicle routes as 
open, closed and limited will become an important element of this plan. 
Comments from the public and government agencies on specific routes of 
travel will be accepted throughout the period of development of the 
draft and final plan and EIS, scheduled to end in December, 1995.

    Dated: March 9, 1994.
Henri R. Bisson,
District Manager.
[FR Doc. 94-6072 Filed 3-14-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-M