[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 140 (Friday, July 21, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37666-37667]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-18028]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
[CO-034-95-1430-00]


San Juan-San Miguel Resource Management Plan Amendment

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area, 
Montrose District, Montrose, Colorado.

ACTION: Notice; Intent to amend the San Juan-San Miguel Resource 
Management Plan and invite public participation in developing a Multi-
Objective Plan for the San Miguel River Basin.

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SUMMARY: This document provides notice of the Bureau of Land 
Management's intent to amend its San

[[Page 37667]]
Juan-San Miguel Resource Management Plan governing the management of 
public land within portions of the BLM's Uncompahgre Basin Resource 
Area in southwest Colorado. Notice is also given of a series of public 
meetings which will be held to discuss issues to be addressed in a 
Multi-Objective Plan for the San Miguel River Basin. Proposed planning 
criteria and anticipated planning issues are also included herein.

ADDRESSES: For further information contact Karen Tucker, Bureau of Land 
Management, Uncompahgre Basin Resource Area, 2505 South Townsend Ave., 
Montrose, CO 81401; Telephone (970) 249-6047; Fax. (970) 249-8484.
    To have your name added to the Multi-Objective Plan mailing list, 
please contact Linda Luther at the Telluride Institute, P. O. Box 1770, 
Telluride, Colorado 81435; Telephone (970) 728-4402; Fax (970) 728-
4638.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Multi-Objective Planning process is a 
basin-wide, ecosystem-based effort which has been undertaken by the San 
Miguel River Coalition, an organization of over 50 partners 
representing local, county, state, federal government and land managing 
agencies; commodity, interest, and environmental groups; commercial and 
private recreation users; and a diverse group of interested and 
affected individuals. The goal of this public planning effort is to 
develop an ecosystem-based plan which provides direction for the 
cooperative management, protection, and responsible use of the 
outstanding scenic, riparian, geologic, wildlife, historic, recreation, 
and other natural resources of the San Miguel River Basin.
    The planning area includes the entire San Miguel River watershed 
from its headwaters above the Town of Telluride to its confluence with 
the Dolores River near Uravan, Colorado. The watershed encompasses 
approximately 997,000 acres, including Forest Service, Bureau of Land 
Management, State of Colorado, and private lands within Montrose and 
San Miguel Counties and the Towns of Telluride, Placerville, Sawpit, 
Norwood, Naturita, Nucla, and Uravan.
    Included within the planning area is the BLM San Miguel River Area 
of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) and Special Recreation 
Management Area (SRMA) which consists of approximately 33,000 acres of 
public land along 38 miles of the San Miguel River corridor from Deep 
Creek to Pinon. BLM's management goals for these areas are to protect 
the ACEC's unique, high quality riparian vegetative communities, as 
well as the area's significant geologic, cultural, wildlife, and scenic 
resources while providing a wide range of outdoor recreational 
opportunities.
    Public meetings of the Multi-Objective Planning coalition will be 
held every two months for an approximate eighteen month period 
beginning with an August 7 meeting in Norwood, Colorado. The all-day 
meeting at the Norwood Schools All Purpose Room will be a workshop 
forum from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., followed by a community open house 
from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. Meeting locations will be rotated between the 
towns of Telluride, Naturita, Nucla, Norwood and Montrose in order to 
ensure local community participation and input. Written comments will 
also be accepted throughout the planning process at the addresses shown 
above.
    Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the BLM 
office in Montrose, Colorado. Some of the issues that have been 
identified in the intial phases of the Multi-Objective Plan process 
include: Water rights, water quantity and quality, growth and 
development, lifestyles and community preservation, and commodity and 
resource issues. Additional environmental issues include landscape 
health, riparian and aquatic habitat protection, wildlife habitat 
quality and fragmentation, declining biodiversity, reintroduction of 
native species, and noxious weed control. Other factors to be 
considered include recreation and resource use vs. riparian and scenic 
values, the level and intensity of recreation management, including 
possible allocation of commercial river and upland use, grazing of 
livestock, management of the mineral estate, transportation and utility 
corridors, off highway vehicle designations, and forest product 
disposal.
    The following disciplines will be represented on the BLM planning 
team: recreation, wildlife, fisheries, and range management, forestry, 
geology, realty, soils, and hydrology. Planning criteria include: 
policy, legal, and regulatory constraints, as well as, requirements to 
maintain riparian vegetation quality, maintain scenic values, maintain 
recreational values and meet recreation demands, determine the level of 
management intensity required, determine the need for land or easement 
acquisition, and set management objectives to protect the priority 
resources within the proposed ACEC.

    Dated: July 17, 1995.
Mark W. Stiles,
District Manager.
[FR Doc. 95-18028 Filed 7-20-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-JB-P