[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 67 (Friday, April 5, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15301-15302]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-8453]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WY-040-06-1610-00]


Green River Resource Area, NY; Final Environmental Impact 
Statement

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Green River Resource Area, 
Rock Springs District, Wyoming, announces the availability of the Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Green River Resource 
Management Plan (RMP), for public review and comment.

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SUMMARY: The FEIS for the Green River RMP describes and analyzes four 
alternative resource management plans, including the proposed RMP, for 
managing the BLM-administered public lands and federal mineral estate 
in the Green River Resource Area.
    The Draft EIS (DEIS) for the Green River RMP was made available for 
public review and comment in November of 1992. Comments received on the 
DEIS were considered in preparing the proposed RMP and the FEIS. When 
completed, the Green River RMP will provide the management direction 
for future land and resource management actions on about 3.6 million 
acres of public land surface and 3.7 million acres of federal mineral 
estate in portions of Sweetwater, Fremont, Lincoln, Uinta and Sublette 
counties in southwest Wyoming.
    The FEIS focuses on the Proposed Green River RMP and has been 
prepared in a summary format. The proposed RMP alternative has been 
presented in a detailed narrative and, along with the other 
alternatives considered in the DEIS, has also been presented in a 
summary table format to allow comparison among all the alternatives. It 
is not necessary, therefore, to have the DEIS to conduct a complete 
review of the FEIS.
    The proposed Green River RMP is a comprehensive land use and 
resource management plan. It is a refinement of the preferred 
alternative presented in the RMP DEIS. Comments from the public, review 
by BLM staff, and new information developed since the distribution of 
the DEIS have prompted making some changes to the preferred alternative 
in the course of developing the proposed RMP. However, the 
environmental effects of the proposed RMP are not substantially 
different from those of the preferred alternative.
    There are seven designated Areas of Critical Environmental Concern 
(ACEC) within the Green River Resource Area (Cedar Canyon ACEC, Greater 
Sand Dunes ACEC, Natural Corrals ACEC, Oregon Buttes ACEC, Red Creek 
ACEC, and White Mountain Petroglyphs ACEC). The proposed Green River 
RMP recommends that these existing ACEC designations be retained and 
that two of them be expanded in size. The potential for additional ACEC 
designations was explored in the EIS and the proposed RMP recommends 
designation of three new ACECs.
    The results of conducting the coal planning/screening process, 
including application of the coal unsuitability criteria, for the 
potential Federal coal development area are documented in the FEIS. 
Approximately 12,600 acres of Federal coal lands were determined to be 
unsuitable for further consideration for Federal coal leasing, 10,410 
acres were determined unacceptable for further consideration for coal 
leasing, and 30,490 acres were determined acceptable for further 
leasing consideration by subsurface mining methods only. The remainder 
of the potential Federal coal development area (about 422,000 acres) 
was determined to be acceptable for further coal leasing consideration, 
subject to continued field investigations, studies and evaluations to 
assure that coal mining can occur without having a significant long-
term effect on other resources in the area.
    All parts of the proposed RMP may be protested by parties who 
participated in the planning process and who have an interest which is 
or may be adversely affected by the adoption of the plan. A protest may 
only deal with those issues which were raised for the record during the 
planning process and may be filed by only the party or parties who 
raised those issues.

Dates: Protests on the proposed Green River RMP must be postmarked no 
later

[[Page 15302]]
than 30 days following the date the Environmental Protection Agency 
notice of availability of the FEIS is published in the Federal 
Register.

Addresses: Protests on the proposed Green River RMP should be sent to 
the Director (480), Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C Street NW., MS-
314 LS, Washington, DC 20240.

For Further Information Contact: Bill LeBarron, Chief of Support 
Services or Renee Dana, Green River RMP Team Leader at the Rock Springs 
BLM District Office, 280 Highway 191 North, Rock Springs, Wyoming 
82901, telephone 307-382-5350.

Supplementary Information: The Proposed Green River RMP FEIS documents 
the review of BLM-administered public lands along waterways for their 
eligibility and suitability for inclusion in the Wild and Scenic Rivers 
System (WSRS). Seven parcels of BLM-administered lands, making up a 
total of about 9.7 miles of the Sweetwater River, have been found to 
meet the suitability factors to be given further consideration for 
inclusion in the WSRS. Tentative classifications of the various parcels 
include wild, scenic, and recreational. The FEIS also addresses interim 
management of these parcels until the Congress decides to consider them 
further for possible inclusion in the WSRS.
    The Proposed Green River RMP FEIS also documents the results of 
conducting the coal planning/screening process, including application 
of the Coal Unsuitability Criteria, in the planning area. In applying 
the 20 coal unsuitability criteria (43 CFR 3461) to the Federal coal 
lands with development potential in the planning area, about 12,600 
acres were found to be unsuitable for further consideration for leasing 
under 5 of the criteria:

Criterion 1--Federal Land Systems
Criterion 2--Rights-of-Way and Easements
Criterion 3--Wilderness Study areas
Criterion 16--Floodplains
Criterion 17--Municipal Watersheds

    All other phases of the coal screening/planning process, including 
identification of the Federal coal lands that would be unacceptable and 
acceptable for further leasing consideration under each alternative, 
are also documented in the FEIS.
    Three new ACECs proposed for designation in the proposed Green 
River RMP would be given management priority and emphasis to maintain 
or enhance the following values:

--Candidate threatened and endangered plant species in four separate 
locations
--Visual and historical integrity of historic trails and their 
surrounding viewscape in the South Pass area
--Wildlife habitats and vegetation communities in the Steamboat 
Mountain area

    The designations on the existing ACECs would be retained and would 
be given management priority and emphasis to maintain or enhance the 
following values:

--Important cultural, scenic and wildlife habitat values in the Cedar 
Canyon area
--Unique and unusual geological features associated with the sand 
dunes, Boars Tusk, diverse biological interrelationships supported by 
the sand dunes, especially the Steamboat desert elk herd, mule deer 
herd, and other dependent plants and animals, in the Greater Sand Dunes 
area
--Unique and important cultural, historical, recreational, and 
geological values in the Natural Corrals area
--Historic landmark, significant wildlife values, and the scenic 
integrity in the Oregon Buttes area
--Important cultural, historic, and prehistoric resource values in the 
Pine Springs area
--Fragile soils, Colorado River cutthroat trout, and water quality 
values in the Red Creek Watershed area
--Educational opportunities and important cultural, wildlife, scenic, 
and Native American values in the White Mountain Petroglyphs area

    Additionally, two of the existing ACECs would be expanded in size. 
The Pine Springs ACEC would be expanded to include more historic 
resource values, and the Red Creek watershed would be expanded to 
include a larger watershed area and habitat for the Colorado River 
cutthroat trout, a candidate species for listing as a threatened or 
endangered species.
    The management actions for each proposed, existing, and expanded 
ACEC include restrictions on surface disturbing activities and other 
land uses, such as limitations on oil and gas and coal exploration and 
development activities, geophysical exploration, right-of-way 
construction, and vehicular travel. Portions of the ACECs may be closed 
to future locatable mineral exploration and development, subject to 
valid existing rights. The level of these various kinds of restrictions 
and the types of land uses affected would be different in each ACEC. 
Copies of the proposed Green River RMP FEIS are available at the Green 
River Resource Area Office at the above address.

    Dated: March 28, 1996.
Alan R. Pierson,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 96-8453 Filed 4-4-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P