[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 229 (Monday, November 30, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65809-65810]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-31760]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management
[AZ030-1010-00; AZA-29861]


Notice of Availability of Final Hualapai Mountains Land Exchange 
Environmental Impact Statement/Plan Amendment and; Notice of Realty 
Action

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management.

ACTION: Notice of Availability and Notice of Realty Action.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 206 of the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1716), as amended and section 
102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the 
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, the Bureau of Land 
Management, Kingman Field Office, Arizona, has prepared an EIS/Plan 
amendment to analyze the effect of a proposed land exchange and a 
proposed plan amendment to the Kingman Resource Management Plan. The 
EIS addresses the effects of a proposal to exchange approximately 
70,000 acres of public land for approximately 70,000 acres of private 
land. The Equal Appraised Value Alternative, the BLM preferred, would 
result in approximately 70,000 acres coming into public ownership while 
transferring approximately 60,000 acres to private ownership. The 
proposed land exchange is entirely within Mohave County, Arizona. The 
amendment is needed because the Proponent selected public lands that 
were not identified for disposal in the Kingman Resource Management 
Plan by Township, Range, and Section. The plan amendment will assess 
impacts of proposed changes to land tenure classification decisions and 
resource management.
    The Realty Action is in accordance with sections 1 and 7 of the 
Taylor Grazing Act, 43 U.S.C. 315 and 315f, the selected public lands 
described in the FEIS are hereby classified for disposal by exchange. 
This disposal classification is pursuant to the Taylor Grazing Act and 
the decision to amend the Kingman Resource Management Plan to re-
categorize approximately 10,000 acres for disposal will follow the 30 
day protest period.

DATES: Written comments will be accepted until 30 days following 
Environmental Protection Agency's Federal Register Notice of Filing. 
The Notice of Filing is expected to occur on December 4, 1998. The EPA 
Notice of Filing date also begins a 30-day protest

[[Page 65810]]

period for the proposed plan amendment.

Comments

    Comments should be sent to the Team Leader, Hualapai Mountain 
Project, Bureau of Land Management, Kingman Field Office, 2475 Beverly 
Ave., Kingman, Arizona, 86401-3629. Comments should pertain to the 
overall land exchange as plan protest procedures are explained below.

Plan Protest Procedures

    The BLM's planning process includes an opportunity for 
administrative review via a plan protest to the BLM Director. This plan 
protest procedure is only applicable to the proposed plan amendment.
    The protest must specifically address the proposal to categorize 
certain parcels as available for disposal (Appendix A, Part 2 of the 
final EIS). These parcels were not determined to be disposal lands when 
the Kingman Resource Management Plan (RMP) was approved in March 1995. 
Currently, no decision has been made on the overall exchange, so the 
exchange itself cannot be protested. Only the proposal to amend the 
Kingman RMP to place parcels (Appendix A, Part 2 of the final EIS) into 
the disposal category can be protested.
    To protest the proposed plan amendment, file a letter of protest 
with: Director, Bureau of Land Management, Attention: Ms. Brenda 
Williams, Protests Coordinator, WO-210/LS-1075, Department of the 
Interior, Washington, DC 20240.
    The overnight mail address is: Director, Bureau of Land Management, 
Attention: Ms. Brenda Williams, Protests Coordinator (WO-210), 1620 L 
Street NW, Room 1075, Washington, DC 20036.
    To expedite consideration, in addition to the original sent by mail 
or overnight mail, a copy of the protest may be sent by fax to (202) 
452-5112 or e-mail to [email protected].
    WO-210 will immediately acknowledge receipt of the protest and fax/
e-mail a copy to the appropriate BLM State Director and the assigned 
field support staff. Protests filed late or filed with the BLM State 
Director or district, field or area manager shall be rejected by the 
BLM Washington Office (WO-210).
    At minimum, the letter of protest must contain the following 
information.
    1. The name, mailing address, telephone number and interest of the 
person filing the protest.
    2. A statement of which parcel or parcels (by township, range and 
section) are being protested.
    3. A copy of each document addressing the parcels proposed to be 
categorized as disposal lands, such as letters sent during the plan 
amendment process that addresses parcels within the proposed plan 
amendment.
    4. A statement of reasons why the BLM State Director's proposed 
decision to place the lands in the disposal category is believed to be 
incorrect. All relevant facts need to be included in the statement of 
reasons. These facts, reasons and documentation are very important to 
understand the protest rather than merely expressing disagreement with 
the proposed decision.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the document are available at the following 
locations: Bureau of Land Management, Kingman Field Office, 2475 
Beverly Ave., Kingman, Arizona, 86401-3629 and Bureau of Land 
Management, Arizona State Office, 222 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, 
Arizona 85004-2203.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CALL: Don McClure, phone: (520) 692-4400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The land exchange includes both public and 
non-public land in Mohave County in northwestern Arizona, encompassing 
approximately 140,000 acres. Issues that have been addressed are 
ranching, biological resources, socioeconomics, recreation/access, soil 
erosion, cultural resources, realty, riparian areas, mineral resources, 
and areas of critical environmental concern. Proposed modifications to 
the Kingman Resource Management Plan have been integrated with the 
proposed Hualapai Mountains Land Exchange, and the impacts thereof will 
be presented in a single EIS-level analysis.

    Dated: November 23, 1998.
John R. Christensen,
Field Manager.
[FR Doc. 98-31760 Filed 11-27-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-32-P