[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 115 (Wednesday, June 16, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32252-32253]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-15219]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management
[WY-930-1610-00]


Notice of Intent To Conduct a Planning Review and Request for 
Public Participation Concerning Land Use Planning Decisions for Certain 
Bureau of Reclamation Withdrawn Lands in Wyoming To Be Restored to 
Bureau of Land Management Jurisdiction

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Seven Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Field Offices in Wyoming 
are reviewing their land use plans to determine which of the resource 
and land use planning and management decisions in those plans will 
apply to the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) withdrawn lands being restored 
to BLM jurisdiction. The BOR lands involved total about 310,000 acres 
and collectively lie within the BLM Cody, Worland, Rawlins, Casper, 
Rock Springs, Kemmerer, and Pinedale Field Office administrative areas. 
The public is invited to identify concerns to be addressed in the 
planning review.

EFFECTIVE DATES: Meeting dates and other public participation 
activities in the seven BLM Field Office areas will be announced in 
public notices, the local media, or in letters sent to interested and 
potentially affected parties. Persons wishing to participate in this 
planning review and wishing to be placed on mailing lists must notify 
the appropriate BLM Field Office(s) at the addresses and phone numbers 
below.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT CONSIDERATIONS: Public comments submitted 
for this planning review, including names and street addresses of 
respondents, will be available for public review and disclosure at the 
addresses below during regular business hours (7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), 
Monday through Friday, except holidays. Individual respondents may 
request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or address 
from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information 
Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comments. 
Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All 
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals 
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations 
or businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their 
entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Worland and Cody Field Offices:
    Bob Ross, Planning Coordinator, BLM, 101 South 23rd Street, P.O. 
Box 119, Worland, Wyoming 82401-0119, 307-347-5100;
Casper Field Office:
    Glen Nebeker, Resource Advisor, BLM, 1701 East E Street, Casper, 
Wyoming 82601-2167, 307-261-7600;
Rawlins Field Office:
    John Spehar, Planning Coordinator, BLM, 1300 North 3rd Street, P.O. 
Box 2407, Rawlins, Wyoming 82301-2407, 307-328-4200
Rock Springs, Kemmerer, and Pinedale Field Offices:
    Renee Dana, Resource Advisor, BLM, 280 Highway 191 North, Rock 
Springs, Wyoming 82901-3448, 307-352-0256.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM in Wyoming is reviewing the land use 
planning decisions in the Cody, Grass Creek, Washakie, Great Divide, 
Platte River, Green River, Kemmerer, and Pinedale Resource Management 
Plans (RMPs) to determine which of those decisions apply to the BOR 
withdrawn lands being restored to BLM jurisdiction. The withdrawn lands 
to be restored, involving parts of the Shoshone, Missouri River Basin, 
Platte River, and Seedskadee Reclamation Projects, are no longer needed 
for those reclamation projects.
    The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) requires the 
development of land use plans for the BLM-administered public lands. 
Accordingly, the BOR withdrawn lands that will be restored to BLM 
jurisdiction must be incorporated into the BLM RMPs and have planning 
decisions made for them.
    The initial focus of the planning review will be on determining 
which of the BOR withdrawn lands have undergone sufficient NEPA 
analysis to adopt the existing RMP decisions that will apply to them 
and for incorporating those lands into and amending the RMPs. The NEPA 
analyses documented in the Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) for 
the RMPs will be reviewed for this determination. When these EISs were 
prepared, there was no differentiation made between the Federal lands 
under BOR jurisdiction and the Federal lands under BLM jurisdiction. 
Therefore, the BOR withdrawn lands were included in the impact 
analyses. However, the BLM did not include planning decisions for these 
lands in the BLM RMPs because of lacking jurisdiction to do so.
    The withdrawn lands involved in this review are closed to the 
operation of the

[[Page 32253]]

public land laws, including the mining laws. Opening orders, to allow 
operation of the public land laws and the staking and development of 
mining claims, will not be published until the BLM RMP decisions are in 
place for the lands and, if possible, will take place simultaneously 
with BLM implementing any new withdrawals that may be necessary on any 
of the lands. There is also a moratorium on leasing Federal minerals on 
these lands until the review is completed, the amendments to the RMPs 
are completed and any new withdrawals that may be needed on any of the 
lands are in place.
    The planning and management decisions in the above mentioned RMPs 
will be reviewed to identify such things as (1) which of the RMP 
planning and management decisions will apply to the BOR-withdrawn lands 
that will be restored to BLM jurisdiction; (2) cases where decisions 
must be deferred, because further analysis is needed before RMP 
decisions can be applied or made for any of the lands to be restored; 
(3) whether it may be necessary to pursue new withdrawals on any of the 
lands to be restored; and (4) what other procedures will be required to 
amend the RMPs and to incorporate the restored lands and the associated 
planning and management decisions.
    Some of the BOR withdrawals to be terminated are within national 
forests or on private and State lands and do not involve Federal lands 
that would be restored to BLM jurisdiction. These lands will not be 
addressed in the planning review.
    Some situations may involve BLM jurisdiction over the Federal 
mineral estate beneath private or State surface ownership. The planning 
review will address management of that Federal mineral estate.

    Dated: June 10, 1999.
Alan R. Pierson,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 99-15219 Filed 6-15-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P