[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 148 (Tuesday, August 3, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 42145]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-19846]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management
[WY-050-1610-00]


Notice of Intent To Conduct a Planning Review and Request for 
Public Participation Concerning Management of the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) Administered Public Lands in That Part of the South 
Pass Area Administered by the BLM Lander Field Office in Fremont 
County, WY

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The BLM invites the public to identify issues and management 
needs associated with locating and routing rights-of-way for linear 
facilities such as oil or natural gas pipelines and power transmission 
lines on BLM administered public lands in the South Pass area in 
Fremont County, Wyoming.

DATES: Written comments will be received through September 30, 1999. 
Comments, including names and addresses, will be available for public 
review at the Lander Field Office, 1335 Main, Lander, Wyoming, during 
regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) Monday through Friday, 
except legal 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.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted to: Bureau of Land 
Management, Lander Field Office, P.O. Box 589, Lander, Wyoming 82520.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jack Kelly, Lander Field Manager 
Bureau of Land Management, P.O. Box 589, 1335 Main Street, Lander, 
Wyoming 82520; telephone (307) 332-8400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Management of the BLM administered public 
lands in the South Pass area of Fremont County, Wyoming, is divided 
between the Lander BLM Field Office on the east and the Rock Springs 
BLM Field Office on the west. The Lander Resource Management Plan (RMP) 
was completed on June 9, 1987, and the Green River Resource Management 
Plan (covering the Rock Springs Office administrative area) was 
completed on August 8, 1997. Some of the planning and management 
decisions for the South Pass area are inconsistent between the two 
RMPs. For example, compared to the Lander RMP decisions for the South 
Pass area, the more recent Green River RMP (1) Establishes the South 
Pass Historic Landscape, which encompasses the view shed along the 
Oregon, Mormon Pioneer, California, and Pony Express National Historic 
Trails; (2) establishes the South Pass Historic Landscape Area of 
Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC); and (3) among other management 
actions, identifies the South Pass Historic Landscape as an exclusion 
area for rights-of-way, closing this area to rights-of-way that could 
adversely affect the values of the Historic Landscape.
    A review of the Lander RMP planning decisions for the eastern 
portion of the South Pass area is needed to further evaluate them for 
consistency with the adjacent Green River RMP decisions and for 
adequacy of existing management prescriptions for the protection of the 
visual and historical integrity of the historic trails and surrounding 
landscape. Any needed changes in existing management or any new 
management actions to be prescribed for the eastern portion of the area 
will be identified and, if necessary, the Lander RMP will be amended.
    The planning review will include opportunities for public 
participation. These opportunities will be announced through Federal 
Register notices, media releases, and mailings. The public will be 
invited to one or more meetings to discuss problems, conflicts, 
concerns, and management alternatives. The National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) environmental analysis process will be used for 
evaluating these alternatives and for identifying any needed changes in 
the management prescription for the area.
    If the planning review results in the need to amend the Lander RMP, 
other notices, mailings, or media releases will announce a 30-day 
protest period on the proposed amendment.

    Dated: July 28, 1999.
Alan L. Kesterke,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 99-19846 Filed 8-2-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P