[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 246 (Thursday, December 23, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72098-72099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-33287]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management
[UT-045-1610-00]


Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement and 
General Management Plan for Zion National Park Incorporating a Land Use 
Plan Amendment for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) St. George Field 
Office Resource Management Plan

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969, the BLM, St. George Field Office, Utah announces 
the availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement and General 
Management Plan (DEIS/GMP) for Zion National Park, Utah. The DEIS/GMP 
incorporates a land use plan amendment for the BLM St. George Field 
Office Resource Management Plan (1999).
    On February 17, 1998, the St. George Field Office published in the 
Federal Register a notice of intent to conduct a plan amendment within 
the Dixie Resource area (now known as St. George Field Office), 
Washington County, Utah. Further, the notice indicated that BLM 
initiated the plan amendment through a joint planning effort with Zion 
National Park for the purpose of conducting wild and scenic river 
studies of five specific tracts on BLM-managed land contiguous to the 
Zion National Park's boundary. The St. George Field Office and Zion 
National Park prepared a Memorandum of Understanding regarding this 
joint planning effort.

DATES: Comments on the land use plan amendment to the St. George 
Resource Management Plan (incorporated within the DEIS/GMP) will be 
accepted through March 23, 2000. Comments specific to the DEIS/GMP for 
Zion National Park are due by February 11, 2000 (see Federal Register 
Volume 64, Number 233, Pages 68114-68115). Public meetings concerning 
both the DEIS/GMP and BLM's land use plan amendment will be held at the 
following locations and dates:

    All meetings will run from 7-10 p.m.
--January 6, 2000, Sharwan Smith Center, SUU, 351 W. Center Street, 
Cedar City, UT
--January 10, 2000, Town Offices, Public Assembly Hall, 118 Lion 
Boulevard, Springdale, UT
--January 11, 2000, Kanab City Library, 374 N. Main Street, Kanab, UT
--January 12, 2000, Interagency Offices and Information Center, 345 E. 
Riverside Road, St. George, UT
--January 13, 2000, Utah Department of Natural Resources, 1594 W. North 
Temple, Salt Lake City, UT

ADDRESSES: Comments and information regarding river values on the 
specific public land tracts identified in this notice should be 
submitted on or before March 23, 2000, and sent to, Jim Crisp, St. 
George Field Office Manager, 345 East Riverside Drive, St. George, Utah 
84790.
    Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will 
be available for public review at the BLM St. George Field Office and 
will be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 
(FOIA). They may be published as part of the Final EIS and other 
related documents. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. 
If you wish to withhold your name or street address from public review 
and disclosure under the FOIA, you must state this prominently at the 
beginning of your written comment. Such requests will be honored to the 
extent allowed by law. All submissions from organizations or 
businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their 
entirety.
    Public reading copies of the DIES/GMP will be available for review 
at the following locations: Office of the Superintendent, Zion National 
Park, Springdale, Utah 84767-1099; Telephone (435) 772-0211; Planning 
and Environmental Quality, Intermountain Support Office--Denver, 
National Park Service, PO Box 25287, Denver, CO 80225-0287, Telephone: 
(303) 969-2851 or (303) 969-2377; Office of Public Affairs, National 
Park Service, Department of the Interior, 18th and C Streets NW, 
Washington, D.C. 20240, Telephone: (202) 208-6843. The DEIS/GMP is also 
available for review on the National Park Service's Internet site at 
www.nps.gov/planning.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Crisp, BLM St. George Field Office 
Manager, (435) 688-3201.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Federal land management agencies are 
directed by Section 5(d)(1) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 
to consider the potential for national wild, scenic and recreational 
river areas in all planning for the use and development of water and 
related land resources. The BLM's St. George Field Office, during their 
past planning effort, learned that when river segments on three, small, 
isolated tracts of BLM-managed public land contiguous to Zion National 
Park were evaluated in the early 1990's as part of the St. George 
planning effort, they were determined by BLM not be eligible for 
further study. These river segments are Willis Creek (T. 38 S., R. 11 
W., Sec. 27: SWSW--40 acres affected), Beartrap Canyon (T. 39 S., R. 11 
W., Sec. 3: SWNW--40 acres affected), and Goose Creek (T. 39 S., R. 10 
W., Sec. 31: NESE, S2SE--120 acres affected). Additionally, contiguous 
river segments within the Park were not evaluated at that time. The 
BLM's St. George Field Office also learned that Zion National Park was 
preparing a General Management Plan and as part of that effort was 
conducting a wild and

[[Page 72099]]

scenic study of river segments within the Park. Consequently, BLM 
determined that the Park's study provided a timely, efficient way for 
BLM and the National Park Service to evaluate the streams throughout 
their reaches across contiguous Federal lands. Thus, for purposes of 
wild and scenic river study only, BLM through a memorandum of 
understanding with Zion National Park, served as a co-lead agency in 
the development of the General Management Plan for Zion National Park 
and preparation of any associated environmental document. BLM and Zion 
National Park will cooperate as partners and strive to reach a joint 
conclusion as to eligibility, tentative classification, and suitability 
for each river segment where public lands are involved. It is 
recognized that although the BLM-managed river segments identified 
above may not be eligible for further study when considered on their 
own, they may be eligible when considered in conjunction with 
contiguous segments in the Park.
    Two additional public land parcels at the head of the Middle Fork 
of Taylor Creek (T. 38 S., R. 11 W., Sec. 30: SWNW--40 acres), and at 
the head of Kolob Creek Narrows (T. 39 S., R. 10 W., Sec. 30: portions 
thereof--80 acres), may also be affected should the streams (that are 
within the Park) be determined suitable for Congressional designation 
into the National Wild and Scenic River System. Thus, river values 
involving these parcels have been addressed in the DEIS/GMP. Wild and 
scenic evaluations will be made by Zion National Park, the BLM, and 
other experts in accordance with the interagency guidelines of July 
1996 titled ``Wild and Scenic River Review in the State of Utah, 
Process and Criteria for Interagency Use.''
    BLM will prepare its own Record of Decision regarding stream 
segments that cross or otherwise affect BLM-managed public lands. Such 
decision will constitute a plan amendment for the St. George Resource 
Management Plan.
Sally Wisely,
Utah State Director.
[FR Doc. 99-33287 Filed 12-22-99; 8:45 am]
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