[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 48 (Monday, March 12, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14415-14417]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-6067]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[UT-080-1610-DH]


Environmental Impact Statement; Vernal Resource Management Plan, 
Utah

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to plan, prepare an environmental impact 
statement, and call for information. The public is invited to nominate 
potential areas of critical environmental concern (ACEC) and river 
segments for wild and scenic river consideration during the planning 
process.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM), Vernal Field Office, Utah, is initiating a planning effort to 
prepare the Vernal Resource Management Plan (RMP). Sections 201 and 202 
of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. 
1711) and the regulations in 43 CFR 1600 direct this planning effort. 
Involved is preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). 
Upon completion, the Vernal RMP will replace the existing Book Cliffs 
and Diamond Mountain RMPs. The Vernal RMP will establish land use 
management policy for multiple resource uses on approximately 1.8 
million acres of public land and 2.1 million acres of federal mineral 
resources in the Vernal Field Office.
    Scoping information on potential issues and nominations for the 
Vernal RMP may be submitted at this time. Other public participation 
activities will be announced in the local news media, or in letters 
sent to interested and potentially affected parties. Persons desiring 
to participate in the scoping and issue identification process for the 
RMP, and that would like to be placed on mailing lists, must notify the 
Vernal Field Office at the address listed below, or by calling (435) 
781-4400. Another Federal Register Notice will be published identifying 
the dates and locations of future scoping meetings, which are 
anticipated to be held in the fall of 2001.
    Freedom of Information Act Considerations: Public comments 
submitted for this planning effort, including names and street 
addresses of respondents, will be available for public review at the 
Vernal Field Office during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 
p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays. 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. 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.

ADDRESSES: Please submit scoping information and nominations to: Vernal 
Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, Attn: David E. Howell, 170 
South, 500 East, Vernal, Utah 84078.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Resource Management Plan Project 
Manager, Vernal Field Office, Vernal, Utah, (435) 781-4400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The planning area will include all of the 
public land and federal mineral ownership managed by the Vernal Field 
Office, in Daggett, Duchesne, and Uintah Counties in northeastern Utah, 
and about 3,000 acres in Grand County. The planning area will encompass 
the public lands currently managed under the Diamond Mountain and Book 
Cliffs RMPs. This area includes approximately 1.8 million acres of BLM 
administered surface lands and 2.1 million acres of federal mineral 
lands under federal, state, private, and Ute Tribal surface in the 
three county area.
    A list of preliminary issues that could be addressed during 
development of the Vernal RMP include, but is not limited

[[Page 14416]]

to, the following: (1) Identification and management of summer and 
winter ranges for mule deer, (2) forage competition between wildlife 
and livestock, (3) the cumulative effect of land uses and human 
activities on threatened, endangered or sensitive species and their 
habitats, including sage grouse, ferruginous hawks and other raptors, 
(4) off highway vehicle (OHV) management, (5) revision of Reasonable 
Foreseeable Development (RFD) scenarios for oil and gas development, 
(6) concerns about water and air quality, (7) sensitive fish species in 
the White and Green Rivers as components of the Colorado River System, 
(8) fire management opportunities and potential effects on vegetative 
communities, (9) Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) 
considerations, (10) Wild and Scenic River considerations, that include 
making determinations on river eligibility, suitability, and tentative 
classification, and (11) Wilderness study areas (WSAs). The preliminary 
list of issues is not final and may be added to and refined through the 
public participation process.
    As part of the land use planning process, the Federal Land 
Management Policy Act mandates that the Bureau of Land Management give 
priority to the designation and protection of ACECs in developing and 
revising land use plans. As part of the Vernal RMP planning effort, the 
Bureau of Land Management will determine what areas, if any, should be 
designated as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. To be considered 
as a potential ACEC, and analyzed in a management plan alternative, an 
area must meet the criteria of relevance and importance as established 
and defined in 43 CFR 1610.7-2, Designations of Areas of Critical 
Environmental Concern. An area meets ``relevance'' criteria if it 
contains one or more of the following: (1) Significant historic, 
cultural, or scenic values, (2) a fish and wildlife resource (including 
sensitive species, relative habitat, or habitat essential for 
maintaining species diversity), (3) natural processes or systems 
(including rare, endemic, relict plants or communities, and riparian 
areas), and (4) natural hazards such as severe avalanche, flooding, 
seismic activity, etc.
    The ``importance'' criteria are used to insure that a specific 
resource or value, process or hazard has substantial significance and 
value. Importance can be characterized as follows: (1) has more than 
local significance having special worth, (2) has qualities or 
circumstances that make it fragile, sensitive, rare, irreplaceable, 
unique, endangered or threatened, meaningful or distinctive, (3) has 
been recognized as warranting protection in order to satisfy national 
priorities or to carry out the mandates of the Federal Land Policy 
Management Act, and (4) has qualities which warrant concern to satisfy 
public welfare and safety needs.
    As a result of a previous planning effort for the Diamond Mountain 
Resource Management Plan several nominations have already been 
recorded, evaluated, and designated as ACECs. It is proposed that these 
areas be brought forward into the Draft Vernal Resource Management 
Plan/Draft EIS. Potential ``relevance'' and ``importance'' values, and 
potential issues, associated with the designated areas are as follows:
    (1) Browns Park ACEC Complex, located in Township 1 and 2 North, 
Range 23, 24 and 25 East, encompassing 55,700 acres; To protect and 
enhance crucial deer winter range, outstanding scenic, cultural, 
riparian, fisheries, and special status species resource values.
    (2) Lears Canyon ACEC, located in Township 11 South, Range 13 East, 
encompassing 1,400 acres; To retain the areas present natural douglas 
fir/mountain browse and pinion-juniper communities as a comparison or 
control area and to provide/set aside an area in a late to climax 
ecological stage.
    (3) Lower Green River ACEC, located in Township 9, 10 and 11 South, 
Range 18, and 19 East, encompassing 7,900 acres; To enhance and protect 
the delicate riparian community adjacent to the Green River for special 
status fish, bird, and plant species while maintaining the wild and 
scenic river qualities of this river.
    (4) Nine Mile Canyon ACEC, located in Township 11 South, and Range 
14, 15, 16, and 17 East; encompassing 50,600 acres; To protect and 
enhance the cultural and special status plant species values of the 
canyon while enhancing its scenic, recreation, and wildlife resource 
values.
    (5) Pariette Wetlands ACEC, located in Township 8, and 9 South, and 
Range 18, and 19 East, encompassing 11,600 acres; To enhance and 
protect the wetlands community and associated habitat adjacent to 
Pariette and Castle Peak Washes, ensuring continued waterfowl 
production and no long-term deterioration of the water quality in 
Pariette Wash. Meet management objectives of the final recovery plans 
for the special status species associated with the area.
    (6) Red Creek Watershed ACEC, located in Township 2, and 3 North, 
and Range 23, 24, and 25 East, encompassing 24,600 acres; To continue 
the reduction of sedimentation into Red Creek and the Green River by 
stabilizing channels and streambanks and maintaining or increasing 
vegetative cover throughout the watershed to enhance wildlife habitat.
    (7) Red Mountain-Dry Fork ACEC Complex, located in Township 2, and 
3 South, and Range 20, 21, and 22 East, encompassing 25,800 acres; To 
protect cultural sites eligible for listing on the National Register of 
Historic Places; protect significant paleontological sites; protect 
relict vegetation communities; enhance wildlife habitat, municipal 
watersheds, riparian, and scenic values.
    In addition to the above areas, the BLM is requesting nominations 
for areas that the public believes meet ACEC criteria. All such 
nominations will receive a preliminary evaluation by an 
interdisciplinary team to determine if the area meets ``relevance'' and 
``importance'' criteria.
    Additional public nominations are also being sought for those 
rivers which may be eligible for inclusion into the National Wild and 
Scenic River System. In order to be considered, the body of water must 
be free flowing and contain outstandingly remarkable values. A segment 
can be determined free flowing if it is a flowing body of water, 
estuary, or section, portion, or tributary thereof including, rivers, 
streams, creeks, runs, kills, rills, and small lakes. The river can be 
any size and must be existing or flowing in natural conditions without 
major modification. All nominations should be accompanied by detailed 
maps, descriptions of the river segment, and river related values. 
Those values determined to be outstandingly remarkable are: scenic, 
recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife habitat or populations, 
cultural, historic, hydrologic, ecologic/biologic diversity, 
paleontologic, botanic, or scientific study opportunities. Rivers are 
also tentatively classified as wild, scenic or recreational as part of 
the planning process.
    The following are nominations that BLM has received from the public 
to date:
    Green River Basin:
    Ashley Creek, 1\1/2\ miles from the Ashley National Forest Boundary 
to the water treatment plant--recommended classification: Wild,
    Green River, 46 miles from Flaming Gorge Dam to the Ladore Ranger 
Station--recommended classification: Scenic,
    Green River, 79 miles from Split Mountain Campground to boundary of 
the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation--recommended classification: 
Recreational,

[[Page 14417]]

    Green River, 25 miles from the boundary of the Uintah and Ouray 
Indian Reservation to Sand Wash Ranger Station--recommended 
classification: Scenic:
    Green River, 76 miles from the Sand Wash Ranger Station to 
Nefertiti Rock--recommended classification: Wild,
    White River, 23 miles from the Colorado Border to T. 15 S. R. 23 E. 
Sec. 24,--recommended classification: Recreational,
    White River, 21 miles from T. 15 S. R. 23 E. Sec. 24, to the Uintah 
and Ouray Indian Reservation Boundary--recommended classification: 
Wild.
    The information provided with additional nominations will be 
carefully considered. Preliminary findings of river eligibility and 
tentative classification will be made available for public review and 
comment. Only then will the determination be made as to which rivers 
will be considered further in the Vernal Field Office Resource 
Management Plan.
    Preliminary Planning Criteria identified to guide resolution of the 
issues that will be considered in the RMP revision are as follows:
    (1) The plan will recognize the existence of valid existing rights,
    (2) Lands covered in the RMP will be public lands, which include 
split estate lands, managed by BLM. Decisions on lands not managed by 
BLM will not be made in the RMP,
    (3) The BLM will use a collaborative and multi-jurisdictional 
approach, where possible, to jointly determine the desired future 
condition of Public Lands,
    (4) The BLM will make all possible attempts to ensure that its 
management prescriptions and planning actions are as complimentary as 
possible with other planning jurisdictions, within the boundaries 
described by law and policy,
    (5) The BLM will consider the management prescriptions on adjoining 
lands to attempt to minimize inconsistent management on lands covered 
by this planning effort. To the extent possible, BLM will coordinate 
inventories, planning, and management programs with other Federal, 
State, Tribal, and local governments and agencies,
    (6) Management prescriptions will focus on the relative values of 
resources and not the combination of uses that will give the greatest 
economic return or economic output, and
    (7) To the extent possible the BLM will use current scientific 
information, research, new technologies and the results of resource 
assessments, monitoring and coordination to determine appropriate 
local, and regional management strategies that will enhance or restore 
impaired ecosystems.
    Complete records of all phases of the planning process will be 
available for public review at the Vernal Field Office throughout this 
planning effort.
    This notice announces the beginning of scoping. The Vernal Field 
Office is seeking public involvement in the early stages of this 
planning effort to enhance collaboration. If you have information or 
concerns you would like to share, including ideas or opportunities, 
that could enhance data collection, inventories, or formulation of 
issues that could be addressed in the plan, please submit them to the 
above address. Comments will be accepted and considered until the 
alternatives to be analyzed in the plan are finalized.
    Alternatives will be developed and analyzed to resolve the issues 
that are identified during the scoping process. A Draft RMP and Draft 
EIS will be published and made available for public review. Comments 
made on the Draft RMP will be addressed in a Proposed RMP and Final 
EIS.
    Currently, there is one proposed RMP amendment being considered for 
the Book Cliffs RMP that could result in decisions to amend the RMP. 
This is an independent planning effort and will take place concurrently 
with the new planning effort. Any decisions made during the amendment 
process will be carried forward and will not affect the RMP revision 
process announced in this notice.

Sally Wisely,
Utah State Director.
[FR Doc. 01-6067 Filed 3-9-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-11-P