[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 216 (Wednesday, November 7, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56343-56344]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-27922]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[UT-070-1610-DO]


Notice of Intent to Prepare a Resource Management Plan (RMP) and 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Price Field Office

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM), Price Field Office, Utah, is initiating a planning effort to 
prepare the Price Field Office Resource Management Plan (RMP). This 
planning effort involves preparation of an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS). Upon completion, the Price Field Office RMP will 
replace the existing Price River Management Framework Plan (MFP) and 
San Rafael RMP. The Price Field Office RMP will establish land use 
management policy for multiple resource uses on approximately 2.5 
million acres of public land and 2.8 million acres of federal mineral 
resources in the planning area. Sections 201 and 202 of the Federal 
Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. 1711), the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the regulations in 43 CFR 
1600 direct this planning effort. The new RMP is being prepared through 
coordination with other federal, state, and local agencies, and 
affected public land users.

DATES: The BLM can best utilize public input if comments are submitted 
pertaining to land use issues and values within 30 days of this notice. 
Public meetings are tentatively scheduled for late 2001 or early 2002 
in Price, Castle Dale, and Green River, Utah. Specific dates and 
locations of all scoping meetings will be published in the local 
newspapers at least 15 days before the meetings.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment on potential issues or planning 
criteria, need additional information, or request to be put on our 
mailing list, you may do so by notifying the Price Field Office, Bureau 
of Land Management, Attn: Richard Manus, 125 South, 600 West, Price, 
Utah 84501.
    Comments, including names and addresses of respondents, will be 
available for public review at the BLM office listed above during 
regular business hours. If you wish to withhold your name and/or 
address from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of 
Information Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of 
your written comments. Such requests will be honored to the extent 
allowed by law. We will not, however, consider anonymous comments. 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: Richard Manus, Field Office Manager or 
Floyd Johnson, Supervisory Planning Coordinator, Price Field Office, 
Price Utah, (435) 636-3600.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The planning area will include all of the 
public land and federal mineral ownership managed by the Price Field 
Office in Carbon and Emery Counties in eastern Utah. The planning area 
will encompass the public lands currently managed under the Price River 
MFP and the San Rafael RMP. This area includes approximately 2.5 
million acres of BLM administered surface and 2.8 million acres of 
federal minerals under federal, state, and private surface in the two 
county area. The BLM will also include the recently acquired lands west 
of the Green River that were previously part of the Naval Oil Shale 
Reserve #2 (NOSR2) including a 1/4 mile scenic easement on the east 
side of the Green River (approximately 6,500 acres.)
    Preliminary issues that could be addressed during development of 
the Price Field Office RMP include, but are not limited to, the 
following: (1) Identification and management of summer and winter 
ranges for mule deer and elk; (2) forage competition between wildlife, 
wild horses and burros, and livestock; (3) the cumulative effect of 
land uses and human activities on threatened, endangered or sensitive 
species and their habitats; (4) management of Off Highway Vehicles 
(OHVs); (5) revision of Reasonable Foreseeable Development (RFD) 
scenarios for oil and gas development; (6) concerns about water and air 
quality; (7) management of cultural and pale ontological resources 
including the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry; (8)

[[Page 56344]]

fire management opportunities and potential effects on vegetative 
communities; (9) potential establishment of new Areas of Critical 
Environmental Concern (ACECs); (10) determinations of wild and scenic 
river eligibility, suitability, and tentative classifications (wild, 
scenic, or recreational); and (11) potential establishment of 
Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs). These preliminary issues are not final 
and may be added to and refined through the public participation 
process. As part of the land use planning process, the FLPMA mandates 
that BLM give priority to the designation and protection of ACECs when 
developing and revising land use plans. As part of the Price Field 
Office RMP planning effort, BLM will determine what areas, if any, 
should be designated as ACECs. As a result of a previous planning 
effort for the San Rafael RMP, 13 nominations have already been 
recorded, evaluated, and designated as ACECs. It is proposed that these 
areas be brought forward into the Price Field Office RMP. In addition, 
BLM is requesting additional nominations for areas that the public may 
see as being appropriately managed as ACECs.
    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 at least one outstandingly remarkable value. The 
river can be any size and must be existing or flowing in a natural 
condition without major modification. All nominations should be 
accompanied by detailed maps, descriptions of the river segment, and 
rivers related values. Rivers will also be tentatively classified as 
wild, scenic, or recreational. An interdisciplinary team in 
coordination with planning partners will make preliminary 
determinations as to eligibility and classification of river segments. 
These preliminary determinations will be made available for public 
review prior to issuance of the Draft RMP/Draft EIS.
    Preliminary Planning Criteria that have been identified to guide 
resolution of the issues that will be considered in the RMP 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 in the RMP will 
be made only on lands managed by BLM, (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 to 
other planning jurisdictions, within the boundaries described by law 
and policy, (5) The BLM will consider the management prescriptions on 
adjoining lands to minimize inconsistent management. 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 necessarily 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 Price Field Office throughout this 
planning effort.
    This notice announces the beginning of scoping. The Price Field 
Office is seeking public involvement in the earliest possible stages of 
this planning endeavor 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.
    Alternatives will be developed and analyzed to resolve the issues 
that are identified during the scoping process. A Draft RMP/Draft EIS 
will be published and made available for public review.

    Dated: September 6, 2001.
Robert A. Bennett,
Acting State Director.
[FR Doc. 01-27922 Filed 11-6-01; 8:45 am]
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