[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 221 (Thursday, November 15, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57478-57479]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-28609]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management


Notice of Availability of Proposed Planning Criteria and Public 
Meeting Related to the Multi-Jurisdictional Land-Use Planning Effort 
for the Coast Dairies Property, Santa Cruz County, CA

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Availability of proposed planning criteria and notice of public 
meeting.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) provides formal notice that, pursuant to 43 CFR 
1610.2(f)(2) and 1610.4-2, the proposed planning criteria related to 
the Hollister Resource Management Plan Amendment are available for 
public review and comment. Comments will be accepted until December 31, 
2001. This notice also announces a public meeting to take public 
comment on the proposed planning criteria for the planning process, 
review the draft opportunity and constraints portion of the multi-
jurisdictional land-use planning effort, and discuss the project 
description for the plan's environmental impact documentation process. 
The public meeting will be held on Saturday, November 17, 2001, in 
Santa Cruz, California.

DATES: Comments will be accepted until December 31, 2001, and the 
public meeting will be held November 17, 2001, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Santa 
Cruz, CA.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the proposed planning criteria should be sent to 
the Field Manager, USDI Bureau of Land Management, 20 Hamilton Court, 
Hollister, CA 95023, ATTN: Coast Dairies Planning Project.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rick Hanks, 831-630-5036.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM is participating in a multi-
jurisdictional land-use planning effort with the California Department 
of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a 
California non-profit public corporation. The planning effort is being 
conducted by the TPL for the Coast Dairies Property located in northern 
Santa Cruz County, California. As part of this planning effort, BLM is 
preparing an amendment to the Hollister Resource Management Plan (RMP). 
The RMP amendment will be conducted in order to assess the feasibility 
of transferring part or all of the property to BLM, or BLM and DPR, for 
joint management between BLM and DPR, and to include the implementation 
of the final planning decision, if appropriate, under the Hollister 
RMP. This planning effort will include the preparation of a companion 
environmental impact analysis.

Preliminary Planning Criteria:

    BLM planning regulations 43 CFR 1610.2(f)(2) and 1610.4-2 require 
preparation of planning criteria to guide development of all resource 
management plans or revisions. Planning criteria are the ground rules 
that guide and direct the development of the plan. They determine how 
the planning team approaches the development of alternatives and 
ultimately, selection of a Preferred Alternative. Planning criteria are 
based on standards prescribed by applicable laws and regulations; 
agency guidance; the result of consultation and coordination with the 
public, other Federal, State and local agencies and governmental 
entities, and Indian tribes; analysis of information pertinent to the 
planning area; and professional judgment. After public input analysis, 
they become proposed criteria, and can be added to or changed as the 
issues are addressed or new information is presented.
    The following proposed planning criteria are provided for public 
review and comment:
     The Plan will establish guidance upon which the BLM will 
rely in managing the Coast Dairies Property cooperatively with the 
California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR).
     The Plan will recognize the Coast Dairies Property as a 
unique natural and cultural landscape and coastline, and will give 
priority to actions that complement or enhance its natural and pastoral 
qualities.
     The planning process will encourage public participation 
and a collaborative process that strives to incorporate community, 
visitor, and other entities' needs and values while protecting the 
resources of the Coast Dairies Property.
     The Plan will be completed in compliance with Federal Land 
Policy and Management Act and all other applicable laws.

[[Page 57479]]

     The Plan will include an Environmental Impact Statement 
that will comply with National Environmental Policy Act standards and 
an Environmental Impact Report the will comply with the California 
Environmental Quality Act.
     The Plan will emphasize protection and enhancement of the 
biological and open space values afforded by the resources, the size, 
and the connectivity of the Coast Dairies Property while at the same 
time providing new and diverse recreational opportunities compatible 
with the management of existing uses and the protection of natural and 
cultural resources.
     Plan decisions will give priority to the protection and 
restoration of key resources such as stream, riparian, and watershed 
habitats and coastal prairies.
     The lifestyles and concerns of area residents will be 
recognized in the Plan.
     The Plan will recognize valid existing land use 
commitments within the Coast Dairies Property and review how valid 
existing uses are verified. The Plan may allow for other economic uses 
of the land, provided they are consistent with the overriding 
biological and open space conservation needs and objectives.
     Plan decisions will use the best available science and an 
adaptive management approach, i.e., continual monitoring of the 
Property's resources as the basis for decisions related to the land's 
uses.
     The planning process will protect Native American cultural 
resources and traditional uses.
     The Plan will address transportation and access, and will 
identify where better access is warranted, where access should remain 
as is, and where decreased access is appropriate to protect resources 
and manage visitation.
     Decisions in the plan will strive to be compatible with 
the existing plans and policies of adjacent local, State, and Federal 
agencies as long as the decisions are consistent with the purpose, 
policies, and programs of Federal laws and regulations applicable to 
public lands.
     The Plan will carry forward the concept of ``seamless 
management'' of the Coast Dairies Property between BLM, State Parks, 
TPL, and cooperating partners.
     The process will recognize that other Federal agencies, 
State and local governments have jurisdiction over resources and uses 
within the planning area (e. g. coastal zone), and will collaborate 
with these entities to develop complementary management decisions.
     The Plan will create valuable opportunities for education 
in the field of integrating traditional economic and recreational 
activities, including sustainable coastal agriculture, with programs 
designed to protect native biodiversity and other natural landscape 
values.

Planning Issues

    The planning criteria are developed under the major planning issues 
of which the plan is intended to resolve. In accordance with 43 CFR 
1610.4-1, the BLM planning process is issue-driven and BLM regulations 
equate land use planning with problem solving and issue resolution. A 
planning issue is ``a matter of controversy or dispute over resource 
management activities or land use that is well defined or topically 
discrete and entails alternatives between which to choose.'' This 
definition suggests that one or more entity is interested in a resource 
on public land, that entity may have different values for the resource, 
and that there are different ways in which to resolve the competition 
or demand.
    A number of issues have been raised about the long-term use and 
protection of Property. Preliminary planning issues and management 
concerns have surfaced during an initial series of facilitated meetings 
focused on issues and concerns related to the long-term management of 
the Coast Dairies Property.
    We expect that the major BLM issues to be addressed in the Plan 
will be the following:
     How will the Coast Dairies' natural and cultural resources 
and unique landscape values be protected?
     How will the existing uses be managed on the Coast Dairies 
Property?
     How will new uses be managed on the Coast Dairies 
Property?
     What facilities and infrastructure are needed to provide 
visitor services and administration of the Coast Dairies Property?
     Does the Coast Dairies Property warrant any special 
designation(s)?
     How will the management of the Coast Dairies Property be 
integrated with State Parks and the various other partners and their 
plans and planning processes?
    Public Meeting. A public meeting related to the multi-
jurisdictional land-use planning effort is being held on Saturday, 
November 17, 2001, at the Santa Cruz School District Office, 2931 
Mission Street, Santa Cruz, California. The meeting is scheduled to 
begin at 10 a.m. and end by 2 p.m. The public meeting will also serve 
as a meeting of TPL's Community Advisory Committee on the Coast Dairies 
Plan. The purpose of the public meeting is to take public comment on 
the proposed planning criteria, review the draft opportunity and 
constraints portion of the multi-jurisdictional land-use planning 
effort, and discuss the project description for the Plan's 
environmental impact documentation process.

    Authority: 43 U.S.C. 1711-1712.

    Dated: September 27, 2001.
Herrick E. Hanks,
Assistant Field Manager.
[FR Doc. 01-28609 Filed 11-14-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 28609-40-P