[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 79 (Wednesday, April 24, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20155-20157]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-9597]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

National Park Service

[AZ 100-02-1610-DO-083A]


Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Arizona Strip Field Office, St. 
George, Utah; National Park Service, Lake Mead National Recreation 
Area, Boulder City, Nevada.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to (1) prepare a Resource Management Plan 
(RMP) for the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument, designated 
January 11, 2000, (2) prepare a RMP for the Vermilion Cliffs National 
Monument, designated November 9, 2000, and (3) revise the 1992 Arizona 
Strip RMP. These three actions will require a single Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS). These lands are located in Mohave and Coconino 
Counties, Arizona.

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SUMMARY: This document provides notice that the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) intends to prepare a RMP with an associated EIS for 
the Arizona Strip Field Office. BLM will work in cooperation with the 
National Park Service (NPS) for lands administered by the NPS Lake Mead 
National Recreation Area in the Grand Canyon Parashant National 
Monument. Separate plans will be developed for the Vermilion Cliffs 
National Monument and the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument. 
This planning activity encompasses approximately 2,800,000 acres of 
public land, including 1,052,000 acres in the Grand Canyon Parashant 
Monument and 293,000 acres in the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. 
The plan will fulfill the needs and obligations set forth by the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act (FLPMA), the National Park Service Organic Act, the Lake 
Mead National Recreation Area Enabling Legislation, the two monument 
proclamations, and the NPS and BLM management policies. The BLM will 
work closely with interested parties to

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identify the management decisions that are best suited to the needs of 
the public. This collaborative process will take into account local, 
regional, and national needs and concerns. This notice initiates the 
public scoping process to identify planning issues and to develop 
planning criteria. The scoping process will include an evaluation of 
the existing RMP in the context of the needs and interests of the 
public and protection of the objects of historic and scientific 
interest specified in the proclamations.
    Comments: Public meetings will be held throughout the plan scoping 
and preparation period. In order to ensure local community 
participation and input, public meeting locations will be rotated among 
towns, which could include St. George and Kanab, Utah; Flagstaff, 
Kingman, Page, and Phoenix, Arizona; and Mesquite and Las Vegas, 
Nevada. Early participation by all those interested is encouraged and 
will help determine the future management of the Grand Canyon Parashant 
and Vermilion Cliffs National Monuments and the Arizona Strip Field 
Office public lands. The publication of this notice will initiate the 
BLM and NPS scoping comment period. Scoping will last a minimum of 90 
days. At least 15 days public notice will be given for activities where 
the public is invited to attend. Written comments will be accepted 
throughout the planning process at the addresses shown below. Meetings 
and comment deadlines will be announced through the local news media, 
newsletters and the BLM web site (www.az.blm.gov). In addition to the 
ongoing public participation process, formal opportunities for public 
participation will be provided through comment on the alternatives and 
upon publication of the joint BLM draft RMP/EIS and NPS draft General 
Management Plan (GMP)/EIS. Documents pertinent to this proposal may be 
examined at the Arizona Strip Field Office located in St. George, Utah. 
Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will be 
available for public review at the Arizona Strip Field Office located 
in St. George, Utah, during regular business hours 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays, and may be published as 
part of the EIS. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If 
you wish to withhold your name or street address from public review or 
from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, 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 and businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses, will be available for public inspection in their entirety.

ADDRESSES: For further information and/or to have your name added to 
our mailing list, contact Dennis Curtis, Telephone 435 688-3202, or 
Diana Hawks, Telephone 435 688-3266, Bureau of Land Management, Arizona 
Strip Field Office, 345 E. Riverside Drive, St. George, Utah 84790; Fax 
435 688-3388; or Jim Holland, Telephone 702 293-8986, National Park 
Service, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, 601 Nevada Highway, 
Boulder City, Nevada 89005; Fax 702 293-8967.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The designation of Grand Canyon Parashant 
and Vermilion Cliffs National Monuments and the changing needs and 
interests of the public necessitates a revision of the Arizona Strip 
RMP, 1992, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area GMP, 1986. Two 
monument plans and a revised RMP for the remaining BLM Arizona Strip 
area will be combined into one planning effort. These actions require 
three separate Records of Decision (ROD)within a single EIS.
    Preliminary issues and management concerns have been identified by 
BLM and NPS personnel, other agencies, and in meetings with individuals 
and user groups. They represent BLM's and NPS's knowledge to date on 
the existing issues and concerns with current management. The major 
issue themes that will be addressed in the plan effort are: management 
and protection of public land resources, recreation/visitor use and 
safety; access and transportation on the public lands; integrating 
monument management with community, tribal, and other agency needs; and 
balancing multiple uses. After gathering public comments, the suggested 
issues will be placed in one of three categories:
    1. Issues to be resolved in the plan.
    2. Issues resolved through policy or administrative action.
    3. Issues beyond the scope of this plan.
    Rationale will be provided in the plan for each issue placed in 
category 2 or 3. In addition to the preceding major issues, management 
questions and concerns to be addressed in the plan include, but are not 
limited to: ecosystem health, riparian condition, threatened and 
endangered species habitat, wildlife habitat, reintroduction of native 
species, cultural resource protection and interpretation, recreation/
visitor use, rangeland management, woodland product harvest, and 
minerals management. The following disciplines will be represented on 
the BLM/NPS planning team: wilderness, recreation, wildlife, range 
management, botany, fire ecology, forestry, geology, realty, cultural 
resources, soils, hydrology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and 
engineering. Where necessary and available, outside expertise will be 
used.
    Background Information: On January 11, 2000, the President signed 
Proclamation 7265, creating the Grand Canyon Parashant National 
Monument. The monument encompasses approximately 1,052,000 acres of 
public lands in Mohave County, Arizona. It borders Nevada to the west 
and Grand Canyon National Park to the south and BLM managed public 
lands to the east and north. The Vermilion Cliffs National Monument was 
established by Presidential Proclamation on November 9, 2000, and is 
under the administration of the BLM. The monument is located on the 
Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona. It borders the Kaibab National 
Forest to the west, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area to the east, 
and the state of Utah to the north.
    The Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument proclamation states 
that the NPS and the BLM shall manage the monument cooperatively and 
shall prepare an agreement to share, consistent with applicable laws, 
whatever resources are necessary to properly manage the monument; 
however, the NPS shall continue to have primary management authority 
over the portion of the monument within the Lake Mead National 
Recreation Area, and the BLM shall have primary management authority 
over the remaining portion of the monument. The plan will need to 
address and incorporate, to the extent possible, NPS policies, 
regulations and management directives.
    The Arizona Strip RMP was completed in 1992 and amended in 1998 to 
implement the Mohave Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan. Several significant 
multi-discipline plans have recently been completed, including the Mt. 
Trumbull Resource Conservation Area Plan in 1995 and the Parashant 
Resource Conservation Area Plan in 1997. The Lake Mead National 
Recreation Area GMP was completed in 1986, and the Shivwits portion of 
this plan was revised as part of Parashant Interdisciplinary Plan 
completed cooperatively by the two agencies in 1997. We anticipate 
incorporating much

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of the information in the existing plans into this plan revision.

Roger G. Taylor,
Arizona Strip Field Manager.
William K. Dickinson,
Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Superintendent.
[FR Doc. 02-9597 Filed 4-23-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-32-P