[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 100 (Thursday, May 23, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Page 36217]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-12904]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NV-013-02-1210-AA WSAS]


Limited Use Designation within Elko Field Office Wilderness Study 
Areas; Elko, Nevada

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Establishment of Limited Use designation for mechanical 
transport, including all motorized devices as well as trail and 
mountain bikes, in Wilderness Study Areas under the jurisdiction of the 
Elko Field Office, Nevada.

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SUMMARY: The following Wilderness Study Areas are designated as Limited 
Use. Cedar Ridge WSA (NV-010-088); Red Spring WSA (NV-010-091); Little 
Humboldt WSA (NV-010-132); Rough Hills WSA (NV-010-151); South Fork 
Owyhee River WSA (NV-010-103A); Owyhee Canyon WSA (NV-010-106); 
Bluebell WSA (NV-010-027); Goshute Peak WSA (NV-010-033); South Pequop 
WSA (NV-010-035); and Bad Lands WSA (NV-010-184). Persons operating 
mechanical transport, including all motorized devices, as well as trail 
and mountain bikes, are limited to accessing only those boundary roads 
or ways existing inside a Wilderness Study Area, which were identified 
during the inventory phase of the wilderness review. Maps depicting 
those open roads within each Wilderness Study Area are available at the 
Elko Field Office. All other ways and roads are assumed closed. Persons 
with authorization to utilize the area by BLM regulations, contracts, 
leases or permits, may use the area described in accordance with those 
authorizations. Nothing in this closure effects the exercise of valid 
existing rights created by a contract, right of way, lease, permit or 
mining claim that is carried out in accordance with the regulations 
under which the rights were established.
    Exemptions to this order are granted for these purposes only:
    (a) In emergencies and search and rescue operations;
    (b) for official purposes by the BLM and other Federal, State, and 
local agencies and their agents when necessary and specifically 
authorized the BLM for protection of human life, safety, and property; 
for protection of the lands and their resources; and
    (c) to build or maintain structures and installations authorized as 
grandfathered uses or valid existing rights in the Interim Management 
Policy for Lands under Wilderness Review, as long as such use of 
vehicles is determined to satisfy the nonimpairment criteria and is 
only along routes authorized and specified by the BLM.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This designation is official on March 1, 2002 and will 
remain in effect until either rescinded by the authorizing official, or 
until Resource Management Plans for both Elko and Wells Resource Areas 
are amended, or until such time as Congress either designates the WSA 
as Wilderness or releases it for other purposes.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Helen Hankins, Elko Field Office 
Manager, 3900 Idaho Street, Elko, NV 89801. Telephone (775) 753-0200.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM's Off Road Vehicle Regulations, 43 
CFR 8342.1., require that the BLM establish off-road vehicle 
designation of areas and trails that meet the non-impairment mandate. 
It is the BLM's policy that cross-country vehicle use in the WSAs does 
cause the impairment of wilderness suitability. The BLM policy 
establishing what is necessary to prevent such impairment is set forth 
in BLM Manual Handbook H-8550-1, Interim Management Policy for Lands 
Under Wilderness Review.
    The Limited Use designation is established to comply with the 
``nonimpairment'' mandate established in the Interim Management Policy 
for Lands Under Wilderness Review, BLM Manual Handbook H-8850-1.

Helen M. Hankins,
Field Manager.
[FR Doc. 02-12904 Filed 5-22-02; 8:45 am]
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