[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 52 (Tuesday, March 18, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12931-12932]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-6273]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[AK-050-02-1610-DO-085L]


Resource Management Plan; East Alaska Planning Area

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management; Glennallen Field Office, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare a Resource Management Plan (RMP) 
for the East Alaska planning area and Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS).

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SUMMARY: This document provides notice that the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) intends to prepare an RMP with an associated EIS for 
the Glennallen Field Office. This planning activity encompasses 
approximately 7.6 million acres of BLM-administered lands. 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), and BLM management policies. The BLM will work 
collaboratively with interested parties to identify the management 
decisions that are best suited to local, regional, and national needs 
and concerns. The public scoping process will identify planning issues 
and develop planning criteria. The public is invited to nominate 
potential areas of critical environmental concern and potential special 
management areas during the planning process. The planning area is 
located from the southern slopes of the Alaska Range to the Chugach 
Mountains, from the Talkeetna Mountains to the Wrangell Mountains, and 
includes an extensive area of coastline in Prince William Sound.

DATES: The public scoping process will begin on the date of this 
publication in the Federal Register and will end after 90 days. 
Comments on issues and planning criteria can be submitted in writing to 
the address listed below. All public meetings will be announced through 
the local news media and the BLM Web site (http://www.glennallen.ak.blm.gov) at least 15 days prior to the event. The 
minutes and list of attendees for each meeting will be available to the 
public and open for 30 days to any participant who wishes to clarify 
the views they expressed.

Public Participation: Public meetings will be held throughout the plan 
scoping and preparation period. In order to ensure local community 
participation and input, public meetings will be held in the 
communities of Anchorage, Fairbanks, Valdez, Delta Junction, Paxson, 
Glennallen, and Slana as well as the villages of Gulkana, Tazlina, 
Chitina, Cantwell, Chistochina, and Copper Center. Early participation 
is encouraged and will help determine the future management of BLM-
administered lands within the planning area. 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 BLM draft RMP/EIS.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to: East Alaska Resource 
Management Planning, Bureau of Land Management, Glennallen Field 
Office, P.O. Box 147, Glennallen, Alaska 99588; Fax (907)-822-3120. 
Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will be 
available for public review at the Glennallen Field Office during 
regular business hours 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except holidays, and may be published

[[Page 12932]]

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 or organizations or 
businesses, will be available for public inspection in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: For further information and/or to have your 
name added to our mailing list, contact Bruce Rogers, telephone (907) 
822-3217.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Currently, a Management Framework Plan (MFP) 
completed in 1980 guides the use of these lands. A new RMP is necessary 
to respond to increasing tourism and recreational use in the area, and 
new issues that have developed since 1980. Preliminary issues and 
management concerns have been identified by BLM personnel, other 
agencies, and in meetings with individuals and user groups. They 
represent the BLM'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 include: How will people's uses and 
activities be managed; how to we protect and conserve lands having 
special critical or unique features or resource values; and how will 
the natural resources of the East Alaska planning area be managed and 
conserved? After gathering public comments on what issues the plan 
should address, the suggested issues will be placed in one of three 
categories: 1. Issued to be resolved in the plan; 2. Issues resolved 
through policy or administrative action; or 3. Issues beyond the scope 
of this plan.
    Rationale will be provided in the plan for each issue placed in 
category two or three. In addition to these major issues, a number of 
management question and concerns will be addressed in the plan. The 
public is encouraged to help identify these questions and concerns 
during the scoping phase.
    An interdisciplinary approach will be used to develop the plan in 
order to consider the variety of resource issues and concerns 
identified. Disciplines involved in the planning process will include 
specialists with expertise in outdoor recreation, minerals and geology, 
forestry, archaeology, paleontology, wildlife and fisheries, lands and 
realty, hydrology, soils, vegetation, sociology and economics.

K. J. Mushovic,
Glennallen Field Office, Bureau of Land Management.
[FR Doc. 03-6273 Filed 3-17-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-AG-M