[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 107 (Wednesday, June 4, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33526-33527]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-13921]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[UT 060-1610-DO-016J; UT 090-1610-DO-017J]


Notice of Intent To Prepare Two Resource Management Plan 
Revisions for Public Lands and Resources Managed by the Moab and 
Monticello Field Offices, Respectively, and Call for Coal Information

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Moab and Monticello Utah Field 
Offices.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare two Resource Management Plan 
Revisions (RMPs) for public lands and resources managed by the Moab and 
Monticello Field Offices, respectively, and Call for Coal Information. 
These two plan revisions will require preparation of a single 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

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SUMMARY: This document provides notice that the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) intends to prepare two RMP revisions and a single 
associated EIS for lands managed by the Moab and Monticello Field 
Offices. These planning activities encompass approximately 2.46 million 
acres of public land in Grand and San Juan Counties, Utah. The plan 
revisions 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, tribal, and national 
needs and concerns. The public scoping process will identify planning 
issues and develop planning criteria, including an evaluation of the 
existing RMP in the context of the needs and interests of the public.
    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. Comments on

[[Page 33527]]

issues and planning criteria will be most useful if received on or 
before the end of the scoping period at the address listed below.
    Public Participation: Public meetings will be held throughout the 
region in order to promote public involvement in this process. In order 
to ensure local community participation and input, public meetings will 
be held, at a minimum, in Salt Lake City, Moab, Monticello, Blanding, 
Montezuma Creek, Bluff and Green River, Utah, and in Grand Junction, 
Colorado. Other locations will be announced in local and regional news 
media, planning bulletins and on BLM web sites. Early participation by 
all interested parties is encouraged and will help shape the future 
management of the public lands in the Moab and Monticello Field 
Offices. Written comments will be accepted throughout the planning 
process at the address shown below. In addition to the ongoing public 
scoping process, formal opportunities for public participation will be 
provided during a comment period for the draft alternatives and upon 
publication of the draft RMP/EIS.

ADDRESSES: For the Moab Field Office RMP revision, written comments 
should be sent to RMP Comments, Bureau of Land Management, Moab Field 
Office, 82 East Dogwood, Moab, Utah 84532; or Fax 435-259-2106. 
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the BLM's Moab 
Field Office. For the Monticello Field Office RMP revision, written 
comments should be sent to RMP Comments, Bureau of Land Management, 
Monticello Field Office, 435 North Main Street, Monticello, Utah 84535; 
or Fax 435 587-1518. Documents pertinent to this proposal may be 
examined at the BLM's Monticello Field Office.
    All comments must be specific to either the Moab RMP or the 
Monticello RMP. All comments and or data received, including names and 
street addresses of respondents, will be available for public review at 
each of the Field Offices during regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 
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 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information regarding the 
Moab RMP revision and/or to have your name added to this mailing list, 
contact Brent Northrup, Resource Advisor/RMP Project Manager, Bureau of 
Land Management, Moab Field Office, 82 East Dogwood, Moab, UT 84532, 
phone: 435-259-2151, or e-mail: [email protected]. For further 
information regarding the Monticello RMP revision and/or to have your 
name added to the mailing list, contact Gary Torres, Supervisory 
Planner, Bureau of Land Management, Monticello Field Office, 435 North 
Main Street, P.O. Box 7, Monticello, Utah 84535, phone: 435-587-1524 or 
e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Preliminary issues and management concerns 
have been identified by BLM personnel during planning evaluations and 
pre-planning analysis for each of the RMPs. They represent the BLM's 
knowledge to date of the existing issues and concerns with current 
management. The major issue themes that will be addressed in the plan 
revisions are: Management and protection of public land resources; 
management of conflicting and competing uses; access to and 
transportation on the public lands; and balancing multiple uses. Other 
specific issues may include cultural resource management, fire 
management, woodland harvest and management, lands and realty 
management, rangeland health and management, wild horse and burro 
management, potential establishment of special designation areas, and 
special status species management.
    43 CFR 3420.1-2(a) requires that the BLM publish a call for coal 
and other resource information in the Federal Register if there are 
areas with coal occurrence in the planning area. Parties interested in 
coal leasing and development should provide coal resource data for 
their area(s) of interest. Identification of interests in future coal 
leasing, substantiated with adequate coal resource data, allows the BLM 
to address development potential during the RMP revision process and 
helps avoid unnecessary work, delays, or RMP amendments.
    Proprietary data marked as confidential may be submitted in 
response to this call for coal resource information and other resource 
information. Please submit all proprietary information submissions to 
the individuals at the addresses listed above. The BLM will treat 
submissions marked as ``Confidential'' in accordance with the laws and 
regulations governing the confidentiality of such information.
    In addition to coal resource data, the BLM seeks resource 
information and data for other public land values (e.g., air quality, 
archaeology, fire/fuels, fisheries, forestry, geologic hazards, lands 
and realty, oil and gas (including coalbed methane), paleontology, 
rangeland management, recreation, trona, water quality, and wildlife).
    After gathering public comments on what issues the plan should 
address, 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; 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 questions and concerns will be addressed in the plan. The 
public is encouraged to help identify these questions and concerns 
during the scoping phase for the plan revisions. 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, but not be limited to, 
rangeland management, minerals and geology, outdoor recreation, 
archaeology, paleontology, special designations, wildlife and 
fisheries, lands and realty, hydrology, soils, sociology, and 
economics. Each Field Office is seeking public involvement at 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, resource inventories, formulation of issues or 
alternatives, or development of planning criteria that would be 
applicable to the Moab or Monticello planning efforts, please submit 
them to the above addresses as appropriate. A reasonable range of 
alternatives that resolve those issues and management concerns 
identified during the scoping process will be developed and analyzed 
for each of the RMPs and a single Draft RMP/Draft EIS will be published 
and made available for public review.

    Dated: April 11, 2003.
Gene Terland,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 03-13921 Filed 6-3-03; 8:45 am]
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