[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 222 (Thursday, November 18, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67604-67606]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-25618]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CO-100-1610-DO]


Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan and 
Associated Environmental Impact Statement for the Little Snake Field 
Office

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management; Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: This document provides notice that the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) intends to prepare an Resource Management Plan (RMP) 
and associated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Little 
Snake Field Office. The planning area is located in Northwest Colorado 
in Moffat, Routt, and Rio Blanco Counties. The plan will provide a 
framework to guide subsequent management decisions on approximately 1.3 
million acres of BLM-administered public lands and 1.1 million acres of 
subsurface mineral estate administered by the BLM. Preparation of this 
RMP and EIS will conform with the Federal Land Policy and Management 
Act (FLPMA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Federal 
Regulations, and BLM management policies. The BLM will work 
collaboratively with a broad range of interested parties to identify 
management decisions that are best suited to local, regional, and 
national needs and concerns.

[[Page 67605]]


DATES: This notice initiates the public scoping process. Comments on 
the scope of the plan, including issues or concerns that should be 
considered, should be submitted in writing to the address listed below 
and will be accepted throughout the creation of the Draft RMP/Draft 
EIS. All public meetings will be announced through the local news 
media, newsletters, and the BLM Web site at http://www.co.blm.gov/lsra/rmp.

ADDRESSES: Please mail written comments to the BLM, Little Snake Field 
Office, 455 Emerson St., Craig, Colorado, 81625 or fax to (970) 826-
5002. Comments should be sent to the above address or may be sent by 
electronic mail (e-mail) to [email protected]. Comments submitted during 
this planning process, including names and street addresses of 
respondents will be available for public review at the Little Snake 
Field Office during regular business hours 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except holidays. Individual respondents may 
request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name and address 
from public review or disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, 
you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comments. Such 
requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All submissions 
from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their 
entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information or to have 
your name added to the Little Snake RMP Mailing List, contact Jeremy 
Casterson at the Little Snake Field Office (see address above), 
telephone (970) 826-5071.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides notice that the 
Little Snake Field Office will revise its current RMP. The RMP to be 
prepared for the public lands administered by the Little Snake Field 
Office will identify goals, objectives, standards and guidelines for 
management of a variety of resources and values. The RMP will 
demonstrate active engagement of the community in a collaborative 
planning effort. The plan will specify actions, constraints, and 
general management practices necessary to achieve desired conditions. 
The scope of the RMP will be comprehensive. Certain existing standards 
and guidelines and other BLM plans will be incorporated into the RMP, 
such as the Colorado Rangeland Health Standards and Guidelines, and the 
Uniform Format for Oil and Gas Lease Stipulations. This notice provides 
the public an opportunity to suggest issues, concerns, needs, and 
resource use, development and protection opportunities for 
consideration in preparation of the plan. A number of decisions related 
to various resource values and programs will be made as a result of 
this planning effort. The major issues identified to date include (1) 
Management of upland vegetation; (2) management of riparian areas and 
water quality concerns; (3) energy and mineral development; (4) special 
management areas; (5) recreation management; (6) travel management; (7) 
cultural resources and paleontology and Native American concerns; (8) 
management of wildlife, including conservation and recovery of special 
status species; (9) socio-economic values; and (10) land and realty 
issues.
    In addition to the major issues, a number of management questions 
and concerns will be addressed in the plan. Issues and management 
concerns may be identified by interested parties during the scoping 
phase. 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 the plan.
    BLM will provide feedback to the public on the final issues to be 
addressed in the plan. 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 rangeland management, 
minerals and geology, outdoor recreation, archaeology, wildlife, lands 
and realty, hydrology, soils, sociology and economics.
    The following planning criteria have been proposed to guide the 
development of the plan, to avoid unnecessary data collection and 
analyses, and to ensure the plan is tailored to the issues. Other 
criteria may be identified during the public scoping process. After 
gathering comments on planning criteria, BLM will finalize the criteria 
and provide feedback to the public on the criteria to be used 
throughout the planning process.
     The plans will be completed in compliance with the Federal 
Land Policy and Management Act (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seg.) and the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). 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 
in conformance with Federal laws and regulations. The plan will 
recognize valid existing rights.
     Complete the planning work on time and on budget. Focus 
the collaborative effort so that the collaborators can see that they 
make a difference, within a timeframe that is reasonable and 
achievable.
     Recognize the specific niche that federal lands provide 
both to the nation and to the surrounding community. A successful plan 
will be one that is responsive to both national needs and community 
needs.
     Public participation will be encouraged throughout the 
process as per the attached Public Participation Plan. Collaborate and 
build relationships with tribes, state and local governments, federal 
agencies, local stakeholders and others in the community of interest of 
the plan as normal business. Collaborators are regularly informed and 
offered timely and meaningful opportunities to participate in the 
planning process.
     Road and trail access (and OHV management) guidance will 
be incorporated into the plan to ensure public and resource needs are 
met.
     The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) inventory 
results will be integrated into land use planning and energy use 
authorizations. Environmental protection and energy production are both 
desirable and necessary objectives of sound land management practices 
and are not to be considered mutually exclusive priorities;
     For all stipulations developed in new land use plans and 
to further improve consistency and understanding of lease stipulations, 
State and Field offices will use the Uniform Format for Oil and Gas 
Lease Stipulations prepared by the Rocky Mountain Regional Coordinating 
Committee in March 1989. Lease stipulations will be reviewed for 
consistency with neighboring field offices and States, and where there 
are discrepancies, efforts will be undertaken to try and get 
consistency.
     The lifestyles and concerns of area residents will be 
recognized in the plan. A socio-economic assessment of the planning 
area will be prepared to identify, analyze and review the social and 
economic considerations of the plans.
     The plan will incorporate the Colorado Rangeland Health 
Standards and Guidelines. It will lay out a strategy for ensuring that 
proper grazing

[[Page 67606]]

practices are followed. Grazing will be managed to maintain or improve 
the health of the public lands by incorporating conditions to enhance 
resource conditions into permitted operations.
     Contain an adaptive framework that incorporates regular 
monitoring and evaluation to adjust management within the direction of 
the existing plan. Included in the range of potential actions for each 
adaptive management decision, a ``fallback'' decision will be prepared, 
which would be expected to achieve the outcome. The plan will have 
realistic desired conditions and achievable objectives consistent with 
likely budgets and the design criteria.
     Lands with wilderness characteristics may be managed to 
protect and/or preserve some or all of those characteristics. This may 
include protecting certain lands in their natural condition and/or 
providing opportunities for solitude, or primitive and unconfined types 
of recreation.
     Identify existing and potential corridors (potential 
corridors include existing ROW routes that can be considered for 
additional facilities and thus be considered a corridor if not already 
so designated); Identify existing and potential ROW development sites 
such as energy development areas (e.g., wind energy sites) and 
communication sites; Describe likely development of potential corridors 
and other ROW sites as a basis for impact assessment.
     The BLM will work cooperatively with interested parties to 
identify the management decisions that are best suited to local, 
regional, and national interests. A local citizen-based stewardship 
group, the Northwest Colorado Stewardship (NWCOS), will engage with the 
BLM in the RMP revision. NWCOS is an independent community-centered 
stewardship group that will focus its efforts on a community 
assessment, developing a community vision for the landscape, and a 
community alternative.

    Dated: September 24, 2004.
John E. Husband,
Field Manager.
[FR Doc. 04-25618 Filed 11-17-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-GG-P