[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 1 (Monday, January 3, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 103-104]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-28744]



[[Page 103]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[UT-100-1610-DS]


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and 
Amend the St. George Field Office Resource Management Plan

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 amendment to the St. George 
Field Office Resource Management Plan (RMP) with an associated 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The plan amendment will consider 
changes to Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) area designations, make minor 
modifications to the current transportation plan, and establish 
designation of routes for OHVs and other motorized vehicles. The 
planning area for the amendment includes all public lands within the 
St. George Field Office, which includes approximately 630,000 acres in 
Washington County, Utah. Preparation of this RMP amendment and EIS will 
fulfill the needs and obligations of the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969 (NEPA), applicable federal regulations, and BLM management 
policies.

DATES: This notice initiates the public scoping process. Comments on 
the scope of the plan, including issues that should be considered, 
should be submitted in writing to the address listed below within 30 
days after the final public scoping meeting tentatively scheduled for 
the first week of January, 2005. However, collaboration with the public 
will continue throughout the plan amendment process. Dates and 
locations for public meetings will be announced through local news 
media, newsletters, and the plan amendment Web site, http://www.stgeorgeohvplan.com, at least 15 days prior to the events.

ADDRESSES: Please mail written comments to the BLM, St. George Field 
Office, ATTN: OHV Plan Amendment, 345 East Riverside Drive, St. George, 
Utah 84790; or submit comments electronically by e-mail to the Web site 
listed above. All public comments, including names and mailing 
addresses of respondents, will be available for public review at the 
St. George Field Office during regular business hours (7:45 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 street address from public review 
or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, please state 
so prominently at the beginning of your written correspondence. The BLM 
will honor such requests 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 or to have 
your name added to the RMP amendment mailing list, contact Jim Crisp, 
RMP Team Leader, at the St. George Field Office at the address shown 
above or by telephone at 435-688-3201.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The St. George RMP planning area is located 
entirely within the boundaries of Washington County, Utah in the 
southwest corner of state. The area is bordered on the west by the 
Nevada state line, on the south by the Arizona state line, and on the 
east and north by Kane and Iron counties, respectively. Public lands 
within the St. George Field Office planning area are currently managed 
in accordance with the decisions in the 1999 St. George RMP and Record 
of Decision as amended. BLM will continue to manage OHV activities on 
these lands in accordance with the 1999 RMP until the plan amendment is 
completed and a Record of Decision is signed.
    The use of public lands by motorized vehicles for recreation and 
other land use activities in Washington County, Utah is important to a 
wide variety of individuals, communities, groups, tribes, agencies, and 
business enterprises. Federal policy requires that BLM provide the 
public with sufficient information to ensure that motorized travel on 
public lands is conducted safely with due regard to protection of the 
environment and the rights of other land users and adjacent landowners. 
Completion of a comprehensive route designation plan (not included in 
the 1999 RMP) is necessary for agencies, law enforcement officials, and 
public land users to know where motorized travel is allowed or 
restricted. Preparation of this RMP amendment for the St. George Field 
Office is also necessary to comply with BLM's national OHV strategy and 
to implement recommendations of the Utah Natural Resource Coordinating 
Committee and BLM's Utah Resource Advisory Council on OHV management.
    The BLM will work collaboratively with Washington County, various 
agencies, state and other local governments, Indian tribes, and 
interested parties to identify the management decisions that best 
address local, regional, and national needs and concerns. Early 
participation is encouraged in helping to determine future OHV 
management on public lands addressed in this amendment. The public 
scoping process will identify planning issues and provide for public 
comment on the development of planning criteria. Through consultation 
with numerous interested parties, BLM has identified the following 
preliminary issue themes:
    1. Suitable access to public lands and resources.
    2. Potential impacts to wildlife habitats, state and federally-
listed plant and animal species, important watersheds, cultural 
resources, and lands managed for natural values.
    3. Potential impacts to adjacent non-federal lands.
    4. Meeting needs for motorized recreation opportunities including 
linked trail systems and trails designed specifically for single track 
and two track vehicles.
    5. Potential impacts to local economies.
    6. Consistency of OHV management across adjacent jurisdictions.
    These preliminary issue themes may be supplemented or refined 
through public participation for consideration during the planning 
process. BLM will evaluate issues raised during scoping and place them 
in one of the following categories:

    1. Issues to be resolved in the plan amendment;
    2. Issues resolved through approved policy or administrative 
action; or
    3. Issues beyond the scope of this plan amendment.

    In evaluating issues and developing the plan amendment and EIS, BLM 
will use an interdisciplinary team of specialists and contractor 
personnel, in addition to cooperating agencies approved under written 
agreement. Disciplines involved in the process will include, at the 
minimum, specialists with expertise in wildlife, outdoor recreation, 
archeology, realty, rangeland management, watershed, endangered 
species, natural area management, social and economic analysis, law 
enforcement, and fire.
    In addition to the scoping period, BLM will provide formal 
opportunities

[[Page 104]]

for public comment upon publication of the draft RMP amendment/draft 
EIS.

    Dated: October 20, 2004.
Gene Terland,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 04-28744 Filed 12-30-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-88-P