[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 151 (Tuesday, August 7, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44173-44174]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-15365]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CA-660-07-1610-DO-097B]


Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan Revision 
and Associated Environmental Impact Statement for the South Coast 
Planning Area, California

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Intent.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Palm Springs-South Coast 
Field Office, California, intends to revise its 1994 South Coast 
Resource Management Plan (RMP) and prepare an associated Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS). The revised RMP will replace the current RMP. 
This notice initiates the scoping process, invites public 
participation, and announces public scoping meetings.

DATES: Written comments and resource information should be submitted 
within 30 calendar days of the last scheduled public scoping meeting. 
Public scoping meetings will be held in San Diego County, Riverside 
County, and Los Angeles County in order to ensure local community 
participation and input. All public meetings will be announced through 
the local news media, newsletters, and the BLM Web site (http://www.blm.gov/ca) at least 15 days prior to the event.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted by any of the following 
methods:
     Mail: Field Manager, South Coast Resource Management Plan 
and EIS, Bureau of Land Management, Palm Springs-South Coast Field 
Office, P.O. Box 581260, North Palm Springs, CA 92258.
     Fax: (760) 251-4899.
     E-mail: [email protected].
    Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so. Documents pertinent to this proposal, including comments 
with the names and addresses of respondents, will be available for 
public review at the BLM Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office located 
at 690 W. Garnet Avenue, North Palm Springs, California, or the San 
Diego Project Office located at 10845 Rancho Bernardo Road, Suite 200, 
San Diego, California, during regular business hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays, and may be published as 
part of the EIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information and/or to have 
your name added to our mailing list contact Greg Hill at (760) 251-
4840, or by e-mail to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The South Coast Resource Management Plan 
(RMP) provides guidance for the management of approximately 300,000 
acres of BLM administered public lands in portions of five highly 
urbanized Southern California counties: San Diego, Riverside, San 
Bernardino, Orange, and Los Angeles. These public lands include over 
130,000 acres of BLM administered surface lands and 167,000 acres of 
Federal mineral ownership where the surface is privately owned.

[[Page 44174]]

    The existing South Coast RMP was completed and signed in 1994. 
Since that time there have been significant changes in the patterns of 
urban growth, increased demands on the resources of the public lands, 
changing policies and emphasis on the management of public lands and 
local land use planning, and new data that has led to the listing of 
additional threatened or endangered species. Under BLM planning 
regulations (43 CFR 1610.5-6) RMP revisions are necessary if monitoring 
and evaluation findings, new data, new or revised policy, or changes in 
circumstances indicate that decisions for an entire plan or a major 
portion of the plan no longer serve as a useful guide for resource 
management. Plan revisions are prepared using the same procedures and 
documentation as for new plans.
    The purpose of the public scoping process is to determine relevant 
issues that will influence the scope of the environmental analysis and 
EIS alternatives. These issues will also guide the planning process. 
You may submit comments on issues and planning criteria in writing to 
the BLM at any public scoping meeting, or you may submit them to the 
BLM using one of the methods listed under ADDRESSES above. Preliminary 
issues identified for consideration in the RMP include: Impacts posed 
by rapid population and urban growth; the need to make resource 
decisions that are scientifically sound, in accordance with authorities 
applicable to management by BLM of the public lands, and sustainable; 
the need to maximize the use of public lands in species recovery and to 
support collaborative efforts with local governments in land use 
planning for habitat conservation; the need to provide access to 
significant energy and mineral resources, communication sites, and 
utility corridors; impacts and benefits from the continuation of 
grazing; Native American concerns and traditional uses; cultural 
resources; suitability for wild and scenic rivers; wilderness 
characteristics of acquired lands; visual resources; wildland fire and 
fuels management; and the need to provide adequate access, open space, 
and facilities for safe recreation and visitation on public lands. 
Existing Areas of Critical Environmental Concern will be evaluated for 
continued relevance and importance, and new ACEC designations will be 
considered.
    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. 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, wildland 
fire and fuels management, outdoor recreation, archaeology, 
paleontology, wildlife, fisheries, lands and realty, soils, water and 
air, wild horses, environmental justice, and sociology and economics.
    The following planning criteria have been proposed to guide 
development of the plan, 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, the BLM will finalize the 
criteria and provide feedback to the public on the criteria to be used 
throughout the planning process. Some of the planning criteria that are 
under consideration include:
     The plan will be completed in compliance with the Federal 
Land Policy and Management Act (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) and the 
National Environmental Policy Act;
     The plan will recognize valid existing rights;
     Public participation will be encouraged throughout the 
process by collaborating and building relationships with tribes, state 
and local governments, Federal agencies, local stakeholders, and others 
with interest in the plan. Collaborators are regularly informed and 
offered timely and meaningful opportunities to participate in the 
planning process.

    Authority: 43 CFR 1610.2(c).

John Kalish,
Field Manager.
[FR Doc. E7-15365 Filed 8-6-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P