[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 240 (Friday, December 14, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71148-71150]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-24208]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CO-800-1610-DP 016C]

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Notice of Availability of Draft San Juan Land Management Plan and 
Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Colorado

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior. Forest Service, 
Agriculture.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Forest and Rangeland Renewable 
Resources Planning Act of 1974 (RPA), as amended by the National Forest 
Management Act of 1976, (NFMA, Sec. 6, 16 U.S.C. 1600.), and the 
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. 1701 
et seq.), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) San Juan Field Office and 
San Juan National Forest, U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has prepared a 
Draft Land Management Plan/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DLMP/
DEIS) for the public and National Forest System Lands under their 
jurisdiction and by this notice is announcing the opening of the 
comment period. The BLM San Juan Field Office and San Juan National 
Forest are managed under Service First. The San Juan Public Lands 
Center (SJPLC) is the joint USFS/BLM Service First Office responsible 
for the management of these public lands. Service First is a 
partnership strategy to provide better customer service and be more 
cost effective in the delivery of those services to users of the public 
lands in southwest Colorado. This notice also meets BLM requirements in 
43 CFR part 1610, 7-2(b) concerning potential Areas of Critical 
Environmental Concern (ACECs).

DATES: The San Juan DLMP/DEIS will be available for public review for 
90 days from the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its 
Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. The SJPLC can best use 
comments and resource information submitted within

[[Page 71149]]

this review period. The SJPLC will announce future meetings or hearings 
and any other public involvement activities at least 15 days in advance 
through public notices, local media news releases, and/or mailings, and 
posting on the project Web site at  http://ocs.fortlewis.edu/forestPlan. Public meetings will be held in Pagosa Springs, Durango and 
Cortez, Colorado and in other locations, if warranted.

ADDRESSES: The document will be available electronically at the 
following Web site: http://ocs.fortlewis.edu/forestPlan. Copies of the 
DLMP/DEIS are also available at the following government office 
addresses during regular business hours:
     San Juan Public Lands Center, 15 Burnett Court, Durango, 
CO 81301.
     Columbine Field Office, 367 Pearl St., Bayfield, CO 81122.
     Dolores Public Lands Office, 100 North 6th St., Dolores, 
CO 81323.
     Pagosa Springs Field Office, 180 Pagosa Street, Pagosa 
Springs, CO 81147.
     Colorado State Office BLM, 2850 Youngfield Street, 
Lakewood, CO 80215.
     USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, 740 Simms St, 
Golden, CO 80401.
    Libraries in Cortez, CO; Durango, CO; Pagosa Springs, CO; Colorado 
State University, Ft. Collins, CO; University of Colorado, Boulder, CO; 
and Ft. Lewis College, Durango, CO 81301
    You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Web site: http://ocs.fortlewis.edu/forestPlan.
     Facsimile: (916) 456-6724
     Mail: LMP Comments, San Juan Plan Revision, P.O. Box 
162909, Sacramento, California 95816-2909.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shannon Manfredi, Planning Team Leader 
at San Juan Public Land Center, 15 Burnett Ct., Durango, CO 81301. 
Phone: (970) 385-1229. To have your name added to the San Juan Plan 
Revision mailing list, or to view and download the DLMP/DEIS in 
Portable Document Format (PDF) go to the project Web site: http://ocs.fortlewis.edu/forestPlan.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The planning area is located in Southwest 
Colorado in Archuleta, Conejos, Dolores, Hinsdale, La Plata, Mineral, 
Montezuma, Montrose, Rio Grande, San Juan, San Miguel counties. The 
plan will provide a framework to guide subsequent management decisions 
on approximately 1,867,800 acres of the San Juan National Forest. Of 
the 1,867,800 acres, BLM administers 500,000 surface acres and 300,000 
acres of subsurface mineral estate. San Juan Public Land Center is 
currently being managed under the BLM 1985 San Juan/San Miguel Resource 
Management Plan (RMP) and the 1983 San Juan National Forest Land 
Management Plan.
     Bureau of Land Management Resource Management Plan
    The current RMP was approved in 1985 and has been amended five 
times. Wilderness Study Areas were designated in 1980 and are currently 
being managed under interim guidance provided by the Interim Management 
Policy and Guidance for Lands under Wilderness Review until such time 
that Congress makes a final wilderness decision. This revised Plan 
discusses how those lands would be managed if Congress released them 
from wilderness study.
     Forest Service Land Management Plan
    The current San Juan National Forest Land Management Plan was 
approved in 1983, with a major amendment in 1992 and twenty other 
amendments. This revised Plan has been prepared using the provisions of 
the 1982 planning rule (36 CFR part 219), as provided by the 2004 
interpretative rule which clarified the transition provisions of the 
planning rule adopted on November 9, 2000.
    The SJPLC has worked extensively with the community, interested and 
affected publics, and cooperating agencies in development of the DLMP/
DEIS. The SJLPC conducted a broad community-based public input process. 
Cooperating agencies include Montezuma County, and the City of Rico, 
Colorado. Four alternatives are analyzed in the DLMP/DEIS.
     Alternative A, the No Action Alternative, is the 
continuation of present management under the existing BLM and Forest 
Service plans. It meets the requirements of the NEPA that a no action 
alternative be considered. The current levels of products, services, 
and outputs of multiple use management from the public lands in the 
planning area would continue except for fluctuations due to budget. 
Activities such as timber harvest and oil and gas development would 
potentially occur over a greater percentage of the San Juan Public 
Lands in Alternative A than in other alternatives.
     Alternative B, the Preferred Alternative, provides a mix 
of multiple-use activities with a primary emphasis on maintaining most 
of the large, contiguous blocks of undeveloped lands and enhancing 
various forms of recreation opportunities, while maintaining the 
diversity of uses and active forest and rangeland vegetation 
management. Alternative B is focused on balancing the ideas of 
maintaining ``working forest and rangelands'' and of retaining ``core, 
undeveloped lands.'' Uses and activities that require roads, such as 
timber harvesting and oil and gas development would be focused in areas 
that already have roads. Relatively undeveloped areas, that currently 
do not have roads would, for the most part, remain that way.
     Alternative C, provides a mix of multiple-use activities 
with primary emphasis on the undeveloped character of the San Juan. 
Production of goods from vegetation management would continue but may 
be secondary to other non-commodity objectives. Management provisions 
under this alternative would emphasize the undeveloped character of 
large blocks of contiguous land and non-motorized recreational 
activities to a greater degree than the other alternatives.
     Alternative D, provides a mix of multiple-use activities 
with a primary emphasis on the working forest and rangelands to produce 
the highest amounts of commodity goods and services of the 
alternatives. This alternative would allow the greatest extent of 
resource use within the planning area, while maintaining ecosystem 
management principles to protect and sustain resources. Potential 
impacts to sensitive resource values would be mitigated on a case-by-
case basis.
    As required by Section 202(c)(3) of FLPMA, the DLMP/DEIS considers 
the designation of ACECs on BLM administered lands. Potential ACEC 
acres vary by alternative as shown in the table below.

[[Page 71150]]



 Acres of BLM-Managed Surface Estate Proposed To Be Managed as ACECs Under the Alternatives in the Draft LMP/EIS
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                                                                   Alternative B
           Values and use limitations              Alternative A    (Preferred)    Alternative C   Alternative D
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                Big Gypsum Valley                              0           6,062          17,116               0
Values: Natural systems (sensitive plants)
Limitations: Apply a no surface occupancy (NSO)
 stipulation for oil and gas leasing and other
 surface disturbing activities, limit Off
 Highway Vehicle (OHV) to designated routes,
 manage as Visual Resource Management (VRM) II
         Mud Springs/Remnant Ansazi ACEC                   1,160               0           1,160               0
Values: Cultural and natural systems
Limitations: Apply a no surface occupancy (NSO)
 stipulation for oil and gas leasing and other
 surface disturbing activities, limit Off
 Highway Vehicle (OHV) to designated routes, and
 allow no new routes
                 Silvies Pocket                                0               0             707               0
Value: Natural systems (sensitive plants)
Limitations: Manage as VRM II, apply NSO
 stipulation for oil and gas leasing and other
 surface disturbing activities, and limit Off
 Highway Vehicle (OHV) to designated routes
                  Grassy Hills                                 0               0             420               0
Value: Natural systems (sensitive plants)
Limitations: Apply NSO stipulation for oil and
 gas leasing and other surface disturbing
 activities, limit OHV to designated routes, use
 grazing systems to protect prairie dog habitat
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total Acres.................................           1,160           6,062          19,403               0
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    Other key management concerns addressed in the Draft LMP/DEIS 
include:
     Balancing Management between the ideas of maintaining 
``Working Forest and Rangelands'' and Retaining ``Core Undeveloped 
Areas'',
     Recreation and Travel Management,
     Management of Special Areas and Unique Landscapes 
(including ACECs, Forest Service wilderness recommendations, and 
suitability of rivers for Congressional designation into the Wild and 
Scenic Rivers System),
     Oil and Gas Leasing and Development.
    Comments, including names and addresses of respondents, will be 
available for public review at the SJPLC, and will be subject to 
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Before 
including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal 
identifying information in your comment, be advised 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 from public review your personal identifying information, we 
cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Sally Wisely,
Colorado State Director.
Mark Stiles,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. E7-24208 Filed 12-13-07; 8:45 am]
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