[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 41 (Friday, February 29, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11142-11143]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-3943]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NM-010-1610-DN]


Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan Revision 
for the Rio Puerco Field Office, New Mexico and Associated 
Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Rio Puerco Field Office, 
Albuquerque, New Mexico, intends to prepare a Resource Management Plan 
Revision for the Rio Puerco Field Office with an associated 
Environmental Impact Statement, and by this notice is announcing public 
scoping meetings. The Resource Management Plan Revision will replace 
the existing Rio Puerco Resource Management Plan as currently 
maintained and amended.

DATES: The BLM will announce public scoping meetings to identify 
relevant issues through local news media, newsletters, and the BLM Web 
site, www.blm.gov/nm, at least 15 days prior to the first meeting. We 
will provide formal opportunities for public participation upon 
publication of the Draft Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact 
Statement.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     Web Site: http://www.blm.gov/nm.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: 505-761-8911.
     Mail: RP RMP, Rio Puerco Field Office, 435 Monta[ntilde]o 
RD, NE., Albuquerque, NM 87107.
    Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined at the Rio 
Puerco Field Office, 435 Monta[ntilde]o RD, NE., Albuquerque, New 
Mexico.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To have your name added to our mailing 
list and/or for general information, contact Joe Blackmon, Telephone 
505-761-8918; e-mail [email protected] or Sabrina Flores, Telephone 
505-761-8794; e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides notice that the BLM 
Rio Puerco Field Office, Albuquerque, New Mexico, intends to prepare a 
Resource Management Plan Revision with an associated Environmental 
Impact Statement (RMPR/EIS) and announces public scoping meetings.
    The planning area is located in Bernalillo, Cibola, McKinley, 
Sandoval, Torrance, and Valencia Counties, New Mexico. This planning 
activity encompasses approximately 997,000 acres of public land. The 
plan 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 seek to work 
collaboratively with interested parties to identify the management 
decisions that are best suited to local, regional, and national needs 
and concerns.
    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 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 in the ADDRESSES section above. To be most 
helpful, you should submit formal scoping comments within 30 days after 
the last public meeting. Before including your address, phone number, 
email 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. The minutes and list of attendees for each 
scoping meeting will be available to the public and open for 30 days 
after the meeting to any participant who wishes to clarify the views he 
or she expressed.
    Preliminary issues and management concerns have been identified by 
BLM personnel, other agencies, and in meetings with individuals and 
user groups. They represent the BLM's knowledge to date regarding the 
existing issues and concerns with current land management. The major 
issues that will be addressed in this planning effort include: Land 
Tenure Adjustment; Mineral and Energy Development; Recreation and 
Visitor Services; Visual Resources Management; Special Area 
Designations; Travel and Trails Management; and Public Land-Urban 
Interface.
    After the public comments as to what issues the plan should address 
are gathered, they will be placed in one of three categories:
    1. Issues to be resolved in the plan;
    2. Issues to be resolved through policy or administrative action; 
or
    3. Issues beyond the scope of this plan.
    The BLM will provide an explanation in the plan as to why issues 
were 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.
    Preliminary planning criteria are:
     The RMPR will be in compliance with FLPMA, NEPA, and all 
other applicable laws, regulations, and policies.
     Land use decisions in the RMPR will only apply to surface 
and subsurface estate managed by the BLM.
     For program-specific guidance for decisions at the land 
use planning level, the process will follow the BLM's Land Use Planning 
Handbook, H-1601-1.
     Broad-based public participation and collaboration will be 
an integral part of the planning process.
     The BLM will strive to make decisions in the plan 
compatible with the existing plans and policies of adjacent local, 
state, and federal agencies and local American Indian tribes, as long 
as the decisions are consistent with the purposes, policies, and 
programs of federal law and regulations applicable to public lands.
     The BLM recognizes the state's responsibility and 
authority to manage wildlife while the BLM manages habitat.
     The BLM will consult with the New Mexico Department of 
Game and Fish.
     The RMPR will recognize valid existing rights.

[[Page 11143]]

     The RMPR will incorporate, where applicable, management 
decisions brought forward from existing planning documents.
     The BLM will work cooperatively and collaboratively with 
cooperating agencies and all other interested groups, agencies, and 
individuals.
     The BLM and cooperating agencies will jointly develop 
alternatives for resolution of resource management issues and 
management concerns.
     The planning process will incorporate the New Mexico 
Standards for Public Land Health and Guidelines for Livestock Grazing 
Management. Changes in grazing management will only be considered in 
Unit 5.
     Areas with special or unique resource values will be 
evaluated for potential administrative designations, including Areas of 
Critical Environmental Concern, or other appropriate designations.
     Any free flowing river and its associated land corridor 
found to be eligible for inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic 
River System (NWSRS) will be addressed in the RMPR by developing 
alternatives for its suitability for inclusion in the NWSRS and interim 
protective management of its outstandingly remarkable values.
     Wilderness Study Areas will continue to be managed under 
the BLM's Interim Management Policy for Lands under Wilderness Review 
(IMP) until Congress either designates all or portions of the WSA as 
wilderness or releases the lands from further wilderness consideration. 
The BLM no longer designates additional WSAs through the RMP process, 
or manages any lands other than existing WSAs in accordance with the 
Wilderness IMP. Areas with wilderness characteristics, however, will be 
considered in the RMP as described in Appendix C of the Land Use 
Planning Handbook.
     Forest management strategies will be consistent with the 
Healthy Forests Restoration Act.
     Fire management strategies will be consistent with the 
Albuquerque District Fire Management Plan (2004 or as it may 
subsequently be amended).
     GIS and metadata information will meet Federal Geographic 
Data Committee (FGDC) standards, as required by Executive Order 12906. 
All other applicable BLM data standards will also be followed.
     The planning process will provide for ongoing consultation 
with American Indian tribal governments and strategies for protecting 
recognized traditional uses.
     Planning and management direction will focus on the 
relative values of resources and not the combination of uses that will 
give the greatest economic return or economic output.
     Where practicable and timely for the planning effort, the 
best available scientific information, research, and new technologies 
will be used.
     The Economic Profile System (EPS) will be used as one 
source of demographic and economic data for the planning process. EPS 
data will provide baseline data and contribute to estimates of existing 
and projected social and economic conditions.
    The BLM will use an interdisciplinary approach to develop the plan 
in order to consider the variety of resource issues and concerns 
identified. Specialists with expertise in the following disciplines 
will be involved in the planning process: air quality, archaeology and 
cultural resources, cave and karst resources, energy resources, 
facilities development, forestry, hydrology, lands and realty, minerals 
and geology, outdoor recreation, paleontology, rangeland management, 
sociology and economics, soils, special status species, visual 
resources management, wildland fire ecology, wilderness resources, 
wildlife and fisheries.

Linda S.C. Rundell,
New Mexico State Director.
[FR Doc. E8-3943 Filed 2-28-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-AG-P