[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 180 (Friday, September 16, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57759-57760]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-23622]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLCON04000 L16100000.DP0000]


Notice of Availability of Draft Resource Management Plan and 
Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Kremmling Field Office, 
Colorado

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976 (FLPMA), as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has 
prepared a Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS) for the Kremmling Field Office (KFO) and by this 
notice is announcing the opening of the comment period.

DATES: To ensure that comments will be considered, the BLM must receive 
written comments on the Draft RMP/EIS within 90 days following the date 
the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its notice of 
availability of the Draft RMP/EIS in the Federal Register. The BLM will 
announce future meetings or hearings and any other public participation 
activities at least 15 days in advance through public notices, media 
releases and/or mailings.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the Kremmling Draft RMP/
EIS by any of the following methods:
     Web site: http://www.blm.gov/rmp/co/kfo-gsfo.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: (970) 724-9590.
     Mail: Bureau of Land Management, Kremmling Field Office, 
RMP Comments, P.O. Box 68, 2103 East Park Avenue, Kremmling, Colorado 
80459.

Copies of the Kremmling Draft RMP/EIS are available in the KFO at the 
above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis Gale, RMP Project Manager, 
telephone (970) 724-3003; see address above; e-mail [email protected]. 
Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call 
the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to 
contact the above individual during normal business hours. The FIRS is 
available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question 
with the above individual. You will receive a reply during normal 
business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Draft RMP/EIS addresses public lands and 
resources managed by the KFO in Grand, Jackson, Summit and parts of 
Larimer and Eagle counties, Colorado. These lands are currently managed 
under the 1984 Kremmling RMP, as amended. The planning area includes 
approximately 378,000 BLM-administered surface acres and approximately 
653,450 subsurface acres of Federal mineral estate that will be subject 
to this Draft RMP/EIS. Decisions in the Draft RMP/EIS will only apply 
to BLM-administered public lands and federally-owned subsurface mineral 
estate.
    The Colorado River Valley Field Office and the KFO were originally 
jointly revising their respective RMPs. Since the two field offices 
border one another and share some common issues, a combined planning 
effort was an efficient way to complete the first stages of the plan 
revisions, such as public scoping and Wild and Scenic River studies. 
However, given the complexity of the RMP revisions and in response to 
cooperating agency and internal BLM comments, each field office will 
issue separate Draft RMP/EISs, and the planning efforts for the two 
field offices will continue as separate processes on separate 
schedules.
    The Draft RMP/EIS proposes and analyzes four alternatives for 
future

[[Page 57760]]

management of the public lands and resources in the planning area. 
Alternative A (No Action) would continue the current management 
situation, managing the lands under the 1984 Kremmling RMP. Alternative 
B (the BLM's preferred alternative) seeks to allocate limited resources 
among competing human interests, land uses, and conserve natural and 
cultural resource values by strategically addressing demands across the 
landscape. Alternative C emphasizes resource protection and sustaining 
the ecological integrity of habitats for all priority plant, wildlife 
and fish species, particularly the habitats needed for conserving and 
recovering threatened and endangered plant and animal species. 
Alternative D emphasizes maximizing resource production while 
maintaining the basic protection needed to sustain resources.
    Major issues identified during the public scoping process and 
addressed in the Draft RMP/EIS include but are not limited to: Travel 
management and transportation, recreational demand and uses, lands and 
realty, special designations, urban interface, energy development, 
rangeland health/upland management, vegetation resources, wildlife 
resources, water/riparian resources, sagebrush habitat and species, and 
cultural resources. Section 202(c)(3) of FLPMA requires the Draft RMP/
EIS to examine Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) 
designations on BLM-administered lands. ACECs determined to meet the 
relevance and importance criteria were analyzed within the range of 
alternatives. The ACECs considered for designation are: Barger Gulch 
Heritage Area, Kremmling Cretaceous Ammonite Research Natural Area, 
Kremmling Potential Conservation Area, Kinney Creek, Laramie River, 
North Park Natural Area, North Sand Hills and Troublesome Creek. If 
designated, the BLM would limit some resource uses, as needed, to 
protect the relevant and important values of the ACECs. The ACEC values 
and resource-use limitations vary by ACEC, and the designation of ACECs 
themselves varies by alternative.
    Consistent with the requirements found at 43 CFR 1610.2, a hearing 
on potential coal leasing will be combined with a public meeting that 
will be scheduled and announced during the comment period.
    The KFO reviewed its wilderness resource inventory and ensured it 
was current and maintained in accordance with FLPMA. The inventory 
consists of wilderness, wilderness study areas and lands with 
wilderness characteristics. Upon reviewing its wilderness resource 
inventory, the KFO identified an additional 16,420 acres that possess 
wilderness characteristics. They were Drowsy Water (8,220 acres), 
Strawberry (5,830 acres) and the Troublesome Addition (2,340 acres). 
These additional lands were included in the Draft RMP/EIS' range of 
alternatives analysis, which considered the impacts of management 
options on and protection of their wilderness characteristics.
    Please note that public comments and information, including names, 
street addresses and e-mail addresses will be available for public 
review and disclosure at the above address during regular business 
hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays.
    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.

Helen M. Hankins,
Colorado State Director.

    Authority : 40 CFR 1506.6, 1506.10, and 43 CFR 1610.2.
[FR Doc. 2011-23622 Filed 9-15-11; 8:45 am]
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