[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 116 (Friday, June 15, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35999-36000]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-14564]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLAZP02000.L16100000.DQ0000.LXSS089A0000.241A]


Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan/
Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Lower Sonoran and Sonoran 
Desert National Monument, Arizona

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 (NEPA), as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a 
Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP)/Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) for the Lower Sonoran (LS) and Sonoran Desert National 
Monument (SDNM), Arizona, and by this notice is announcing its 
availability.

DATES: BLM planning regulations state that any person who meets the 
conditions as described in the regulations may protest the BLM's 
Proposed RMP/Final EIS. A person who meets the conditions and files a 
protest must file the protest within 30 days of the date that the 
Environmental Protection Agency publishes its notice in the Federal 
Register.

ADDRESSES: The Lower Sonoran and Sonoran Desert National Monument 
Proposed RMP/Final EIS is only available in electronic format on 
compact disk (CD) or accessible on the Internet. CDs containing the 
Lower Sonoran and Sonoran Desert National Monument Proposed RMP/Final 
EIS have been sent to affected Federal, State, and local government 
agencies, tribal governments, and to other stakeholders. One hard copy 
of the Proposed RMP/Final EIS is available for public inspection at the 
BLM Phoenix District Office, 21605 North 7th Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 
85027. People interested in receiving a CD should contact the BLM 
Phoenix District. The Proposed RMP/Final EIS may also be reviewed at 
the following Web site: http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/planning/son_des.html. All protests must be in writing and mailed to one of the 
following addresses:

Regular Mail: BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda Williams, P.O. Box 
71383, Washington, DC 20024-1383
Overnight Mail: BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda Williams, 20 M 
Street SE., Room 2134LM, Washington, DC 20003

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chris Horyza, RMP Project Manager, 
telephone: 623-580-5639; address: BLM Phoenix District Office, 21605 
North 7th Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85027; email: [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: Compact disks of the LS-SDNM were sent to 
the following locations to be made available for public access:
     http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/planning/son_des/reports.html.
     BLM Arizona State Office, One North Central Avenue, Suite 
800, Phoenix, Arizona 85004.
     Apache Junction Public Library, 1177 North Idaho Road, 
Apache Junction, Arizona 85219.
     Buckeye Public Library, 310 North 6th Street, Buckeye, 
Arizona 85326.
     Casa Grande Public Library, 449 North Dry Lake, Casa 
Grande, Arizona 85222.
     Gila Bend Public Library, 202 North Euclid Avenue, Gila 
Bend, Arizona 85337.
     Salazar-Ajo Branch Library, 33 Plaza, Ajo, Arizona 85321.
    The LS-SDNM Planning Area includes approximately 8.9 million acres 
of public and private lands, approximately 1.4 million surface acres, 
and 3.9 million subsurface/mineral-split estate acres administered by 
the BLM. These include about 930,200 surface acres in the Lower Sonoran 
Field Office, referred to as the LS Decision Area, as well as 486,400 
surface acres within the Monument, referred to as the SDNM Decision 
Area.
    The BLM released the Lower Sonoran and Sonoran Desert National 
Monument Draft RMP/Draft EIS for public review and comment on August 
26, 2011. The release initiated a 90-day public comment period, which 
concluded on November 25, 2011. The BLM made the Draft RMP/Draft EIS 
available to the public on the BLM Web site, as well as hard copies for 
review at several local libraries. The document was also available upon 
request from the BLM Phoenix District in hard copy and on CD. During 
the public comment period, the BLM held seven public meetings and 
received over 4,800 comment

[[Page 36000]]

submissions via email, mail, meetings, and fax. Each submission was 
carefully reviewed to identify substantive comments and substantive 
comments were considered and incorporated as appropriate in the 
Proposed RMP/Final EIS. The focus of public comment on the Draft RMP/
Draft EIS reinforced the issues discovered during scoping.
    Five alternatives are analyzed in the Proposed RMP/Final EIS. The 
``no action'' alternative, Alternative A, represents the current 
management situation for both the LS and the SDNM decision areas and 
serves as a baseline for most resource and land-use allocations.
    Alternative B identifies the greatest amount of public lands 
suitable for appropriate multiple uses, emphasizing opportunities for 
motorized and developed recreational uses while reducing opportunities 
for experiencing remote settings and non-motorized recreation.
    Alternative C attempts to balance resource protection with human 
use and influence providing for a variety of uses that emphasize 
resource protection and conservation and propose a mix of natural 
processes and techniques for resource stabilization and restoration.
    Alternative D places the greatest emphasis on minimizing human use/
influence and maintaining primitive landscapes by focusing on natural 
processes and other unobtrusive methods for resource stabilization and 
restoration.
    Alternative E, the Proposed Alternative, attempts to balance human 
use and influence with resource protection by incorporating elements 
from each of the other action alternatives. It provides long-term 
protection and conservation of resources.
    Comments on the Draft RMP/Draft EIS pertained to a number of 
issues, including but not limited to the scope of the document, NEPA 
adequacy of the baseline data and impact analysis, information related 
to consultation and coordination on the action, and policies and 
guidance the BLM needed to follow. Comments were also received for the 
following resources and resource uses: Air quality, cultural resources, 
wildlife, livestock grazing, land use and special designations, 
minerals and energy, noise, national historic trails, recreation, 
socioeconomics, special status species, tribal interests, vegetation, 
visual resources, wilderness characteristics, and water resources. Due 
to review of public comments, coordination with cooperating agencies, 
and internal reviews of the Draft RMP/Draft EIS, several revisions have 
been made to this Proposed RMP/Final EIS. The BLM reviewed all new 
information and changes and determined it was not necessary to issue a 
supplemental EIS. The following is a summary of substantive changes 
made to the Proposed RMP/Final EIS.
    There were several comments that the BLM had not complied with BLM 
Washington Office (WO) Instruction Memorandum (IM) No. 2011-154, 
Requirement to Conduct and Maintain Inventory Information for 
Wilderness Characteristics and to Consider Lands with Wilderness 
Characteristics in Land Use Plans. Commenters noted several geographic 
areas that were not addressed in the Draft EIS, including Sentinel 
Plain. In response, the BLM completed its inventory for wilderness 
characteristics on all BLM lands in the planning area and has included 
this new information in the Final EIS.
    Commenters also noted that the BLM did not comply with the BLM WO 
IM No. 2011-004, Revised Recreation and Visitor Services Land Use 
Planning Guidance, Updated Checklist, and Three Land Use Planning 
Templates. In response, the BLM revised the recreation allocations to 
comply with the new guidance.
    BLM received many comments regarding recreational target shooting 
that were both opposed to, and in favor of closure of the Monument to 
target shooting. Alternative E (the Proposed Plan) was revised to allow 
the Monument to remain open to recreational target shooting consistent 
with the No Action alternative, subject to restrictions, monitoring, 
and input from local stakeholders and the public to address the impacts 
of recreational shooting.
    The document was also edited to correct minor inconsistencies 
(e.g., incorrect table references or titles), typos, and other 
technical issues.
    The BLM responses to the comments are presented in the Proposed 
RMP/Final EIS in Chapter 6, Response to Comments on the Draft RMP/Draft 
EIS.
    Instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the BLM 
regarding the Proposed RMP/Final EIS may be found in the ``Dear Reader 
Letter'' of the LS and SDNM Proposed RMP/Final EIS and at 43 CFR 
1610.5-2. Emailed and faxed protests will not be accepted as valid 
protests unless the protesting party also provides the original letter 
by either regular or overnight mail postmarked by the close of the 
protest period. Under these conditions, the BLM will consider the 
emailed or faxed protest as an advance copy and it will receive full 
consideration. If you wish to provide the BLM with such advance 
notification, please direct faxed protests to the attention of the BLM 
protest coordinator at 202-912-7212, and emails to [email protected].
    All protests, including the follow-up letter to emails or faxes, 
must be in writing and mailed to the appropriate address, as set forth 
in the ADDRESSES section above.
    Before including your phone number, email address, or other 
personal identifying information in your protest, you should be aware 
that your entire protest--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your protest to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6 and 1506.10, 43 CFR 1610.2 and 1610.5.

Raymond Suazo,
Arizona State Director.
[FR Doc. 2012-14564 Filed 6-14-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-32-P