[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 103 (Friday, May 29, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30707-30709]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-12926]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLMTC040000.L16100000.DP0000.LXSS059E0000 MO# 4500079352]


Notice of Availability of the South Dakota Field Office Proposed 
Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, 
South Dakota Field Office, Montana

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 (FLPMA), as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has 
prepared a Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the South Dakota Field Office 
and by this notice is announcing its availability.

[[Page 30708]]


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 of availability in 
the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the South Dakota Field Office Proposed RMP/Final 
EIS have been sent to affected Federal, State, and local government 
agencies, tribal governments and to other stakeholders and members of 
the public. Copies of the Proposed RMP/Final EIS are available for 
public inspection at the following locations:
     BLM, South Dakota Field Office, 310 Roundup Street, Belle 
Fourche, SD 57717.
     BLM, Montana/Dakota BLM State Office, 5001 Southgate 
Drive, Billings, Montana 59101.
     BLM, Meade County Courthouse, 1300 Sherman Street, 
Sturgis, SD 57785.
     USFS, Fort Pierre National Grasslands, 1020 N. Deadwood 
Street, Pierre, SD 57532.
     USFS, Wall Ranger District, 708 Main Street, Wall, SD 
57790.
    Copies of the Proposed RMP/EIS may also be viewed on the internet 
at http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/fo/south_dakota_field/rmp.html.
    All protests must be in writing and mailed to one of the following 
addresses:
    Regular Mail: BLM Director (210), Attention: Protest Coordinator, 
P.O. Box 71383, Washington, DC 20024-1383.
    Overnight Delivery: BLM Director (210), Attention: Protest 
Coordinator, 20 M Street SE., Room 2134LM, Washington, DC 20003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mitch Iverson, RMP Project Manager, 
telephone: 605-892-7008; or Lori (Chip) Kimball, BLM South Dakota Field 
Manager, telephone: 605-892-7000; address: 310 Roundup Street, Belle 
Fourche, SD 57717; 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 individuals 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 individuals. You will receive a reply during normal 
business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The planning area includes lands within the 
BLM South Dakota Field Office administrative boundaries which includes 
all lands, regardless of jurisdiction, in the State of South Dakota, 
however, the BLM will only make decisions on lands that fall under the 
BLM's jurisdiction. The BLM administers 274,239 acres of public land 
surface and approximately 1.72 million acres of federal mineral estate. 
Over 98 percent of the BLM-administered surface and Federal mineral 
estate in the decision area is located in western South Dakota. 
Counties with substantial amounts of BLM-administered surface or 
mineral estate (over 1 percent of the county land base), include Butte, 
Custer, Fall River, Haakon, Harding, Lawrence, Meade, Pennington, 
Perkins, and Stanley counties in western South Dakota. Other counties 
with small amounts of BLM-administered surface or federal minerals 
(less than 1 percent of the county land base), include Bennett, Bon 
Homme, Brule, Campbell, Charles Mix, Clark, Clay, Corson, Dewey, 
Edmunds, Faulk, Gregory, Hand, Hughes, Hyde, Jackson, Jones, Lyman, 
Marshall, McPherson, Mellette, Potter, Sully, Tripp, Walworth, Yankton, 
and Ziebach counties in South Dakota. An updated inventory of lands 
with wilderness characteristics was completed for the planning area and 
data from the inventory was analyzed in the Draft RMP/EIS. The revised 
RMP will replace the South Dakota RMP of 1986, as amended, and provide 
the South Dakota Field Office with an updated framework in which to 
administer the BLM-managed public lands in the planning area.
    The formal scoping period began with the publication of the Notice 
of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register on July 19, 2007 (72 FR 39638). 
From August through October 2007, nine scoping meetings were held 
across the planning area. In addition to the nine scoping meetings, 
four open house meetings were held to address the concerns of Native 
American tribes. During scoping, the BLM requested public input to 
identify resource issues and concerns, management alternatives, or 
other ideas to help in determining future land use decisions for the 
planning area. The Draft RMP/EIS was made available for public review 
for a 90-day period on June 14, 2013 (78 FR 35959). Initially, the 
Federal Register NOI announced scoping for both North Dakota and South 
Dakota RMP revisions; however, based on the diverse planning issues and 
other management considerations, the South Dakota RMP revision 
continued ahead, and an RMP revision specific to North Dakota BLM will 
be addressed at a later date.
    The issues raised during scoping included energy development, 
vegetation management, wildlife habitat, special status species 
management, Greater Sage-Grouse, travel, access, commercial uses, land 
tenure adjustments, visual resource management, and climate change. The 
BLM invited local, State, Federal, and tribal representatives to 
participate as cooperating agencies on the South Dakota RMP/EIS.
    The Proposed RMP/Final EIS includes a range of management actions 
within four management alternatives, including the No-Action 
Alternative. These alternatives address the goals, management 
challenges, and issues raised during scoping.
    The four alternatives analyzed are:
    1. Alternative A: Continues existing management practices (No-
Action Alternative).
    2. Alternative B: Emphasizes commercial resource development and 
use while providing adequate levels of resource protection.
    3. Alternative C: Emphasizes conservation of natural resources 
while providing for compatible development and use.
    4. Alternative D (Proposed): Provides development opportunities and 
conserves high value and sensitive resources.
    The South Dakota Field Office has identified Alternative D as the 
Proposed RMP. Alternative D supports management of greater sage-grouse 
seasonal habitats and maintaining habitat connectivity to achieve 
population objectives.
    Two ACECs are currently designated in the existing South Dakota RMP 
and were re-evaluated and addressed in this Proposed RMP/Final EIS. All 
alternatives (including the Proposed Plan) would propose to maintain 
the two existing ACECs, as summarized below:
    Fort Meade Recreation Area ACEC (6,574 acres):
     Relevant and Important Values: Historical and 
archeological.
     Limitations on the Following Uses: Closed to leasable and 
salable minerals, closed to geophysical exploration, recommended for 
withdrawal from appropriation under the mining laws.
     Other Restrictions: Right-of-way (ROW) exclusion area 
except in designated ROW corridors, motorized vehicle use limited to 
designated roads and trails, snowmobiles or machines specifically 
equipped to travel over snow prohibited, closed to construction of new 
roads except rerouting of existing roads to address resource impacts or 
safety, and the continued designation as a back country byway of

[[Page 30709]]

the route that traverses the southern portion of the ACEC.
    Fossil Cycad ACEC (320 acres):
     Relevant and Important Values: Paleontological.
     Proposed Use Limitations: Closed to fluid minerals within 
the ACEC, closed to salable Federal minerals, sale of forest products 
not be allowed, collection of fossils without a BLM permit not allowed, 
and locatable Federal minerals recommended for withdrawal from 
appropriation under the mining laws.
     Other Restrictions: ROW exclusion area.
    The South Dakota Field Office Proposed RMP/Final EIS is one of a 
total of 15 separate EISs that make up the BLM and Forest Service 
National Greater Sage-Grouse Planning Strategy. Greater-Sage Grouse 
habitat within the planning area consists of:
     Priority Habitat Management Area (PHMA)--Areas identified 
as having the highest conservation value for maintaining sustainable 
greater sage-grouse populations; include breeding, late brood-rearing, 
and winter concentration areas.
     General Habitat Management Area (GHMA)--Areas of seasonal 
or year-round habitat outside of PHMA.
    Alternative D supports management of greater sage-grouse seasonal 
habitats and maintaining habitat connectivity to achieve population 
objectives. Alternative D would limit or eliminate new surface 
disturbance in PHMA, while minimizing disturbance in GHMA.
    The Proposed Plan provides for 127,735 acres of Greater Sage-Grouse 
PHMAs.
    The BLM and Forest Service, via the Western Association of Fish and 
Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) Management Zone Greater Sage-Grouse 
Conservation Team, will develop a Regional Mitigation Strategy to guide 
the application of the mitigation hierarchy to address impacts within 
that Zone. The Regional Mitigation Strategy should consider any State-
level greater sage-grouse mitigation guidance that is consistent with 
the requirements. The Regional Mitigation Strategy will be developed in 
a transparent manner, based on the best science available and 
standardized metrics. Development of additional regional mitigation 
strategies for other resource programs may occur for implementation 
level decisions.
    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 South Dakota Proposed RMP/Final EIS and at 43 
CFR 1610.5-2. All protests must be in writing and be mailed to the 
appropriate address, as set forth in the ADDRESSES section above. 
Emailed protests will not be accepted as valid protests unless the 
protesting party also provides the original printed email by either 
regular or overnight mail, postmarked by the close of the protest 
period. Under these conditions, the BLM will consider the emailed 
protest as an advance copy and it will receive full consideration. If 
you wish to provide the BLM with such advance notification, please 
direct emails to [email protected].
    Before including your address, phone number, email 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.

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

Jamie E. Connell,
State Director, Montana/Dakotas.
[FR Doc. 2015-12926 Filed 5-28-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-DN-P