[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 54 (Wednesday, March 20, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10328-10330]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-05295]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[19X LLWO230 L11100000.PN0000 LXSGPL000000]


Notice of Availability of Record of Decision and Approved 
Resource Management Plan Amendment for the Utah Greater Sage-Grouse 
Sub-Region

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

[[Page 10329]]


ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability 
of the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Approved Utah Greater Sage-
Grouse Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA).

DATES: The State Director signed the ROD on March 14, 2019, which 
constitutes the final decision of the BLM, and makes the ROD effective 
immediately.

ADDRESSES: The ROD is available on the BLM ePlanning project website at 
https://go.usa.gov/xP8xc. Click the Documents and Reports link on the 
left side of the screen to find the electronic version of these 
materials. Hard copies of the ROD are also available for public 
inspection at the BLM Utah State Office, 440 West 200 South, Suite 500, 
Salt Lake City, UT 84101.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Quincy Bahr, Greater Sage-Grouse RMP 
Project Manager; telephone 801-539-4122; address 440 West 200 South, 
Suite 500, Salt Lake City, UT 84101; or by email [email protected]. 
Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call 
the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact Mr. Bahr. 
The FRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message 
or question with Mr. Bahr. You will receive a reply during normal 
business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM developed the Approved RMPA using 
its discretion and authority under the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act (FLPMA) to improve alignment with State management 
strategies and plans for Greater Sage-Grouse, while continuing to 
conserve, enhance, and restore Greater Sage-Grouse and its habitat. The 
Approved RMPA also addressed Sagebrush Focal Areas (SFAs) that were 
challenged in the Federal District Court in Nevada, who determined that 
the BLM had violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 
designating these SFAs in the 2015 plans.
    The BLM developed the Approved RMPA in collaboration with Utah 
Governor Gary Herbert, State wildlife managers, and other concerned 
organizations and individuals, largely through the Western Governors 
Association's Sage-Grouse Task Force. This Approved RMPA is one of six 
separate plan amendments developed and issued in response to the 
Secretary's Order (SO) 3353 (Greater Sage-grouse Conservation and 
Cooperation with Western States) and in accordance with SO 3349 
(American Energy Independence). The amendments refine the previous 
management plan adopted in 2015 and aim to strike a regulatory balance 
and build greater trust among neighboring interests in Western 
communities.
    The Utah Greater-Sage Grouse Approved RMPA specifically addresses 
the following issues: SFA designations; disturbance and density caps; 
mitigation; modification of habitat objectives; changes to fluid 
mineral leasing waivers, exceptions, and modification criteria; the 
need for General Habitat Management Areas; exceptions to Greater Sage-
Grouse management within non-habitat portions of Priority Habitat 
Management Areas; lek buffers; reversing adaptive management responses 
when the BLM determines that resource conditions no longer warrant 
those responses; fluid mineral leasing objective; land disposals and 
exchanges; predation; burial of transmission lines; decisions that 
require analysis of specific alternatives during implementation; 
adjustment of habitat boundaries to reflect new information; grazing 
systems and prioritization of grazing permits; water developments 
management in relation to water rights; travel and transportation 
management planning; and surface coal mining. The Approved RMPA amends 
the following RMPs for BLM-administered lands in Utah:

 Box Elder Resource Management Plan (1986)
 Cedar/Beaver/Garfield/Antimony Resource Management Plan (1986)
 Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Management Plan 
(2000)
 House Range Resource Management Plan (1987)
 Kanab Resource Management Plan (2008)
 Park City Management Framework Plan (1975)
 Pinyon Management Framework Plan (1978)
 Pony Express Resource Management Plan (1990)
 Price Resource Management Plan (2008)
 Randolph Management Framework Plan (1980)
 Richfield Resource Management Plan (2008)
 Salt Lake District Isolated Tracts Planning Analysis (1985)
 Vernal Resource Management Plan (2008)
 Warm Springs Resource Management Plan (1987)

    The planning area includes approximately 48,158,700 acres of BLM, 
National Park Service, United States Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of 
Reclamation, State, local, and private lands located in Utah, in 27 
counties: Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Daggett, Davis, Duchesne, 
Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Morgan, Piute, Rich, 
Salt Lake, Sanpete, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Uintah, Utah, Wasatch, 
Wayne, and Weber. Within the decision area, which is limited to the 
portions of the planning area that are BLM-managed lands, the BLM 
administers public lands that provide approximately 4.1 million acres 
of Greater Sage-Grouse habitat, comprised of nearly 2.6 million acres 
of surface estate and 1.5 million acres of federal mineral estate. 
Surface management decisions made in the Approved RMPA apply only to 
lands administered by the BLM in the decision area.
    The BLM prepared an EIS in accordance with the NEPA to analyze the 
direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts associated with 
the proposed action and the alternatives. The ROD approves the Agency's 
Proposed Plan Amendment identified in the Final EIS. The BLM issued the 
ROD based on compliance with relevant laws, regulations, policies, and 
plans, including those guiding agency decisions that may have an impact 
on resources and their values, services, and functions.
    On December 10, 2018, the NOA for the Utah Greater Sage-Grouse 
Proposed RMPA and Final EIS (83 FR 63527) was published in the Federal 
Register. The publication of the NOA initiated a 30-day protest period 
for the proposed land-use-planning decision. The protest period was 
later extended an additional seven days to help account for technical 
issues the public encountered when submitting protests during the 
partial Federal government shutdown in January 2019. NOA publication 
also initiated a simultaneous 60-day consistency review by the Governor 
of Utah to identify any inconsistencies with State or local plans, 
policies, or programs. At the close of the protest period, the BLM 
received 8 protests. The BLM Director resolved these protests; 
individual protest response letters were sent to all protesting 
parties; and the RMPA was not modified as a result of the protest 
resolutions. Protest resolutions are contained in the Director's 
Protest Summary Report, which is available online at https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/protest-resolution-reports. The BLM received the Utah Governor's review 
response on February 4, 2019. The Governor outlined some points of 
clarification regarding the implementation of

[[Page 10330]]

disturbance and density caps, modification of habitat objectives, and 
application of sage-grouse lek buffers. His letter also recommended 
revisions to the 2019 Approved RMPA and ROD to recognize the recent 
changes to Utah's Conservation Plan for Greater Sage-Grouse, which 
creates more consistency between Utah's plan and the BLM's Approved 
RMPA. The State of Utah's disturbance cap in designated sage-grouse 
habitat was adjusted and set at three percent disturbance above their 
2013 baseline, a change made to better align Utah's sage-grouse plan 
with the BLM's and is highlighted in the ROD. In addition to this 
change, Utah's plan was also updated to include a ``Utah's Habitat 
Guidelines'' table establishing habitat objectives. The BLM's Approved 
RMPA, Appendix B, has been updated to state that analysis determining 
impacts on lek persistence will be conducted in coordination with the 
appropriate State of Utah agency. The BLM also responded to the 
governor's letter by updating the ROD to document the ongoing 
coordination required to resolve the consistency issues he identified. 
In addition to updating the ROD, the BLM will present the field, 
district, and monument offices with a table and other implementation 
materials detailing the changes in the 2019 Approved RMPA and which 
actions from 2015 Approved RMPA will be affected upon the signing of 
the ROD.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6.

Edwin L. Roberson,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 2019-05295 Filed 3-19-19; 8:45 am]
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