[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 14 (Monday, January 22, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Page 3949]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-01063]



[[Page 3949]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[BLM_AZ_FRN_MO4500176275]


Notice of Public Comment Period on Proposed Recreational Shooting 
Closure in the Sonoran Desert National Monument, AZ

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of comment period.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, 
Management, and Recreation Act of 2019, the Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM) is giving notice of a 60-day public comment period on the 
proposed recreational shooting closure included in the Proposed Sonoran 
Desert National Monument (SDNM) Resource Management Plan (RMP) 
Amendment and Final Environmental Assessment (2023).

DATES: The BLM will accept comments on the proposed SDNM target 
shooting closure included in the preferred alternative for 60 days. 
Written comments must be postmarked or electronically submitted to the 
BLM email address listed in the ADDRESSES section no later than March 
22, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments regarding the proposed recreational 
shooting closures, by any of these methods:
     Email: [email protected]
     Mail: BLM, Sonoran Desert National Monument, Attn.: RMPA 
EA, 2020 E Bell Road, Phoenix, AZ 85022.
    You may examine documents and maps pertinent to this proposal 
online at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2019811/510 or 
at the Phoenix District Office, 2020 E Bell Road, Phoenix, Arizona 
85022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tyler Lindsey, Lower Sonoran Field 
Manager, telephone 480-259-7436; address 2020 E. Bell Road, Phoenix, 
Arizona 85022; email [email protected]. Individuals in the United States 
who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability 
may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications 
relay services. Individuals outside the United States should use the 
relay services offered within their country to make international calls 
to the point-of-contact in the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Proposed SDNM RMP Amendment and Final 
Environmental Assessment considered four alternatives with a range of 
acres available for recreational target shooting. The preferred 
alternative in the proposed amendment is Alternative C, which would 
close 480,496 acres of public lands in the SDNM to recreational target 
shooting. Recreational target shooting would remain available on 5,295 
acres of the SDNM. These lands are administered by the BLM Lower 
Sonoran Field Office. The proposed closure is for the smallest area 
necessary to ensure compliance with Presidential Proclamation 7397 and 
protect the objects and values for which the monument was designated. 
The proposed closure was analyzed in the environmental assessment.
    The Sonoran Desert National Monument was established by 
Presidential Proclamation 7397 in 2001 and contains approximately 
485,791 acres of BLM-administered public lands in Maricopa and Pinal 
counties, Arizona. The monument was created to protect an array of 
scientific, biological, archaeological, geological, cultural, and 
historic objects (66 FR 7354).
    The BLM completed the SDNM Record of Decision and Approved RMP in 
2012. Under a March 2015 court order, the BLM was required to reanalyze 
the impacts of recreational target shooting in the monument. In 2018, 
the BLM amended the RMP to allow dispersed recreational shooting in 
approximately 90 percent of the monument. That decision was challenged 
in 2019, and a settlement agreement in that case required this new 
planning effort.
    The BLM prepared the SDNM Recreational Target Shooting RMP 
Amendment and Environmental Assessment in response to the April 2022 
settlement agreement. The RMP Amendment considers whether and where 
recreational target shooting should be allowed in the monument, along 
with any associated management actions. In accordance with the 
settlement agreement, the BLM prepared a suitability analysis that 
considered those areas of the monument that are suitable for 
recreational target shooting based on the presence of monument objects, 
the resiliency of those objects to recreational target shooting, and 
topographic features. This information, in addition to public safety 
considerations and federal and state laws and regulations governing the 
discharge of firearms on public lands, helped inform the alternatives 
analyzed in the EA.
    The National Park Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Department 
participated as cooperating agencies in the development of the RMP 
Amendment.
    Following the public comment period, the BLM will respond to the 
substantive comments regarding the proposed recreational shooting 
closure in its decision document. See https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2019811/510.
    To afford the BLM the opportunity to consider comments on the 
proposed SDNM target shooting closures before approval of the Decision 
Record/RMP Amendment, please ensure your comments are received by the 
date listed in the DATES section. Comments may be submitted using the 
methods listed in the ADDRESSES section above.
    The proposed RMP Amendment and finding of no significant impact 
also include a 30-day protest period that begins with the 60-day 
Dingell Act comment period announced under this notice. Information on 
filing a plan protest is available online at https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/filing-a-plan-protest.
    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in any comment, 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, the BLM cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 7913 and 43 CFR 1610.2.

Raymond Suazo,
State Director, Arizona.
[FR Doc. 2024-01063 Filed 1-19-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-12-P