[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 169 (Friday, August 30, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70662-70663]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-19486]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[BLM_UT_FRN_MO4500181099]


Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan 
and Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Grand Staircase-
Escalante National Monument in Utah

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has 
prepared a Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Grand Staircase-Escalante 
National Monument (GSENM) and by this notice is announcing the start of 
a 30-day protest period of the Proposed RMP.

DATES: This notice announces a 30-day protest period to the BLM on the 
Proposed RMP. Protests must be postmarked or electronically submitted 
on the BLM's ePlanning site within 30 days of the date that the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes its Notice of 
Availability (NOA) of the Proposed RMP and Final EIS in the Federal 
Register. The EPA usually publishes its NOAs on Fridays.

ADDRESSES: The Proposed RMP and Final EIS is available on the BLM 
ePlanning project website at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020343/510. Documents pertinent to this proposal may be 
examined online at: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020343/570 and at the BLM Paria River District Office, 669 US-89A, 
Kanab, Utah 84741.
    Instructions for filing a protest with the BLM for the Grand 
Staircase-Escalante National Monument RMP/EIS can be found at: https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/filing-a-plan-protest and at 43 CFR 1610.5-2.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott M. Whitesides, Project Manager, 
telephone: 801-539-4054; address: Bureau of Land Management Utah, 440 
West 200 South Suite 500, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101; 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 
for contacting Mr. Whitesides. 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 planning area includes approximately 
1.87 million acres of public land in Kane and Garfield counties in 
southern Utah. Management of GSENM is currently guided by the GSENM and 
Kanab Escalante Planning Area (KEPA) RMPs to the extent consistent with 
Presidential Proclamation 10286. Where the GSENM and KEPA RMPs conflict 
with Proclamation 10286, Proclamation 10286 controls.
    The Final EIS evaluates five alternatives: the no action 
alternative (Alternative A) and four action alternatives (Alternatives 
B, C, D, and E) that are based on known use and issues in the planning 
area. Alternative B emphasizes flexibility in planning-level direction 
to maximize the potential for an array of discretionary actions that 
may be compatible with the protection of GSENM objects. Alternative C 
emphasizes the protection and maintenance of intact and resilient 
landscapes using a management area approach to selectively allow for 
discretionary uses in appropriate settings. Four management areas, 
similar to those used in the 2000 GSENM Monument Management Plan, would 
be established: the front country, passage, outback, and primitive. The 
BLM would use these areas to identify the allowable uses that meet the 
goals and objectives of the areas while also protecting GSENM objects. 
Alternative D strives to maximize natural processes by minimizing 
active management and limiting discretionary uses. Land use allocations 
would curtail discretionary uses, including recreation, livestock 
grazing, rights-of-ways, and activities under special recreation 
permits. This alternative would also constrain management actions to 
emphasize natural conditions, such as passive

[[Page 70663]]

vegetation management. The State Director identified Alternative C as 
the preferred alternative in the Draft EIS.
    The BLM received a total of 6,820 letter submissions during the 
public comment period on the Draft RMP/EIS, including 5,216 letters 
that contained non-unique, preformulated language that appeared in 
other letter submissions. There were 1,604 unique submissions, from 
which the BLM identified substantive comments. Most submissions were 
focused on suggestions for specific alternatives or alternative 
elements, statements of support or lack thereof for an alternative, and 
detailed input pertaining to various resource topics analyzed in the 
draft EIS, such as livestock grazing, travel and transportation, fish 
and wildlife, and vegetation.
    Based on public comments on the Draft RMP/EIS, the BLM has prepared 
the Final EIS and developed new appendices that provide additional 
consistency, clarity, and accuracy. In Appendix J, the BLM has provided 
responses to substantive comments on the Draft RMP/EIS, proposed 
recreational shooting closures, and Areas of Critical Environment 
Concern/Research Natural Areas.
    The BLM also developed the Proposed RMP (Alternative E) as 
presented in the Final EIS. Alternative E is based on Alternative C 
with a combination of components from the various other action 
alternatives, and as such, is within the range of alternatives 
considered in the Draft RMP/EIS. Alternative E was developed and 
refined based on consideration of public comments received during the 
90-day comment period on the Draft RMP/EIS, consultation with 
cooperating agencies, government-to-government consultation with 
interested Tribal Nations, and updates to the best available science 
and information.
    The primary changes from the Draft RMP/EIS to the Proposed RMP/
Final EIS include: the addition of Alternative E and associated 
analysis; the use of updated assessment, inventory, and monitoring data 
to revise the list of departed watersheds (watersheds with a high 
degree of departure from reference conditions); supplemental Areas of 
Critical Environmental Concern and Research Natural Area nominations 
and evaluations; management of recreational shooting; the inclusion of 
public comment process, summary, and responses; the development of a 
monitoring plan; the inclusion of a final air quality emissions 
inventory; the completion and inclusion of the Old Spanish National 
Historic Trail Corridor Assessment and Inventory Report and associated 
management direction and analysis; and the review of applicable State 
and local land use plans for plan consistency.

Protest of the Proposed RMP

    The BLM planning regulations state that any person who participated 
in the preparation of the RMP and has an interest that will or might be 
adversely affected by approval of the Proposed RMP may protest its 
approval to the BLM Director. Protest on the Proposed RMP constitutes 
the final opportunity for administrative review of the proposed land 
use planning decisions prior to the BLM adopting an approved RMP. 
Instructions for filing a protest regarding the Proposed RMP with the 
BLM Director may be found online at https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/filing-a-plan-protest and at 43 
CFR 1610.5-2. All protests must be in writing and mailed to the 
appropriate address, as set forth in the ADDRESSES section earlier or 
submitted electronically through the BLM ePlanning project website as 
described previously. Protests submitted electronically by any means 
other than the ePlanning project website will be invalid unless a 
protest is also submitted as a hard copy. The BLM Director will render 
a written decision on each protest. The Director's decision shall be 
the final decision of the Department of the Interior. Responses to 
valid protest issues will be compiled and documented in a Protest 
Resolution Report made available following the protest resolution 
online at: https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/protest-resolution-reports. Upon resolution of protests, 
the BLM will issue a Record of Decision and Approved RMP.
    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, 40 CFR 1506.10, 43 CFR 1610.2, 43 CFR 
1610.5)

Gregory Sheehan,
BLM Utah State Director.
[FR Doc. 2024-19486 Filed 8-29-24; 8:45 am]
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