[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 246 (Thursday, December 23, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72098-72099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-33287]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[UT-045-1610-00]
Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement and
General Management Plan for Zion National Park Incorporating a Land Use
Plan Amendment for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) St. George Field
Office Resource Management Plan
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969, the BLM, St. George Field Office, Utah announces
the availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement and General
Management Plan (DEIS/GMP) for Zion National Park, Utah. The DEIS/GMP
incorporates a land use plan amendment for the BLM St. George Field
Office Resource Management Plan (1999).
On February 17, 1998, the St. George Field Office published in the
Federal Register a notice of intent to conduct a plan amendment within
the Dixie Resource area (now known as St. George Field Office),
Washington County, Utah. Further, the notice indicated that BLM
initiated the plan amendment through a joint planning effort with Zion
National Park for the purpose of conducting wild and scenic river
studies of five specific tracts on BLM-managed land contiguous to the
Zion National Park's boundary. The St. George Field Office and Zion
National Park prepared a Memorandum of Understanding regarding this
joint planning effort.
DATES: Comments on the land use plan amendment to the St. George
Resource Management Plan (incorporated within the DEIS/GMP) will be
accepted through March 23, 2000. Comments specific to the DEIS/GMP for
Zion National Park are due by February 11, 2000 (see Federal Register
Volume 64, Number 233, Pages 68114-68115). Public meetings concerning
both the DEIS/GMP and BLM's land use plan amendment will be held at the
following locations and dates:
All meetings will run from 7-10 p.m.
--January 6, 2000, Sharwan Smith Center, SUU, 351 W. Center Street,
Cedar City, UT
--January 10, 2000, Town Offices, Public Assembly Hall, 118 Lion
Boulevard, Springdale, UT
--January 11, 2000, Kanab City Library, 374 N. Main Street, Kanab, UT
--January 12, 2000, Interagency Offices and Information Center, 345 E.
Riverside Road, St. George, UT
--January 13, 2000, Utah Department of Natural Resources, 1594 W. North
Temple, Salt Lake City, UT
ADDRESSES: Comments and information regarding river values on the
specific public land tracts identified in this notice should be
submitted on or before March 23, 2000, and sent to, Jim Crisp, St.
George Field Office Manager, 345 East Riverside Drive, St. George, Utah
84790.
Comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, will
be available for public review at the BLM St. George Field Office and
will be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA). They may be published as part of the Final EIS and other
related documents. Individual respondents may request confidentiality.
If you wish to withhold your name or street address from public review
and disclosure under the FOIA, you must state this prominently at the
beginning of your written comment. Such requests will be honored to the
extent allowed by law. All submissions from organizations or
businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their
entirety.
Public reading copies of the DIES/GMP will be available for review
at the following locations: Office of the Superintendent, Zion National
Park, Springdale, Utah 84767-1099; Telephone (435) 772-0211; Planning
and Environmental Quality, Intermountain Support Office--Denver,
National Park Service, PO Box 25287, Denver, CO 80225-0287, Telephone:
(303) 969-2851 or (303) 969-2377; Office of Public Affairs, National
Park Service, Department of the Interior, 18th and C Streets NW,
Washington, D.C. 20240, Telephone: (202) 208-6843. The DEIS/GMP is also
available for review on the National Park Service's Internet site at
www.nps.gov/planning.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Crisp, BLM St. George Field Office
Manager, (435) 688-3201.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Federal land management agencies are
directed by Section 5(d)(1) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968
to consider the potential for national wild, scenic and recreational
river areas in all planning for the use and development of water and
related land resources. The BLM's St. George Field Office, during their
past planning effort, learned that when river segments on three, small,
isolated tracts of BLM-managed public land contiguous to Zion National
Park were evaluated in the early 1990's as part of the St. George
planning effort, they were determined by BLM not be eligible for
further study. These river segments are Willis Creek (T. 38 S., R. 11
W., Sec. 27: SWSW--40 acres affected), Beartrap Canyon (T. 39 S., R. 11
W., Sec. 3: SWNW--40 acres affected), and Goose Creek (T. 39 S., R. 10
W., Sec. 31: NESE, S2SE--120 acres affected). Additionally, contiguous
river segments within the Park were not evaluated at that time. The
BLM's St. George Field Office also learned that Zion National Park was
preparing a General Management Plan and as part of that effort was
conducting a wild and
[[Page 72099]]
scenic study of river segments within the Park. Consequently, BLM
determined that the Park's study provided a timely, efficient way for
BLM and the National Park Service to evaluate the streams throughout
their reaches across contiguous Federal lands. Thus, for purposes of
wild and scenic river study only, BLM through a memorandum of
understanding with Zion National Park, served as a co-lead agency in
the development of the General Management Plan for Zion National Park
and preparation of any associated environmental document. BLM and Zion
National Park will cooperate as partners and strive to reach a joint
conclusion as to eligibility, tentative classification, and suitability
for each river segment where public lands are involved. It is
recognized that although the BLM-managed river segments identified
above may not be eligible for further study when considered on their
own, they may be eligible when considered in conjunction with
contiguous segments in the Park.
Two additional public land parcels at the head of the Middle Fork
of Taylor Creek (T. 38 S., R. 11 W., Sec. 30: SWNW--40 acres), and at
the head of Kolob Creek Narrows (T. 39 S., R. 10 W., Sec. 30: portions
thereof--80 acres), may also be affected should the streams (that are
within the Park) be determined suitable for Congressional designation
into the National Wild and Scenic River System. Thus, river values
involving these parcels have been addressed in the DEIS/GMP. Wild and
scenic evaluations will be made by Zion National Park, the BLM, and
other experts in accordance with the interagency guidelines of July
1996 titled ``Wild and Scenic River Review in the State of Utah,
Process and Criteria for Interagency Use.''
BLM will prepare its own Record of Decision regarding stream
segments that cross or otherwise affect BLM-managed public lands. Such
decision will constitute a plan amendment for the St. George Resource
Management Plan.
Sally Wisely,
Utah State Director.
[FR Doc. 99-33287 Filed 12-22-99; 8:45 am]
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