[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 67 (Friday, April 5, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15301-15302]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-8453]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[WY-040-06-1610-00]
Green River Resource Area, NY; Final Environmental Impact
Statement
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Green River Resource Area,
Rock Springs District, Wyoming, announces the availability of the Final
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Green River Resource
Management Plan (RMP), for public review and comment.
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SUMMARY: The FEIS for the Green River RMP describes and analyzes four
alternative resource management plans, including the proposed RMP, for
managing the BLM-administered public lands and federal mineral estate
in the Green River Resource Area.
The Draft EIS (DEIS) for the Green River RMP was made available for
public review and comment in November of 1992. Comments received on the
DEIS were considered in preparing the proposed RMP and the FEIS. When
completed, the Green River RMP will provide the management direction
for future land and resource management actions on about 3.6 million
acres of public land surface and 3.7 million acres of federal mineral
estate in portions of Sweetwater, Fremont, Lincoln, Uinta and Sublette
counties in southwest Wyoming.
The FEIS focuses on the Proposed Green River RMP and has been
prepared in a summary format. The proposed RMP alternative has been
presented in a detailed narrative and, along with the other
alternatives considered in the DEIS, has also been presented in a
summary table format to allow comparison among all the alternatives. It
is not necessary, therefore, to have the DEIS to conduct a complete
review of the FEIS.
The proposed Green River RMP is a comprehensive land use and
resource management plan. It is a refinement of the preferred
alternative presented in the RMP DEIS. Comments from the public, review
by BLM staff, and new information developed since the distribution of
the DEIS have prompted making some changes to the preferred alternative
in the course of developing the proposed RMP. However, the
environmental effects of the proposed RMP are not substantially
different from those of the preferred alternative.
There are seven designated Areas of Critical Environmental Concern
(ACEC) within the Green River Resource Area (Cedar Canyon ACEC, Greater
Sand Dunes ACEC, Natural Corrals ACEC, Oregon Buttes ACEC, Red Creek
ACEC, and White Mountain Petroglyphs ACEC). The proposed Green River
RMP recommends that these existing ACEC designations be retained and
that two of them be expanded in size. The potential for additional ACEC
designations was explored in the EIS and the proposed RMP recommends
designation of three new ACECs.
The results of conducting the coal planning/screening process,
including application of the coal unsuitability criteria, for the
potential Federal coal development area are documented in the FEIS.
Approximately 12,600 acres of Federal coal lands were determined to be
unsuitable for further consideration for Federal coal leasing, 10,410
acres were determined unacceptable for further consideration for coal
leasing, and 30,490 acres were determined acceptable for further
leasing consideration by subsurface mining methods only. The remainder
of the potential Federal coal development area (about 422,000 acres)
was determined to be acceptable for further coal leasing consideration,
subject to continued field investigations, studies and evaluations to
assure that coal mining can occur without having a significant long-
term effect on other resources in the area.
All parts of the proposed RMP may be protested by parties who
participated in the planning process and who have an interest which is
or may be adversely affected by the adoption of the plan. A protest may
only deal with those issues which were raised for the record during the
planning process and may be filed by only the party or parties who
raised those issues.
Dates: Protests on the proposed Green River RMP must be postmarked no
later
[[Page 15302]]
than 30 days following the date the Environmental Protection Agency
notice of availability of the FEIS is published in the Federal
Register.
Addresses: Protests on the proposed Green River RMP should be sent to
the Director (480), Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C Street NW., MS-
314 LS, Washington, DC 20240.
For Further Information Contact: Bill LeBarron, Chief of Support
Services or Renee Dana, Green River RMP Team Leader at the Rock Springs
BLM District Office, 280 Highway 191 North, Rock Springs, Wyoming
82901, telephone 307-382-5350.
Supplementary Information: The Proposed Green River RMP FEIS documents
the review of BLM-administered public lands along waterways for their
eligibility and suitability for inclusion in the Wild and Scenic Rivers
System (WSRS). Seven parcels of BLM-administered lands, making up a
total of about 9.7 miles of the Sweetwater River, have been found to
meet the suitability factors to be given further consideration for
inclusion in the WSRS. Tentative classifications of the various parcels
include wild, scenic, and recreational. The FEIS also addresses interim
management of these parcels until the Congress decides to consider them
further for possible inclusion in the WSRS.
The Proposed Green River RMP FEIS also documents the results of
conducting the coal planning/screening process, including application
of the Coal Unsuitability Criteria, in the planning area. In applying
the 20 coal unsuitability criteria (43 CFR 3461) to the Federal coal
lands with development potential in the planning area, about 12,600
acres were found to be unsuitable for further consideration for leasing
under 5 of the criteria:
Criterion 1--Federal Land Systems
Criterion 2--Rights-of-Way and Easements
Criterion 3--Wilderness Study areas
Criterion 16--Floodplains
Criterion 17--Municipal Watersheds
All other phases of the coal screening/planning process, including
identification of the Federal coal lands that would be unacceptable and
acceptable for further leasing consideration under each alternative,
are also documented in the FEIS.
Three new ACECs proposed for designation in the proposed Green
River RMP would be given management priority and emphasis to maintain
or enhance the following values:
--Candidate threatened and endangered plant species in four separate
locations
--Visual and historical integrity of historic trails and their
surrounding viewscape in the South Pass area
--Wildlife habitats and vegetation communities in the Steamboat
Mountain area
The designations on the existing ACECs would be retained and would
be given management priority and emphasis to maintain or enhance the
following values:
--Important cultural, scenic and wildlife habitat values in the Cedar
Canyon area
--Unique and unusual geological features associated with the sand
dunes, Boars Tusk, diverse biological interrelationships supported by
the sand dunes, especially the Steamboat desert elk herd, mule deer
herd, and other dependent plants and animals, in the Greater Sand Dunes
area
--Unique and important cultural, historical, recreational, and
geological values in the Natural Corrals area
--Historic landmark, significant wildlife values, and the scenic
integrity in the Oregon Buttes area
--Important cultural, historic, and prehistoric resource values in the
Pine Springs area
--Fragile soils, Colorado River cutthroat trout, and water quality
values in the Red Creek Watershed area
--Educational opportunities and important cultural, wildlife, scenic,
and Native American values in the White Mountain Petroglyphs area
Additionally, two of the existing ACECs would be expanded in size.
The Pine Springs ACEC would be expanded to include more historic
resource values, and the Red Creek watershed would be expanded to
include a larger watershed area and habitat for the Colorado River
cutthroat trout, a candidate species for listing as a threatened or
endangered species.
The management actions for each proposed, existing, and expanded
ACEC include restrictions on surface disturbing activities and other
land uses, such as limitations on oil and gas and coal exploration and
development activities, geophysical exploration, right-of-way
construction, and vehicular travel. Portions of the ACECs may be closed
to future locatable mineral exploration and development, subject to
valid existing rights. The level of these various kinds of restrictions
and the types of land uses affected would be different in each ACEC.
Copies of the proposed Green River RMP FEIS are available at the Green
River Resource Area Office at the above address.
Dated: March 28, 1996.
Alan R. Pierson,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 96-8453 Filed 4-4-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P
