81 FR 53503 - Notice of Availability of the Gunnison Sage-Grouse Rangewide Draft Resource Management Plan Amendment and Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Colorado and Utah

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 156 (August 12, 2016)

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Gunnison Sage-Grouse (GUSG) Rangewide Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the BLM field offices in southwest Colorado and southeast Utah, and by this notice is announcing the opening of the comment period.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 156 (Friday, August 12, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53503-53505]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-19100]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[16X LLCO910000 L16100000.DS0000 LXSISGPW0000]


Notice of Availability of the Gunnison Sage-Grouse Rangewide 
Draft Resource Management Plan Amendment and Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement, Colorado and Utah

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a 
Gunnison Sage-Grouse (GUSG) Rangewide Draft Resource Management Plan 
(RMP) Amendment and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the 
BLM field offices in southwest Colorado and southeast Utah, and by this 
notice is announcing the opening of the comment period.

DATES: To ensure that comments will be considered, the BLM must receive 
written comments on the Draft RMP Amendment/Draft EIS within 90 days of 
the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes notice of the 
Draft RMP Amendment/Draft EIS in the Federal Register. The BLM will 
announce future meetings or hearings and any other public participation 
activities at least 15 days in advance through public notices, media 
releases and/or mailings.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the GUSG Rangewide Draft 
RMP Amendment/Draft EIS by any of the following methods:
     Website: http://1.usa.gov/1Uusw8C.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 303-239-3699.
     Mail: Gunnison Sage-Grouse EIS, BLM Colorado State Office, 
2850 Youngfield St., Lakewood, CO 80215.
    Documents pertinent to this proposal may also be viewed at BLM 
offices in Colorado and Utah. For a list of the offices and their 
addresses, please see the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roger Sayre, Project Manager, via 
telephone: 303-239-3709; at the BLM Colorado Southwest District Office 
(see address above); or via email: [email protected]. You may contact Mr. 
Sayre to have your name added to our mailing list. Persons who use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above 
individual during normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours 
a day, seven days a week, to leave a message or question with the above 
individual. You will receive a reply during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM prepared the GUSG Rangewide Draft 
RMP Amendment/Draft EIS to address a range of alternatives focused on 
specific conservation measures across the range of the GUSG in 
southwest Colorado and southeast Utah. The Draft RMP Amendment/Draft 
EIS proposes to amend the current management decisions for resources as 
described in the following RMPs:


[[Page 53504]]


 Colorado
    [cir] San Luis RMP (1991)
    [cir] Gunnison RMP (1993)
    [cir] San Juan/San Miguel RMP (1985) (currently under revision in 
the Uncompahgre RMP)
    [cir] Uncompahgre Basin RMP (1989) (currently under revision in the 
Dominquez-Escalante National Conservation Area [NCA] RMP and 
Uncompahgre RMP)
    [cir] Grand Junction RMP (1987) (Currently under revision in the 
Dominquez-Escalante NCA RMP)
    [cir] Grand Junction RMP (2015)
    [cir] Gunnison Gorge NCA RMP (2004)
    [cir] Canyons of the Ancients National Monument RMP (2010)
    [cir] Tres Rios RMP (2015)
 Utah
    [cir] Moab RMP (2008)
    [cir] Monticello RMP (2008)

    The planning area includes approximately 2.1 million acres of BLM, 
National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, State, local and private 
lands located in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah within 12 
counties (Chaffee, Delta, Dolores, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Mesa, Montrose, 
Ouray, Saguache and San Miguel counties in Colorado; and Grand and San 
Juan counties in Utah). Within the decision area, the BLM administers 
approximately 740,000 surface acres and approximately 1.3 million acres 
of Federal sub-surface mineral estate. Within the decision area, the 
BLM manages 623,000 acres of GUSG habitat, representing 37 percent of 
the habitat across the species range. Surface and subsurface management 
decisions made as a result of this Draft RMP Amendment/Draft EIS will 
apply only to the BLM-administered lands and minerals in the decision 
area.
    The Draft RMP Amendment/Draft EIS analyzes management actions 
applicable to three categories of BLM-administered lands and Federal 
subsurface: Occupied Habitat, Unoccupied Habitat, and Non-Habitat.
    Occupied Habitat:
     Occupied critical habitat as designated by the Fish and 
Wildlife Service (FWS);
     Vacant/unknown habitat delineated by Colorado Parks and 
Wildlife that FWS did not designate as occupied critical habitat;
     Habitat within the Poncha Pass area; and
     Specific areas the FWS excluded from the critical habitat 
designation coinciding with Federal subsurface estate.
    Unoccupied Habitat: Unoccupied critical habitat as designated by 
the FWS.
    Non-Habitat: Non-GUSG habitat adjacent to Occupied or Unoccupied 
Habitat within 4 miles of a lek, where certain activities might disrupt 
GUSG within the adjacent habitat areas.
    The formal public scoping process for the RMP Amendment/EIS began 
on July 18, 2014, with the publication of a Notice of Intent in the 
Federal Register (79 FR 42033), and ended on August 22, 2014. The BLM 
held four public scoping meetings in August 2014. The BLM used public 
scoping comments to help identify planning issues that directed the 
formulation of alternatives and framed the scope of analysis in the 
Draft RMP Amendment/Draft EIS. The BLM also used the scoping process to 
introduce the public to preliminary planning criteria, which set limits 
on the scope of the Draft RMP Amendment/Draft EIS.
    Major issues the Draft RMP Amendment/Draft EIS considers include 
special status species management (specifically for the GUSG), energy 
and mineral development, lands and realty, travel and transportation, 
recreation, fire management and range management.
    The Draft RMP Amendment/Draft EIS evaluates four alternatives in 
detail, including the No Action Alternative (Alternative A) and three 
action alternatives (Alternatives B, C and D). All action alternatives 
require compliance with the mitigation hierarchy of first, avoiding 
impacts to the maximum extent compatible with the goals of the 
alternative; second, minimizing any impacts that are not avoided; and 
third, providing compensatory mitigation to offset unavoidable impacts. 
All mitigation requires a net conservation gain. Alternative A, the No 
Action Alternative, would continue management of public lands and 
resources under current BLM RMPs, as previously amended. Alternative B 
primarily focuses on habitat protection and avoiding impacts to GUSG 
and GUSG habitat whenever and wherever possible. Alternative C focuses 
on minimizing and mitigating impacts to GUSG habitat. Alternative D, 
the Preferred Alternative, includes two sub-alternatives. Sub-
alternative D1 adapts and expands on the BLM Gunnison Basin 
Candidate Conservation Agreement (2013) to manage the Gunnison Basin 
GUSG population. Sub-alternative D2 includes management 
actions developed and tailored for the satellite (non-Gunnison Basin) 
populations. Identification of a Preferred Alternative does not 
represent final agency decision, and the Proposed and Approved RMP 
Amendments may reflect changes or adjustments based on public comments, 
new information, or changes in BLM policies or priorities. The Proposed 
and Approved RMP Amendments may include objectives and actions 
described in the other analyzed alternatives or otherwise within the 
spectrum of alternatives analyzed. Pursuant to 43 CFR 1610.7-2(b), this 
notice announces a concurrent public comment period on proposed Areas 
of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs). BLM determined that four 
potential ACECs met the criteria for relevance and importance, some of 
which overlapped. The Draft RMP Amendment/Draft EIS includes a range of 
alternatives for ACECs from no designations to designation of a single 
proposed ACEC that encompasses all four potential ACECs. In particular, 
Alternative B analyzes an ACEC for all Occupied and Unoccupied Habitat 
(the Sage-Grouse Habitat ACEC), which encompasses all four potential 
ACECs that were evaluated. This proposed ACEC covers approximately 
623,000 acres and meets the relevance and importance criteria because 
it includes more than locally significant qualities for GUSG, which are 
threatened and warrant protection. If the Sage-Grouse Habitat ACEC is 
formally designated, all resource management actions in Alternative B 
would be applied. The following are the overarching use allocations: 
closed to fluid mineral leasing; designated as a right-of-way exclusion 
area; limited to travel on existing or designated roads and trails; and 
recommended for withdrawal from mineral entry.
    Please note that public comments and information submitted 
including names, street addresses and email addresses of persons who 
submit comments will be available for public review and disclosure at 
the above addresses during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), 
Monday through Friday, except holidays.
    In addition to the Web site listed above, documents pertinent to 
this proposal may be examined at:

 BLM Colorado State Office (see ADDRESSES above)
 BLM Colorado Southwest District Office, 2465 South Townsend 
Ave., Montrose, CO 81401
 BLM Colorado Grand Junction Field Office, 2815 H Road, Grand 
Junction, CO 81506
 BLM Colorado Gunnison Field Office, 210 West Spencer Ave., 
Gunnison, CO 81230
 BLM Colorado San Luis Valley Field Office, 1313 E. Highway 
160, Monte Vista, CO 81144

[[Page 53505]]

 BLM Colorado Tres Rios Field Office, 29211 Highway 184, 
Dolores, CO 81323
 BLM Utah State Office, 440 West 200 South, Suite 500, Salt 
Lake City, UT 84101
 BLM Utah Canyon County District Office, 82 East Dogwood, Moab, 
UT 84532
 BLM Utah Monticello Field Office, 365 N. Main St., Monticello, 
UT 84535.

    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should 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, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

    Authority:  40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10, 43 CFR 1610.2

Ruth Welch,
BLM Colorado State Director.
[FR Doc. 2016-19100 Filed 8-11-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-JB-P