Notice of availability of Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Ray Land Exchange/Plan Amendment

Description of the Proposed Action. Public lands (in Pinal and Gila counties) analyzed for exchange include federal mineral estate (2,780 acres) and federal surface and mineral estate (8,196 acres). Most parcels surround the Ray Mine and Hayden Complex operated by Asarco; or, these consist of future prospects for mineral development or support, including 637 acres near Casa Grande. The 7,300 acres of non-federal lands offered to the BLM include high resource values such as: inholdings or adjacent lands to the Mt. Tipton Wilderness and Sacramento Valley Wilderness; riparian zones along the Gila River and Big Sandy River; occupied habitat for the southwestern willow flycatcher, American peregrine falcon and bald eagle; proposed critical habitat for cactus ferruginous pygmy owl; desert tortoise category I and II habitat; and, checkerboard inholdings within the McCracken Area of Critical Environmental Concern. These parcels are located within Mohave (mainly) and Gila counties.

Alternatives Analyzed

Four alternatives are analyzed in the FEIS. The Proposed Action (Agency Preferred Alternative) would exchange 10,976 acres of public lands or mineral estate for 7,300 acres of private, would provide for continuing public access through the White Canyon-Copper Butte area, and result in a donation of 480 acres along Walnut Creek (if Asarco is successful in purchasing this parcel from the state of Arizona). Under the Buckeye Alternative, the exchange would consist only of 10,176 acres of public lands or minerals for 6,659 acres of offered lands and continued public access. The Copper Butte Alternative

reduces the action to exchanging 9,161 public acres for 5,601 acres of offered lands. Under the No Action Alternative, an exchange would not occur; federal lands and minerals would remain under BLM management.

Comments on the FEIS

Comments will be considered in preparing the record of decision on the land exchange. All comments on the FEIS must be received within 30 days of this Notice. Send FEIS comments to: Shela McFarlin, BLM, Arizona State Office, 222 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004. Please note that comments, including names and street addresses of respondents, are available for public review and/or release under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name and street address from public review or from disclosure under 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, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their entirety.

Protest of the Proposed Plan Amendment

This FEIS combines the analysis of the exchange proposal with a proposed plan amendment. The amendment would change the existing land tenure decision in the Phoenix and Safford District Resource Management Plans to retain much of the selected lands, to a decision to dispose of these lands. The plan amendment process offers an opportunity for administrative review by filing a protest with the BLM Director. This applies only to the proposed plan amendment, not the exchange itself. The protest must be received at the address below by close of business within 30 days of this Notice. Protest letters must be sent to: Director, BLM; Attention: Ms. Brenda Williams, Protests Coordinator WO- 210/LS-1075; Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240. The overnight mail address for protests is: Director, BLM; Attention: Ms. Brenda Williams, Protests Coordinator (WO-210), 1620 L. Street NW, Room 1075, Washington, DC 20036. At a minimum, protest letters must include: (1) The name, mailing address, telephone number and interest of the person filing the protest. (2) A statement of which parcel or parcels (by township, range and section) or issues are being protested. (3) A statement of the part or parts of the plan amendment being protested. To the extent possible, this should be done by reference to specific pages, paragraphs, sections, tables and maps included within the proposed plan amendment. (4) A copy of all documents addressing the issues or parcels that you submitted during the planning process or a reference to the date the issue or issues were discussed by you for the record. (5) A statement of reasons explaining why the BLM State Director's proposed decision is believed to be incorrect. All relevant facts need to be included in the statement of reasons. These facts, reasons, and documentation are very important to understand the protest rather than merely expressing disagreement with the proposed decision. Copies of the FEIS may be requested from: Shela McFarlin, (address above), (602) 417-9568, or from these offices: BLM Phoenix Field Office, 2015 West Deer Valley Rd., Phoenix, AZ. 85027; BLM Tucson Field Office, 12661 East Broadway, Tucson, AZ. 85748; and, BLM Kingman Field Office, 2475 Beverly Avenue, Kingman, AZ. 86401. Review copies are available at public libraries in Mesa, Kingman and Kearny; and the Arizona State University, Hayden Library, Tempe, AZ.

Dated: June 16, 1999. Gary Bauer, Acting State Director. [FR Doc. 99-15920 Filed 6-24-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4310-32-P