Notice2022-09556
Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement for Wild Horse Management for the Bureau of Land Management Rock Springs and Rawlins Field Offices, Wyoming
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 6, 2022
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentLand Management Bureau
Abstract
In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment for Wild Horse Management within the Rock Springs and Rawlins Field Offices of Wyoming and by this notice is announcing its availability and the opening of a protest period on the RMP Amendment.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 88 (Friday, May 6, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 88 (Friday, May 6, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 27181]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09556]
[[Page 27181]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLWYD04000.L16100000.DP0000.19X]
Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan
Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement for Wild Horse
Management for the Bureau of Land Management Rock Springs and Rawlins
Field Offices, Wyoming
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a
Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Proposed Resource
Management Plan (RMP) Amendment for Wild Horse Management within the
Rock Springs and Rawlins Field Offices of Wyoming and by this notice is
announcing its availability and the opening of a protest period on the
RMP Amendment.
DATES: The BLM planning regulations state that any person who meets the
conditions as described in the regulations may protest the BLM's
Proposed RMP Amendment. A person who meets the conditions and files a
protest must file the protest within 30 days of the date that the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes its Notice of
Availability in the Federal Register. The BLM will issue a Record of
Decision no earlier than 30 days from the date of the Notice of
Availability published by the EPA.
ADDRESSES: Instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the
BLM regarding the Proposed RMPs may be found online at <a href="https://www.blm.gov/filing-a-plan-protest">https://www.blm.gov/filing-a-plan-protest</a> and at 43 CFR 1610.5-2.
You may review the Final EIS and Proposed RMP Amendment online at
the RMP ePlanning website, (<a href="https://go.usa.gov/xeyxa">https://go.usa.gov/xeyxa</a>). Hard copies are
also available for review at the following BLM offices:
<bullet> Rawlins Field Office, 1300 North Third, Rawlins, WY 82301-
2407.
<bullet> Rock Springs Field Office, 280 Highway 191 North, Rock
Springs, WY 82901-3447.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kimberlee Foster, Field Manager, BLM
Rock Springs Field Office at 307-352-0256. 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. 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 BLM manages wild horses under the
authority of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, as
amended, to ensure healthy wild horse herds thrive on healthy
rangelands in balance with other resources. The Act requires the BLM to
manage wild horses at Appropriate Management Levels (AML) to achieve a
``thriving natural ecological balance.'' It also requires BLM to remove
wild horses that have strayed onto private lands if the landowner
requests their removal.
In June 2010, the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) filed a
lawsuit (Rock Springs Grazing Association v. Salazar, No. 11-CV-00263-
NDF) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming, contending
the BLM violated Section 4 of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros
Act (16 U.S.C. 1334) by failing to remove strayed animals from private
lands controlled by the RSGA in southern Wyoming's checkerboard pattern
of alternating public and private lands. In April 2013, the court
approved a Consent Decree and Joint Stipulation for Dismissal that
resolved the lawsuit and required the BLM to evaluate potential changes
to its management of wild horses on checkerboard lands by considering
an RMP revision for the Rock Springs and Rawlins field offices. The BLM
initiated the planning effort and developed this Final EIS to meet the
terms of the Consent Decree, which directs the BLM to analyze and
consider certain wild horse management actions.
If approved, management actions analyzed in this Final EIS would
amend the 1997 Green River RMP and the 2008 Rawlins RMP. The planning
area for this Final EIS and proposed RMP Amendment includes the four
herd management areas that contain checkerboard land and are addressed
in the Consent Decree, encompassing approximately 2,811,401 acres
managed by the Rock Springs and Rawlins Field Offices.
The BLM manages approximately 1,920,314 acres of surface estate in
the planning area. Private land in the planning area totals
approximately 814,086 acres. The Proposed RMP Amendment would change
management as follows: (1) The Rock Springs Field Office portion of the
Adobe Town Herd Management Area (HMA) would no longer be designated as
an HMA and would be managed for zero wild horses. For the Rawlins Field
Office portion of the HMA, all checkerboard land and the portion of the
HMA north of the existing Corson Springs southern allotment boundary
fence would no longer be designated as an HMA and would be managed for
zero wild horses. The remainder of the HMA would be retained and
managed with an AML of 259-536; (2) the entire Great Divide Basin HMA
would no longer be designated as an HMA and would be managed for zero
wild horses; (3) the entire Salt Wells Creek HMA would no longer be
designated as an HMA and would be managed for zero wild horses; and (4)
the boundary of the White Mountain HMA would remain the same and would
continue to include checkerboard land.
All protests must be in writing and submitted, as set forth in the
DATES and ADDRESSES sections earlier. The BLM Director will render a
written decision on each protest. The decision will be mailed to the
protesting party. The decision of the BLM Director shall be the final
decision of the Department of the Interior on each protest. Responses
to protest issues will be compiled and formalized in a BLM Director's
Protest Resolution Report made available following issuance of the
decisions.
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personally identifying information in your protest, you should be
aware that your entire protest--including your personally identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask the BLM 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
Andrew Archuleta,
State Director, Wyoming.
[FR Doc. 2022-09556 Filed 5-5-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 6, 2022.
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