Notice2022-16296
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah and an Associated Environmental Impact Statement
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Published
July 29, 2022
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentLand Management Bureau
Abstract
In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), and Presidential Proclamation 10286, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Utah State Director intends to revise a Resource Management Plan (RMP) with an associated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) and by this notice is announcing the beginning of the scoping period to solicit public comments and identify issues, is providing the planning criteria for public review, and is issuing a call for nominations for areas of critical environmental concern (ACECs). The RMP revision would replace the existing 2020 GSENM RMP and 2020 Kanab- Escalante Planning Area RMP.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 145 (Friday, July 29, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 145 (Friday, July 29, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45796-45799]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-16296]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[L16100000.DQ0000.LXLUGSEM0000.LLUTPO1000]
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan for the
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah and an Associated
Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended (NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, as amended (FLPMA), and Presidential Proclamation 10286, the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Utah State Director intends to revise a
Resource Management Plan (RMP) with an associated Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
(GSENM) and by this notice is announcing the beginning of the scoping
period to solicit public comments and identify issues, is providing the
planning criteria for public review, and is issuing a call for
nominations for areas of critical environmental concern (ACECs). The
RMP revision would replace the existing 2020 GSENM RMP and 2020 Kanab-
Escalante Planning Area RMP.
DATES: The BLM requests the public submit comments concerning the scope
of the analysis, potential alternatives, and identification of relevant
information, studies, and ACEC nominations by September 27, 2022. To
afford the BLM the opportunity to consider this information and ACEC
nominations raised by commenters in the Draft RMP/EIS, please ensure
your comments are received prior to the close of the 60-day scoping
period or 15 days after the last public meeting, whichever is later.
The BLM also requests the public submit comments on the planning
criteria by the same date identified above. The planning criteria will
be made available to the public within the first 30 days of the 60-day
comment period to ensure the public has at least 30 days to comment on
the planning criteria as required by the planning regulations at 43 CFR
1610.2(e). To afford the BLM the opportunity to consider this
information and ACEC nominations raised by commenters in the Draft RMP/
EIS, please ensure your comments are received prior to the close of the
60-day scoping period or 15 days after the last public meeting,
whichever is later.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on issues and planning criteria
related to the GSENM RMP and nominations of new ACECs by any of the
following methods:
<bullet> Website: <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020343/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020343/510</a>
<bullet> Mail: ATTN: GSENM RMP Project Manager, BLM Paria River
District, 669 S Highway 89A, Kanab, UT 84741
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined online at
<a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020343/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020343/510</a> and at the
BLM Paria River District Office, 669 US-89A, Kanab, Utah 84741.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott M. Whitesides, Project Manager,
telephone 801-539-4054; address Bureau of Land Management Utah, 440
West 200 South Suite 500, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101; email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7506021d1c0110061c111006351719185b121a03"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d6a5a1bebfa2b3a5bfb2b3a596b4babbf8b1b9a0">[email protected]</span></a>. Contact Mr. Whitesides to have your name added to
our mailing list. 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
for contacting Mr. Whitesides. 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: This document provides notice that the BLM
Utah State Director intends to prepare an RMP with an associated EIS
for GSENM, announces the beginning of the scoping process, seeks public
input on issues and relevant planning criteria, and invites the public
to nominate ACECs. The planning area is located in Kane and Garfield
counties and encompasses approximately 1.87 million acres of public
land.
Purpose and Need for the RMP
This RMP will provide a management framework, including goals,
objectives, and management direction, to guide Monument management.
Purposes and needs serve to frame issue identification, alternatives
development, and effects analyses. The following purposes and desired
outcomes are set forward explicitly in Presidential Proclamation 10286
or have been identified based on key present and historical GSENM
management challenges. Planning for these desired outcomes will be
crucial for development of an RMP that provides direction for
addressing critical management challenges. Associated needs and
challenges that the RMP will address are also summarized.
1. Protect and restore the entirety of the large, remote, rugged,
and markedly impenetrable landscapes, including dark skies and natural
soundscapes. The Monument's fundamental values and objects include a
rich mosaic of objects of natural, historic, and scientific interest.
Needs and challenges: The immense scale and unspoiled naturalness
of the Monument serves as a foundation for the rest of the Monument
objects and values, including the diversity of ecotypes and extent and
diversity of geological and paleontological resources, vegetation, and
wildlife. Through the latter half of the 20th century, Utah's large
extent of unspoiled natural, roadless areas was unique in the lower 48
states, ultimately providing for the 1996 GSENM proclamation. Monument
visitation is steadily increasing, mostly due to recreational use.
International and regional tourism is rising, and Utah is the state
with the fastest growing population in the last decade (18.4%); in 2021
Utah's growth was 1.7% while the national population growth was 0.1%.
These increases in human presence pose diverse challenges to
preservation of resources (e.g., vegetation and soil impacts, loss of
potential for human solitude, adverse effects on certain wildlife
species, increases in noise). Effects such as these tend to be
incremental, and gradual degradation of resources over time can easily
occur, almost unnoticed, without adequate management sidebars, as well
as overall management goals and objectives for the landscape as a
whole. Avoidance of incremental degradation, so that the unique value
of a largely unspoiled, natural landscape is retained given ongoing
multiple uses, warrants substantial consideration in the planning
process.
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2. Emphasize the Monument as a living, outdoor laboratory to be
used for diverse and significant research and discovery related to the
Monument's varied resources, objects, and values.
Needs and challenges: The proclamation that originally designated
the Monument in 1996 explained, ``Even today, this unspoiled natural
area remains a frontier, a quality that greatly enhances the monument's
value for scientific study.'' However, the circumstances surrounding
and within the Monument have changed substantially in the past 25 years
(see purpose 1, above). There are substantial management challenges
regarding how to maintain the unspoiled naturalness, which is essential
to the Monument's purposes of science. Given the intensification of
anthropogenic change in the world, natural refugia on the scale of this
Monument are increasingly essential, rare, and hard to maintain. Areas
such as the Monument are a cornerstone for scientific understanding of
the past, and they are equally important for understanding changes and
trends that allow us to appropriately plan for the future.
3. Protect and restore biological resources including five life
zones, a variety of habitats, and multiple eco-regions, due largely to
the remoteness and substantial variation in elevation and topography of
the Monument. The Monument contains unique and isolated plant
communities, various floristic communities, relic and endemic plants,
diverse wildlife including unique species of invertebrates, and a
biodiversity of bees, as well as amphibians, birds, and mammals
including mountain lion and desert bighorn sheep.
Needs and challenges: Management of living individuals,
populations, and interconnected communities and ecosystems must address
a spectrum of needs and challenges. The Monument supports a range of
ecotypes, as well as remnant, relic, and refugia populations across the
landscape's substantial ranges of elevation and large geographic
extent. Additionally, climate change and drought are outside the
historic range of variability, affecting vegetation and thereby habitat
and species. A key component of this planning effort will be
identification of appropriate management for changing ecotypes and
populations, especially given the scientific emphasis of this Monument.
4. Protect and restore the historical and cultural understanding
and appreciation related to Monument objects and values. These objects
and values include an exceedingly high density of archaeological sites,
modern tribal uses, numerous historic routes and trails including
Powell expedition routes and Mormon pioneer trails, historic
inscriptions, ghost towns, cowboy line camps, and historic townsites.
This topic focuses on restoration, retention, and education/
appreciation of historic and cultural resources.
Needs and challenges: Protection, restoration, identification, and
appreciation of such objects and values often requires substantial on-
the-ground work, such as inventories, stabilization work, and sometimes
development of educational interpretive materials. The RMP planning
process should clarify how to select and prioritize such efforts, as
well as consider the role of collaboration with outside entities and
consultation with Tribal Nations that could both (1) further the aims
of understanding and appreciation of these resources and (2) support
the work of protection and restoration.
5. Protect the Monument's varied geology and associated scenery
with numerous unique areas and features and abundant, important
paleontological resources. The entire landscape affords extraordinary
visual landscapes and rich geologic and world-class paleontological
resources. Reasonably accommodate challenges of remote paleontological
research (e.g., transport of large fossils).
Needs and challenges: Extensive scenic exploration can be accessed
via paved roads, which serve as the main arteries through the Monument.
Paved roads are augmented by several maintained, unpaved roads and some
lesser dirt roads. Scenic geology itself, and the opportunity for
visual appreciation, is relatively easy to preserve, while other uses
of these resources, for example scientific study and personal
collection, will require consideration during planning in order to
provide for appropriate access, use, and protection. This is important
in view of the scientific purposes of the Monument.
6. Protect and restore world-class outdoor recreation
opportunities, including hiking and backpacking, hunting, canyoneering,
mountain biking, and horseback riding associated with a substantial,
regional socioeconomic sector. Serve visitors via several visitor
centers with diverse emphases, as well as provide basic facilities to
ensure human health and safety (e.g., restrooms).
Needs and challenges: The majority of the direct human visitation
to the Monument is recreational. While not identified as an object in
need of protection, Proclamation 10286 acknowledges the world class
recreational opportunities within the monument that support a travel
and tourism sector that is a source of economic opportunity for the
region. However, high and increasing levels of recreational visitation
are a top management challenge, and appropriate management of
recreational use is a central concern to be addressed by the RMP. Large
numbers of visitors can degrade visitor experience, raise human safety
and health issues (such as related to human waste), and may harm
ecologically sensitive areas and species. Challenges in finding a
balance between Proclamation objectives and rapidly rising visitation
levels means that use quotas or other mitigating management actions
will be considered. Additionally, substantial step-down recreation
planning is needed, such as for Special Recreation Management Areas.
Yet such planning has never occurred on the Monument due to the
substantial time and resources it requires.
7. Protect and restore Monument objects and values within a
multiple-use context. Monument lands have served multiple-use purposes
since Anglo settlement in what is now the State of Utah. Such uses
include, for example, grazing, hunting, and recreating. Monument lands
were a combination of BLM and Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands
Administration lands prior to Monument designation. Some of these lands
were being used related to mining, rock hounding for alabaster, and
other purposes.
Needs and challenges: Since the time of Monument designation in
1996, controversy and disputes have existed among stakeholders
regarding BLM's discretionary uses. Such controversy spans the spectrum
of use: allowing for uses such as mining and livestock grazing while
also supporting conservation and recreation uses and promoting strong
preservation interests. Establishing management that ensures protection
of monument objects and values and serves other monument purposes while
accommodating other uses, as appropriate, is vital in this planning
process.
Preliminary Alternatives
The BLM will be analyzing alternatives that explore and evaluate
different ways of achieving the purpose and need listed above. The
alternatives will explore different outcomes to be addressed during
this planning effort to understand the trade-offs of different land
management approaches. The BLM welcomes comments on all preliminary
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alternatives as well as suggestions for additional alternatives.
Planning Criteria
The planning criteria guide the planning effort and lay the
groundwork for effects analysis by identifying the preliminary issues
and their analytical frameworks. Preliminary issues for the planning
area have been identified by BLM personnel and from early engagement
conducted for this planning effort with Federal, State, and local
agencies; Tribes; and other stakeholders. The BLM has identified
several preliminary issues for this planning effort's analysis and will
provide them for public review as part of the planning criteria within
the timeframe identified in DATES above. The planning criteria are
available for public review and comment at the ePlanning website (see
ADDRESSES).
Summary of Expected Impacts
Consistent with protection of GSENM objects identified in
Proclamation 10286, implementation of a new RMP may impact, either
beneficially or adversely, resources and uses within GSENM, including
recreation, livestock grazing, soils, water, vegetation, cultural and
historic resources, paleontological resources, visual resources,
designated areas, social and economic values, and other human and
environmental resources. Planning decisions related to livestock
grazing will also consider portions of Glen Canyon National Recreation
Area because portions of livestock grazing allotments administered by
the BLM cross these administrative boundaries.
Schedule for the Decision-Making Process
The BLM will provide additional opportunities for public
participation consistent with NEPA and land use planning processes,
including a 90-day comment period on the Draft RMP/EIS and a concurrent
30-day public protest period and a 60-day Governor's consistency review
on the Proposed RMP. The Draft RMP/EIS is anticipated to be available
for public review in the spring of 2023, and the Proposed RMP/Final EIS
is anticipated to be available for public protest of the Proposed RMP
in late 2023 with an Approved RMP and Record of Decision in spring
2024.
Public Scoping Process
This notice of intent initiates the scoping period and public
review of the planning criteria, which guide the development and
analysis of the Draft RMP/EIS.
The BLM will be holding a total of five scoping meetings. Two
scoping meetings will be held virtually. Three scoping meetings will be
conducted in-person: one in Kanab, one in Escalante, and a third
meeting held at a yet-to-be-determined location. Details of all
meetings will be announced once known. In compliance with Department of
the Interior public health guidelines, the BLM may need to hold public
meetings in a virtual format if county-level transmission of COVID-19
is ``high'' at the time of the public meetings. In that case, the BLM
will hold five virtual public meetings.
The specific dates and locations of these scoping meetings will be
announced at least 15 days in advance through local media, social
media, and the ePlanning website (see ADDRESSES).
The ePlanning website (see ADDRESSES) also includes, or will
include background information on GSENM, a planning process overview,
preliminary planning criteria and interim management guidance. You may
submit comments on issues, potential alternatives, relevant information
and analyses, and the preliminary planning criteria in writing to the
BLM at any public scoping meeting or to the BLM using one of the
methods listed in the ADDRESSES section.
ACECs
There are currently no designated ACECs within GSENM because the
BLM determined under the previous planning efforts that the management
provided through those RMPs were sufficient without warranting the
designation of ACECs. No areas were identified during preplanning and
early engagement for consideration as ACECs.
This notice invites the public to nominate areas for ACEC
consideration. To assist the BLM in evaluating nominations for
consideration in the Draft RMP/EIS, please provide supporting
descriptive materials, maps, and evidence of the relevance and
importance of resources or hazards by the close of the public scoping
period to facilitate timely evaluation (see DATES and ADDRESSES). The
BLM has identified the anticipated issues related to the consideration
of ACECs in the planning criteria.
Cooperating Agencies
Federal, State, and local agencies, along with Tribal Nations may
request or be asked by the BLM to participate as a cooperating agency.
At this time the BLM has identified the following potential cooperating
agencies:
<bullet> National Park Service
<bullet> United States Fish and Wildlife Service
<bullet> USDA Forest Service
<bullet> Utah's Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office
<bullet> State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands
Administration
<bullet> Utah State Historic Preservation Office
<bullet> Kane County, Utah
<bullet> Garfield County, Utah
<bullet> Washington County Water Conservancy District
<bullet> Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians
<bullet> Navajo Nation
<bullet> Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah
<bullet> Pueblo of Acoma
<bullet> Pueblo of San Felipe
<bullet> Pueblo of Tesuque
<bullet> Pueblo of Zuni
<bullet> San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe of Arizona
<bullet> Hopi Tribe
<bullet> Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation
Responsible Official
The Utah State Director is the deciding official for this planning
effort.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
The nature of the decision to be made will be the State Director's
selection of land use planning decisions for managing BLM-administered
lands under the principles of multiple use and sustained yield in a
manner that best addresses the purpose and need.
Interdisciplinary Team
The BLM will use an interdisciplinary approach to develop the plan
in order to consider the variety of resource issues and concerns
identified. Specialists with expertise in the following disciplines
will be involved in this planning effort: cultural resources, Native
American concerns, paleontology, minerals, lands/access, recreation,
special designations, wildlife, livestock grazing, soils, water
resources, vegetation, rangeland management, fisheries, fire
management, woodlands/forestry, socioeconomics, environmental justice,
visual resources, night sky, soundscapes, air quality, and climate
change.
Additional Information
The BLM will identify, analyze, and consider mitigation to address
the reasonably foreseeable impacts to resources from the proposed plan
and all analyzed alternatives and, in accordance with 40 CFR
1502.14(f), include appropriate mitigation measures not already
included in the proposed plan or alternatives. Mitigation may
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include avoidance, minimization, rectification, reduction or
elimination over time, and compensation; it may be considered at
multiple scales, including the landscape scale.
The BLM will utilize and coordinate the NEPA and land use planning
processes for this planning effort to help support compliance with
applicable procedural requirements under the Endangered Species Act (16
U.S.C. 1536) and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act
(54 U.S.C. 306108) as provided in 36 CFR 800.2(d)(3), including the
public involvement requirements of Section 106. The information about
historic and cultural resources and threatened and endangered species
within the area potentially affected by the proposed plan will assist
the BLM in identifying and evaluating impacts to such resources.
The BLM will consult with Indian Tribal Nations on a government-to-
government basis in accordance with Executive Order 13175, BLM MS 1780,
and other Departmental policies. Tribal concerns, including impacts on
Indian trust assets and potential impacts on cultural resources, will
be given due consideration. Federal, State, and local agencies, along
with Indian Tribal Nations and other stakeholders that may be
interested in or affected by the proposed GSENM RMP that the BLM is
evaluating, are invited to participate in the scoping process and, if
eligible, may request or be requested by the BLM to participate in the
development of the environmental analysis as a cooperating agency. The
BLM intends to hold a series of government-to-government consultation
meetings. The BLM will send invitations to potentially affected Tribal
Nations prior to the meetings. The BLM will provide additional
opportunities for government-to-government consultation during the NEPA
process.
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 1501.9 and 43 CFR 1610.2)
Gregory Sheehan,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 2022-16296 Filed 7-28-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-25-P
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