Notice2022-18693
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan for the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and an Associated Environmental Impact Statement
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Published
August 30, 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), the National Forest Management Act of 1976 (NFMA), and Presidential Proclamation 10285, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Utah State Director and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USDA Forest Service) Manti-La Sal National Forest Supervisor intend to revise a resource management plan (RMP) with an associated environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Bears Ears National Monument (BENM) and by this notice announce the beginning of the scoping period to solicit public comments and identify issues, provide the planning criteria for public review, and issue a call for nominations for areas of critical environmental concern (ACECs) on lands managed by the BLM. The BLM is leading the NEPA process in partnership with the USDA Forest Service, which will make a decision for the USDA Forest Service-managed lands based on the analysis in the EIS. The Bears Ears Commission will play an integral role in the development of the EIS and RMP. The RMP revision would replace the BLM Indian Creek and Shash J[aacute]a Monument Management Plans (2020) and the Approved Plan Amendment for the Manti-La Sal National Forest Bears Ears National Monument Shash J[aacute]a Unit (2020). The RMP revision would also replace the applicable portions of the BLM's Monticello RMP (2008) and Moab RMP (2008) and Manti-La Sal National Forest's Land and Resource Management Plan (1986).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 167 (Tuesday, August 30, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 167 (Tuesday, August 30, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52992-52995]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-18693]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[223.LLUTY02000.L16100000.DQ0000.LXLUBENM0000]
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan for the
Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and an Associated Environmental
Impact Statement
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior. USDA Forest Service,
Agriculture.
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), the National Forest Management Act of 1976
(NFMA), and Presidential Proclamation 10285, the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) Utah State Director and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture Forest Service (USDA Forest Service) Manti-La Sal National
Forest Supervisor intend to revise a resource management plan (RMP)
with an associated environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Bears
Ears National Monument (BENM) and by this notice announce the beginning
of the scoping period to solicit public comments and identify issues,
provide the planning criteria for public review, and issue a call for
nominations for areas of critical environmental concern (ACECs) on
lands managed by the BLM. The BLM is leading the NEPA process in
partnership with the USDA Forest Service, which will make a decision
for the USDA Forest Service-managed lands based on the analysis in the
EIS. The Bears Ears Commission will play an integral role in the
development of the EIS and RMP. The RMP revision would replace the BLM
Indian Creek and Shash J[aacute]a Monument Management Plans (2020) and
the Approved Plan Amendment for the Manti-La Sal National Forest Bears
Ears National Monument Shash J[aacute]a Unit (2020). The RMP revision
would also replace the applicable portions of the BLM's Monticello RMP
(2008) and Moab RMP (2008) and Manti-La Sal National Forest's Land and
Resource Management Plan (1986).
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 October 31, 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 listed in
43 CFR 1610.2(e). To afford the BLM the opportunity to consider
comments on the planning criteria 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 BENM RMP and nominations of new ACECs by any of the
following methods:
<bullet> Website: <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020347/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020347/510</a>.
<bullet> Mail: ATTN: Monument Planning, BLM Monticello Field
Office, 365 North Main, Monticello, UT 84535.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined online at
<a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020347/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2020347/510</a> and at the
BLM Monticello Field Office, 365 North Main, Monticello, UT 84535.
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#2f5c5847465b4a5c464b4a5c6f4d434201484059"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8ffcf8e7e6fbeafce6ebeafccfede3e2a1e8e0f9">[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
[[Page 52993]]
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: This document provides notice that the BLM
Utah State Director and USDA Forest Service Manti-La Sal National
Forest Supervisor intend to prepare an RMP with an associated EIS for
the BENM, announces the beginning of the scoping process, seeks public
input on issues and relevant planning criteria, and invites the public
to nominate ACECs on lands administered by the BLM. The planning area
is located in San Juan County, Utah, and encompasses approximately 1.36
million acres of Federally administered lands between the BLM
(1,074,908 acres) and the USDA Forest Service (289,040 acres). While
most of the BLM-adminstered lands are within the BLM Monticello Field
Office planning area, approximately 8,835 acres are located within the
BLM Moab Field Office planning area. Within the exterior boundary of
the BENM, there are private inholdings, land owned by the State of Utah
School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA), and the
entirety of Natural Bridges National Monument of the National Park
Service. These lands are not part of the Bears Ears National Monument
and are not included in the planning effort.
Purpose and Need for the Resource Management Plan
This Resource Management Plan 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 10285 or have been identified based on key
present and historical BENM 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, restore, and enhance the Monument's objects and values
in large, remote, rugged, and connected landscapes. This includes the
entire landscape within the Monument and the objects and values
Proclamations 10285 and 9558 established the Monument to protect.
Needs and challenges: BENM is a place that holds deep cultural and
spiritual connections for many communities. BENM includes a diversity
of ecotypes, geological and paleontological resources, vegetation, and
wildlife. During the last century, uranium mining activities and
livestock grazing have been common activities in this part of Southeast
Utah. Mining activity within BENM is rare today, but livestock grazing
remains an important local economic use of the landscape.
Recreational visitation is an important driver of the local
economy, with the Indian Creek area becoming world-famous for rock
climbing and the increased popularity of off-highway vehicle use,
cultural tourism, and other forms of recreation. The increased demand
on BENM's resources, and subsequently, the Monument's objects and
values, poses a challenge to balance the wide variety of uses of the
landscape with the protection of the Monument's objects and values.
Planning decisions can define resource uses and land designations to
help resolve conflicts between various uses and resource protection.
2. Protect and/or restore the historical and cultural significance
of this landscape. This includes objects identified in the
Proclamations such as numerous archaeological sites, modern tribal
uses, other traditional descendant community uses, historic routes and
trails, historic inscriptions, and historic sites.
Needs and challenges: Public visitation, permitted activities, and
climate change have the potential to impact cultural resources.
Traditional knowledge, interpretation, and management guidance to help
inform the public and protect various cultural resources and
traditional uses are needed. Planning decisions can help provide
management direction to protect cultural resources and traditional uses
and provide direction for a lasting and effective partnership with
Tribal Nations and the Bears Ears Commission.
3. Protect and/or restore the unique and varied natural and
scientific resources of these lands. This includes objects identified
in the Proclamations such as biological resources including various
plant communities, relic and endemic plants, diverse wildlife including
unique species, and habitat for Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed
species.
Needs and challenges: Increasing uses of the landscape such as rock
climbing, off-highway vehicle use, and cultural tourism, whether
through an organized or commercial event with a special recreation
permit or by the public in general, can impact various plant and
wildlife communities and habitats. Planning decisions can help
reevaluate and balance the trade-offs for the desired uses of the
landscape with the need to protect the Monument's biological resources
identified as objects.
4. Protect and/or restore scenic qualities including night skies;
natural soundscapes; diverse, visible geology; and unique areas and
features.
Needs and challenges: Bears Ears National Monument is surrounded by
various National Park Service and Utah State Park units designated as
Dark Sky Parks, and the region is recognized for its uniquely dark
night sky. Additionally, the remoteness of the region provides the
opportunity for a quiet, natural soundscape and the varied geologic
features provide incredibly unique scenic qualities. Planning decisions
should reflect the need to protect these visual and scenic qualities
identified as objects and values for Bears Ears National Monument.
5. Protect and/or restore important paleontological resources.
Needs and challenges: Bears Ears National Monument is becoming an
increasingly important region for the study of paleontological
resources. These resources also have ties to the stories and cultures
of Tribal Nations. To protect these important resources, planning
decisions should be made to support appropriate access, use, and
protection of paleontological resources.
6. Ensure that management of these lands will incorporate
traditional and historical knowledge related to the use and
significance of the landscape.
Needs and challenges: Tribal Nations and descendant communities not
only care about and learn from the cultural resources found in Bears
Ears National Monument, but many of them still use portions of the
landscape for traditional cultural and spiritual needs, as well as for
necessary subsistence purposes. Any BLM or USDA Forest Service action
has the potential to impact spiritual, traditional, or subsistence uses
of the BENM landscape; therefore, it is critical that planning
decisions reflect traditional knowledge and provide a framework to
incorporate traditional knowledge into any future implementation
activities. However, some traditional uses, such as the annual
collection of firewood for personal use, may in some cases cause
negative impacts to cultural resources, sensitive soils, and the
woodland
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resource itself. Firewood collection is an important traditional use,
and the planning decisions should consider how to address the potential
negative impacts, while also balancing the positive aspects like fuel
load reduction and subsistence needs.
7. Provide for a variety of uses on Monument lands, so long as
those uses are consistent with the protection of the BENM's identified
objects and values.
Needs and challenges: Public land uses within BENM, such as
livestock grazing and recreation, are important to the economic
opportunities and quality of life of the local communities surrounding
BENM. These two uses account for the majority of visitation to BENM.
Although these two uses are not identified in Presidential Proclamation
10285 as objects or values, these are discussed as important land uses
in the area. Planning decisions should consider how to protect Monument
objects and values with consideration of other uses of the landscape,
such as livestock grazing and recreation.
Preliminary Alternatives
The BLM and USDA Forest Service will analyze 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 and USDA Forest Service
welcome comments on all preliminary 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 and USDA Forest Service personnel and
from early engagement conducted for this planning effort with Federal,
State, and local agencies, Tribal Nations, and stakeholders. The BLM
and USDA Forest Service have 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 BENM objects and values identified in
Proclamation 10285, implementation of a new RMP may impact--either
beneficially or adversely--resources and uses within the BENM,
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.
Schedule for the Decision-Making Process
The BLM and USDA Forest Service will provide additional
opportunities for public participation consistent with NEPA and BLM and
USDA Forest Service land use planning processes, including a 90-day
comment period on the Draft RMP/EIS, then a 30-day public protest
period, as well as a concurrent 60-day Governor's consistency review,
on the Proposed RMP. The Draft RMP/EIS is anticipated to be ready for
public review in spring 2023, and the Proposed RMP/Final EIS is
anticipated to be available for public protest in winter 2024, with an
Approved RMP and Record of Decision (ROD) completed 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 and USDA Forest Service will hold a total of five scoping
meetings. Two scoping meetings will be held virtually. Three scoping
meetings will be conducted in-person: one in Blanding, Utah, one in
Monument Valley, Navajo Nation, and one in Farmington, New Mexico.
Details of all meetings will be announced once known. In compliance
with Department of the Interior public health guidelines, the BLM and
USDA Forest Service 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 and USDA Forest Service
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, newspapers, and the ePlanning website (see ADDRESSES).
The ePlanning website (see ADDRESSES) also includes, or will
include, background information on the BENM, 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 and USDA Forest Service at any public scoping meeting, or to the
BLM and USDA Forest Service using one of the methods listed in the
ADDRESSES section.
Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs)
There are five ACECs within BENM: San Juan, Lavender Mesa, Shay
Canyon, Indian Creek, and Valley of the Gods.
This notice invites the public to comment on whether to retain the
existing ACECs and whether to nominate areas on BLM-administered lands
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.
Tribal Coordination
The Monument planning process will provide Tribal Nations multiple
ways to engage, including, but not limited to, through government-to-
government coordination and consultation, consultation under section
106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) (54 U.S.C.
306108), participation as cooperating agencies, and through the Bears
Ears Commission. Presidential Proclamation 10285 reconstituted the
Bears Ears Commission with the terms, conditions, and obligations
identified in Presidential Proclamation 9558 to provide guidance and
recommendations for the development of the management plan and
incorporate traditional and historical knowledge. The Bears Ears
Commission is a self-governed commission consisting of one elected
officer each from the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute
Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, and Pueblo
of Zuni, designated by the officers' respective Tribes. On June 18,
2022, the BLM, USDA Forest Service, and the five Tribal Nations of the
Bears Ears Commission signed an inter-governmental cooperative
agreement to obtain input from the Commission for the development and
implementation of the Monument Management Plan. The agreement also
facilitates coordination and cooperative management of the federal
lands within the BENM to provide consistent, effective, and
collaborative management of the lands and resources. The BLM and USDA
Forest Service anticipate engagement
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with the Bears Ears Commission during each stage of the RMP/EIS process
consistent with the roles and responsibilities identified in the inter-
governmental cooperative agreement. The Bears Ears Commission may also
assist with developing a Tribal collaboration framework.
Cooperating Agencies
Federal, State, and local agencies, along with Tribal Nations, may
request or be asked by the BLM to participate as cooperating agencies.
At this time, the BLM has identified the following potential
cooperating agencies:
<bullet> National Park Service,
<bullet> U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
<bullet> U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
<bullet> U.S. Bureau of Reclamation,
<bullet> U.S. Department of Energy,
<bullet> Utah's Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office,
<bullet> SITLA,
<bullet> Utah State Historic Preservation Office,
<bullet> San Juan County,
<bullet> Grand County,
<bullet> City of Blanding,
<bullet> Town of Bluff,
<bullet> City of Monticello, and
<bullet> All 32 affiliated Tribal Nations that wish to participate.
Responsible Official
The Utah State Director and the Manti-La Sal National Forest
Supervisor are the deciding officials for this planning effort.
Nature of Decision To Be Made
The nature of the decision to be made will be the State Director's
and the Forest Supervisor's selection of land use planning decisions
for managing BLM- and USDA Forest Service-administered lands,
respectively, within the BENM that protect the objects and values
identified in Proclamation 10285. Uses on the BENM may be allowed to
the extent they are consistent with Proclamation 10285 and the
protection of the objects and values within the BENM.
The USDA Forest Service gives notice that it intends to use the
BLM's administrative review procedures, as provided by the USDA Forest
Service 2012 Planning Rule, at 36 CFR 219.59(b). The review procedures
would include a joint response from BLM and the USDA Forest Service to
those who file for administrative review. If any project or site-
specific decision is made in the RMP, such decision would be subject to
the USDA Forest Service project-level administrative review process at
36 CFR 218.
Interdisciplinary Team
The BLM and USDA Forest Service will use an interdisciplinary
approach in developing the RMP/EIS to consider the variety of resource
issues and concerns identified. Specialists with expertise in various
disciplines, such as 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 will be involved in the
planning process.
Additional Information
The BLM and USDA Forest Service will identify, analyze, and
consider mitigation to address the reasonably foreseeable impacts to
resources from the proposed RMP and all analyzed alternatives and, in
accordance with 40 CFR 1502.14(e), include appropriate mitigation
measures not already included in the proposed plan or alternatives.
Mitigation may include avoidance, minimization, rectification,
reduction or elimination over time, and compensation, and may be
considered at multiple scales, including the landscape scale.
The BLM and USDA Forest Service will utilize and coordinate the
NEPA and land use planning processes for this planning effort to help
support procedural requirements under the Endangered Species Act (16
U.S.C. 1536) and section 106 of the NHPA, as provided in 36 CFR
800.2(d)(3), including the public involvement requirements of section
106. Information about historic and cultural resources and threatened
and endangered species within the area potentially affected by the
proposed plan will assist the BLM and USDA Forest Service in
identifying and evaluating impacts to such resources.
The BLM and USDA Forest Service will consult with Tribal Nations on
a government-to-government basis in accordance with Executive Order
13175 and applicable Departmental policies. Tribal concerns, including
impacts on American Indian trust assets and potential impacts on
cultural resources, will be given due consideration. The BLM and USDA
Forest Service intend to hold a series of government-to-government
consultation meetings beginning during the public scoping period. The
BLM and USDA Forest Service will send invitations to potentially
affected Tribal Nations at least 30-days prior to the meetings. The BLM
and USDA Forest Service 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,
BLM Utah State Director.
[FR Doc. 2022-18693 Filed 8-29-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-25-P
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