Notice2024-01063
Notice of Public Comment Period on Proposed Recreational Shooting Closure in the Sonoran Desert National Monument, AZ
Primary source
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Published
January 22, 2024
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentLand Management Bureau
Abstract
In accordance with the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act of 2019, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is giving notice of a 60-day public comment period on the proposed recreational shooting closure included in the Proposed Sonoran Desert National Monument (SDNM) Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment and Final Environmental Assessment (2023).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 14 (Monday, January 22, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 14 (Monday, January 22, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Page 3949]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-01063]
[[Page 3949]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_AZ_FRN_MO4500176275]
Notice of Public Comment Period on Proposed Recreational Shooting
Closure in the Sonoran Desert National Monument, AZ
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of comment period.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation,
Management, and Recreation Act of 2019, the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) is giving notice of a 60-day public comment period on the
proposed recreational shooting closure included in the Proposed Sonoran
Desert National Monument (SDNM) Resource Management Plan (RMP)
Amendment and Final Environmental Assessment (2023).
DATES: The BLM will accept comments on the proposed SDNM target
shooting closure included in the preferred alternative for 60 days.
Written comments must be postmarked or electronically submitted to the
BLM email address listed in the ADDRESSES section no later than March
22, 2024.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments regarding the proposed recreational
shooting closures, by any of these methods:
<bullet> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#97d5dbdac8d6cdc8c4d3d9dae3f6e5f0f2e3e4fff8f8e3fef9f0d7f5fbfab9f0f8e1"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8fcdc3c2d0ced5d0dccbc1c2fbeefde8eafbfce7e0e0fbe6e1e8cfede3e2a1e8e0f9">[email protected]</span></a>
<bullet> Mail: BLM, Sonoran Desert National Monument, Attn.: RMPA
EA, 2020 E Bell Road, Phoenix, AZ 85022.
You may examine documents and maps pertinent to this proposal
online at <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2019811/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2019811/510</a> or
at the Phoenix District Office, 2020 E Bell Road, Phoenix, Arizona
85022.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tyler Lindsey, Lower Sonoran Field
Manager, telephone 480-259-7436; address 2020 E. Bell Road, Phoenix,
Arizona 85022; email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3c48505552584f59457c5e5051125b534a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5e2a3237303a2d3b271e3c323370393128">[email protected]</span></a>. 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 Proposed SDNM RMP Amendment and Final
Environmental Assessment considered four alternatives with a range of
acres available for recreational target shooting. The preferred
alternative in the proposed amendment is Alternative C, which would
close 480,496 acres of public lands in the SDNM to recreational target
shooting. Recreational target shooting would remain available on 5,295
acres of the SDNM. These lands are administered by the BLM Lower
Sonoran Field Office. The proposed closure is for the smallest area
necessary to ensure compliance with Presidential Proclamation 7397 and
protect the objects and values for which the monument was designated.
The proposed closure was analyzed in the environmental assessment.
The Sonoran Desert National Monument was established by
Presidential Proclamation 7397 in 2001 and contains approximately
485,791 acres of BLM-administered public lands in Maricopa and Pinal
counties, Arizona. The monument was created to protect an array of
scientific, biological, archaeological, geological, cultural, and
historic objects (66 FR 7354).
The BLM completed the SDNM Record of Decision and Approved RMP in
2012. Under a March 2015 court order, the BLM was required to reanalyze
the impacts of recreational target shooting in the monument. In 2018,
the BLM amended the RMP to allow dispersed recreational shooting in
approximately 90 percent of the monument. That decision was challenged
in 2019, and a settlement agreement in that case required this new
planning effort.
The BLM prepared the SDNM Recreational Target Shooting RMP
Amendment and Environmental Assessment in response to the April 2022
settlement agreement. The RMP Amendment considers whether and where
recreational target shooting should be allowed in the monument, along
with any associated management actions. In accordance with the
settlement agreement, the BLM prepared a suitability analysis that
considered those areas of the monument that are suitable for
recreational target shooting based on the presence of monument objects,
the resiliency of those objects to recreational target shooting, and
topographic features. This information, in addition to public safety
considerations and federal and state laws and regulations governing the
discharge of firearms on public lands, helped inform the alternatives
analyzed in the EA.
The National Park Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Department
participated as cooperating agencies in the development of the RMP
Amendment.
Following the public comment period, the BLM will respond to the
substantive comments regarding the proposed recreational shooting
closure in its decision document. See <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2019811/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2019811/510</a>.
To afford the BLM the opportunity to consider comments on the
proposed SDNM target shooting closures before approval of the Decision
Record/RMP Amendment, please ensure your comments are received by the
date listed in the DATES section. Comments may be submitted using the
methods listed in the ADDRESSES section above.
The proposed RMP Amendment and finding of no significant impact
also include a 30-day protest period that begins with the 60-day
Dingell Act comment period announced under this notice. Information on
filing a plan protest is available online at <a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/filing-a-plan-protest">https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/filing-a-plan-protest</a>.
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in any comment, 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, the BLM cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 7913 and 43 CFR 1610.2.
Raymond Suazo,
State Director, Arizona.
[FR Doc. 2024-01063 Filed 1-19-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-12-P
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