Notice2024-26483
Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement for Greater Sage-Grouse Rangewide Planning
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
November 15, 2024
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentLand Management Bureau
Abstract
In compliance 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 Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA) and Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Greater Sage-Grouse Rangewide Planning and by this notice is announcing the start of a 30- day protest period of the Proposed RMPA to the BLM Director.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 221 (Friday, November 15, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 221 (Friday, November 15, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 90311-90312]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-26483]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_HQ_FRN_MO4500183156]
Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan
Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement for Greater Sage-
Grouse Rangewide Planning
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: In compliance 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
Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA) and Final
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Greater Sage-Grouse
Rangewide Planning and by this notice is announcing the start of a 30-
day protest period of the Proposed RMPA to the BLM Director.
DATES: This notice announces the beginning of a 30-day protest period
to the BLM on the Proposed RMPA. Protests must be postmarked or
electronically submitted on the BLM's ePlanning site within 30 days of
the date that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes its
Notice of Availability (NOA) in the Federal Register. The EPA usually
publishes its NOAs on Fridays.
ADDRESSES: The Proposed RMPA, Final EIS, and associated documents are
available on the BLM ePlanning project website at: <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2016719/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2016719/510</a>. Documents pertinent
to this proposal may also be examined at the BLM State Offices in
California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and
Wyoming.
Instructions for filing a protest with the BLM for the Greater
Sage-Grouse Rangewide Planning can be found 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>
and at 43 CFR 1610.5-2.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pat Deibert, BLM National Sage-Grouse
Conservation Coordinator; telephone: 720-447-8107; address: 5353
Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, WY 82009; email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#33717f7e6c7b626c746160746c635f525d5d5a5d5473515f5e1d545c45"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="27656b6a786f76786075746078774b4649494e494067454b4a09404851">[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 for contacting Dr. Deibert. 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 RMPA would change goals, objectives, and
management from previous planning efforts in 77 land use plans to
enhance Greater sage-grouse (GRSG) conservation through management of
sagebrush habitats on BLM-administered lands. The planning area
includes portions of 10 Western states with GRSG habitat: California,
Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota,
Utah, and Wyoming, and encompasses nearly 121 million acres of BLM-
administered public lands. Because this effort is focused on GRSG
habitat management, decisions resulting from this amendment effort
could affect up to 69 million acres of BLM-administered lands
associated with the applicable GRSG habitat management areas. No
decisions are being made on National Forest System lands or the
underlying Federal mineral estate as part of this process.
This RMPA builds on existing RMP direction related to GRSG
conservation that was established in earlier planning efforts. The 2015
GRSG RMPA amended or revised RMPs in the planning area to provide for
GRSG conservation on public lands. In the 2019 GRSG RMPAs, the BLM
amended some of the 2015 GRSG plan decisions in the states of
California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. On
October 16, 2019, the United States District Court for the District of
Idaho preliminarily enjoined the BLM from implementing the 2019 GRSG
RMPAs (Case No. 1:16-CV-83-BLW).
The BLM's purpose and need is to amend certain 2015 and 2019 GRSG
RMPA goals, objectives, allocations, and management actions in order to
respond to updated scientific information and changing land uses and
provide for consistent and effective rangewide conservation based on
biological information that is responsive to locally relevant habitat
variability. These were selected based on an internal review of the
effectiveness of 2015 and 2019 RMPA decisions and the degree to which
those decisions sufficiently and appropriately addressed existing
threats to GRSG habitats and continued population declines, while
balancing the BLM's ability to manage public lands for other uses, and
were additionally informed by updated scientific findings and feedback
received from Tribal, Federal, state, and local agencies and the
public. All goals, objectives, or decisions from the 2015 or 2019 RMPAs
that are not being considered for amendment would remain in place.
In preparing the Proposed RMPA, the BLM analyzed six alternatives
in detail, including the No Action Alternative. Alternative 1 includes
the applicable elements (goals, objectives, and management direction)
of the 2015 GRSG amendment efforts. Alternative 2, the No Action
Alternative, includes the applicable RMP elements from the 2019 GRSG
amendment effort. Alternative 3 emphasizes GRSG conservation and
protection and has the highest amount of preservation measures of the
alternatives and includes the identification of Areas of Critical
Environmental Concern (ACECs). Alternative 4 emphasizes conservation
while providing more allowances for public land uses than Alternative 3
and adjusts GRSG habitat management areas based on new information and
science available since the previous planning efforts. Alternative 5,
identified as the Preferred Alternative in the Draft RMPA and EIS,
balances conservation with increased levels of site-specific allowances
for public land uses and aligns habitat management areas with new
information and science. Alternative 6 applies all the same habitat
management areas and associated management as Alternative 5 but
includes the identification of ACECs.
Public review of the Draft RMPA and EIS began on March 15, 2024,
and ended on June 13, 2024. During the 90-day comment period, the BLM
held 13 public meetings, including two virtual meetings and 11 in-
person meetings throughout the planning area. Over 38,000 submissions
were received, including about 6,000 individual comments. Major comment
themes included management direction for renewable energy, lands and
realty actions, fluid minerals, livestock grazing and predation, and
the RMPA processes for mitigation, disturbance caps, and adaptive
management. Comments received on the Draft RMPA and EIS were considered
and addressed in the Proposed RMPA and Final EIS. In response to public
and cooperating comments and internal review of the alternatives and
effects described in the Draft EIS, the BLM developed the Proposed
RMPA. The Proposed RMPA increases protections for GRSG from the
Preferred Alternative while maintaining an appropriate balance of
public land uses. The Proposed RMPA incorporates
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management direction approaches from all of the alternatives analyzed
in the Draft RMPA and EIS. Specifically, priority habitat management
areas (PHMA) are identified as exclusion for solar and wind energy.
PHMA remains an avoidance area for major rights-of-way, but there are
fewer allowable exceptions for development. A subset of PHMA requiring
additional protections has been identified as PHMA with Limited
Exceptions, which would be managed as exclusion areas for major rights-
of-way, with no exceptions to the solar and wind exclusion allocation
or to the no surface occupancy allocation for fluid minerals. These
additional protections will provide the necessary protections for GRSG
habitat given anticipated development threats and negative impacts from
climate change while also ensuring an appropriate balance of public
land uses.
Protest of the Proposed RMP Amendment
The BLM planning regulations state that any person who participated
in the preparation of the RMP and has an interest which will or might
be adversely affected by approval of the Proposed RMPA may protest its
approval to the BLM. Protest on the Proposed RMPA constitutes the final
opportunity for administrative review of the proposed land use planning
decisions prior to the BLM adopting an approved RMPA. Instructions for
filing a protest with the BLM regarding the Proposed RMPA may be found
online (see ADDRESSES). All protests must be in writing and mailed to
the appropriate address found on the protest web page or submitted
electronically through the BLM ePlanning project website (see
ADDRESSES). Protests submitted electronically by any means other than
the ePlanning project website will be invalid unless a hard copy of the
protest is also submitted. The BLM will render a written decision on
each protest. The protest decision of the BLM shall be the final
decision of the Department of the Interior. Responses to valid protest
issues will be compiled and documented in a Protest Resolution Report
made available following the protest resolution online at: <a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/protest-resolution-reports">https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/protest-resolution-reports</a>. Upon resolution of protests, the BLM will issue
seven state-specific Records of Decision and Approved RMPAs.
Before including your phone number, email address, or other
personal identifying information in your protest, you should be aware
that your entire protest--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us 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 (2023), 43 CFR 1610.2; 43
CFR 1610.5)
Sharif Branham,
Assistant Director for Resources and Planning.
[FR Doc. 2024-26483 Filed 11-14-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-27-P
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