[Federal Register: June 16, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 115)] [Notices] [Page 32252-32253] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16jn99-86] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Land Management [WY-930-1610-00] Notice of Intent To Conduct a Planning Review and Request for Public Participation Concerning Land Use Planning Decisions for Certain Bureau of Reclamation Withdrawn Lands in Wyoming To Be Restored to Bureau of Land Management Jurisdiction AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior. ACTION: Notice. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: Seven Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Field Offices in Wyoming are reviewing their land use plans to determine which of the resource and land use planning and management decisions in those plans will apply to the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) withdrawn lands being restored to BLM jurisdiction. The BOR lands involved total about 310,000 acres and collectively lie within the BLM Cody, Worland, Rawlins, Casper, Rock Springs, Kemmerer, and Pinedale Field Office administrative areas. The public is invited to identify concerns to be addressed in the planning review. EFFECTIVE DATES: Meeting dates and other public participation activities in the seven BLM Field Office areas will be announced in public notices, the local media, or in letters sent to interested and potentially affected parties. Persons wishing to participate in this planning review and wishing to be placed on mailing lists must notify the appropriate BLM Field Office(s) at the addresses and phone numbers below. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT CONSIDERATIONS: Public comments submitted for this planning review, including names and street addresses of respondents, will be available for public review and disclosure at the addresses below during regular business hours (7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or address from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comments. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their entirety. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Worland and Cody Field Offices: Bob Ross, Planning Coordinator, BLM, 101 South 23rd Street, P.O. Box 119, Worland, Wyoming 82401-0119, 307-347-5100; Casper Field Office: Glen Nebeker, Resource Advisor, BLM, 1701 East E Street, Casper, Wyoming 82601-2167, 307-261-7600; Rawlins Field Office: John Spehar, Planning Coordinator, BLM, 1300 North 3rd Street, P.O. Box 2407, Rawlins, Wyoming 82301-2407, 307-328-4200 Rock Springs, Kemmerer, and Pinedale Field Offices: Renee Dana, Resource Advisor, BLM, 280 Highway 191 North, Rock Springs, Wyoming 82901-3448, 307-352-0256. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM in Wyoming is reviewing the land use planning decisions in the Cody, Grass Creek, Washakie, Great Divide, Platte River, Green River, Kemmerer, and Pinedale Resource Management Plans (RMPs) to determine which of those decisions apply to the BOR withdrawn lands being restored to BLM jurisdiction. The withdrawn lands to be restored, involving parts of the Shoshone, Missouri River Basin, Platte River, and Seedskadee Reclamation Projects, are no longer needed for those reclamation projects. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) requires the development of land use plans for the BLM-administered public lands. Accordingly, the BOR withdrawn lands that will be restored to BLM jurisdiction must be incorporated into the BLM RMPs and have planning decisions made for them. The initial focus of the planning review will be on determining which of the BOR withdrawn lands have undergone sufficient NEPA analysis to adopt the existing RMP decisions that will apply to them and for incorporating those lands into and amending the RMPs. The NEPA analyses documented in the Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) for the RMPs will be reviewed for this determination. When these EISs were prepared, there was no differentiation made between the Federal lands under BOR jurisdiction and the Federal lands under BLM jurisdiction. Therefore, the BOR withdrawn lands were included in the impact analyses. However, the BLM did not include planning decisions for these lands in the BLM RMPs because of lacking jurisdiction to do so. The withdrawn lands involved in this review are closed to the operation of the [[Page 32253]] public land laws, including the mining laws. Opening orders, to allow operation of the public land laws and the staking and development of mining claims, will not be published until the BLM RMP decisions are in place for the lands and, if possible, will take place simultaneously with BLM implementing any new withdrawals that may be necessary on any of the lands. There is also a moratorium on leasing Federal minerals on these lands until the review is completed, the amendments to the RMPs are completed and any new withdrawals that may be needed on any of the lands are in place. The planning and management decisions in the above mentioned RMPs will be reviewed to identify such things as (1) which of the RMP planning and management decisions will apply to the BOR-withdrawn lands that will be restored to BLM jurisdiction; (2) cases where decisions must be deferred, because further analysis is needed before RMP decisions can be applied or made for any of the lands to be restored; (3) whether it may be necessary to pursue new withdrawals on any of the lands to be restored; and (4) what other procedures will be required to amend the RMPs and to incorporate the restored lands and the associated planning and management decisions. Some of the BOR withdrawals to be terminated are within national forests or on private and State lands and do not involve Federal lands that would be restored to BLM jurisdiction. These lands will not be addressed in the planning review. Some situations may involve BLM jurisdiction over the Federal mineral estate beneath private or State surface ownership. The planning review will address management of that Federal mineral estate. Dated: June 10, 1999. Alan R. Pierson, State Director. [FR Doc. 99-15219 Filed 6-15-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4310-22-P