This Resource Management Plan (RMP) is a comprehensive plan that establishes the gen­eral land management and use determina­tions for guiding and controlling the future management of the public lands in the Roswell Resource Area. This plan was prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976 and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969.

This Resource Management Plan addresses the management all uses of the public lands on about 1,490,000 acres in the Roswell Re­source Area where both the surface and sub­surface estates are in federal ownership and are administered by the BLM (See Table 1). This Plan also presents management for an additional 8.4 million acres of federal mineral estate where the surface is managed by other surface management agencies of the federal or New Mexico State governments, or is in private ownership.  In these cases, the leas­ing of fluid minerals (i.e., oil and gas) is ad­ministered by the BLM.

The public lands described above, including the mineral estate, are administered by the Bureau of Land Management through its Roswell Resource Area Office. The Roswell Resource Area encompasses Chaves County (except for the “bootheel”) and all of Lincoln, DeBaca, Roosevelt, Curry, Quay, and Guadalupe counties in southeastern and east-central New Mexico.

All land and resource uses and activities in the planning area must conform with the de­cisions and terms and conditions of use de­scribed in this plan.  Detailed decisions for the implementation of specific actions will be made through activity planning and environ­mental review that will be completed prior to the implementation of the action.  Likewise, the authorization of specific uses will be predi­cated on conformance with planning deci­sions and the completion of environmental review.

Descriptions of the affected environment and the environmental consequences of manag­ing public lands in the planning area were previously addressed in the Draft Roswell RMP/EIS and Proposed Roswell RMP/FEIS, and are not discussed in this document.

The Surface Use and Occupancy Requirements (Appendix 1) will be applied, when applicable, to all actions described in this plan.

Documents Table of Contents Record of Decision Resource Management Plan Appendix Index Appendix 1.  Surface Use and Occupancy Requirements Appendix 2.  Roswell District Conditions of Approval Appendix 3.  Practices for Oil and Gas Drilling and Operations in Cave and Karst Areas Appendix 4.  Withdrawn Lands Appendix 5.  Acquisition and Disposal Criteria Appendix 6.  Lands Identified for Acquisition Appendix 7.  Lands Identified for Disposal Appendix 8.  Decisions from Previous Planning Projects Appendix 9.  Treating Vegetation with Herbicides  Appendix 10. Rules of Conduct Appendix 11. Special Status Species Appendix 12. ACEC Maps Appendix 13. Protests on the Proposed RMP Glossary