News Release

For Release: Sept. 15, 2006
Contact: David Christy, (916) 985-4474
CA-CC-06-71

BLM Releases Draft Sierra Management Plan

The Bureau of Land Management's "Sierra Draft Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement" is now available for public comment.

"When final, the Sierra RMP will provide direction and guidance for more than 230,000 acres of public land located primarily in nine central California counties including Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Tuolumne and Yuba counties," said Bill Haigh, manager of the Folsom Field Office, which manages the public land.

The primary issues addressed in the Sierra draft RMP/EIS cover a wide geographic area, from the Yuba River area near Marysville, to the American River in the Sierra foothills, to the Merced River in Mariposa County, to the Cosumnes River Preserve in the Sacramento Valley. Issues include wildfire and fuels, recreation, motorized vehicle access, land tenure adjustment, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, Wild and Scenic River suitability, minerals development in the Yuba Goldfields, and protection of significant biological and cultural resources.

Copies of the Sierra draft RMP/EIS are available at the Folsom Field Office, 63 Natoma St., Folsom, Calif. 95630 and online at www.blm.gov/ca/folsom. Comments will be accepted through December 13, 2006, and may be sent to the Folsom Field Office at the above address or e-mailed to caformp@ca.blm.gov. Public meetings regarding the Sierra draft RMP/EIS will be held on the following dates. All meetings run from 6:30 to 9 p.m.:

October 10, L.O.V.E. building, Condon Park, Grass Valley.

October 18, Mariposa County Supervisors Chambers at the Government Center, 5100 Bullion Street, Mariposa.

October 25, Sonora High School, 430 North Washington Street, Sonora.

November 1, El Dorado County Fairgrounds (Corker Building), Placerville.

For more information, contact Sandra McGinnis, environmental planner at BLM's Folsom Field Office, at (916) 985-4474.

-BLM-

Folsom Field Office, 63 Natoma Street, Folsom, CA 95630