BLM: New Resource Management Plans
“A collaborative effort in balanced stewardship for the future”

Contacts:  Lola Bird, 801-539-4033, Mary Wilson, 801-539-4020

Salt Lake City, Utah—Bureau of Land Management Utah State Director Selma Sierra announced that Approved Resource Management Plans for six of the agency’s Field Offices received final approval.  The updated Resource Management Plans (RMPs) cover public lands managed by the BLM’s Kanab, Moab, Monticello,  Price, Richfield and Vernal Field Offices.

“BLM Utah has reached an important milestone as we prepare to replace outdated RMPs with plans that reflect current conditions on the land, as well as new and emerging patterns of public use,” Sierra said. “The new RMPs are the culmination of years of work and cooperation with the public, local and state governments, tribes, and our cooperating agency partners.  This has been a truly collaborative effort in balanced stewardship for the future.  We are pleased to have the plans completed and look forward to moving into the implementation phase of the planning process.”

Sierra said the new RMPs will help the agency meet a variety of challenges that have emerged since the previous RMPs were written up to 25 years ago.  These include the need for improved recreation opportunities, better management of cross-country travel to protect natural resources, the use of Best Management Practices to mitigate the impacts of energy development activities, and additional safeguards for the protection of environmentally sensitive areas.

Energy
The BLM was committed during the planning process to balance protecting environmentally sensitive areas while supporting energy resources in Utah.  In the new plans, 57 percent of the acres open to oil and gas leasing are subject to stricter environmental controls, with 20 percent of the lands within the planning areas unavailable for leasing under any circumstance.  More than 1.5 million acres went from “open to leasing with standard stipulations” to “open to leasing with major to moderate constraints.”  The new plans make an additional 285,000 acres unavailable for leasing compared to the old plans. (Table containing plan-specific acreages)

In addition to strictly controlling how and where energy development will take place, BLM has committed in each of the plans to find innovative ways to minimize the footprint on public lands.  This is done through best management practices, including directional drilling, well placement and sound muffling.

The Approved RMPs will become effective upon the signing of Records of Decision by Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, C. Stephen Allred. These new plans represent important shifts in how BLM Utah manages public lands. They have taken an average of six years each to complete because BLM wanted to ensure that the commitments these plans represent were followed through.  For instance, 2.8 million acres of lands considered to be eligible for wilderness characteristics management were thoroughly analyzed and BLM is managing 45 areas on 446,280 acres acres to preserve wilderness character on the lands in these six plans.  Making these decisions meant almost starting from scratch in the Vernal and Price land use plans.  Even so, BLM believes the additional time invested was worth the benefit of resolving the wilderness questions in Utah.
 
Besides resolving the travel and new wilderness management issues on public lands in Utah, BLM has also tackled some of the most difficult questions facing public lands managers today:  where and how energy development will take place; what lands should be set aside for conservation management; and where and how recreation will be allowed on public lands.
 
Travel Management
Travel management is considered to be one of the hottest issues on public lands today, and this is particularly true for public lands in Utah.  In Utah’s new plans, lands are being placed into one of three categories:  open, closed or limited.  Open areas are where cross-country off-highway vehicle travel is permitted.  Closed areas are not available for motorized travel.  Limited areas are restricted to designated routes and trails.  These routes may be available at certain times, in certain areas, and/or to certain vehicular use.

BLM Utah is shifting from allowing open, cross-country travel on nearly all public lands to allowing travel only on specifically identified routes.  The new travel plans close approximately 1.6 million acres (15 percent) of public lands in the six plans completely to off-highway vehicle travel.  The plans allow travel on specifically identified roads on 8.9 million acres (85 percent) of public lands in the six planning areas.  Another way to look at this is that cross-country off-highway vehicle use is only allowed on less than 0.2 percent of all public lands across the six planning areas.  This decision was applauded by the Utah Governor’s office and has met with overall approval from many in the public.  Motorized recreation enthusiasts recognize the importance of making these decisions as crucial to overall better travel management on public lands.

Recreation
Recreation on public lands in Utah is world renowned.  To minimize conflicts between different types of recreation enthusiasts (for example back-country hikers and jeep enthusiasts), BLM had to identify where recreation opportunities exist, then prioritize where these different types of recreation should be allowed, with public land protection being the primary goal of this exercise.  To achieve this delicate balance, BLM has designated 31 new special recreation management areas in addition to the seven that existed.  These areas focus different types of recreation in order to limit conflicts and protect resources such as sensitive plants, spectacular views, and cultural sites.  New special recreation management areas include Dolores River Canyons, Henry Mountains, Nine Mile Canyon, Fantasy Canyon and Range Creek, among others.

Special Designations
BLM has several opportunities to protect special areas—two of these opportunities are required by specific laws.  These include designating “Areas of Critical Environmental Concern” (ACECs) and identifying rivers and streams that should be protected as Wild and Scenic Rivers – BLM in Utah is designating 14 new ACECs including Behind the Rocks, Highway 279 Corridor, Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, and Lower Green River Corridor.  Areas of Critical Environmental Concern are areas where special management attention is required to protect resources found in these areas.  During the planning process, BLM concluded that 30 river segments were suitable for designation into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.  These include segments of the Colorado, Green, Dolores, and Paria rivers—all of these rivers are considered so important that they draw attention worldwide.  The BLM intends to work closely with the State of Utah and other federal agencies in the future to submit a statewide wild and scenic rivers package to Congress for its consideration.   

A third way BLM can protect special public lands places has already been discussed.  BLM can exercise its own inherent authority to protect special areas that may not necessarily qualify for protection under any of the special designation criteria mentioned above. As a result of its Utah land use planning effort, BLM will be managing 45 areas totaling 446,280 acres to protect, preserve and maintain wilderness characteristics (like solitude).  Some of these areas include Fisher Towers, Dirty Devil/French Spring and White River—all well known to photographers, hikers and mountaineering enthusiasts worldwide.
   
BLM’s land use planning process took a long time; much longer than BLM hoped when it started many of these plans in 2001.  In addition to the length of time this planning effort took, BLM did not set out to complete all six plans at the same time.  The BLM is particularly pleased that despite the time it took to get these plans completed, no shortcuts were ever used.  In fact, BLM’s own process allows for a discretionary review (known as protests) by an objective, higher-level official.  The protest letters received on all of Utah’s Proposed Plans/Final Environmental Impact Statements were reviewed by the BLM Director in Washington, D.C. over the last couple of months.  After careful consideration of all points raised in these protests, the National BLM Director’s analysis shows that BLM Utah followed all laws, policies, and pertinent resource considerations in developing these plans. Minor clarifications resulting from this review are incorporated into the Approved Resource Management Plans and discussed in the Record of Decision for each plan.
 
Finally, the State of Utah Governor’s office exercised its right to review the BLM’s land use plans and sent BLM letters concluding that the BLM plans were consistent with State or local plans.  BLM is pleased with this outcome, because working with the State of Utah was of particular importance to Selma Sierra, the BLM Utah State Director.

Electronic copies of the Records of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plans are available on the following web sites:  

•     BLM Kanab Field Office:  http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/kanab/planning.html

•     BLM Moab Field Office:  http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/moab/planning.html

•     BLM Monticello Field Office:  http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/moniticello/planning.html

•     BLM Price Field Office:  http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/price/planning.html  

•     BLM Richfield Field Office:  http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/richfield/planning.html

•     BLM Vernal Field Office:  http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/vernal/planning.html