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Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan Revision and Associated Environmental Impact Statement for the South Coast Planning Area, California

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.



[Federal Register: August 7, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 151)]
[Notices]
[Page 44173-44174]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr07au07-81]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[CA-660-07-1610-DO-097B]

Notice of Intent To Prepare a Resource Management Plan Revision
and Associated Environmental Impact Statement for the South Coast
Planning Area, California

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Palm Springs-South Coast
Field Office, California, intends to revise its 1994 South Coast
Resource Management Plan (RMP) and prepare an associated Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS). The revised RMP will replace the current RMP.
This notice initiates the scoping process, invites public
participation, and announces public scoping meetings.

DATES: Written comments and resource information should be submitted
within 30 calendar days of the last scheduled public scoping meeting.
Public scoping meetings will be held in San Diego County, Riverside
County, and Los Angeles County in order to ensure local community
participation and input. All public meetings will be announced through
the local news media, newsletters, and the BLM Web site
(http://www.blm.gov/ca) at least 15 days prior to the event.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted by any of the following
methods:
    • Mail: Field Manager, South Coast Resource Management Plan
and EIS, Bureau of Land Management, Palm Springs-South Coast Field
Office, P.O. Box 581260, North Palm Springs, CA 92258.
    • Fax: (760) 251-4899.
    • E-mail: gchill@ca.blm.gov.
    Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so. Documents pertinent to this proposal, including comments
with the names and addresses of respondents, will be available for
public review at the BLM Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office located
at 690 W. Garnet Avenue, North Palm Springs, California, or the San
Diego Project Office located at 10845 Rancho Bernardo Road, Suite 200,
San Diego, California, during regular business hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays, and may be published as
part of the EIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information and/or to have
your name added to our mailing list contact Greg Hill at (760) 251-
4840, or by e-mail to gchill@ca.blm.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The South Coast Resource Management Plan
(RMP) provides guidance for the management of approximately 300,000
acres of BLM administered public lands in portions of five highly
urbanized Southern California counties: San Diego, Riverside, San
Bernardino, Orange, and Los Angeles. These public lands include over
130,000 acres of BLM administered surface lands and 167,000 acres of
Federal mineral ownership where the surface is privately owned.

[[Page 44174]]

    The existing South Coast RMP was completed and signed in 1994.
Since that time there have been significant changes in the patterns of
urban growth, increased demands on the resources of the public lands,
changing policies and emphasis on the management of public lands and
local land use planning, and new data that has led to the listing of
additional threatened or endangered species. Under BLM planning
regulations (43 CFR 1610.5-6) RMP revisions are necessary if monitoring
and evaluation findings, new data, new or revised policy, or changes in
circumstances indicate that decisions for an entire plan or a major
portion of the plan no longer serve as a useful guide for resource
management. Plan revisions are prepared using the same procedures and
documentation as for new plans.
    The purpose of the public scoping process is to determine relevant
issues that will influence the scope of the environmental analysis and
EIS alternatives. These issues will also guide the planning process.
You may submit comments on issues and planning criteria in writing to
the BLM at any public scoping meeting, or you may submit them to the
BLM using one of the methods listed under ADDRESSES above. Preliminary
issues identified for consideration in the RMP include: Impacts posed
by rapid population and urban growth; the need to make resource
decisions that are scientifically sound, in accordance with authorities
applicable to management by BLM of the public lands, and sustainable;
the need to maximize the use of public lands in species recovery and to
support collaborative efforts with local governments in land use
planning for habitat conservation; the need to provide access to
significant energy and mineral resources, communication sites, and
utility corridors; impacts and benefits from the continuation of
grazing; Native American concerns and traditional uses; cultural
resources; suitability for wild and scenic rivers; wilderness
characteristics of acquired lands; visual resources; wildland fire and
fuels management; and the need to provide adequate access, open space,
and facilities for safe recreation and visitation on public lands.
Existing Areas of Critical Environmental Concern will be evaluated for
continued relevance and importance, and new ACEC designations will be
considered.
    In addition to these major issues, a number of management questions
and concerns will be addressed in the plan. The public is encouraged to
help identify these questions and concerns during the scoping phase. An
interdisciplinary approach will be used to develop the plan in order to
consider the variety of resource issues and concerns identified.
Disciplines involved in the planning process will include specialists
with expertise in rangeland management, minerals and geology, wildland
fire and fuels management, outdoor recreation, archaeology,
paleontology, wildlife, fisheries, lands and realty, soils, water and
air, wild horses, environmental justice, and sociology and economics.
    The following planning criteria have been proposed to guide
development of the plan, avoid unnecessary data collection and
analyses, and to ensure the plan is tailored to the issues. Other
criteria may be identified during the public scoping process. After
gathering comments on planning criteria, the BLM will finalize the
criteria and provide feedback to the public on the criteria to be used
throughout the planning process. Some of the planning criteria that are
under consideration include:
    • The plan will be completed in compliance with the Federal
Land Policy and Management Act (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) and the
National Environmental Policy Act;
    • The plan will recognize valid existing rights;
    • Public participation will be encouraged throughout the
process by collaborating and building relationships with tribes, state
and local governments, Federal agencies, local stakeholders, and others
with interest in the plan. Collaborators are regularly informed and
offered timely and meaningful opportunities to participate in the
planning process.

    Authority: 43 CFR 1610.2(c).

John Kalish,
Field Manager.
[FR Doc. E7-15365 Filed 8-6-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P

 
 

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