Rawlins BLM Release Draft EIS for Resource Management Plan for
Comment
The BLM's Rawlins Field Office
released the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for its revised
Resource Management Plan (RMP) December 17, 2004. The Rawlins RMP
outlines a range
of proposed management actions and their corresponding impacts for the
approximately 3.5 million acres of BLM-administered public land surface
and 4.5 million acres of BLM-administered federal mineral estate in
Albany, Carbon, Laramie, and portions of Sweetwater Counties in
southern Wyoming.
Management actions outlined in
the EIS include opportunities for energy and minerals development,
additional protections for wildlife, historic and cultural properties.
Alternatives in the EIS also offer increased opportunities for access
to public land, and maintain a road net for recreation, while working
to control inappropriate uses during critical times of the year.
The preferred alternative
provides for continued multiple use of the land in the planning area.
The preferred alternative also represents additional protection
measures developed to reduce impacts to wildlife from oil and gas
development. Additional distance and timing restrictions will reduce
human presence-related disturbance to wildlife during critical time
periods. Existing Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) were
evaluated and new ACECs were added to protect sensitive wildlife and
plant species.
Another change from the
existing Great Divide Resource Management Plan (GDRMP) has been to
update the reasonably foreseeable development anticipated for the next
20-year planning period. New activity projections were needed to
update the impact analysis as current development in the area
approaches what was anticipated to occur when the GDRMP was started in
1986.
The public is encouraged to
comment on this plan in writing and at public hearings which will be
held around the field office area. Written comments on the Draft EIS
will be accepted until March 18, 2005, and may be submitted by mail to:
John Spehar, Project Manager
Rawlins Field Office
P.O. Box 2407
Rawlins, WY 82301
or on the internet at: http://www.rawlinsrmp.com/commentForm.asp
or via email at: comments@rawlinsrmp.com
Public hearings will be held
half way through the 90-day public comment period in Rawlins, Rock
Springs, Baggs, and Laramie. More information on the public meetings
will be provided in upcoming press releases, and on the website.
The RMP draft EIS is available
by visiting www.rawlinsrmp.com.
