44134 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 160 / Tuesday, August 19, 1997 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NV–010–2811–01]

Battle Mountain District Fire

Management Plan Amendment

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a

plan amendment and environmental

analysis and invitation for public

participation.

SUMMARY: The Battle Mountain District

Office of the Bureau of Land

Management proposes to amend the

Shoshone-Eureka Resource Management

Plan (RMP) to address the management

of fire within the former boundaries of

the Shoshone-Eureka Resource Area of

the Battle Mountain District. Fire is an

integral part of the ecosystem of the

Battle Mountain District. The Federal

Wildland Fire Management Policy and

Program Review states: ‘‘* * * wildland

fire is a natural occurrence that plays a

fundamental role in natural resource

management.’’ The current RMP does

not address fire management and its role

in the natural ecosystem. The land use

plan amendment and its associated

National Environmental Policy Act

environmental assessment provides the

opportunity for the public to share their

thoughts and concerns related to

implementation of this proposal.

Ultimately, the final RMP amendment,

having taken into account public input,

will provide the basis for decisions on

the management of fire in the ShoshoneEureka planning unit.

DATES AND ADDRESSES: Written

comments on the plan amendment and

the proposed environmental analysis are

welcomed until September 30, 1997.

Comments on the land use plan

amendment, as well as issues the public

feel should be addressed in the

environmental assessment should be

sent to Dave Davis, Team Leader,

U.S.D.I. Bureau of Land Management,

P.O. Box 1420, 50 Bastian Road, Battle

Mountain, NV 89820. Comments should

be received by the BLM by the close of

business, September 30th.

Four public meetings soliciting public

input related to the fire management

proposal are scheduled:

(1) Battle Mountain BLM Office, 50

Bastian Road, Battle Mountain, Nevada

September 2, 1997.

(2) Eureka Opera House, 10201 Main

Street, Eureka, Nevada, September 4,

1997.

(3) Crescent Valley Senior Center,

6024 Ruby Way, Crescent Valley,

Nevada, October 1, 1997.

(4) Austin High School, Highway 305

North, Austin, Nevada, October 2, 1997.

All meetings are to be held from 7:00 to

9:00 p.m. each evening.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

public is invited to participate in the

identification of issues related to the

management of fire in the Battle

Mountain District, the Shoshone-Eureka

Planning Unit. Anticipated issues for

the plan amendment include: protection

of human life, protection of property,

protection of natural/cultural resources,

safe reintroduction of fire into natural

ecosystems, reducing the cost of fire

suppression, integration of fire and

resource management strategies, air

quality, recreation, watershed

management, livestock grazing, visual

resources, wildlife habitat.

The plan amendment will focus on

the following proposed management

strategies for fire management in the

Planning Unit:

• Wildland fire is not desired at all.

Full suppression of all wildland fire is

warranted.

• Unplanned wildland fire is likely to

cause negative effects, but these effects

may be mitigated through fuels

management, i.e. prescribed fire, green

stripping, chaining.

• Fire is desired, but there are

constraints.

• Fire is desired and there are no

constraints.

Planning documents and other

pertinent materials may be examined at

the Bureau of Land Management office

in Battle Mountain between 7:30 a.m.

and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Dated this 12th day of August, 1997.

Gerald M. Smith,

District Manager, Battle Mountain District.

[FR Doc. 97–21914 Filed 8–18–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–HC–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NM–030–07–1620–00]

Otero County Areas of Environmental

Concern (ACECs) for the Caballo

Resource Area, New Mexico

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management

(BLM), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

SUMMARY: The BLM, Las Cruces District,

Caballo Resource Area announces the

availability of a Proposed Resource

Management Plan (RMP) Amendment/

Finding of No Significant Impact

(FONSI) and supporting Environmental

Assessment (EA). The document

discusses the designation of five new

ACECs and revision of one existing

ACEC in Otero County, south-central

New Mexico. Approximately 18,806

acres are proposed for designation. In

addition to designation, the plan

amendment, when approved, will guide

BLM programs and management

practices within the ACECs. The

Proposed Plan is a modified version of

the Preferred Alternative presented in

the Draft. The Proposed RMP

Amendment/FONSI and supporting EA

is available for public review. A 30-day

protest period is provided as required

by BLM planning regulations (43 CFR

1610.5–2).

DATES: Protests on the Proposed Plan

must be postmarked on or before

September 22, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Protests must be sent to

Director (WO–210), Bureau of Land

Management, ATTN: Brenda Williams,

1849 C Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

20240.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Timothy M. Murphy, Area Manager,

BLM, Caballo Resource Area at (505)

525–4372, or Mike Howard, Team

Leader, Caballo Resource Area at (505)

525–4348, email mhoward@

nm0151wp.nmso.nm.blm.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: ACECs are

land designations unique to the BLM.

The purpose of ACECs is to recognize,

protect, and manage unique or sensitive

resources or potential hazards to the

public. Each area receives management

or protection based on its unique needs,

in consultation and coordination with

the public.

The Caballo Resource Area has

completed an inventory of areas in

Otero County, New Mexico containing

unique or sensitive biological resources

suitable for designation as ACECs. In

addition, the Resource Area has

received nominations both internally

and from the public to consider several

areas as ACECs based on visual,

cultural, and biological values.

Three alternatives were considered in

the Draft RMP Amendment and

supporting EA. Alternative A was the

No Action alternative, Alternative B

represented the highest level of resource

protection, and Alternative C would

generally have provided an intermediate

level of resource protection. BLM’s

Preferred Alternative in the draft RMP

Amendment and supporting EA was

Alternative B. After evaluation of the

comments received on the draft, a

modified version of the Preferred

Alternative (Alternative B) was selected

as the Proposed Plan. Following is a

summary of the management actions in

the Proposed Plan for each ACEC.
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 160 / Tuesday, August 19, 1997 / Notices 44135

The Three Rivers Petroglyph Site

ACEC is located 30 miles north of

Alamogordo, New Mexico. The area was

nominated to protect and manage

cultural resources. The total area

proposed is approximately 1,036 acres.

Management actions in the Proposed

Plan include: acquisition of State trust

land through a cooperative land

exchange, acquisition of private

subsurface mineral estate from a willing

seller, issuance of realty actions subject

to protective stipulations, closure to

mineral entry, improvement and

protection of riparian areas,

improvement of recreation facilities,

limiting off-road vehicle use to

designated roads and trails, closing of

county road B031, except for

administrative and ranch access

following relinquishment by Otero

County, management of fire for

maximum fire suppression and use of

prescribed fire, and fencing of the ACEC

boundary.

The Sacramento Escarpment ACEC is

located 2 miles south of Alamogordo,

New Mexico along the west face of the

Sacramento Mountains. This area is

currently a designated ACEC for the

management of visual resources. This

RMP Amendment proposes to expand

the area to provide for increased

protection and management of visual

resources and an endangered and

sensitive plant community. The existing

ACEC would be expanded to encompass

5,365 acres. Management actions in the

Proposed Plan include: limitations or

exclusion of new realty actions (2920

permits), exclusion of rights-of-way,

acquisition of access easements and

private land from a willing seller,

closure to all forms of mineral

development, improvement and

protection of riparian areas, permitting

of existing spring developments,

management under Visual Resource

Management Classes I and II, limitation

of off-road vehicle use to designated

roads and trails, closure of

approximately 5 miles of redundant

roads and trails (including closure of

approximately 1⁄4 mile of road in San

Andres Canyon, except for

administrative and ranch pipeline

maintenance access), management of

fire for conditional least-cost

suppression with no surface disturbance

in Visual Class I or arroyo areas.

Prescribed fire could be used for

vegetation management, if needed.

Cornudas Mountain is located 60

miles southeast of Alamogordo, New

Mexico and near the Texas border. The

area was nominated to protect and

manage visual resources, cultural

resources, and sensitive plants. The

total area to be considered is

approximately 850 acres. Management

activities in the Proposed Plan include:

exclusion of the area from authorization

of rights-of-way, permitting of other

realty actions subject to protective

stipulations, closure to all forms of

mineral development, closure to

vegetation sales, management of barbary

sheep, designation of a BLM sensitive

species, management as Visual Resource

Management Class I, limitation of offroad vehicle use to designated roads and

trails, allowing public access to portions

of the ACEC by permit, closure to

camping, closure to the establishment of

new roads and trails, fire management

for conditional least-cost suppression

with no surface disturbance and no use

of slurry or blading in certain areas.

Alamo Mountain is located 61 miles

southeast of Alamogordo, New Mexico

and near the Texas border. The area was

nominated to protect and manage visual

and cultural resources. The total area

proposed is approximately 2,690 acres.

Management actions in the Proposed

Plan include: exclusion of the area from

authorization of rights-of-way,

permitting of other realty actions subject

to protective stipulations, closure to all

forms of mineral development, closure

to vegetation sales, management of

barbary sheep, designation of a BLM

sensitive species, management as Visual

Resource Management Class I,

limitation of off-road vehicle use to

designated roads and trails,

establishment of a vehicle parking area,

closure to camping in portions of the

ACEC, fire management for conditional

least-cost suppression with no surface

disturbance and no use of slurry or

blading in certain areas.

Wind Mountain is located 64 miles

southeast of Alamogordo, New Mexico

and near the Texas border. The area was

nominated to protect and manage visual

resources, cultural resources, and

unique and sensitive plants and

animals. The total area proposed is

approximately 2,506 acres. Management

actions in the Proposed Plan include:

exclusion of the area from authorization

of rights-of-way, permitting of other

realty actions subject to protective

stipulations, closure to all forms of

mineral development (subject to valid

existing rights), closure to vegetation

sales, management of barbary sheep,

designation of a BLM sensitive species,

management as Visual Resource

Management Class I, limitation of offroad vehicle use to designated roads and

trails, fire management for conditional

least-cost suppression with no surface

disturbance and no use of slurry or

blading in certain areas.

The Alkali Lakes area is located 80

miles southeast of Alamogordo, New

Mexico and near the Texas border. This

area was nominated to protect and

manage endangered and sensitive plants

and the plant community in which they

occur. The total area proposed is

approximately 6,359 acres. Management

actions in the Proposed Plan include:

exclusion of the area from authorization

of rights-of-way, permitting of other

realty actions subject to protective

stipulations, acquisition of State trust

land through a cooperative land

exchange, closure to all forms of mineral

development, closure to vegetation

sales, management as Visual Resource

Management Class III, limitation of offroad vehicle use to within 30 feet of the

center line of designated roads and

trails, closure to camping and the use of

campfires, fire management for

conditional least-cost suppression with

no surface disturbance and no use of

vehicular equipment off of established

roads and trails.

Any person who is on record for

participating in the planning process

and has an interest that may be

adversely affected may protest approval

of the Plan Amendment. Protest should

be made to the BLM Director with the

following information: (1) Name,

mailing address, telephone number, and

interest of the person filing the protest;

(2) a statement of the concern or

concerns being protested; (3) a

statement of the part or parts being

protested; (4) a copy of all documents

addressing the concern or concerns that

were submitted during the planning

process by the protesting party or an

indication of the date the concern or

concerns were discussed for the records;

and (5) a concise statement explaining

why the BLM New Mexico State

Director’s decision is wrong. At the end

of the 30-day protest period, the

Proposed Plan, excluding any portions

under protest, will become final.

Approval will be withheld on any

portion of the Plan under protest until

final action has been completed on such

protest. Individuals not wishing to

protest the Plan, but wanting to

comment, may send comments to the

BLM, Las Cruces District, Caballo

Resource Area, 1800 Marquess, Las

Cruces, New Mexico 88005. All

comments received will be considered

in preparation of the Decision Record.

Comments, including names and

street addresses of respondents, will be

available for public review at the BLM

Las Cruces District Office, 1800

Marquess, Las Cruces, New Mexico,

during regular business hours (7:45 a.m.

to 4:30 p.m.), Monday through Friday,

except holidays, and may be published

as part of the RMP Amendment/EA.

Individual respondents may request
44136 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 160 / Tuesday, August 19, 1997 / Notices

confidentiality. If you wish to withhold

your name or street address from public

review or from disclosure under the

Freedom of Information Act, you must

state this prominently at the beginning

of your written comment. Such requests

will be honored to the extent allowed by

law. All submissions from organizations

or businesses, and from individuals

identifying themselves as

representatives or officials of

organizations or businesses, will be

made available for public inspection in

their entirety.

Public participation has occurred

throughout the RMP Amendment

process. A Notice of Intent was filed in

the Federal Register (Vol. 59, No. 73,

Page 18151–18152) on April 15, 1994.

Since that time, several public meetings,

mail-outs, and group briefings were

conducted to solicit comments and

ideas, or familiarize various groups with

the proposal and the BLM planning

process. A notice of a 60-day comment

period on the designation of the ACECs

and a Notice of Availability of the draft

RMP Amendment/preliminary FONSI

and supporting EA was published in the

Federal Register (Vol. 61, No. 102, page

26203–26204) on May 24, 1996.

Comments received during the 60-day

comment period were considered in

preparation of the Proposed RMP

Amendment and supporting EA. Single

copies of the Proposed RMP

Amendment/FONSI and supporting EA

for the Otero County ACECs may be

obtained from the BLM Las Cruces

District Office, 1800 Marquess, Las

Cruces, New Mexico 88005. Public

reading copies are available for review

at the BLM State Office, 1474 Rodeo

Rd., Santa Fe, New Mexico, and public

and university libraries in Las Cruces,

Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, New

Mexico, and El Paso, Texas.

Dated: August 13, 1997.

Stephanie Hargrove,

Acting District Manager.

[FR Doc. 97–21886 Filed 8–18–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–VC–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NV–040–1020–001]

Mojave-Southern Great Basin

Resource Advisory Council—Notice of

Meeting Locations and Times

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management.

ACTION: Resource Advisory Council

Meeting Locations and Times.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the

Federal Land Policy and Management

Act and the Federal Advisory

Committee Act of 1972 (FACA), 5

U.S.C., the Department of the Interior,

Bureau of Land Management (BLM),

council meeting of the Mojave-Southern

Great Basin Resource Advisory Council

(RAC) will be held as indicated below.

The agenda includes a public comment

period, and discussion of public land

issues.

The Resource Advisory Council

develops recommendations for BLM

regarding the preparation, amendment,

and implementation of land use plans

for the public lands and resources

within the jurisdiction of the council.

For the Mojave-Great Basin RAC this

jurisdiction is Clark, Esmeralda, Lincoln

and Nye counties in Nevada. Except for

the purposes of long-range planning and

the establishment of resource

management priorities, the RAC shall

not provide advice on the allocation and

expenditure of Federal funds, or on

personnel issues.

The RAC may develop

recommendation for implementation of

ecosystem management concepts,

principles and programs, and assist the

BLM to establish landscape goals and

objectives.

All meetings are open to the public.

The public may present written

comments to the council. Public

comments should be limited to issues

for which the RAC may make

recommendations within its area of

jurisdiction. Depending on the number

of persons wishing to comment, and

time available, the time for individual

oral comments may be limited.

Individuals who plan to attend and

need further information about the

meetings, or need special assistance

such as sign language interpretation or

other reasonable accommodations,

should contact Michael Dwyer at the

Las Vegas District Office, 4765 Vegas

Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89108, telephone,

(702) 647–5000.

DATES, TIMES: Date is September 11,

1997, from 1:00 p.m., to approximately

4:30 p.m. and will reconvene on June

17, 1997 and meet from 8 a.m. to 4:30

p.m. The council will meet at the Las

Vegas District Office, 4765 West Vegas

Drive, Las Vegas, NV. The public

comment period will begin at 11:30 a.m.

on September 12.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dan

Netcher, District Minerals Specialist,

Ely, NV, telephone: (702) 289–1872.

Dated: August 6, 1997.

Timothy B. Reuwsaat,

Acting Ely District Manager.

[FR Doc. 97–21854 Filed 8–18–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–HC–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[MT–960–1990–00-CCAM; MTM 84500]

Public Land Order No. 7282;

Withdrawal of Federal Lands and

Minerals for Watershed Protection;

Montana

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Interior.

ACTION: Public Land Order.

SUMMARY: This order withdraws

approximately 22,065 acres of Federal

lands from location and entry under the

mining laws and the mineral leasing

laws, except oil and gas, for a period of

20 years to protect watersheds, water

quality, and fresh water fishery

resources. In addition, approximately

4,158 acres of non-Federal lands, if

acquired by the United States, would be

withdrawn by this order. The lands

have been and remain open to surface

uses authorized by the Forest Service.

EFFECTIVE DATE: August 19, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cooke City Area Mineral Withdrawal

Team, PO Box 36800, Billings, Montana

59107, 406–255–0322.

By virtue of the authority vested in

the Secretary of the Interior by Section

204 of the Federal Land Policy and

Management Act of 1976, 43 U.S.C.

1714 (1994), it is ordered as follows:

1. Subject to valid existing rights,

Federal lands within the following

described area are hereby withdrawn

from location and entry under the

United States mining laws and the

mineral leasing laws, except oil and gas,

30 U.S.C. Ch. 2 (1994), to protect

watersheds within the drainages of the

Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone, Soda

Butte Creek, and the Stillwater River,

and the water quality and fresh water

fishery resources within Yellowstone

National Park:

Principal Meridian, Montana

Custer and Gallatin National Forests

T. 8 S., R. 14 E.,

Sec. 25 and secs. 33 to 36, inclusive, those

portions lying outside of the AbsarokaBeartooth Wilderness Boundary, partly

unsurveyed.

T. 9 S., R 14 E.,

Secs. 1 to 5, inclusive, secs. 8 to 17,

inclusive, secs. 21 to 28, inclusive, and

secs. 33 to 36, inclusive, those portions