12194 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 44 / Friday, March 6, 2015 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[LLCAD08000.L12200000.DS0000.

15XL1109AF.LXSSB0010000] 

Notice of Availability of the Draft 

Supplemental Environmental Impact 

Statement and Draft Plan Amendment 

to the California Desert Conservation 

Area Plan in the West Mojave Planning 

Area, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles and San 

Bernardino Counties, CA 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969, as amended, and the Federal Land 

Policy and Management Act of 1976, as 

amended, the Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) has prepared a Draft 

Land Use Plan Amendment and Draft 

Supplemental Environmental Impact 

Statement (SEIS) for the West Mojave 

Route Network Project (WMRNP) for the 

West Mojave (WEMO) Planning Area of 

the California Desert Conservation Area 

(CDCA) and by this notice is 

announcing the opening of the comment 

period. 

DATES: To ensure that comments will be 

considered, the BLM must receive 

written comments on the Draft Land Use 

Plan Amendment/Draft Supplemental 

EIS within 90 days following the date 

the Environmental Protection Agency 

publishes its notice of the Draft Land 

Use Plan Amendment/Draft SEIS in the 

Federal Register. The BLM will 

announce future meetings or hearings 

and any other public participation 

activities at least 15 days in advance 

through public notices, media releases, 

and/or mailings. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

related to the WMRNP by any of the 

following methods: 

• Web site: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/ 

en/fo/cdd/west_mojave__wemo.html. 

• Email: cawemopa@blm.gov. 

• Fax: 951–697–5299; Attn: WMRNP 

Plan Amendment. 

• Mail: Bureau of land Management, 

California Desert District, Attn: WMRNP 

Plan Amendment, 22835 Calle San Juan 

de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 92553 

Copies of the WMRNP Draft Plan 

Amendment and Draft Supplemental 

EIS are available in the California Desert 

District Office at the above address; the 

Ridgecrest Field Office, 300 S. 

Richmond Rd., Ridgecrest, CA 93555; 

and the Barstow Field Office, 2601 

Barstow Road, Barstow CA 92311. 

Copies are also available online at the 

above address. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edy 

Seehafer, WMRNP Manager, telephone 

760–252–6021; address 2601 Barstow 

Road, Barstow, CA 92311; email 

eseehafe@blm.gov. Persons who use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339 

to contact the above individual during 

normal business hours. The FIRS is 

available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 

to leave a message or question with the 

above individual. You will receive a 

reply during normal business hours. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The West 

Mojave Route Network Project 

(WMRNP) will adopt transportation and 

travel strategy and designate routes on 

public lands in the WEMO Planning 

Area. The WEMO Planning Area covers 

9.4 million acres of the CDCA in the 

western portion of the Mojave Desert in 

southern California, including parts of 

San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Kern, and 

Inyo Counties. The WMRNP applies to 

the 3.1 million acres of public lands 

within the WEMO Planning Area. In 

March, 2006, the BLM signed the 

Record of Decision (ROD) for the WEMO 

Plan/Amendment to the CDCA Plan. In 

January 2011, the U.S. District Court for 

the Northern District of California 

partially remanded the 2006 WEMO 

Plan Amendment ROD to the BLM and 

directed the BLM to amend the CDCA 

Plan for travel management and 

reconsider route designation throughout 

the WEMO Planning Area, as well as 

other specified issues in the 2006 

WEMO Plan (Center for Biological 

Diversity v. US Bureau of Land 

Management Order Re: Remedy [N.D. 

Cal. Jan 28, 2011]). The Court’s decision 

identified issues with (1) the 

invalidation of the ‘‘decision tree’’ 

instrument used to evaluate and 

designate routes, (2) the authorization of 

OHV routes that were not in existence 

in 1980, which was inconsistent with 

the governing land use plan, (3) the lack 

of a reasonable range of alternatives to 

the proposed action, including an 

inadequate discussion of the No Action 

alternative, and (4) the inadequate 

analysis of impacts from the route 

network and the grazing program to 

specific resource values, including soils, 

cultural resources, certain biological 

resources, and air quality. 

On September 13, 2011, the BLM 

issued a Notice of Intent (amended May 

13, 2013), inviting comments on the 

proposed scope and content of the 

WMRNP. The WMRNP includes a landuse plan amendment to the California 

Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan 

for Livestock Grazing, Recreation, and 

Motor Vehicle Access Elements for the 

WEMO Planning Area, an associated 

travel management framework, and 

activity-plan level route designations 

and implementation strategies. The 

lands covered in the WMRNP are those 

that are within livestock grazing 

allotments or designated as ‘‘Limited’’ to 

designated routes for motorized access. 

Areas ‘‘Closed’’ to motorized access are 

not proposed for change in this plan 

amendment, and are not within the 

scope of the planning effort. 

The 9.4 million-acre WEMO Planning 

Area includes several large Department 

of Defense facilities covering almost 3 

million acres, a portion of one National 

Park, 3 million acres of private lands, 

and approximately 100,000 acres of 

State lands, including Red Rock Canyon 

State Park. The planning area is also 

adjacent to three other National Parks/ 

Preserves and four National Forests. 

Much of the planning area is managed 

as part of the BLM’s National Landscape 

Conservation System, including 18 

wilderness areas, three wilderness study 

areas and portions of the Pacific Crest 

Trail and the Old Spanish National 

Historic Trail. The planning area also 

includes 41 Areas of Critical 

Environmental Concern (ACECs), seven 

National Register Archaeological or 

Historic Districts, and four Critical 

Habitat Units for the federally-listed 

desert tortoise. Four of the ACECs were 

established as Desert Wildlife 

Management Areas (DWMAs), covering 

most of the desert tortoise critical 

habitat units, for the express purpose of 

conservation of desert tortoise. 

The planning area also includes eight 

OHV Open Areas covering 271,661 

acres. No changes are proposed to these 

OHV Open Areas or their boundaries; 

however, the OHV Open Areas provide 

major points of ingress to and egress 

from adjacent areas ‘‘Limited’’ to 

designated routes access public lands. 

The BLM used a public scoping 

process to determine relevant issues, 

impacts, and possible alternatives that 

could influence the scope of the 

environmental analysis, and to help 

guide the agency from plan level 

decision-making to route designation in 

order to comply with the court order. 

The public raised the following 

transportation and travel management 

concerns: 

• The need for a good inventory and 

accurate information related to the 

existing environment; 

• documentation and use of the 

regulatory criteria for route 

minimization; 

• mitigation for loss of access; 

• sensitive resource protection; 

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 44 / Friday, March 6, 2015 / Notices 12195 

• maintenance of access for various 

types of recreational, scientific and 

other uses; 

• access to private lands; 

• trespass; 

• regional connectivity; 

• improving GIS and on-the-ground 

information for the public; and 

• other implementation strategies 

such as signing, monitoring and law 

enforcement. 

In addition, a substantial number of 

comments indicated issues and needs 

associated with specific routes and 

route areas in the WEMO transportation 

system, and included recommendations 

on the designation of specific routes. A 

few comments were also received on 

grazing issues and the scope of the 

supplemental grazing program analysis. 

In response to court concerns and onthe-ground changes since 2006, NEPA 

considerations focused on cumulative 

effects of the transportation system 

alternatives to resource values, 

particularly air quality, soils, cultural 

resources, certain biological resources, 

and certain sensitive species, 

cumulative effects of grazing, and 

potential cumulative loss of recreational 

access opportunities. In response to 

public input, access considerations 

focused on maintaining a viable 

transportation network, diverse 

recreational opportunities, providing 

access for specific users, (including 

rock-hounders, motorcyclists, scientific 

and educational activities, and nonmotorized users), dealing with conflicts 

between users, and maintaining 

commercial access needs. 

Plan amendments would address 

specific CDCA Plan inconsistencies 

with regulation and BLM policies in the 

WEMO Planning Area; including 

amending language that limits the route 

network to routes that existed in 1980 

and travel management guidance for 

route designations. Changes are 

proposed to the existing land-use plan 

to address stopping, parking, and 

camping adjacent to routes in Limited 

Access Areas within the WEMO 

Planning Area, and to establish a 

regional minimization strategy for the 

travel route network. Changes are also 

proposed to the grazing program that 

would reallocate forage from livestock 

use to wildlife use and ecosystem 

function in desert tortoise habitat for 

inactive allotments or allotments that 

become vacant. In addition, the Draft 

considers plan level decisions 

modifying motorized use on four 

specific lakebeds, including Cuddeback 

Lake and competitive motorized use of 

routes. The Draft also considers various 

travel management implementation 

frameworks. Four alternatives are 

evaluated, including a No Action 

alternative. 

Finally, the Draft includes activitylevel specific route designation 

alternatives, based on the 43CFR 8342.1 

criteria and different thresholds for 

minimization or closure. The preferred 

alternative would designate 

approximately 10,300 miles of routes 

within the WEMO Planning Area as 

available for motorized use, 

approximately130 miles of routes would 

be available for either non-motorized or 

non-mechanized use, and 

approximately 4,400 miles of routes 

would be closed. 

The preferred alternative also 

includes a regional mitigation strategy 

that would limit the extent of off-route 

stopping and parking throughout the 

planning area to minimize impacts to 

undisturbed habitat, enhance 

watersheds, and protect adjacent 

sensitive resources. Other measures are 

based on proximity to sensitive 

resources, such as riparian systems, that 

would enhance these resources 

throughout the planning area. 

The preferred alternative provides for 

a limited number of designated camping 

and staging areas to direct intensive use 

to manageable locations. Finally, the 

preferred alternative proposes an 

integrated, community-based 

implementation strategy that addresses 

outreach, compliance and enforcement 

strategy in which partnerships with 

adjacent communities, users, local 

Friends and other interest groups, 

national and State recreational and 

conservation coalitions, and other 

interested citizens are a central 

component. 

Please note that public comments and 

information submitted including names, 

street addresses, and email addresses of 

persons who submit comments will be 

available for public review and 

disclosure at the above address during 

regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), 

Monday through Friday, except 

holidays. 

Before including your address, phone 

number, email 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 request to withhold your 

personal identifying information from 

public review, BLM cannot guarantee 

that we will be able to do so. 

Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10, 

43 CFR 1610.2. 

Thomas Pogacnik, 

Deputy State Director, Natural Resources. 

[FR Doc. 2015–05127 Filed 3–5–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–40–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[CACA 049397, LLCAD06000.

L51010000.ER0000.LVRWB09B2920.15X] 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

the Desert Quartzite Solar Project and 

a Possible Amendment to the 

California Desert Conservation Area 

Plan, Riverside County, California 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969, as amended (NEPA), and the 

Federal Land Policy and Management 

Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), the 

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 

Palm Springs/South Coast Field Office, 

Palm Springs, California, together with 

Riverside County, California, intend to 

prepare a joint Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS) and Environmental 

Impact Report (EIR), which may include 

an amendment to the California Desert 

Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan, for the 

Desert Quartzite Solar Project (Project). 

By this notice, the BLM is announcing 

the beginning of the scoping process to 

solicit public comments and identify 

issues related to the EIS/EIR and Plan 

Amendment (PA). 

DATES: This notice initiates the public 

scoping process for the EIS/EIR and PA. 

Comments on issues may be submitted 

in writing until April 6, 2015. The 

date(s) and location(s) of any scoping 

meetings will be announced at least 15 

days in advance through local news 

media, newspapers and the BLM Web 

site at: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/

cdd.html. In order to be included in the 

analysis, all comments must be received 

prior to the close of the 30-day scoping 

period or 15 days after the last public 

meeting, whichever is later. We will 

provide additional opportunities for 

public participation as appropriate. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on issues and planning criteria related 

to the Project by any of the following 

methods: 

• email: blm_ca_desert_quartzite_

solar_project@blm.gov. 

• fax: (951) 697–5299. 

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