[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 88 (Friday, May 6, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 27181]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09556]



[[Page 27181]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLWYD04000.L16100000.DP0000.19X]


Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan 
Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement for Wild Horse 
Management for the Bureau of Land Management Rock Springs and Rawlins 
Field Offices, Wyoming

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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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 
Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Proposed Resource 
Management Plan (RMP) Amendment for Wild Horse Management within the 
Rock Springs and Rawlins Field Offices of Wyoming and by this notice is 
announcing its availability and the opening of a protest period on the 
RMP Amendment.

DATES: The BLM planning regulations state that any person who meets the 
conditions as described in the regulations may protest the BLM's 
Proposed RMP Amendment. A person who meets the conditions and files a 
protest must file the protest within 30 days of the date that the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes its Notice of 
Availability in the Federal Register. The BLM will issue a Record of 
Decision no earlier than 30 days from the date of the Notice of 
Availability published by the EPA.

ADDRESSES: Instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the 
BLM regarding the Proposed RMPs may be found online at https://www.blm.gov/filing-a-plan-protest and at 43 CFR 1610.5-2.
    You may review the Final EIS and Proposed RMP Amendment online at 
the RMP ePlanning website, (https://go.usa.gov/xeyxa). Hard copies are 
also available for review at the following BLM offices:
    <bullet> Rawlins Field Office, 1300 North Third, Rawlins, WY 82301-
2407.
    <bullet> Rock Springs Field Office, 280 Highway 191 North, Rock 
Springs, WY 82901-3447.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kimberlee Foster, Field Manager, BLM 
Rock Springs Field Office at 307-352-0256. Individuals in the United 
States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech 
disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access 
telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United 
States should use the relay services offered within their country to 
make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM manages wild horses under the 
authority of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, as 
amended, to ensure healthy wild horse herds thrive on healthy 
rangelands in balance with other resources. The Act requires the BLM to 
manage wild horses at Appropriate Management Levels (AML) to achieve a 
``thriving natural ecological balance.'' It also requires BLM to remove 
wild horses that have strayed onto private lands if the landowner 
requests their removal.
    In June 2010, the Rock Springs Grazing Association (RSGA) filed a 
lawsuit (Rock Springs Grazing Association v. Salazar, No. 11-CV-00263-
NDF) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming, contending 
the BLM violated Section 4 of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros 
Act (16 U.S.C. 1334) by failing to remove strayed animals from private 
lands controlled by the RSGA in southern Wyoming's checkerboard pattern 
of alternating public and private lands. In April 2013, the court 
approved a Consent Decree and Joint Stipulation for Dismissal that 
resolved the lawsuit and required the BLM to evaluate potential changes 
to its management of wild horses on checkerboard lands by considering 
an RMP revision for the Rock Springs and Rawlins field offices. The BLM 
initiated the planning effort and developed this Final EIS to meet the 
terms of the Consent Decree, which directs the BLM to analyze and 
consider certain wild horse management actions.
    If approved, management actions analyzed in this Final EIS would 
amend the 1997 Green River RMP and the 2008 Rawlins RMP. The planning 
area for this Final EIS and proposed RMP Amendment includes the four 
herd management areas that contain checkerboard land and are addressed 
in the Consent Decree, encompassing approximately 2,811,401 acres 
managed by the Rock Springs and Rawlins Field Offices.
    The BLM manages approximately 1,920,314 acres of surface estate in 
the planning area. Private land in the planning area totals 
approximately 814,086 acres. The Proposed RMP Amendment would change 
management as follows: (1) The Rock Springs Field Office portion of the 
Adobe Town Herd Management Area (HMA) would no longer be designated as 
an HMA and would be managed for zero wild horses. For the Rawlins Field 
Office portion of the HMA, all checkerboard land and the portion of the 
HMA north of the existing Corson Springs southern allotment boundary 
fence would no longer be designated as an HMA and would be managed for 
zero wild horses. The remainder of the HMA would be retained and 
managed with an AML of 259-536; (2) the entire Great Divide Basin HMA 
would no longer be designated as an HMA and would be managed for zero 
wild horses; (3) the entire Salt Wells Creek HMA would no longer be 
designated as an HMA and would be managed for zero wild horses; and (4) 
the boundary of the White Mountain HMA would remain the same and would 
continue to include checkerboard land.
    All protests must be in writing and submitted, as set forth in the 
DATES and ADDRESSES sections earlier. The BLM Director will render a 
written decision on each protest. The decision will be mailed to the 
protesting party. The decision of the BLM Director shall be the final 
decision of the Department of the Interior on each protest. Responses 
to protest issues will be compiled and formalized in a BLM Director's 
Protest Resolution Report made available following issuance of the 
decisions.
    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personally identifying information in your protest, you should be 
aware that your entire protest--including your personally identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask the BLM in your protest to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.
    Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10, 43 CFR 1610.2, 43 CFR 
1610.5

Andrew Archuleta,
State Director, Wyoming.
[FR Doc. 2022-09556 Filed 5-5-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-22-P