[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 98 (Monday, May 20, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25237-25238]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-12526]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
[MT-063-05-1610-00]


Availability of the Final Sweet Grass Hills Resource Management 
Plan Amendment and Environmental Impact Statement, Liberty and Toole 
Counties, MO

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the final Sweet Grass Hills resource 
management plan amendment and environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321-4327) the Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM) has prepared a Final EIS on the final amendment and environmental 
impacts statement (EIS) addresses future management options for land 
tenure adjustment, off-road vehicle use, oil and gas leasing, and 
locatable mineral development for lands and minerals administered by 
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the Sweet Grass Hills in Toole 
and Liberty Counties, Montana, and amends the West HiLine Resource 
Management Plan (1988 and 1992). This includes approximately 7,717 
surface acres, 19,765 acres of all mineral estate, and 1,644 acres of 
only oil and gas estate. These lands are administered by the BLM 
through the Great Falls Resource Area. The proposed alternative and 
three other alternatives have been developed to provide management 
options for the Sweet Grass Hills.

DATES: A record of decision will be prepared no earlier than 30 days 
after the Notice of Availability for the Final EIS is published in the 
Federal Register by the Environemntal Protection Agency.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Final EIS are available from the Bureau of 
Land Management, Great Falls Resource Area, 812 14th Street North, 
Great Falls Montana 59401 or the Lewistown District Office, P.O. Box 
1160, Lewistown, Montana 59457-1160. Public reading copies will be 
available for review at the following locations: Bureau of Land 
Management, Office of External Affairs, Main Interior Building, Room 
5600, 18th and C Streets NW, Washington, DC; Bureau of Land Management, 
External Affairs Office, Montana State Office, 222 North 32nd Street, 
Billings, Montana; Bureau of Land Management, Lewistown District 
Office, Airport Road, Lewistown, Montana; and Great Falls Resource 
Area, 812 14th Street North, Great Falls, Montana.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tad Day, Team Leader, Great Falls 
Resource Area, 812 14th Street North, Great Falls, Montana 59401, (406) 
727-0503.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Sweet Grass Hills are significant 
because of their importance as a religious and cultural use area for 
Native Americans; they are an integral part of the peregrine falcon 
reintroduction area; they contain high value recreational lands; and 
they support diverse wildlife populations. In August 1993, the BLM 
segregated the Federal mineral estate in the Sweet Grass Hills for a 
two-year period which closed the area to the location of new mining 
claims until August 1995. The BLM also began amending the West HiLine 
Resource Management Plan to reevaluate current management decisions for 
the Sweet Grass Hills.
    About 500 copies of the Draft EIS were distributed to the public 
and other federal and state agencies in February 1995. During the 90-
day public comment period, the BLM held four public meetings to receive 
oral comments. In addition to oral comments, the BLM received 397 
letters on the Draft EIS. All comments, written and oral, were reviewed 
and considered in preparation of the Final EIS. Comments that presented 
new data, questioned facts or analyses, or raised questions or issues 
bearing directly upon the alternatives or environmental analysis, are 
responded to in the Final EIS. The Final EIS incorporates comments and 
suggestions made on the Draft EIS during the public review period. 
Changes were made to the preferred alternative in the Draft EIS 
including: all Federal minerals (19,765 acres) would be recommended for 
a 20 year term withdrawal and all BLM land would remain in public 
ownership.
    The amendment to the West HiLine Resource Management Plan will 
provide specific direction concerning locatable mineral development and 
will recommend whether all of the area should be closed to mining claim 
location. If the record of decision

[[Page 25238]]

recommends closure, the BLM would begin processing a 20-year term 
withdrawal.

    Dated: May 10, 1996.
David L. Mari,
District Manager.
[FR Doc. 96-12526 Filed 5-17-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-P