Notice of Availability of Record of Decision for the Pinedale Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement, 828-829 [E9-99]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• Bureau of Land Management
• Land Management Bureau

[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 5 (Thursday, January 8, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 828-829]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-99]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY-930-1610-DR]


Notice of Availability of Record of Decision for the Pinedale 
Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability 
of the Record of Decision (ROD)/Approved Resource Management Plan (RMP) 
for the Pinedale Field Office Planning Area located in Sublette and 
Lincoln Counties, Wyoming. The Wyoming State Director signed the ROD on 
November 27, 2008, which constitutes the final decision of the BLM and 
makes the Approved RMP effective immediately. The Pinedale RMP provides 
the management direction for the Federal lands and resources in the 
Pinedale Field Office Planning Area. The Approved Pinedale RMP revises 
and replaces the 1988 Pinedale RMP.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD/Approved RMP are available upon request 
from the following locations:
     Bureau of Land Management, Pinedale Field Office, 1625 W. 
Pine Street, Pinedale, Wyoming 82941
     Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming State Office, 5353 
Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82003

or via the Internet at https://www.blm.gov/rmp/wy/pinedale/
documents.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, contact Chuck 
Otto, Field Manager, or Kellie Roadifer, Pinedale RMP team leader, at 
the Pinedale Field Office, 1625 W. Pine Street, P.O. Box 768, Pinedale, 
Wyoming 82941, or by telephone at (307) 367-5300.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    The Pinedale RMP was revised collaboratively with the State of 
Wyoming, county and municipal governments and agencies, and Tribal 
Governments. The Pinedale RMP Planning Area includes approximately

[[Page 829]]

922,880 acres of BLM-administered public lands and 1,199,280 acres of 
Federal mineral estate under Federal, State, and Private surface 
ownership.
    The Approved Pinedale RMP describes the goals, objectives, and 
management actions to meet desired resource conditions for upland and 
riparian vegetation, recreation, grazing management, cultural and 
visual resources, and wildlife habitat, including habitat for 
threatened and endangered species. The Approved RMP also describes the 
actions and anticipated levels of development for fluid minerals 
resources, and locatable minerals in the Pinedale Field Office Planning 
Area.
    The agency-preferred alternative (Alternative 4, in the Proposed 
RMP/Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), with minor 
modifications) is the selected alternative for the Approved RMP. After 
the publication of the Proposed RMP and Final EIS on August 22, 2008, 
13 protests were received. The Governor of Wyoming also identified 
issues during the governor's consistency review. As the result of 
protest and consistency review, minor modifications were made to the 
Proposed RMP to address these issues.
    The description of land use restrictions in Visual Resource 
Management (VRM) classes was clarified to indicate the application of 
land use restrictions based on VRM class is not made at the RMP level; 
the application of mitigation guidelines and operating standards, which 
are included in Appendix 3, was clarified to have possible application 
to exploratory oil and gas drilling; Appendix 3 was updated to include 
an operating standard regarding the control of water pits to limit the 
spread of West Nile virus; a cultural resource management action was 
removed to clarify that contributing segments of the National Historic 
Trails within the Pinedale Planning Area were identified; a statement 
included in Table 2-25 was corrected to present the appropriate 
management action regarding restrictions on high-profile structures 
near sage-grouse leks; the maps showing special designations and 
management areas were reprinted on a larger scale to improve 
readability; and typographical errors were corrected in Appendix 3 and 
the Glossary.
    No inconsistencies were identified between the RMP and State or 
local plans. The governor's consistency review identified four issues 
that are further clarified in the ROD: (1) Revision of the definition 
of ``avoidance area'' in the Glossary in order to clarify that right-
of-way applications would be allowed in and through the Pinedale Field 
Office Planning Area; (2) elaboration on the Section 390 Categorical 
Exclusions (CX) under the Energy Policy Act of 2005; (3) elucidation of 
the potential need for future air quality monitoring and modeling; and 
(4) inclusion of a reference to the Wyoming Executive Order 2008-2 
regarding greater sage-grouse core area protection.

Jamie E. Connell,
Acting Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. E9-99 Filed 1-7-09; 8:45 am]
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