Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument
| Contacts: | Scott Sticha | , Public Affairs Specialist | , 435-688-3303 | |
| Patrick Fleming | , Fuels Program Specialist | , 435-688-3213 |
Public Input Requested for
Vegetation Management Plan
for the Shivwits Plateau of the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, Arizona
St. George, Utah – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Park Service (NPS) invite members of the public and interested Tribes, agencies, and organizations to identify issues and concerns as an interagency planning effort is initiated for addressing fire, fuels, and vegetation management on the Shivwits Plateau of the Grand Canyon – Parashant National Monument on the Arizona Strip. The project area encompasses 356,820 acres, including 156,413 acres administered by the NPS and 200,407acres administered by the BLM. The plan, when completed, would enable the two agencies to implement specific and strategic actions that would lead to achieving land health conditions and goals identified in the Grand Canyon - Parashant National Monument Resource Management Plan/General Management Plan (G/RMP) completed in 2008. The final document is anticipated to be a combined Plan and Environmental Assessment that tiers to the Environmental Impact Statement for the G/RMP and its associated Records of Decision. The planning process is expected to take 2-3 years to complete and there will be several occasions when public input will be sought; this is the first such opportunity.
The G/RMP allows for combinations of active management techniques, where appropriate, and reliance on natural ecological processes, to achieve land health standards. Plant communities in areas of the Shivwits Plateau have been altered due to disruption of the natural fire regime, grazing, soil erosion, and by invasive, non-native plants. This plan would prescribe treatments for native plant community maintenance and/or restoration on the Shivwits Plateau, including Ponderosa Pine, Great Basin Sagebrush, and Pinyon-Juniper communities. Prescriptions would use a variety of landscape level management techniques such as prescribed fire, mechanical treatment, chemical application, and seeding/planting to achieve the land health conditions identified in the G/RMP. The plan would direct the fuels management programs of both agencies for the next 10+ years, identifying treatment units, proposed treatments, and establishing priorities for treatments to be funded and implemented. The plan also would integrate range and wildlife habitat management actions that use similar landscape level techniques to manage vegetation for specific outcomes, consistent with agency policy.
While this vegetation management EA will not address grazing permit renewals (as these decisions are addressed through separate NEPA review processes), BLM and NPS recognize that grazing affects vegetation and that treatments may affect how grazing is administered. For example, BLM and NPS may modify grazing authorizations as appropriate to change terms and conditions, such as modifying grazing practices in conjunction with treatments, to achieve desired land health conditions.
BLM and NPS specifically request relevant information regarding the following questions:
- How should BLM and NPS manage the vegetation of the Shivwits Plateau to perpetuate native plant communities and slow or reverse natural resource deterioration?
For example:
- Under what conditions would reliance on natural processes, such as managing lightning-ignited fires, be appropriate?
- Under what conditions would reliance on vegetation treatments, such as management-ignited prescribed fire, be appropriate?
- What scale/size/number of treatment areas, season and timing, frequency of treatments, and/or types of treatments should be considered?
- To meet the desired resource conditions established in the G/RMP, what issues or concerns should be considered regarding the potential use of vegetation treatments such as prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, chemical treatment, and seeding or planting?
- What other specific management treatments should be considered in order to restore viable native plant communities?
- What cultural, economic, environmental or social factors specific to elements of the natural or human environment should be considered in development of the Plan?
BLM and NPS welcome your participation throughout the planning process. Your input now will be essential to framing the range of alternatives to be considered. At this stage, suggestions and comments would be most beneficial to the planning effort if received by September 30, 2009. Comments are preferred via the electronic public comment form on the NPS Planning, Environment, and Public Comment System at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/para. Alternatively, comments may be submitted by email to “Shivwits_Vegetation_EA@blm.gov” or in writing to Parashant National Monument, Attn: Patrick Fleming, 345 East Riverside Drive, St. George, UT 84790.
Notice Regarding the Freedom of Information Act
It is the practice of the NPS and BLM to make all comments, including names and addresses of respondents who provide that information, available for public review at any time during the environmental assessment process. Individuals may request that the NPS and BLM withhold their name and/or address from public disclosure. If you wish to do this, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comment. Those commenting via the website can make such a request by checking the box "keep my contact information private." NPS and BLM will honor such requests to the extent allowable by law, but you should be aware that NPS and BLM may still be required to disclose your name and address pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. We will make all submissions from organizations, businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses available for public inspection in their entirety.
EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA The National Park Service cares for special places saved by the American people so that all may experience our heritage. The BLM manages more land – 256 million acres – than any other Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of about $1 billion, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM’s multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument 345 East Riverside Drive St. George, UT 84790