July 2009

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has decided to segregate nearly 1 million acres of federal lands in the Arizona Strip for two years while the Department of the Interior evaluates whether to withdraw these lands from new mining claims for an additional 20 years.
 
The segregated lands include 633,547 acres managed by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management and 360,002 acres managed by the U.S. Forest Service.  The Department of the Interior is the federal agency charged with segregating U.S. public lands for possible withdrawal.  The lands are within portions of the Grand Canyon watershed next to Grand Canyon National Park in northern Arizona and contain significant environmental and cultural resources as well as substantial uranium deposits. 
 
Under the Secretary's conventional withdrawal procedures, the two-year segregation has essentially the same effect as a withdrawal -- it would prohibit new mining claims in the designated areas.  Neither the segregation nor any withdrawal, however, would prohibit ongoing or future mining exploration or extraction operations on valid pre-existing claims.    During the two-year segregation, studies and analyses will be conducted to determine if the lands should be withdrawn to protect the area from new mining claims.  In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, this process includes participation by the public, tribes, environmental groups, industry, state and local government, as well as other stakeholders. 
 
These efforts will be undertaken under the leadership of the Bureau of Land Management in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Park Service and will be used in support of a final decision on the withdrawal.