U.S.
Department of the Interior
Bureau of Land
Management draft CDD/CSO 5/19/03
News
Release
For Immediate Release: TBD 5/232/03
CA-610-03-52
Contact:
Doran Sanchez (909) 697-5220 or Jan Bedrosian
(916) 978-4616
CA-610-03-52
Proposed Imperial Sand Dunes
Recreation Area Management Plan Released
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released the fproposed Final
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Recreation Area Management
Plan (RAMP) for the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area (ISDRA) Management
Plan (RAMP) and pProposed
Aamendment to
the California Desert Conservation Plan 1980.
The Imperial Sand Dunes is located in
southeastern Imperial County.
The
proposed
Pplan Aamendment,
Ffinal
EIS and RAMP outline the proposed management guidelines of the public lands and
resources in the Imperial Sand Dunes including goals and objectives, management
prescriptions and monitoring requirements.
A draft RAMP and EIS were published for public comment in March
2002. Numerous changes have been made in
the proposed Pplan Aamendment, RAMP and final
EIS and
RAMP to reflect the more than 10,000 public comments received.
The proposed Pplan Aamendment, Finalfinal
EIS and Final RAMP
can be viewed on BLM='??s
website at http://www.ca.blm.gov/elcentro/isdra_feis.htmlwww.ca.blm.gov/elcentro/isdra _feis.html.
Copies also are available at BLM'??=s
El Centro Field Office, 1661 South 4th Street, El Centro, CA (760)
337-4400 and California Desert District Office, 22835 Calle San Juan De Los
Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA (909) 697-5200,
and libraries
in the area Brawley Public
Library, El Centro Public Library, San Diego Public
Library, Burton Barr Central Phoenix Library,
Long Beach Public Library and the Yuma County Library. The public now has 30 days to protest the
plan to BLM'?s Ddirector.
The
protest period will begin with the Environmental Protection Agency' ?s
announcement of the proposed plan'?s
availability, scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on May 30,
2003. Therefore, written protests will
be accepted if received by June 30, 2003.
Protests must be submitted to: Director (210), Attention:
Brenda Williams, P.O. Box 66538, Washington, D.C. 20035 (regular mail), or
Director (210), Attention: Brenda Williams, 1620 L Street, N.W., Suite
1075, Washington, D.C. 20036 (overnight mail).
Although not a requirement, it is recommended that the protest be sent
by certified mail, return receipt requested.
E-mail protests will not be accepted. Faxed protests will be considered valid
provided (1) that the signed faxed letter is
received by the BLM's Washington, D.C. Office protest coordinator by the
closing date of the protest period and, (2) that the
protesting party also provides the original letter by
either regular or overnight mail postmarked by the close of the protest
period. Faxed protests must be submitted
to ?BLM Protest Coordinator? at (202) 452-5112, with the follow-up letter sent
to the appropriate address provided above.
Procedures for filing a protest are clearly outlined in proposed
final EIS and proposed final EIS
and RAMP and 43 Code of Federal Regulations 1620.5-2. It is requested that a duplicate of the
protest be sent to BLM'?s
El
Centro Field Office California Desert District
Office in Moreno Valley by mail to the
address above or by fax to (909) 697-5296 760)
337-4490.
The Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area covers about 160,000
acres of public lands in Imperial County. It is one of the mmost
popular recreation areas in the country, drawing more than one million
recreations visitors annually. A portion
(about 49,300 acres) was closed to off-highway vehicle use in November 2000 as
part of a court-approved lawsuit settlement.
BLM Field Manager Greg Thomsen stressed that those closures remain in
effect until a Record of Decision approving the final plan is signed, expected
to be later this summer. For more
information contact BLM'?s Lynnette Elser Jim Komatinsky at (760) 337-44200.
-BLM-
visit our
website at www.ca.blm.gov
California Desert District
Office ? 22835 Calle San Juan De Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, California - (909)
697-5220