For Release: April 2, 2004
Contact: Danella George (760) 251-4800

FEDERAL AGENCIES SEEK NOMINATIONS FOR NATIONAL MONUMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service (FS) have opened the call for nominations to accept applications from the public to fill five positions on the Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Advisory Committee.

The five positions to be filled will include one representative each for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the cities of Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert, the Winter Park Authority, and the Pinyon Community Council.

Committee members will be appointed to serve three-year terms and may be nominated for reappointment for an additional three-year term. The three-year term would begin November 2004. All members will serve without pay but may be reimbursed for travel and per diem expenses at the current rates for government employees under 5 U.S.C. 5703. The Secretary of Interior, with concurrence from the Secretary of Agriculture, makes the appointments to the committee.

Any individual or organization may nominate one or more persons to serve on the committee, and individuals may nominate themselves for committee membership. You may obtain nomination forms from and send completed nomination packets to: Advisory Committee Nominations, Ms. Danella George, Bureau of Land Management, P.O. Box 581260, North Palm Springs, California 92258-1260. Nomination packets are to be submitted no later than 45 days after the publication of the Federal Register notice.

The monument advisory committee (MAC) is a committee of citizens appointed to provide advice to the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture with respect to implementation of the management plan for the national monument as required in the Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Act of 2000.

The 272,000-acre monument encompasses 86,400 acres of BLM-managed public lands, 64,400 acres of Forest Service-administered lands, 23,000 acres of Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians lands, 8,500 acres of California Department of Parks and Recreation lands, 35,800 acres of other State of California agencies lands, and 53,900 acres of private land.

BLM and the Forest Service jointly manage federal lands in the national monument in coordination with the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, other federal agencies, state agencies and local governments. The Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains National Monument was established by Congress on October 24, 2000, to preserve significant biological, cultural, recreational, geological, educational and scientific values found in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains.

For more information contact Danella George at (760) 251-4800.

-- BLM/FS --