California
Chapter 2
COAST MANAGEMENT AREA
PROPOSED ACTION
MANAGEMENT AREA SUMMARY TOTAL AREA 5,663,000 Acres, including portions of: | |
Kern County
| 77,000 Acres |
Monterey County (Camp Roberts)
| 17,000 Acres |
San Luis Obispo County | 1,834,000 Acres |
Santa Barbara County | 2,322,000 Acres |
Ventura County | 1,413,000 Acres |
FEDERAL LANDS 1,628,587 Surface Acres | |
BLM Surface/Minerals
| 69,000 Acres 20,400 Acres |
US Forest Service Los Padres National Forest | 1,440,000 Acres |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Wildlife Refuges)...... Hopper Mountain ....................... | 2,060 Acres 1,900 Acres |
Military Vandenberg * only 12,000 acres of Federal minerals | 152,700 Acres 98,000 Acres* |
BIA Santa Ynez Reservation | 127 Acres |
Bureau of Reclamation | 9,000 Acres |
National Park Service Channel Island National Park | 4,300 Acres |
Increase management levels to enhance awareness of resource conditions and values in a landscape setting. Focus management on natural resource condition and health, particularly unique vegetative communities, riparian resources, landmark and coastal values.
Page 4
Integrate management objectives with those of local county governments, coastal commission, state agencies and other federal agencies to contribute to regional conservation efforts.
Increase cooperation with management partners to integrate the isolated parcels with other natural resource and open space management programs.
Reposition properties that do not fit into an active Bureau or cooperator resource management program for lands in areas that do. Rely on county government land use controls to determine future use of those parcels transferred to private ownership.
ACEC/Size | Management Prescription |
|---|---|
California * exact size unknown | Maintain the withdrawal from "settlement, sale, location, or entry, under the general land laws, including the mining laws". Continue protection of the wildlife resource in general by limiting human activities during the nesting season and prohibiting the removal of products which have commercial value |
Cypress Mountain 1,090 acres surface and minerals | Open for leasing of oil, gas, and geothermal resources subject to LSU - Coast ACEC/SMA stipulation. Unavailable for livestock grazing due to other resource concerns |
Pt. Sal * 77 acres | Closed to oil, gas, and geothermal leasing. Manage as a Day Use Area All public lands within the ACEC are proposed for withdrawal from the mining laws. Unavailable for livestock grazing due to other resource concerns. Designated as closed to OHV use. Access is limited to pedestrian travel on designated trails within the ACEC |
Salinas River 1,000 acres and 835 acres minerals | Manage the riparian zone as a Day Use area. Horse travel is limited to designated routes in the riparian zone. Withdraw riparian zone (c. 10 acres) from mining laws. Unavailable for livestock grazing due to it's unsuitability and other resource concerns |
Tierra Redonda 320 acres and
| Open to leasing of oil, gas, and geothermal resources subject to NSU. Proposed for withdrawal from entry under the mining law. Unavailable for livestock grazing due to it's unsuitability. Sand dunes are limited to pedestrian access only |
SMA/Size | Management Prescription |
|---|---|
Frog Pond 53 acres | Open for the leasing of oil, gas and geothermal resources subject to LSU-Coast ACEC/SMA stipulation. Proposed for withdrawal from entry under the mining laws. Unavailable for livestock grazing due to its unsuitability. Travel in the riparian zone is limited to pedestrians. Terminate the Public Water Reserve and manage water resources for the benefit of the riparian system. Collection of vegetative materials within the SMA requires authorization |
Hopper Mountain 2,025 acres and | Open to the leasing of oil, gas and geothermal resources subject to the LSU - Protected Species stipulation. Proposed for withdrawal from entry under the mining laws. Portions of the SMA are available for livestock grazing if grazing operations complement management objectives, and portions are unavailable for livestock grazing due to their unsuitability. |
Huasna Peak 1,005 acres | Open for the leasing of oil, gas and geothermal resources subject to NSU. Unavailable for livestock grazing due to its unsuitability |
Irish Hills 1,104 acres and | Open for the leasing of oil, gas and geothermal resources subject to LSU - Coast ACEC/SMA stipulation. Unavailable for livestock grazing due to its unsuitability |
Rusty Peak 797 acres and | Open for the leasing of oil, gas and geothermal resources subject to LSU - Coast ACEC/SMA stipulation. Unavailable for livestock grazing due to its unsuitability |
Land Tenure Adjustments
All BLM lands in the Coast Management Area would be identified as suitable for either New Managers or Repositioning. Refer to RMP Chapter 4 for more detail.
Approximately 13,200 acres would be identified as suitable for New Managers where the lands would be targeted for transfer to other parties as follows:
Approximately 4,200 acres would be identified for transfer to the U.S. Forest Service.
Approximately 600 surface acres in the Hopper Mountain Special Management Area would be targeted for transfer to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service.
Approximately 8,400 acres would be identified for transfer to counties, land trusts, or non-profit organizations.
Approximately 7,200 acres (80 parcels) would be identified for local repositioning through land exchanges to consolidate natural resource values and meet the objectives in this plan.
Approximately 140 acres in the vicinity of the Klau Mine and Rinconada Mine would be identified as needing mine tailing restoration and inventory and assessment of historic resources and Arctostaphylos luciana, a sensitive plant species, prior to transfer or exchange.
Approximately 6,100 of the 20,400 acres of public land in the Coast Management Area would be available for application for livestock grazing. Of this figure, 4,000 acres lie within existing allotments, and 2,100 acres are currently unalloted. The remainder of the Management Area, approximately 14,300 acres, would be classified as unavailable for livestock grazing. Authorizations will only be made on lands available for grazing. The following criteria are used to identify lands unavailable for grazing:
Unalloted lands which have known sensitive resource concerns would be considered closed to new grazing authorizations.
Unalloted lands which are inaccessible to livestock due to heavy brush, steep slopes, rough terrain, or are too far from water sources are considered unsuitable for new grazing authorizations.
Livestock grazing would continue to be authorized on about 4,000 acres of public land in seven allotments at levels shown in RMP Chapter 6.
New grazing applications may be authorized if residual impacts to sensitive resources are not significant. Applications for new grazing allotments would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis following the criteria listed in RMP Chapter 6. Mulch, utilization and seasonal use restrictions would be consistent with guidelines used for existing allotments found in RMP Chapter 6.
Minerals
The Coast Management Area contains a total of 69,000 acres of mineral estate under the administration of the BLM, of which a 4,400 acres are currently leased for oil and gas exploration and development. Public acreage that is currently leased will not be subject to additional stipulations; however, if leases expire, and new leasing occurs, special stipulations may be applied.
Page 7
Approximately 1,900 acres are closed to leasing within designated Wilderness.
Approximately 100 acres in Point Sal ACEC are proposed to be closed to leasing.
Approximately 1,500 BLM acres are proposed to be open with a No Surface Use Stipulation (NSU).
These areas include Tierra Redonda ACEC and Huasna Peak SMA.
Approximately 42,800 acres are proposed to be open to oil and gas leasing under standard terms and conditions; of that total 2,800 acres are currently leased.
Approximately 22,700 acres are proposed to be open to oil and gas leasing subject to a Limited Surface Use (LSU) stipulation. Of that total, 1,600 acres are currently leased.
Special categories of the LSU stipulation apply as follows:
16,500 acres open subject to the LSU-Protected Species stipulation.
1,600 acres are currently leased and would not have the stipulation applied to existing leases.
6,000 acres open subject to the LSU-Sensitive Species stipulation.
4,300 acres open subject to the LSU-Coast stipulation.
Both the LSU-Protected Species and the LSU-Sensitive Species stipulations would apply to one township and range (25S, 10E) immediately southwest of Camp Roberts in an area with limited oil exploration potential.
The 69,700 acres of mineral estate under the administration of the Department of Defense (DOD) would be open subject to the LSU-Defense stipulation.
Approximately 1,900 acres are in existing withdrawals from entry under the general mining laws within Wilderness Areas; an additional 10 acres within the Salinas River ACEC would also be withdrawn.
Approximately 5,800 acres in five areas are proposed for withdrawal from entry under the mining law. These areas would include the Pt. Sal, Tierra Redonda, and Salinas River (riparian portions.) ACECs and the Frog Pond and Hopper Mountain SMAs.
The remaining 63,100 acres within the Coast Management Area would remain open to solid and mineral material exploration. Management objectives and guidelines would be utilized to evaluate applications for development of the solid mineral and mineral material resources.
Page 8
 |