Northern California District
| Contacts: | Lynda Roush | , 707-825-2300 | ||
| Jeff Fontana | , 530-252-5332 |
BLM Seeking Public Review and Comment on King Range Wilderness Plan
The Bureau of Land Management is asking for public review and comments on a draft plan and environmental assessment (EA) for managing the King Range and Rocks and Islands wilderness areas.
The draft plan provides site-specific objectives for 42,585 acres that were designated as wilderness in the 2006 California Coast Wild Heritage Wilderness Act.
The designation included two separate wilderness areas: the King Range Wilderness, which is entirely within the King Range National Conservation Area, and the Rocks and Islands Wilderness, which includes the adjacent rocks and islands offshore from the King Range, beginning from the mean high tide line and extending three miles out to sea.
The draft plan and EA are available for review online at www.ca.blm.gov/arcata. Anyone interested can receive a printed or CD copy by contacting the BLM Arcata Field Office at (707) 825-2300 or by email at caweb330@blm.gov.
Comments must be received by July 22, 2011. They can be sent by email to caweb330@blm.gov or mailed to Bureau of Land Management, 1695 Heindon Rd., Arcata, CA 95521.
“We strongly encourage anyone interested in the King Range to read the draft plan and provide comments,” said Lynda Roush, manager of the BLM Arcata Field Office. “It is important for comments to be specific so that we can analyze them in developing the final plan.”
The plan and EA are comprehensive and identify actions to achieve and/or maintain wilderness qualities intrinsic to the wilderness areas. The document describes a proposed action and alternative management approaches to maintain or achieve wilderness character and to manage for other non-wilderness values that existed when the wilderness was established.
The King Range NCA, often described as a “spectacular meeting of land and sea,” covers about 68,000 acres, including 35 miles of Pacific shoreline stretching from the mouth of the Mattole River to Sinkyone State Park. The rocks and islands covered in the draft plan are part of the California Coastal National Monument (CCNM), which includes more than 20,000 rocks and small islands running the length of the California Coast.
The King Range and the CCNM are part of the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. 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.
Northern California District 355 Hemsted Dr. Redding, CA 96002