Little Snake Field Office announces new RMP revision schedule

CRAIG, Colo. – The Bureau of Land Management’s Little Snake Field Office in Craig today announced its Draft Resource Management Plan Revision/Environmental Impact Statement is now anticipated to be released for a 90-day public comment period in January 2007.

“The revised schedule gives us time to address some additional information from our local cooperating agencies,” said Little Snake Field Manager John Husband. “Their proposals and comments provide information that should help us produce a better plan.”

BLM originally anticipated releasing the draft in July 2006. The RMP revision will guide the overall management of the Field Office, including energy and mineral development, transportation and travel management, wildlife habitat, and special management areas.

The cooperating agencies on this RMP revision are Moffat County, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Juniper Water Conservancy District, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and City of Steamboat Springs.

The cooperators submitted two consensus proposals that they asked BLM to integrate into the draft’s management alternatives. One provides an incentive-based approach to limiting sage grouse habitat fragmentation while allowing year-round oil and gas drilling; the other allows for the orderly development of oil and gas in Vermillion Basin while protecting natural and scenic values of the area.   The cooperators also provided specific comments concerning Wild and Scenic River eligibility and suitability determinations and managing lands with wilderness characteristics.

The Field Office includes 1.3 million acres of public lands and minerals, as well as an additional 1.1 million acres of mineral estate with non-federal surface ownership, in Routt, Moffat and Rio Blanco counties. 

 -BLM-