For Immediate Release: February 9, 2007
Contact:   David Boyd, Public Affairs Specialist (970) 319-4130 or Jaime Gardner, Public Affairs Specialist, (303) 239-3681

BLM seeks public comment on Draft Little Snake Resource Management Plan

CRAIG, Colo. – The Bureau of Land Management today released the Draft Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement for the Little Snake Field Office in northwestern Colorado for a 90-day public comment period.

The plan will provide a framework to guide subsequent management decisions on approximately 1.3 million surface acres and 1.9 million subsurface acres administered by the Little Snake Field Office in Moffat, Routt, and Rio Blanco counties.

The Draft RMP analyzes four alternatives covering all aspects of BLM land and mineral management within the Little Snake Field Office boundaries, including energy development, resource protection, travel management, wildlife habitat, special designations, grazing, and realty actions.

The Draft identifies a “preferred alternative” that balances resource protection with commodity production. This alternative includes an innovative approach to oil and gas leasing that would limit surface disturbance to one percent of the acres leased within the 77,000-acre Vermillion Basin. The preferred alternative would also reduce wildlife habitat disturbance in critical sagebrush communities by offering incentives for oil and gas operators to leave larger blocks of habitat undisturbed. 

BLM will host three public open houses to provide information and an opportunity to comment on the Draft. The open houses will be held from 4-7 p.m., with brief presentations by BLM at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

· March 13, Maybell, Maybell School gym, Highway 40
· March 14, Steamboat Springs, Community Center, 1255 Lincoln Ave.
· March 15, Craig, Moffat County Fairgrounds Pavilion, 750 East 4th Street

For additional information or to receive copies of the Draft RMP, visit the Little Snake Field Office web site at www.co.blm.gov/lsra/rmp or contact Jeremy Casterson, BLM Little Snake Field Office, at 970-826-5071. BLM will accept public comment on the Draft EIS/RMP through May 16, 2007.

-BLM-

Note: you can find additional fact sheets that summarize specific aspects of the Little Snake Draft RMP at http://www.co.blm.gov/lsra/rmp/rmp-docs.htm#OutreachMaterials