BLM Announces Supplemental Draft EIS for Jack Morrow Hills

The Jack Morrow Hills Coordinated Activity Plan (JMHCAP) will be the subject of a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wyoming announced today.

"This decision ensures that the JMH planning process will continue and examine a wide range of alternatives that will be developed after the comment analysis, including, but not limited to, a conservation alternative as well as a preservation alternative," said Al Pierson, the BLM's Wyoming State Director.

Pierson's announcement follows a decision by Acting BLM Director Nina Rose Hatfield to proceed with the planning effort to achieve multiple use decisions for conservation of the area. Analysis of the substantive comments and preparation of a supplemental draft EIS could take between one and two years.

"Interior Secretary Gale Norton has made the ‘4 Cs' -- communication, cooperation, consultation, all in the service of conservation -- a cornerstone of her leadership and this decision clearly fosters these elements," Hatfield said.

Pierson said today's announcement affirms the continuation of the planning process required by statute — the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Land Policy Management Act — which is the most appropriate way to make decisions to determine the best and highest use of the JMH area.

"We have been working on this since 1997 and have worked closely with our stakeholders to gather substantive data that is pertinent to the area," Pierson said. "This decision shows that we have been on the right track. The BLM in Wyoming can now move forward in an even-handed manner to finalize the plan."

Earlier this year, State Director Pierson granted Governor Jim Geringer's request to name the State of Wyoming a Cooperating Agency for the Jack Morrow Hills planning process. "As a Cooperating Agency, the State will now assist as a partner in the preparation of this supplemental draft EIS by providing expertise, information and data,"said Pierson. "I welcome the State's participation in this effort." Cooperating Agency is an official designation provided for in the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations that implement the National Environmental Policy Act.

The BLM initiated the JMHCAP in December 1997 as a result over concerns raised during the preparation of the Green River Resource Management Plan over the high potential for conflicts among energy development, recreational activities, crucial big game habitat, scenic quality, cultural and historic resources, and soil stability. The objective of the JMHCAP was to tier off the resource management plan and determine the appropriate level and methods of all the uses that are mutually compatible within the 622,000-acre Jack Morrow Hills CAP area in southwest Wyoming. The CAP area includes five Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, seven Wilderness Study Areas, and three Special Recreation Management Areas. About 45 percent of the area has high potential for oil and gas development.

The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land — 264 million surface acres — than any other Federal agency. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which gave the BLM its comprehensive mission to manage the public lands for a variety of uses so as to benefit present and future generations. The BLM accomplishes this by managing for such resources as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, and mineral development, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on the public lands. Most of the country's BLM-managed public land is located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. These lands, once remote, now provide the growing communities of the West with open space that gives the region much of its character. The Bureau, which has a budget of $1.8 billion and a workforce of about 9,000 employees, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the Nation.