RIO PUERCO RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN

The Rio Puerco Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will analyze and update BLM’s management of public lands in Bernalillo, Cibola, McKinley, Sandoval, Torrance, and Valencia Counties of central New Mexico. 

The planning area consists of about 9.5 million acres of land within the six counties of central New Mexico.  This includes about 731,600 acres of public surface lands and 3.6 million acres of Federal subsurface minerals managed by the Rio Puerco Field Office.

This process of RMP development began with a Notice of Intent (NOI) published in the Federal Register in February 2008.  When approved, this RMP will replace the 1986 Rio Puerco RMP and subsequent amendments, and will guide the management of public lands administered by the Rio Puerco Field Office into the future. 

The RMP revision is needed to provide updated management decisions for a variety of uses and resources, including land-tenure adjustments, land-use authorizations, mineral resources, recreation, areas with special management designations, lands with wilderness characteristics, livestock grazing, transportation access, renewable energy, visual resources, wildland/urban interface, and others.

In the Proposed RMP/Final EIS, decisions made will determine how publicly-owned and administered lands and resources will be used for the next 15 to 20 years.  Changes in population, types of uses, technologies, user interests, and public understanding of resource availability, capabilities, and constraints have made the existing (1986/1992) RMP decisions less effective in allocating use.  It has become more and more difficult to find public land parcels with non-conflicting uses in the area managed by the Field Office.  Growth in the Southwest region has been increasing steadily over the past three decades, with the population within the Field Office boundary growing by approximately 300,000 since the last RMP revision in 1992.

The agency has engaged various communities in extensive outreach, leading to the development of the Proposed RMP/Final EIS.  Public involvement has been solicited throughout the planning process to ensure a successful outcome.

For more information, please contact Adam Lujan at (505) 761-8734 or e-mail BLM_NM_RPFO_Comments@blm.gov.

Please visit the Rio Puerco Resource Management Plan ePlanning page for more information.