The US Bureau of Land Management released a draft resource management plan (RMP) for its Grand Junction, Colo., field office, and will accept comments on it until Apr. 25. The final RMP will guide management decisions involving more than 1 million surface acres and 1.2 million of subsurface mineral estate for the next several decades, it said on Jan. 14.
“We’ve worked hard with our partners to craft a wide range of alternatives for public review and comment,” said Katie Stevens, the field office’s acting manager. “We only revise these plans about every 2 decades, so this is a really important opportunity to make your voice heard about how public lands are managed in the Grand Junction Field Office.”
Public hearings about the draft RMP have been scheduled for Jan. 29 in Colbran, Jan. 30 in DeBeque, Jan. 31 in Grand Junction, Feb. 5 in Gateway, and Feb. 7 in Fruita.
It analyzes four potential management plans. While one is labeled “preferred,” none represents a final decision, BLM emphasized. The US Department of the Interior agency will use the public comments to help develop a proposed RMP/final environmental impact statement, which is scheduled for release next winter. In development of the proposed RMP, BLM may select various management actions from each of the alternatives analyzed in this draft, BLM said.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].