ROCK SPRINGS –The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Rock Springs Field Office (RSFO) has resumed work on the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan (RMP).
RSFO had suspended work on the RMP in February 2014 to allow for the analysis conducted as part of the Wyoming Greater Sage-Grouse Land Use Plan Amendment and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to be incorporated into the RMP, permit the incoming Rock Springs Field Manager to lead the development of the preferred alternative and provide time for the BLM Rock Springs staff and cooperators to work on additional travel route designations for inclusion in the RMP.
The Rock Springs planning area includes 3.6 million acres of surface land and 3.5 million acres of mineral estate, administered by the BLM in portions of Lincoln, Sweetwater, Uinta, Sublette and Fremont counties in southwestern Wyoming. The field office administers a variety of programs, including mineral exploration and development, wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, wild horse, livestock grazing and historic trails.
BLM is revising the existing Green River RMP to provide an updated and comprehensive framework for managing and allocating uses of public lands and resources administered by the BLM Rock Springs Field Office. The need to develop a land use plan is established under the Federal land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). In the 15 years since the Record of Decision (ROD) for the existing RMP was signed, new data have become available and policies updated. These criteria, along with emerging issues and management concerns, including renewable energy and transmission corridors, neccessitate revisiting the existing plan.
The following elements also contributed to the need to revise the existing plan: 1) an amendment to the Jack Morrow Hills planning aea was completed in July 2006; 2) multiple maintenance actions have been completed: 3) numerous RODs for programmatic EISs have been completed, or are ongoing, such as the Designations of Energy Corridors on Federal Lands in Eleven Western States (2008) and Geothermal Leasing in the Western United States (2008); an amendment regarding Greater Sage-Grouse management is in progress; and 5) a need to inventory the current transportation network work with a comprehensive travel and transportation management plan.
