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Arizona. BLM. Lower Sonoran and Sonoran Desert National Monument Draft Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement. Lower Sonoran Field Office. Arizona. BLM. Purpose of Meeting. Provide information regarding the LS/SDNM Draft Resource Mgt Plan (RMP)

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  1. Arizona BLM Lower Sonoran and Sonoran Desert National Monument Draft Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement Lower Sonoran Field Office

  2. Arizona BLM Purpose of Meeting • Provide information regarding the LS/SDNM Draft Resource Mgt Plan (RMP) • Encourage and facilitate public participation in the development of the Plan • Answer clarifying questions Lower Sonoran Field Office

  3. Arizona BLM Meeting Administration Welcome ! • Location of restrooms & telephones • Please turn-off or silence pagers and cell phones Lower Sonoran Field Office

  4. Arizona BLM Meeting Administration • Critique ideas, not people…show respect for the views of others • What is the rule on confidentiality? • Listen with an open mind – many different users • Avoid side conversations • Speak for yourself…in your own words • Thirty second soapbox? • Enjoy your time together Lower Sonoran Field Office

  5. Arizona BLM Tonight’s Agenda • Welcome and introductions • Resource Management Plan presentation • Participant discussion - please hold questions until this portion of the agenda • Open House Lower Sonoran Field Office

  6. Arizona BLM Introductions Phoenix District Manager – Angie Bulletts Lower Sonoran Field Office Mgr – Emily Garber Sonoran Desert National Monument Mgr – Rich Hanson Planning & Environmental Coordinator – Penny Foreman Lower Sonoran Field Office

  7. Arizona BLM Bureau of Land Management Federal Land Policy & Mgt Act, 1976 • Sustain the health, productivity, and diversity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. • Manage multiple resources • Periodically inventory resources & project future use through land use planning. Lower Sonoran Field Office

  8. Arizona BLM Need for New Planto guide future land mgt actions and subsequent site-specific decisions • Encroaching urban-interface • New & changing land uses • Need to consolidate several planning documents • 2001 Presidential Proclamation of SDNM Lower Sonoran Field Office

  9. Arizona BLM Resource Mgt Planning (RMP) vs. Project Planning RMP - Planning at the landscape level – decide desired resource conditions, determine emphases, allocations Project Planning - Project-specific environmental analysis (NEPA) required before decisions can be made & implemented on the ground This DRMP: • Project-level analyses for: • SDNM livestock grazing; • travel management; and • target shooting Lower Sonoran Field Office

  10. Arizona BLM Planning Area • 1.4 million surface acres • Sonoran Desert Nat’l Mon. (486,400 acres) • Anza Nat’l Historic Trail • Six Wilderness Areas • Four endangered & four candidate species • High interest in utility-scale solar energy development Lower Sonoran Field Office

  11. Arizona BLM One DocumentTwo Decision Areas Two Decision Areas: • Sonoran Desert National Monument – 486,400 acres • Lower Sonoran – 930,200 acres At the end of the process, there will be two Records of Decision Lower Sonoran Field Office

  12. Arizona BLM Outreach • Extensive scoping in 2003 at 11 public meetings – received >6000 comments • Ongoing engagement with the Resource Advisory Council (RAC), government agencies, user interests, environmental groups and tribes. Lower Sonoran Field Office

  13. Arizona BLM Key Scoping Issue Areas Lower Sonoran Field Office

  14. Arizona BLM Alternatives Provide a range of reasonable combinations of resource uses and mgt practices developed to address issues identified during scoping that offer distinct choice among potential mgt strategies. Lower Sonoran Field Office

  15. Arizona BLM Utility-Scale Renewable Energy Lower Sonoran: GIS analysis to identify potential conflicts? • Exclude from development • NLCS, WC, ACECs, Fred J. Weiler (PL 1015) Greenbelt, Sentinel Plain • Avoidance Lower Sonoran Field Office Collaboration with Restoration Design Energy Project (RDEP) . Solar PEIS and RDEP will amend RMPs, if necessary. Preferred alternative does not conflict with other ongoing analyses .

  16. Arizona BLM Wildlife • Wildlife Waters Increase, improve or maintain • Wildlife Movement Corridors– assist wildlife in safe passage from one area to another • Wildlife Habitat Areas – maintain & improve habitat for: Desert tortoise, mule deer, bighorn sheep, Sonoran pronghorn, lesser-long-nosed bat, & cactus ferruginous pygmy owl Preferred: Gila Bend Mountains (all other WHAs designated as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern) Lower Sonoran Field Office

  17. Arizona BLM Areas of Critical Environmental Concern Merit special mgt attention to protect resources and prevent irreparable damage (Appendix V) ACECs in Preferred: • Coffeepot-Batamote • Cuerda de Lena • Gila River Terraces and Lower Gila Historic Trails • Saddle Mountain Outstanding Natural Area Lower Sonoran Field Office

  18. Arizona BLM Lands Managed to Protect Wilderness Characteristics • Congress enacts laws establishing Wilderness Areas. • BLM allocates acreage to be managed to maintain wilderness characteristics Lower Sonoran FO: • Considered 276,500 acres • Preferred:55,400 acres Sonoran Desert National Monument • Considered 153,000 acres • Preferred: 110,900 acres (3 units) Lower Sonoran Field Office

  19. Arizona BLM Travel Management Comprehensive OHV Route Inventory for both decision areas. Current Mgt: All vehicles limited to established & inventoried routes. LSFO: No route designations in DRMP. Preferred: • Travel limited to existing roads until further planning, public involvement and route designation • Designates areas closed to motorized travel or limited to existing roads. • One Open Motorized area - 40-acres north of Ajo. Lower Sonoran Field Office

  20. Arizona BLM SDNM Travel Management Route-specific designations for 631.5 miles of inventoried routes Preferred:432.9 miles designated routes (all others closed) • Considerations: • preserve monument objects & values • sustain wildlife habitat in washes & uplands • protect & reduce erosion of sensitive soils • reduce redundant routes • protect historic properties/cultural resources • reduce habitat fragmentation Lower Sonoran Field Office

  21. Arizona BLM Livestock Grazing Lower Sonoran SDNM • Designate as perennial, perennial/ephemeral, or ephemeral, as appropriate • Consider season of use adjustments • Further analyses for allotment management plan NEPA • Land Health Evaluation (LHE) completed for six SDNM allotments • Compatibility analysis completed (Append. E) • Finding – modified grazing practices would be compatible. Lower Sonoran Field Office

  22. Arizona BLM Recreational Target Shooting Lower Sonoran SDNM • All 930,200 acres will remain open for recreational target shooting • Activity may be adaptively managed due to safety concerns or resource conflicts • Analysis (Appendix G): • 80% of SDNM acres had monument objects that could be impacted by target shooting. • 20% of acreage did not provide adequate backstops for shooting • Findings used to develop alternatives Preferred:target shooting would not be allowed Lower Sonoran Field Office Hunting would continue in accordance with federal, state and local laws

  23. Arizona BLM How to participate in the planning process Substantive Comments: • Reasonably question accuracy of: • Information; • Assumptions; • Methodology; • Present new information; • Provide reasonable alternatives; • Cause revision of alternative(s); • Be specific, detailed, factual. August 26, 2011 – DRMP published November 25, 2011 – Comment period ends Lower Sonoran Field Office

  24. Arizona BLM How to participate in the planning process Email: blm_az_ls_sdnm_plan@blm.gov Mail:BLM, 21605 N 7th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85027 Fax:623-580-5580 ePlanning–Access now (we will help) if ready to comment or access by web address below later Provide Comments by November 25, 2011 via: Lower Sonoran Field Office http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/planning/son_des.html

  25. Arizona BLM Next Steps Lower Sonoran Field Office

  26. Arizona BLM Open House Opportunity BLM planning team are here to answer questions specific to DRMP • National Landscape Conservation System • Wildlife Habitat • Recreation • Livestock Grazing • Cultural Resources • Travel Management • Energy & Land Use • Minerals Lower Sonoran Field Office You may provide comments this evening by filling out a comment form at our comment table or entering your comment via ePlanning. Or, deliver comments to BLM (by any methods mentioned previously) no later than November 25, 2011.

  27. Arizona BLM Thank You! We are so pleased you joined us tonight. Thank you for sharing your evening to help improve management of our Public Land. Lower Sonoran Field Office

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