MISSOULA – The Bureau of Land Management’s Missoula Field Office is undertaking one of its biggest projects in recent years: overhauling its Resource Management Plan (RMP)—the document that guides its management of 156,000 acres of public lands and 268,000 acres of federal mineral interests.
The field office published a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register Dec. 12 announcing the preparation of the RMP and associated environmental impact statement. The notice begins a 60-day public scoping period that ends Feb. 9, 2017.
The BLM seeks public input to identify issues and concerns within and adjacent to the planning area, which includes BLM-administered public lands and federal mineral estate in Flathead, Granite, Lake, Lincoln, Mineral, Missoula, Powell, Ravalli and Sanders counties.
More than 99 percent of the BLM-managed surface acres are located in Granite, Missoula and Powell counties.
The RMP/Environmental Impact Statement will seek to address the changing needs of the planning area over the next several decades and will replace the current Garnet Resource Area RMP that was developed in 1986.
The first phase of developing the RMP, the pre-scoping public envisioning process, was completed in April of this year and was aimed at listening to the public about broad concepts for what’s important across the landscape.
The BLM is now starting its scoping period, which gives the public and other interested agencies and organizations the chance to provide comments on important issues and identify management opportunities before the plan is drafted.
The BLM will hold public scoping meetings in the Missoula area at the following locations:
• Jan. 17, 3:30-6:30 p.m .: Lubrecht Forest-Castles Forestry Center, 38689 Hwy. 200 East, Greenough
• Jan. 19, 3:30-6:30 p.m .: Granite County Museum, 135 South Sansome St., Philipsburg
• Jan. 24, 3:30-6:30 p.m .: Helmville Community Club, 201 South Main, Helmville
• Jan. 26, 3:30-6:30 p.m .: University of Montana, University Center, 3rd Floor, Rm. 332
32 Campus Dr., Missoula
Even after the formal scoping period ends, comments and input will be welcome throughout the planning process. Written comments on the scope of the RMP revision should be postmarked or otherwise hand delivered to Missoula RMP, Missoula Field Office, 3255 Fort Missoula Road, Missoula, MT 59804 or faxed to (406) 329-3721. Comments can also be e-mailed to blm_mt_missoularmp@blm.gov. More information is available online at http://1.usa.gov/21RNCPG.
Comments may be published as part of the EIS. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, be advised that your entire comment, including your personal identifying information, may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold from public review your personal identifying information, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
To be included on the RMP mailing list or to request more information, contact Maggie Ward, RMP Project Manager, at 406-329-3914 or e-mail blm_mt_missoularmp@blm.gov.
Reader Comments(0)