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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Land Management Bureau

CA ID: [CA-670-07-1610-DQ]

NOTICE: NOTICES

ACTION: Resource management plans, etc.:

DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice of availability.

SUBJECT CATEGORY: Notice of Availability of Eastern San Diego County Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, California

DATES: BLM Planning Regulations set forth the provisions applicable to protests (43 CFR 1610.52). A person who meets the conditions as described in the regulations cited above, and who wishes to file a protest, must file said protest within 30 days of the date this notice is published in the Federal Register. Additional information on protests is set forth in the Dear Reader letter of the Eastern San Diego County Proposed RMP and Final EIS and in the Supplementary Information section of this notice. To ensure compliance with the protest regulations, please consult BLM's Planning Regulations at 43 CFR 1610.52.

DOCUMENT SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Eastern San Diego County planning area managed by the El Centro Field Office.

SUMMARY: Eastern San Diego County planning area, CA,

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

The planning area for the Eastern San Diego County RMP is the El Centro Field Office's area of management responsibility. A total of approximately 103,000 acres of public lands are administered by the BLM in the planning area. The decisions in the RMP will only apply to BLMadministered lands and mineral estate in the planning area. The Eastern San Diego County Proposed RMP and Final EIS have been developed through collaborative planning and consider four alternatives. Primary issues include: renewable energy, sensitive natural and cultural resources, livestock grazing, energy and mineral development, visual resources,
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and motorized vehicle route designations. The Proposed RMP/FEIS includes consideration of the designation of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs). The proposed plan includes retaining all or portions of the following existing ACECs: InKoPah ACEC(currently 22,186 acres); Table Mountain ACEC(currently 4,293 acres). In the Proposed RMP/FEIS, the InKoPah ACEC would be reduced in the north and east to avoid overlap with designated wilderness and wilderness study areas, and expanded in the south and west to include critical habitat for Peninsular Bighorn Sheep. Use of public lands within these ACECs would vary, depending on the resources and/or values identified but would likely include limitations on OHV use and livestock grazing.

Comments on the Eastern San Diego County Draft RMP/EIS received from the public and internal BLM review comments were incorporated into the Proposed RMP. Public comments resulted in corrections, clarifying text, and the addition of new data used in the analysis of impacts. The Proposed Eastern San Diego County RMP would provide comprehensive, longrange decisions for the use and management of resources in the planning area administered by the BLM and focus on the principles of multiple use and sustained yield.

As noted above, instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the BLM regarding the Proposed RMP and Final EIS are described in 43 CFR 1610.52. Emailed and faxed protests will not be accepted as valid protests unless the protesting party also provides the original letter by regular or overnight mail postmarked by the close of the protest period. Under these conditions, BLM will consider the emailed or faxed protest as an advance copy and it will receive full consideration. If you wish to provide BLM with such advance notification, please direct faxed protests to the attention of the BLM protest coordinator at (202) 4525112, and emails to Brenda_HudgensWilliams@blm.gov.

All protests, including the followup letter (if emailing or faxing) must be in writing and mailed to one of the following addresses:
Regular Mail:

Director (210)

Attention: Brenda Williams

P.O. Box 66538

Washington, DC 20035
Overnight Mail:

Director (210)

Attention: Brenda Williams

1620 L Street, NW., Suite 1075

Washington, DC 20036

Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your protest, you should be aware that your entire protestincluding your personal identifying informationmay be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your protest to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Dated: November 19, 2007.
Vicki L. Wood,
Field Manager.
[FR Doc. E723771 Filed 12607; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 431040P

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT Erin Dreyfuss, Eastern San Diego County RMP Team Leader, at (760) 3374400, Bureau of Land Management, 1661 S. 4\th\ Street, El Centro, CA 92243; caesdrmp@ca.blm.gov.