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Conducted 16 Public Scoping Meetings
Alaska BLM Central Yukon Field Office
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Fairbanks Oct. 28, Dec. 9
Koyukuk Dec. 10
Wiseman Oct. 31
Nenana Nov. 4
Nulato Nov. 5
Lake Minchumina Nov. 18
Anchorage Dec. 4
Galena Dec. 13
Allakaket Jan. 6
Stevens Village Cancelled
Tanana Dec. 11
Kaltag Cancelled
Ruby Nov. 19
Hughes Dec. 16
Bettles Dec. 12
Anaktuvuk Pass Nov. 20
Venetie Nov. 7
7/24/2014 4
Currently working on:
• Analysis of comments and scoping report –target completion mid‐summer
• Analysis of the Management Situation – target completion mid‐summer
• Summer field data collection, focusing on ACECs, VRM, and transportation management
• Begin alternative development in October
RMP SCHEDULE
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Implementation of Final RMP/EIS (2017)
Record of Decision (2017)
Notification of Proposed RMP/Final EIS (2017)
Publication of Proposed RMP/Final EIS (2017)
Public Comment Period on DRAFT RMP/EIS (2015)
Notice of Availability of Draft RMP/EIS (2015)
Public Scoping (2013)
Notice of Intent (2013)
Planning Area• 16 million acres of BLM
managed land• 5.3M State selected • 0.7M Native selected • 10.0M unselected
Partnering Opportunities• 24 remote communities• 15 Tribes• 3 regional corporations• 12 village corporations• State of Alaska• 2 National Park units• 7 National Wildlife
Refuges• Military lands 6
Central Yukon Planning Area
BSWI RMP PLANNING AREA
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• 62‐million‐acre planning area• 10.6m acres/17.3% BLM managed
7.8m Unencumbered 2.6m State selected 214k Native selected
• 60 rural communities with 25,000 residents (26 near BLM land)• 66 federally recognized Tribes, 43 Village Corporations, 5
Regional Corporations• 4 Boroughs, 33 cities
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Central Yukon Planning AreaSubunitsDalton Highway Corridorand CAMA
Middle Yukon River
Fairbanks Area
Nulato Hills
Planning Issues – Central Yukon
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Central Arctic Management Area
• Created by ANILCA
• Wilderness Study Area (WSA)
• WSA 250,000 acres
• Anticipate retaining 135,000 acres
• 41,000 acres upper Nigu River “suitable”
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BLM Identified Issue: Shared Use in the Dalton Highway Corridor
• Trans‐Alaska Pipeline• Primary purpose is a
utility corridor• Public land order 5150• Utility Corridor RMP
(1991)• Development Nodes
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BLM Identified Issue: How should we manage egressneeds from the Dalton Highway Corridor
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Umiat Road
Bettles winter road
Coldfoot to Chandalar winter trail
Stevens Village winter road
Road to Ambler
Ray River/Big Salt/Ray Mountains access
Gold Creek/Big Lake Mining Access
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BLM Identified Issue: How / should BLM modify PLO 5150?• Statehood Act (1958) allowed State
selections until 1983; Lands already reserved were not available for selection
• PLO 5150 (1971) established utility corridor; withdrew corridor lands from selection
• ANILCA (1980) granted additional 10 years (until 1993) for selection; allowed for “Top Filing” on withdrawn lands
• State top filed much of PLO5150 prior to 1993.
• 2012, Governor wrote Secretary requesting PLO 5150 be lifted or modified; Secretary said we will consider during planning effort.
• If the RMP recommends modifying PLO 5150, and Secretary does so, then top filings would become valid selections and, eventually, become State owned lands.
• Early 1970’s
• All closed to oil and gas leasing
• Some closed to mining claims
• Will review during planning
• The plan can only recommend changes to withdrawals
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BLM Identified Issue: Which withdrawals should be retained, modified or revoked?
Mining claim occupancyUnauthorized access
BLM Identified Issue: How should we manage use and occupancy associated with mining?
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Increasing need to expand pits and locate new sources for mineral materials on the Dalton
Future construction of a gas pipeline would require additional sources
Some pits becoming depleted
Proliferation of gravel pits
Major vector for spread of Invasive plants
BLM Identified Issue: Which areas should remain open or closed to sand and gravel mining?
BLM Identified Issue: Are there any special recreation management areas that should be recognized?
BLM Identified Issue: How should BLM address invasive plants?
• Establish goals and desired future conditions in order to provide management direction throughout the planning area with regard to invasive plants
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BLM Identified Issue: Are there any rivers in the planning area eligible for designation as “wild and scenic” or are they better managed without designation?
• Unalakleet Wild and Scenic River
• Inventory of rivers in the planning area to see if they meet the criteria under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
• Must be free‐flowing and have at least one outstandingly remarkable value
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BLM Identified Issue: How should we manage the BLM lands with Wilderness Characteristics?
• Inventory lands in the planning area for wilderness characteristics• Size• Naturalness• Opportunities for solitude or primitive recreation
• Decide how these lands should be managed in the RMP• Emphasize other uses as a priority over wilderness
characteristics• Emphasize other uses while applying restrictions to reduce
impacts on wilderness characteristics• Protection of wilderness characteristics as a priority over
other multiple uses
BLM Identified Issue: Should BLM retain, modify or eliminate existing ACECs? Should BLM designate any additional areas as ACECs or RNAs?
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• ACEC: Designated areas where special management attention is required to protect historic, cultural, or scenic values; fish and wildlife resources; or other natural systems or processes.
• Research Natural Area (RNA): a type of ACEC designated to preserve examples of significant ecosystems for research.
• Federal Land Management Policy directs BLM to give priority to designating areas of critical environmental concern.
• There are 34 ACECs/RNAs in place under the existing plans• Review existing ACECs to determine if they should be retained,
including the Toolik RNA• New ACECs may be nominated by the public during scoping
BLM Identified Issue: How can BLM balance the subsistence and non‐subsistence uses of these lands?
BLM Identified Issue: How might BLM management of public lands affect socio‐economics of the area?
• What economic structures and activities within the study area are affected by the management of BLM lands?
• What are the non‐market values of BLM‐managed lands and resources?
• How will RMP decisions affect public infrastructure and services?
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Planning Issues ‐ BSWI
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FISHERIES ISSUES• Limit development impacts & retain ANCSA 17(d)(1) withdrawals
to protect habitat• Fish sustain communities culturally, spiritually, and nutritionally • Resident fish are as important as salmon species• Concern over sharp decline in chinook salmon• Identify and protect spawning areas with special designations• Concerns over effects of climate change on habitat and location
and distribution of species
“where there was more, there is less and where there was less, there is more” 26
WILDLIFE ISSUES• Protect habitat , moose and caribou subsistence• Protect travel corridors and prevent habitat fragmentation• Protect lands important for trapping, berry picking, firewood
gathering and timber harvest. • Protect waterfowl habitats for declining waterfowl populations• Retain withdrawals to protect habitat from mining impacts• Concerns expressed about: predator control; raptor nesting areas;
subsistence and guide conflicts; wood bison re‐introduction; and reindeer herding
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SUBSISTENCE ISSUES• Specific areas and trails were identified as significant for subsistence uses
• Due to vast planning area, concerns include moose, salmon, firewood, berries, seals, and waterfowl
• Subsistence is a way of life and related concerns included:• Desire continued and improved access to subsistence resources• Impacts of large‐scale development on resources and access• Hunter conflicts• Mining impacts on resources and access• Road development impacts on resources and access, increased
competition• Climate change impacts 28
ANCSA 17(D)(1) WITHDRAWALS• Access issues related to economic development, recreation and
subsistence opportunities, and current 17(d)(1) withdrawals• Comments concerning both lifting and retaining of 17(d)(1)
withdrawals called to address future impacts to resources, lands, and BLM management capacity by revoking or leaving withdrawals in place
• Retain withdrawals to protect areas with special resources from development
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MINERALS ISSUES• Access across BLM land important for oil, gas, coal development
on non‐BLM land• Special designations would hinder development of oil, gas,
geothermal, coal development• Ensure best development technologies, practices, and highest
design standards• Consider unique arctic climate unlike other development areas
and climate change• Consider transmission pipelines without roads• Incorporate public health analysis with development 30
RECREATION ISSUES• Limits on recreational hunting and overnight stays• Continued motorized and non‐motorized access areas and • Address resource damage caused by motorized access methods• Use of low‐impact forms of motorized transport
• light full track vehicles, aircraft, watercraft• Allow users to disperse versus concentrated designated routes/sites• Allow different uses of existing or future cabins for trapping or skiing
activities• Preserve quiet forms of recreation (non‐motorized)
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SPECIAL DESIGNATION ISSUES• Existing areas no longer appropriate for original purpose or have been conveyed• Additional ACEC or WSR designations would impose significant access restrictions
and prevent economic development• Prohibit activities that would degrade quality of the designation• Protect watersheds for salmon and spawning, migration corridors, wintering
ground, essential habitat, caribou calving ground, subsistence use areas• Increased protection proposals for:
• Innoko wetlands for migratory bird species staging habitat • Kuskokwim River King Salmon• Tributaries of Unalakleet NWR for spawning & essential fishery habitat
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OTHER ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED1: Non‐Native Invasive Threats 2: Vegetative Communities 3: Soil, Water, and Air 4: Climate/Climate Change5: Fish and Aquatic Species 6: Wildlife 7: Special Status Species –
Flora & Fauna8: Wildland Fire Ecology &
Management
9: Cultural Resources 10: Paleontological Resources 11: Visual Resources 12: Wilderness Characteristics 13: Minerals: Leasable Fluid &
Solid Minerals14: Minerals: Locatable &
Salable Minerals15: Forestry & Woodland
Products
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OTHER ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED16: Livestock Grazing 17: Renewable Energy 18: Lands & Realty 19: Recreation, Visitor Services,
& Recreation Permits20: Trails & Travel Management
including Off‐Highwayvehicles
21: Areas of Critical Environmental Concern
22: Wild and Scenic Rivers 23: National Trails 24: Interpretation &
Environmental Education25: Subsistence 26: Social, Economic (Non
‐market Values), &Environmental Justice
27: Public Safety & HazardousMaterials
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New Tools via the LCC
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BEACONS• University of Alberta and Yukon College developing a pilot project
to apply the Boreal Ecosystems Analysis for Conservation Networks (BEACONS) Conservation Matrix Model to Alaskan landscapes.
• Funded by the Northwest Boreal Landscape Conservation Cooperative
• Will be supported with data from BLM’s REAs• Will inform development of alternatives and analysis of impacts• Framework to facilitate biodiversity, conservation and sustainable
use across a spectrum of opportunities. • Focus on maintaining ecological flows such as the movements of
organisms, water, and nutrients across the land.
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Focuses on identifying elements of the landscape that play four principal roles • Ecological benchmarks serve as reference sites or controls for
understanding the natural dynamics of ecosystems and their response to human activities.
• Site‐specific protected areas capture values that may not be well represented within benchmark areas, such as additional areas of cultural significance, habitats or ecosystems of special scientific or conservation concern, identified "special elements" (e.g., rare species occurrences), and features that are key to maintaining connectivity across landscapes.
• Active management areas are sites of relatively intense human activity, such as those associated with human settlements, forestry, mining, hydroelectric developments, and the transportation infrastructure linking these activities.
• The conservation matrix is the supportive environment within which less intense human activities are carefully planned and managed in an integrated fashion, so as not to erode other values.
BEACONSProducts and potential uses
• Minimum dynamic reserve• ACEC location recommendations• Landscape connectivity recommendations
– Within BLM‐managed lands– Between conservation units
• Development zone recommendations• Prioritization of lands with wilderness characteristics
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Integrated Ecosystem Model (IEM)• UAF’s Senarios Network for Alaska & Arctic Planning (SNAP)
• Designed to help resource managers understand the nature and expected rate of landscape change
• Integrates components of three existing models dealing with disturbance and succession, terrestrial ecological processes, and permafrost dynamics
• Funded by various LCCs and the Alaska Climate Science Center
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IEMProducts and potential uses
Maps showing (under different climate change scenarios)• potential vegetation change ‘hot spots’• Areas most susceptible to fire• Areas most susceptible to treeline change• Areas most susceptible to permafrost change• Areas most susceptible to carbon flux changes
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NEXT STEPS
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• ACEC nomination period May 1 – Aug 29, 2014• Scoping Report forthcoming• Analysis of the Management Situation avail Fall 2014• Preliminary Alternative Development Fall 2014• Begin to write Draft RMP Fall 2014• Preliminary Alternatives Community Presentations Spring 2015
Planning Schedule
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Planning Phase Planned DatesPublic scoping June 14, 2013‐January 17, 2014
Develop Alternatives Oct. 2014‐April 2015
Prepare Draft RMP/EIS May‐September 2015
Public Comment on Draft RMP/EIS Fall 2015
Prepare Proposed RMP/Final EIS Winter/spring 2016
Protest Period and Governors Consistency Review Fall 2016
Record of Decision 2017
Mail: BLM Central Yukon Field Office1150 University AveFairbanks, AK 99709Attention: Jeanie Cole
E‐mail: [email protected]
Fax: (907) 474‐2282, Attention Jeanie Cole
Online: Interactive scoping document on Central Yukon RMP webpage (www.blm.gov/ak/cyrmp)
Inquiries:
http://www.blm.gov/ak/cyrmp
The End
Questions/Comments?
Questions?