[Federal Register: October 27, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 207)]
[Notices]
[Page 61232-61233]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27oc03-97]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NM-060-03-1220-DA]


Fort Stanton Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC)
Designation of Roads and Trails

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of closure of roads and designation of trails.

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SUMMARY: The Roswell Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) is closing roads and developing multiuse trails to protect
resource values within the Fort Stanton ACEC. The Route Designation
Plan (transportation plan) includes road closures, designating off-
highway vehicle (OHV) routes, designation of multiuse trails, and
closing roads, the use of which is causing damage within the ACEC. The
designation is in accordance with the 1997 Roswell Resource Management
Plan (RMP) and the Fort Stanton ACEC Final Activity Plan of March 2001.
In accordance to the RMP and the ACEC Plan, approximately 24,000 acres
will be designated as limited to designated roads and trails for OHV
use, to protect soils, cultural resources, and vegetation, including
threatened or endangered species. Twenty miles of roads will be closed,
and twenty miles will be designated as open to OHV's. Sixty miles of
multiuse hike/bike/equestrian trails will be designated. The Route
Designation Plan is necessary to reduce the impact from recreationists
to biological, archaeological, and scenic qualities of the ACEC, while
providing for quality recreation opportunities.

DATES: This notice is effective October 27, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Bureau of Land Management, Roswell Field Office, Attention
Paul T. Happel, Natural Resource Specialist, 2909 West Second, Roswell, New Mexico 88201. Internet e-mail: paul_happel@blm.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information and/or to have
your name added to our mailing list, contact Paul T. Happel, Natural
Resource Specialist, at the address listed above, telephone number
(505) 627-0203, during normal business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Mountain Time).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Instructions for filing a protest with the
Director of the BLM may be found at 43 CFR 4.400. Any party to the case
who is adversely affected by a decision of an officer of the BLM or an
administrative law judge shall have a right to appeal to the Interior
Board of Land Appeals. A person who wishes to appeal to the Interior
Board of Land Appeals must file in the office of the officer who made
the decision (the Roswell Field Office) a notice that he wishes to
appeal. The authority for the proposed activities is under 43 CFR part
8342, which provides for the designation of roads and trails to protect
resources of the public lands. This section goes on to require public
participation, designation, and identification of designated areas and
trails. Public meetings have been completed. Public participants were
also involved in the NEPA process and were given an opportunity to
comment on the Environmental Assessment for the Route Designation Plan.
The RMP constitutes the formal designation process for OHV's. This
Notice will serve as a public notice for the official designation and
identification of specific roads and trails in the Fort Stanton ACEC.
Appropriate informational material will be provided and available to
the public at the BLM office. The Fort Stanton ACEC is located
approximately 5 miles southeast of the village of Capitan, New Mexico,
and approximately 10 miles north east of the village of Ruidoso, New
Mexico.
The Roswell RMP designated Fort Stanton as an ACEC in 1997. A
collaborative final activity plan was developed for the ACEC in March
2001. The ACEC Plan took approximately 2 years to complete with
extensive public scoping and public assessment. The Route Designation
Plan/Environmental Assessment was developed over an 18-month period
with a collaborative work group. All public meetings were held in the
evening, approximately 4 miles from the ACEC in the town of Capitan,
New Mexico. This notice will not affect valid existing rights to public
land users. Under the 1997 Roswell Resource Management Plan (RMP), the
area will remain open to saleable mineral disposal. All public lands in
Fort Stanton will remain withdrawn from the general mining laws, closed
to the disposal of leaseable minerals, and to the leasing of oil and
gas. Major rights-

[[Page 61233]]

of-way will be excluded on the entire area. The area is also excluded
from the Taylor Grazing Act. Unrestricted hiking will be allowed
through out the area. OHV's will be limited to designated roads and
trails. The Route Designation Plan/Environmental Assessment designates
the routes of vehicle travel and multiuse trails within the ACEC.
Presently, there are 40 miles of existing roads within the ACEC. The
Plan closes approximately 20 miles of existing roads within the ACEC.
These 20 miles of roads are causing severe environmental damage, are
placed in the wrong locations, are dangerous to users, and will be
closed to general public use within the ACEC. Approximately 60 miles of
multiuse hike/bike/equestrian trails are designated by the Route
Designation Plan and will be developed separately from the existing
road system within the ACEC. The trails will allow the users to gain
access into the back country of the ACEC without being in direct
competition with the motorized vehicles using the area. Roads and
trails will be signed with standard OHV signage. Information kiosks
will be placed at all roads that enter the ACEC. Attached to the kiosk
will be a road/trail transportation system map, OHV rules and
regulations, and interpretive road and trail brochures. The principal
author of these closures, trail, and road designations is Paul T.
Happel of the Roswell Field Office, Bureau of Land Management,
Department of the Interior.

Dated: September 12, 2003.
Linda S.C. Rundell,
State Director.