BLM deadline extended

RBC I ­The Bureau of Land Management announced today it will extend the public comment period on its draft Colorado River Valley Resource Management Plan until Feb. 29.
The plan will provide a framework to guide subsequent management decisions on 505,000 surface acres and 707,000 acres of subsurface mineral estate administered by the BLM Field Office in Eagle, Garfield, Mesa, Pitkin, Rio Blanco and Routt counties for the next several decades.
The comment period was set to end today. BLM extended the comment period in response to requests from Senator Michael Bennet, U.S. Representative Scott Tipton, and Governor John Hickenlooper.
“Our goal from the beginning of this comment period has been to get specific, detailed comments from the public about our draft alternatives,” said acting Colorado River valley field manager Karl Mendonca. “If you have already submitted your comments, you will be able to amend those comments if necessary.”
The draft RMP for the Colorado River Valley Field Office was released for a 90-day public comment period on Sept. 15. In early December, BLM extended the comment period an additional 32 days. With the additional extension announced today, the public comment period for this plan will be a total of 165 days.
“We appreciate that this draft plan is large and complex,” Mendonca said. “We believe that extending the deadline through the end of February should give everyone enough time to review the document and provide detailed comments.”
The draft RMP analyzes four alternatives covering all aspects of BLM land and mineral management within the Colorado River Valley Field Office boundaries, including recreation, travel management, energy development, resource protection, wildlife habitat, special designations, grazing and realty actions.
The comment period for the draft RMP for the neighboring Kremmling Field Office ends today. For additional information including how to provide comments or obtain a copy of the draft RMP, visit http://www.blm. gov/co/st/en/BLM_Programs/land_use_planning/rmp/kfo-gsfo.html
BLM will use the public comments to help develop a proposed RMP/final EIS for each of these field offices, which are scheduled for release in 2012.