The Bureau of Land Management will host four public scoping meetings as part of the land-use planning for Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Scoping efforts were initiated Jan. 16 for Bears Ears’ Indian Creek and Shash Jáa units; the Grand Staircase, Kaiparowits and Escalante Canyon units; and federal lands previously included in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument that are now excluded from its boundaries.
In total, the BLM will produce six land-use plans and two associated environmental impact statements. The BLM and U.S. Forest Service will jointly prepare the land-use plan and associated impact statements for the Shash Jáa unit.
The two planning areas cover about 2.1 million acres of federal land in Garfield, Kane, and San Juan counties. The new planning efforts will replace the 2000 Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Management Plan and replace portions of the 2008 Monticello Resource Management Plan.
Comments on the GSENM plan may also be submitted until April 13 directly through the project ePlanning page at: https://goo.gl/EHvhbc, mailed to 669 S Hwy 89A Kanab, UT 84741, or emailed to BLM_UT_CCD_monuments@blm.gov.
The public is invited to the meetings and encouraged to help identify concerns that should be addressed in the planning processes. The comments will be used to help set the scope of the review of the land use plans.
Comments must be received within 15 days of the last scheduled public meeting for the specific planning effort. Comments on the BENM plan may also be submitted until April 11 directly through the project ePlanning page at: https://goo.gl/uLrEae, mailed to P.O. Box 7 Monticello, UT 84535, or emailed to blm_ut_monticello_monuments@blm.gov.
Additional information about the planning effort for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is at: https://goo.gl/EHvhbc and for Bears Ears National Monument at: https://goo.gl/uLrEae.
Monument meetings
Bears Ears
March 26:
4:30–8 p.m. San Juan High School, Blanding, Utah
March 27:
4:30–8 p.m. Bluff Community Center, Bluff, Utah
Grand Staircase-Escalante
March 28:
4:30-8 p.m., Kanab Middle School, Kanab, Utah
March 29:
4:30–8 p.m., Canyon Country Lodge, Escalante, Utah
