CARBONATE HABITAT MINERAL WITHDRAWAL

Opportunity to Comment

The San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF), Mountaintop Ranger District, has prepared an Environmental Assessment for this project, which is available for review at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=54410.

The Proposed Action is a recommendation to the Secretary of the Interior to make a mineral withdrawal of 3055 acres as described in the Environmental Assessment. The recommendation would consist of a withdrawal from mineral location and entry under the General Mining Laws of the U.S., subject to valid existing rights, and achieving the purpose to maintain and conserve habitat for four listed threatened and endangered plant species as described under the Carbonate Habitat Management Strategy (CHMS).

The Requested Withdrawal Area is located approximately 25 miles northeast of San Bernardino, California and 8.5 miles south of the unincorporated community of Lucerne Valley, California (Figures 1 and 2). The withdrawal area includes 2,775.16 acres of National Forest System land within the SBNF, and 280 acres of non-federal lands in the , San Bernardino County, California.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is a cooperating agency for the purposes of NEPA and compliance with regulations of the CEQ. BLM staff have participated in the preparation of this EA. As the applicant, the Forest Service has prepared this EA and other information required by the Secretary to make a decision on the recommended withdrawal (43 CFR 2310.3-2). BLM has independently evaluated and reviewed the final product (43 CFR 2310.3-2(b) (3)).

This EA is not a decision document. Based upon the analysis of effects, the recommending Forest Service official will transmit a recommendation to the BLM. The recommending Forest Service official for this assessment is the Pacific Southwest Region Regional Forester (FSM 2761.04). The decision document is the public land order (PLO) or notice of denial, issued from the Secretary of the Interior, pursuant to the FLPMA. This proposal is not subject to objection under Forest Service regulations at 36 CFR 218 because the Forest Service is making a recommendation to another Federal agency. Additionally, there will be no BLM administrative review since the decision is made by the Secretary of Interior.

A notice of proposed withdrawal was published in the Federal Register on April 14, 2014 and initiated a 90-day public comment period, which ended July 14, 2014. A 30-day notice and comment period will occur upon the release of this EA to the public via legal notice in the San Bernardino Sun. This comment period satisfies both Forest Service and BLM NEPA requirements.

How to Comment and Timeframe

Written and electronic comments concerning this action will be accepted for 30 calendar days following publication of the legal notice in the San Bernardino Sun, the newspaper of record. Please submit your comments electronically via email to Anne Surdzial, AICP, email: [email protected].

Any attached comments must be in plain text (.txt), rich text format (.rtf), Word (.doc or .docx), or portable document format (.pdf).

If you are unable to send comments electronically, you may send them by mail to Anne Surdzial, AICP, ECORP Consulting, Inc. address: 215 N. Fifth Street, Redlands, California 92374. Names of commenters will be part of the public record subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

If you are unable to access the project documents from the project website referenced above, or have questions about this project, please contact Scott Eliason at the San Bernardino National Forest at [email protected], or (909) 382-2830.