CONTENTS 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1 2 Scoping Process ....................................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Purpose of Scoping ........................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Scoping Outreach .............................................................................................................................. 3 2.2.1 Publication of the Notice of Intent ....................................................................................... 3 2.2.2 Other Outreach Methods ....................................................................................................... 3 2.3 Opportunities for Public Comment ................................................................................................ 3 2.4 Public Scoping Meetings .................................................................................................................. 4 2.5 Cooperating Agency Involvement ................................................................................................... 4 2.6 National Historic Preservation Act and Tribal Consultation ....................................................... 5 3 Submission Processing and Comment Coding .................................................................................... 5 3.1 Submission-Level Processing .......................................................................................................... 5 3.2 Comment-Level Coding .................................................................................................................... 6 4 Issues Raised That Will Not be Addressed as Part of This Planning Process .................................. 7 5 Summary of Public Concerns and Issues ............................................................................................. 8 5.1 Air and Climate .................................................................................................................................. 8 5.2 Soils and Water ................................................................................................................................. 8 5.3 Biological Resources ........................................................................................................................ 9 5.4 Cultural Resources and Native American Concerns ................................................................. 11 5.5 Paleontology ................................................................................................................................... 12 5.6 Aesthetic Resources (visual resources and soundscapes) ...................................................... 12 5.7 Wildland Fire Management .......................................................................................................... 13 5.8 Lands with Wilderness Characteristics ....................................................................................... 14 5.9 Livestock Grazing ........................................................................................................................... 14 5.10 Recreation and Visitors Services ................................................................................................. 15 5.11 Travel Management ....................................................................................................................... 17 5.12 Lands and Realty ........................................................................................................................... 17 5.13 Energy Development (Minerals and Renewables) .................................................................... 18 5.14 Special Designations ..................................................................................................................... 19 5.15 Social and Economic Conditions ................................................................................................. 20 5.16 Process ............................................................................................................................................ 20 6 Future Steps in the Monument Management Plans/Environmental Impact Statement Process ................................................................................................................................................... 22 7 Contact Information .............................................................................................................................. 24 i Appendices Appendix A. Comment Summary by Resource Topic Appendix B. Comment Summary by Management Unit Figures Figure 1. GSENM Planning Area. ..................................................................................................................... 2 Figure 2. National Environmental Policy Act and land use planning process graphic. ........................ 23 Tables Table 1. Scoping Meetings ............................................................................................................................... 4 Table 2. Summary of Submissions by Type ................................................................................................... 6 Table 3. Comments by Issue Category ........................................................................................................... 6 ii 1 INTRODUCTION The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM or Monument) and the BLM Kanab Field Office, Kanab, Utah, intend to prepare Resource Management Plans (RMPs) for the three new GSENM managements units: Grand Staircase, Kaiparowits, and Escalante Canyons Units. A fourth RMP will be prepared for BLM-administered lands within the original Monument boundary but outside the boundaries of the three new units; these lands are referred to as the excluded lands. The BLM will also prepare a single Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the three new units and for the excluded lands to satisfy National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), requirements for this planning process. The Planning Area for this effort is shown in Figure 1. The preparation of these documents satisfies the requirements of NEPA, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA); the National Forest Management Act of 1976, as amended (NFMA); and Presidential Proclamation 6920, as modified by Presidential Proclamation 9682. The BLM will not repeat or duplicate direction from law, regulation, policy, or agency guidance (e.g., instructional memoranda, manuals, handbooks) in the RMPs. The BLM began a scoping process on January 16, 2018, to solicit public comments and to identify issues to be addressed in the development of the RMPs and EIS. Comments were received by U.S. Postal Service mail, email, and website form, and verbal and written comments were submitted at two public meetings. The scoping period ended on April 13, 2018. This report summarizes the issues identified in the comments submitted. 1 Figure 1. GSENM Planning Area. 2 2 SCOPING PROCESS 2.1 Purpose of Scoping In accordance with Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA regulations (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] 1501.7), it is through the scoping process that the lead agency will 1) determine the scope and significant issues to be analyzed in depth in the EIS; 2) identify and eliminate from detailed study the issues that are not significant, narrowing the discussion of such issues to a brief presentation in the EIS regarding why they will not have a significant effect on the human environment; and 3) identify a range of reasonable alternatives that address issues identified during scoping. The scoping process will also help the BLM identify issues to be addressed in the RMPs/EIS. 2.2 Scoping Outreach 2.2.1 Publication of the Notice of Intent The formal public scoping process began on January 16, 2018, with the publication of the Notice of Intent (NOI) in the Federal Register informing the public of the BLM’s intent to prepare RMPs for the GSENM Grand Staircase, Kaiparowits, and Escalante Canyons Units; an RMP for the excluded lands; and an associated EIS for all four RMPs (Federal Register Vol. 83, No. 10, 2179). A copy of the Federal Register is available on the BLM’s ePlanning website: https://goo.gl/EHvhbc). The NOI defined the end date of the scoping period as March 19, 2018, or 15 days after the last public meeting, whichever was later. The last public meeting was held on March 29, 2018, and the public period closed on April 13, 2018, for a total scoping period of 107 days. 2.2.2 Other Outreach Methods Other outreach methods comprised the following: • A media release distributed on January 16, 2018, identifying the start of the public scoping period and methods by which interested parties can comment (distributed on January 16, 2018) • A media release distributed on March 9, 2018, announcing meeting dates and locations • Scoping notification letters sent to the BLM’s interested party list 2.3 Opportunities for Public Comment Members of the public and agencies had several methods for providing comments during the scoping period: • Comments could be submitted using the BLM’s ePlanning website at https://goo.gl/EHvhbc. • Comments could be handwritten on comment forms at the scoping meetings. Comment forms were provided to all meeting