US Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Battle Mountain District Office, Nevada Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement SCOPING SUMMARY REPORT JULY 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................. S-1 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1-1 1.1 Purpose of and Need for the Resource Management Plan ................................................ 1-1 1.2 Description of the RMP Planning Area .................................................................................... 1-2 1.3 Overview of Public Involvement Process ............................................................................... 1-4 1.4 Description of the Scoping Process ......................................................................................... 1-5 1.4.1 Newsletter and Mailing List ......................................................................................... 1-5 1.4.2 Press Release .................................................................................................................. 1-5 1.4.3 Project Website ............................................................................................................. 1-6 1.4.4 Scoping Open Houses .................................................................................................. 1-6 1.4.5 Notice of Intent ............................................................................................................. 1-7 1.5 Collaborative Involvement Process .......................................................................................... 1-7 1.5.1 Cooperating Agencies .................................................................................................. 1-7 1.5.1 Resource Advisory Council......................................................................................... 1-9 1.5.2 Collaboration and Consultation with Tribes .......................................................... 1-9 2. COMMENT SUMMARY .................................................................................................... 2-1 2.1 Method of Comment Collection and Analysis ...................................................................... 2-1 2.2 Summary of Public Comments Received ................................................................................ 2-2 2.2.1 Oral Comments at Scoping Meetings ....................................................................... 2-2 2.2.2 Written Submissions by Affiliation ............................................................................ 2-4 2.2.3 Written Submissions by Geographical Area ........................................................... 2-4 2.2.4 Number of Comments by Process Category ......................................................... 2-7 2.2.5 Number of Comments by Planning Issue Category .............................................. 2-8 3. ISSUE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ 3-1 3.1 Planning Issue Development ...................................................................................................... 3-1 3.2 Planning Issue Statements ........................................................................................................... 3-2 3.3 Summary of Public Comments by Resource Planning Issue Category .......................... 3-15 3.3.1 Issue No. 1: Restoring Ecological Health ............................................................... 3-15 3.3.2 Issue No. 2: Air and Atmospheric Values .............................................................. 3-16 3.3.3 Issue No. 3: Water ...................................................................................................... 3-16 3.3.4 Issue No. 4: Cultural Resources, Native American Concerns and Paleontology Resources ............................................................................................. 3-16 3.3.5 Issue No. 5: Visual Resource Management ............................................................ 3-17 3.3.6 Issue No. 6: Special Status Species .......................................................................... 3-17 3.3.7 Issue No. 7: Fish and Wildlife ................................................................................... 3-17 3.3.8 Issue No. 8: Wild Horses and Burros .................................................................... 3-17 3.3.9 Issue No. 9: Fire Management .................................................................................. 3-18 3.3.10 Issue No. 10: Livestock Grazing ............................................................................... 3-18 3.3.11 Issue No. 11: Recreation and Visitor Services ...................................................... 3-18 3.3.12 Issue No. 12: Lands and Realty ................................................................................. 3-18 3.3.13 Issue No. 13: Mineral Resources ............................................................................. 3-19 3.3.14 Issue No. 14: Hazardous Materials .......................................................................... 3-19 3.3.15 Issue No. 15: Special Designations .......................................................................... 3-19 3.3.16 Issue No. 16: Renewable Resources ....................................................................... 3-20 July 2011 Battle Mountain Resource Management Plan Revision and EIS i Scoping Summary Report TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Chapter Page 3.3.17 Issue No. 17: Socio-Economics ................................................................................ 3-20 3.3.18 Issue No. 18: Environmental Justice ........................................................................ 3-21 3.3.19 Issue No. 19: Sustainable Development ................................................................. 3-21 3.3.20 Issue No. 20: Transportation facilities .................................................................... 3-21 3.3.21 Issue No. 21: Comprehensive Travel and Transportation Management........ 3-21 3.3.22 Issue No. 21: Cave and Karst Resources ............................................................... 3-22 3.3.23 Other Issues to Be Addressed in the RMP ........................................................... 3-22 3.4 Issues That Will Not Be Addressed in the RMP ................................................................. 3-22 3.5 Anticipated Decisions ................................................................................................................ 3-22 3.5.1 Future Land Use Plan-level Decisions ..................................................................... 3-23 3.5.2 Future Implementation-level Decisions .................................................................. 3-24 3.6 Valid Existing Management ....................................................................................................... 3-24 3.7 Special Designations, Including Nominations ....................................................................... 3-24 4. PLANNING CRITERIA ..................................................................................................... 4-1 4.1 Preliminary Planning Criteria ..................................................................................................... 4-1 5. DATA SUMMARY/DATA GAPS ....................................................................................... 5-1 6. FUTURE STEPS .............................................................................................................. 6-1 6.1 Future Steps and Public Participation Opportunities ........................................................... 6-1 6.2 Contact Information .................................................................................................................... 6-2 7. REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 7-1 FIGURES Page 1-1 Battle Mountain RMP Planning Area ....................................................................................................... 1-3 2-1 Comments by Commenter Affiliation .................................................................................................... 2-5 2-2 Commenters by Geographic Area .......................................................................................................... 2-6 TABLES Page 1-1 Scoping Open Houses ................................................................................................................................ 1-6 1-2 Cooperating Agency Participation ........................................................................................................... 1-8 2-1 Comments by Commenter Affiliation .................................................................................................... 2-5 2-2 Commenters by Geographic Area .......................................................................................................... 2-6 2-3 Commenter Location within the Planning Area ................................................................................... 2-7 2-4 Comments by Process Category ............................................................................................................. 2-7 2-5 Comments by Planning Issue....................................................................................................................