By Kassidee Oakeson
On Tuesday, April 16 at 6 p.m., at the Carbon County Commission Chambers, Castle County OHV Association welcomed Laura Ault, Deputy Director of Utah Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office (PLPCO) for a night of questions and answers regarding the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) road closures in the San Rafael Swell. Also in attendance to help answer questions was Jaydon Mead from the BLM’s Price Field Office.
The BLM will be releasing the Travel Management Plan (TMP) for the San Rafael Swell towards the end of May/start of June. At that time, the public will be allowed to submit comments to the BLM. There will only be about a 30-45 day comment period. If a comment is submitted before or after the comment period, then that comment will not be officially considered.
During this meeting, the BLM handed out a quick guide of to how to make substantive comments. This quick guide says; “a vital piece of the BLM’s NEPA planning process is the public comments received. These comments help shape how different projects are finalized. A common misconception is that any comment about the plan is a substantive one, like voting for which alternative is best.” The guide then shared tips on what a substantive comment is. A substantive comment: includes new information, identifies a way to meet a need, points out specific flaws in analysis, gives an alternative with supporting facts or evidence, and identifies parts of the plan or analysis that are unclear.
A substantive comment also uses clear, specific rationale, supporting documents like photos or other factual evidence and information, demonstrate impact or likely potential for impact, are unique and not a form letter, specific location information, e.g. GPS coordinates or route number. Mead encouraged those in attendance to review the TMP when it was released and the specific reasons for the route closures and make comments based on that information if possible.
A tool available for public use to prepare comments can be found on PLPCO’s website under Travel Management Planning. Listed on that webpage is all the finalized, in-progress and coming soon TMP’s. There is a link under the San Rafael Swell, under Travel Management Areas to learn more or explore the preliminary alternatives map and prepare a comment letter. From there, the public can see preliminary maps of the road closures and use the comment generator tool. The comment generator tool includes user-friendly instructions.
It is important to note that completing a comment on the comment generator tool will not submit a comment to the BLM, it is just a tool to help the public create substantive non-form comments. The user will need to take the comment generated and either mail, email the comments to the BLM, or submit the comment on the BLM’s website during the comment period.
TMP’s already finalized include the Labyrinth Rims/Gemini Bridges, Canyon Rims/Indian Creek and the San Rafael Desert. Upcoming TMP’s include Henry Mountains/Fremont Gorge, Trail Canyon, Paunsaugunt, Dinosaur North, Book Cliffs, Nine Mile Canyon and Dolores River. The in-progress TPM for the San Rafael Swell currently has four alternatives. The most aggressive alternative, Alternative B, has as much as 949 inventoried miles closed, 1577 roads closed in total.
For more information about what a BLM Travel Management Plan (TMP) is, use the comment generator tool, etc. visit PLPCO’s website: publiclands.utah.gov
The website to submit public comments and view the TMP as it is released is the BLM’s project planning page: eplanning.blm.gov.