BLM to host first official meeting for management plan update

The process to update the resource management plan (RMP) that governs Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in Crook County has officially begun.

The scoping period will begin with a series of public meetings, including one at the courthouse in Sundance on May 15 at 4 p.m.

The document defines how the BLM approaches management of everything from livestock grazing and fire management to air quality and minerals on the lands it governs within northeast Wyoming and covers the tri-county region of Crook, Weston and Niobrara counties.

The RMP for the Newcastle Field Office has not been updated since 1999. The update will involve making allocation decisions on approximately 292,000 surface acres and 1.6 million sub-surface federal mineral acres.

In other words, the BLM will be making decisions as to what will be allowed in a certain area, and what will be restricted or disallowed in that area. It will cover everything from oil and gas leasing to recreation and types of usage, as well as which areas the BLM would be willing to dispose of and protections for such things as culture and wildlife.

The revision will take place alongside a second RMP for the State of Nebraska. The BLM administers a much more limited area in that state, so has opted to revise the two plans together in a single environmental impact statement before producing two records of decision and two plans.

The BLM announced that it would be updating its RMP last year and conducted a series of open house meetings to get started in this “pre-scoping” period.

Now, however, the project has officially begun and the public meetings are part of the scoping process. Comments will be accepted at the meetings and can also be submitted in writing to the Newcastle Field Office or via the project website at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/home.