Protest of the Proposed RMP Amendment 

This notice announces the beginning of a 30-day protest period to the BLM on the Proposed RMP Amendment.  Protests must be postmarked or electronically submitted on the BLM’s ePlanning site. BLM planning regulations state that any person who participated in the preparation of the RMP and has an interest which will or might be adversely affected by approval of the Proposed RMP Amendment may protest its approval to the BLM.  Protest on the Proposed RMP Amendment constitutes the final opportunity for administrative review of the proposed land use planning decisions prior to the BLM adopting an approved RMP Amendment.  Instructions for filing a protest with the BLM regarding the Proposed RMP Amendment may be found online https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/filing-a-plan-protest and at 43 CFR 1610.5-2. All protests must be in writing and mailed to the appropriate address or submitted electronically through the BLM ePlanning project website https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2013605/510. 

Protests submitted electronically by any means other than the ePlanning project website will be invalid unless a hard copy of the protest is also submitted.  The BLM will render a written decision on each protest.  The protest decision of the BLM shall be the final decision of the Department of the Interior.  Responses to valid protest issues will be compiled and documented in a Protest Resolution Report made available following the protest resolution online at: https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/protest-resolution-reports.  Upon resolution of protests, the BLM will issue a Record of Decision (ROD) and Approved RMP Amendment. 

Before including your phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your protest or comment you should be aware that your entire protest or comment including your personal identifying information – may be made publicly available at any time.  While you can ask us in your protest or comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.  (Authority: 43 CFR 46.415(c), 43 CFR 1610.2; 43 CFR 1610.5) 

Project Update

The Shooting Ranges Project EA evaluates the BLM’s proposal to develop up to two recreational shooting ranges on public lands in Santa Fe County, one in the Buckman area and another in the Camel Tracks area.  The proposed project includes implementing a recreational shooting closure on the remainder of public lands in these two areas, as well as on public lands in the San Pedro Mountains, to resolve conflicts and impacts associated with dispersed shooting activities.

The proposed project, formulated by the BLM and its coopering agencies, is intended to enhance recreational shooting opportunities by providing a safe, controlled setting for recreational shooting while alleviating conflicts associated with dispersed shooting activities, including compromises to public safety, degradation of cultural and natural resources, the accumulation of trash, and nuisances to adjacent residential areas.  The proposal also includes the cleanup and remediation of currently impacted sites.

The final EA adequately evaluates the proposed project and its potential impacts, having addressed all input received by the public during the review and comment period on the draft EA. The BLM has two additional procedural requirements to meet before it can make a final decision on this project:  (1) compliance with the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act (Dingell Act), and (2) compliance regulations at 43 CFR 8365.1-6 regarding proposed supplemental rules. In order to meet these requirements the BLM will be publishing a Federal Register Notice (FRN) to solicit further public input on the proposed recreational shooting closures for a 60-day period. When approval is given to publish the FRN, we will notify the public on this project website. Substantive comments on the FRN package will be taken into consideration in developing the final decision documents and potential edits as necessary to the EA.