Project Overview

The United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Central Yukon Field Office released the Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) and associated Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Central Yukon planning area. The planning area consists of 13.1 million acres of BLM-managed land, including the Dalton Highway and Central Yukon areas. When approved, this RMP will replace the 1991 Utility Corridor RMP and the 1986 Central Yukon RMP. It will also provide an RMP for a portion of the lands currently covered by the 1981 Southwest Management Framework Plan and for lands near Fairbanks not previously included in a land use plan.

Purpose and Need

The purpose of this RMP/EIS is to develop management decisions to guide future land management in the planning area and to provide a framework for subsequent site-specific projects and implementation-level decisions. These planning decisions establish goals and objectives for day-to-day and long-term resource management. To achieve these goals and objectives, the RMP/EIS identifies uses (allocations) that are allowed, restricted, or prohibited.

The need for the Central Yukon RMP/EIS is to provide guidance and to address changes in resources, circumstances, laws, policies, and regulations in the planning area since the existing plans were developed in the 1980s and 1990s. The land use plan will review existing land withdrawals and if warranted, recommend revocations or modifications to the Secretary of the Interior. Such withdrawal revocations will make lands available for selection and appropriation, including land allotments by Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans under Section 1119 of the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act.

Lead, Cooperating, and Participating Agencies

The BLM is the lead federal agency under NEPA for the development of the RMP/EIS. The BLM requested federal, state and local agencies, and Native American tribes to participate as cooperating agencies in the preparation of the RMP/EIS. A cooperating agency is any federal, state or local government agency, or Native American tribe that enters into a formal agreement – a memorandum of understanding – with the lead federal agency to help in the environmental analysis.

Cooperating agencies for the project are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Allakaket Tribal Council, Ruby Tribal Council, Koyukuk Tribal Council, Tanana Tribal Council, Nulato Tribal Council, Venetie Tribal Council, and the State of Alaska, please see Appendix B, Collaboration and Coordination, of the Central Yukon RMP/EIS.

Planning Area Map

Next Station: Scoping and Alternatives Development

For more information on the Draft RMP/EIS or to submit comments, please visit the BLM’s NEPA Register website: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/35315/510.

For more information, contact Chel Ethun at (907) 474-2253.