{"abstract":"In accordance with Section 202 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, a Draft Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement has been prepared for the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area. The Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area Act of 2000 (the Act) gave special designation to 1.2 million acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in northwestern Nevada, collectively known as \"Black Rock-High Rock.\" The Act designated 815,000 acres as a National Conservation Area (NCA) and 752,000 acres as 10 Wilderness Areas (378,000 of the Wilderness acres overlap the NCA). The NCA and associated Wilderness Areas were created specifically to protect one of the last nationally significant segments of the historic emigrant trails used by pioneers to travel from the eastern States to Oregon and California, and a landscape largely unchanged since the mid-1800s. Black Rock-High Rock contains an array of unique historic, cultural, educational, wildlife, riparian, and wilderness resources, threatened species, and recreational values. The Act also identified wilderness, grazing, and special recreation permit events as valuable existing land uses that are expected to continue. Designating Black Rock-High Rock as an NCA and Wilderness Areas placed new emphasis and requirements on resource uses in the area. The DEIS/RMP has been developed to address these changes. This DEIS/RMP does not evaluate the designation of the NCA and Wilderness Areas, but rather develops several resource management alternatives that fully comply with the NCA Act and the Wilderness Act and other applicable laws, regulations and policies, and analyzes the environmental consequences associated with implementation of each alternative. Additionally, approximately 15,000 acres in the south playa, 16,000 acres in the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout (LCT) Area, and 3,000 acres included in wilderness access and boundary roads and road corridors located outside the NCA that are not included in the designation are evaluated in the DEIS/RMP due to their being contiguous lands with similar planning issues. These designated and adjacent areas, totaling approximately 1,221,000 acres of public lands, are referred to as the planning area. In addition to other existing laws, regulations and policies, the NCA Act and the Wilderness Act govern land and resource use decisions in 97.4% of the planning area. As a result, the range of alternatives presented in this planning document and the impacts anticipated from their implementation are more constrained than is typical of BLM management plans. Current management is guided by four Management Framework Plans (MFPs): The Sonoma-Gerlach, Paradise-Denio, Tuledad-Homecamp, and Cowhead-Massacre MFPs. The No Action Alternative in the DEIS/RMP would continue management under these MFPs consistent with the requirements of the NCA Act of 2000 as amended and the Wilderness Act of 1964.","action":"Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area Resource Management Plan (RMP), Nevada.","agencies":[{"raw_name":"DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR","name":"Interior Department","id":253,"url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/interior-department","json_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/agencies/253","parent_id":null,"slug":"interior-department"},{"raw_name":"Bureau of Land Management","name":"Land Management Bureau","id":275,"url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/land-management-bureau","json_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/agencies/275","parent_id":253,"slug":"land-management-bureau"}],"body_html_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/full_text/html/2003/03/07/03-5304.html","cfr_references":[],"citation":"68 FR 11127","comment_url":null,"comments_close_on":null,"correction_of":null,"corrections":[],"dates":"Written comments on the Draft RMP/EIS will be accepted for 90 days following the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register. Future meetings or hearings and any other public involvement activities will be announced in 15 days in advance through public notices, media news releases, and/ or mailings.","disposition_notes":null,"docket_ids":[],"dockets":[],"document_number":"03-5304","effective_on":null,"end_page":11129,"executive_order_notes":null,"executive_order_number":null,"explanation":null,"full_text_xml_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/full_text/xml/2003/03/07/03-5304.xml","html_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2003/03/07/03-5304/notice-of-availability-of-a-draft-environmental-impact-statement-for-the-black-rock-desert-high-rock","images":{},"images_metadata":{},"json_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/documents/03-5304?publication_date=2003-03-07","mods_url":"https://www.govinfo.gov/metadata/granule/FR-2003-03-07/03-5304/mods.xml","not_received_for_publication":null,"page_length":3,"page_views":{"count":10,"last_updated":"2026-04-04 12:15:04 -0400"},"pdf_url":"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2003-03-07/pdf/03-5304.pdf","presidential_document_number":null,"proclamation_number":null,"public_inspection_pdf_url":null,"publication_date":"2003-03-07","raw_text_url":"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/full_text/text/2003/03/07/03-5304.txt","regulation_id_number_info":{},"regulation_id_numbers":[],"regulations_dot_gov_info":{},"regulations_dot_gov_url":null,"significant":null,"signing_date":null,"start_page":11127,"subtype":null,"title":"Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area Resource Management Plan, Nevada","toc_doc":"Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area, NV","toc_subject":"Environmental statements; availability, etc.:","topics":[],"type":"Notice","volume":68}