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ODn~92 (December 1982) between the Craig and Vernal district managers were followed. IMPLEMENTATION Conformance requirements All future resource management authorizations and actions, including budget proposals, will conform with (or at a minimum not conllict witb) the plan. All operations and activities under existing permits, contracts, cooperative agreements, or other instruments for occupancy and use will be modified if necessary to conform witb this plan witbin a reasonable period of time, subject to valid existing rights. Implementation of management decisions will be guided by a series of activity plans. An activity plan is done only when necessary to implemen' the more general RMP decisions. It is a more detailed and specific plan for managing resources and actions. Detailed schedules and management actions will be described in each activity plan. Resource specific plans to be prepared include habitat management plans for wildlife, allotment management plans for livestock grazing, watershed activity plans, and cultural r~ource management plans. Site specific management plans WIll also be required for areas of critical environmental concern (ACECs), special recreation management areas (SRMAs), and areas ultimately designated by Congress as units of the National Wilderness Preservation System. In addition, an overall resource monitOring plan will be prepared for the Little Snake Resource Area to identify appropriate locations and methods for monitOring resources. It will also identify coordination procedures for developing and initiating sJlCC!fic monitoring studies and methods for recordmg and evaluatmg data. In addition to this plan, a wilderness study report is being prepared which will identify the preliminary recommen- dations for each wilderness study area. The report, along with a final environmental impact statement on the wilderness portion of this plan, will be submitted to Congress for action. Activities or uses not specifically addressed in this plan, such as small-scale projects (rights-<lf-way applications for rural telephone lines, access roads, free use permits, etc.), will be authorized if they meet legal reqwrements and are compatible with the objectives of each management unit. Valid existing rights This plan does not repeal valid existing rights on public lands. Valid existing rights are those claims or nghts to public land that take precedence over the actions in the plan. As lNTROOUCTlON an e""mple, a mining claim issued prior to the preparation of this plan in an area withdrawn from mineral entry may be valid. Valid existing rights may be held by other federal agencies or by private individuals or companies. Yalid existing rights may also penain to oil and gas leases, nghts- of-way, and water rights. The management units depicted on the Resource Management Plan Map include areas of split estate (non federal surface ownership over federal subsurface mineral estate), private, state, or other nonfederal lands. However, the management unit prescriptions apply only to public lands (the term "public lands" means any land and interest in land owned by the United States within the several states and administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the Bureau of Land Management, without regard to how the United States acquired ownership ... FLPMA). On split estate lands, management unit prescriptions indicate how BLM will manage the federal mineral estate; they do not dictate surface uses unrelated to federal mineral development. None of the management unit prescriptions apply to private, state, or other lands or minerals not managed by BLM. In addition, this plan does nOl propose that Congress reserve water rights for Cross Mountain, Diamond Breaks, or any other wilderness study area. While it has been argued that wilderness designation implies water rights, if Congress expressly states that water rights are not reserved for a wilderness area, there can be no implication and no reserved water right. The Wilderness Act and BLM Wilderness Management Policy recognize valid existing rights. In the case of water rights, if any reserved water rights are determined to be established by designation, the priority date of tbat rigbt would be junior to all rights existing at the time of designation. It would, therefore, not preempt any existing water rights. Further planning or environmental analysis Decisions in this plan will be implemented over a period of years. In some cases, more detailed and site-specific planning and environmental analysis may he required before an action can be taken. The environmental impact statement prepared with this plan will be used as a base and will be referenced in any additional site- or program-specific environmental analysis. Requirements for additional planning and analysis are incorporated in the decisions found in Chapter II. Implementation priorities Priorities have been established for those decisions which cannot be implemented immediately. These priorities are 3