WSP05115

• File Number: 8200.766
• Description: Gunnison River General
• State: CO
• Basin: Gunnison
• Water Division: 4
• Date: 8/12/1987
• Author: DOI-BLM
• Title: Gunnison Basin and the American Flats-Silverton Wilderness - Final Environmental Impact Statement
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

,~J1737

This Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
analyzes the potential impacts of
designating or not designating five
Wfl derness Study Areas (WSAs) tota 11 i ng
65,415 acres into the National Wilderness
Preservation System.

The five BLM WSAs under study in this
Gunnison Basin and American Flats/Silverton
Wilderness EIS are (see Map 1-1 and 1-2):

WSA

Acreage

Redcloud Peak (CO-030-208)
Handies Peak (CO-030-241)
American Flats (CO-030-217)
Larson Creek (CO-030-086)
Bill Hare Gulch (CO-030-085)

40,575
18,860
4,710
gOO
370

TOTAL

65,415

BACKGROUND

BLM's wil derness program is a resul t of the
Federal Land Policy and Management Act
(FLPMA) of 1976 (Public Law 94-579), FLPMA
is Congress' basic guidance to the BLM on
how to manage the 470 million acres of
public lands.

One portion of FLPMA (Section 603[aJ)
di rects the Secretary of the Interior and
the BLM to inventory public lands to
identify those that have wil derness
characteristics. Lands with wilderness
characteristics must then be studied to
determine thei r suHabil ity or
nonsuitabiT ity for wfl derness. Based on an
evaluation of wilderness and other resource
uselval ues in each area determined to
contain wilderness characteristics. the
Secretary must report his recommendations
to the President no later than October 21,
1991, on whether areas should be designated
as wi1 derness. The Pres i dent must report
hi s fi nal recommendati ens to Congress
within two years. Congress will decide if
any of these recommended areas are to
become wilderness or not.

CHAPTER 1

PURPOSE AND NEED

To accomplish the mandate of Section 603 of
FLPMA, the BLM has developed a framework
for the wilderness review process which has
three phases:

1. Inventory The inventory phase
involves looking at the public lands to
determine and locate the existence of
areas containing wilderness resources
that meet the criteria established by
Congress. Such areas are identified as
Wilderness Study Areas.

2. Study - The study phase invol ves
the process of determi nf ng, through
careful analysis. which Wilderness
StUdy Areas will be recommended dS
suitable for wilderness designation and
which will be recommended as
nonsuitable. These determinations,
made through the BLM' 5 1 and use
planning system, consider all values,
resources, and uses of the public lands.

3. Reporting The reporting phase
consists of actually forwarding or
reporting these suitable and
nonsui tabl e recommendati ons through the
Secretary of the Interior and the
President to Congress. Mineral
surveys, Environmental Impact State-
ments. and other data are also
submitted with these recommendations.

The inventory phase of the process,
completed in December 1980, identified 11
WSAs in the Gunnison Basin and American
Flats/Silverton Planning Units (see Map in
pocket). At the beginning of this study
effort, three of these WSAs were contiguous
to U.S. Forest Service study areas or
planning areas. These three WSAs, Sparling
Gul ch/Friends Creek (CO-030-088/213),
Slumgullion Slide (CO-030-211), and West
Needles Contiguous (CO-D30-229A), were
studied separately in conjunction with
Forest Service land use plans. The other
eight WSAs were included in the DEIS which
was released in May 1982.

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