BLM, BIA cancel draft amendment for Farmington Mancos-Gallup plan

FARMINGTON, N.M. — Consistent with a decision first announced in December 2023, the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs Navajo Regional Office today took the formal step of canceling development of an amendment to the 2003 Farmington Mancos-Gallup Resource Management Plan.  As BLM and BIA work to determine future management for this culturally important region, both Bureaus will continue engagement with Tribal Nations, cooperators, and local communities, including through a new Programmatic Agreement to address consultation on oil and gas related issues.

The BLM began the amendment process in 2014 to analyze potential impacts on public lands from expected increases in oil and gas development in the San Juan Basin and to consider potential management updates. BIA joined the effort as co-lead in 2016. Since then there have been significant changes in the planning area, including decreased interest in oil and gas development, increasing outdoor recreation, and, protections announced last year for more than 330,000 acres around Chaco Culture National Historical Park to better protect those sacred and historic sites as well as Tribal communities currently living in northwest New Mexico.

Given changing circumstances on the ground, BLM and BIA determined that the extent of revisions necessary to the 2013 draft EIS and planning amendment made additional updates impracticable. As a next step, the BLM will evaluate the still-in-effect 2003 Farmington Mancos-Gallup Resource Management Plan to consider any potential revisions or amendments needed to reflect current conditions on the ground.

Future planning efforts will include local community and Tribal involvement as well as multiple opportunities for public comment through the NEPA process.

For more information, please contact BLM Project Manager Sarah Scott at sscott@blm.gov or BIA Project Manager Robert Begay, at robert.begay1@bia.gov.