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Show Activities Covered tiLM's f ix Variety During 1976 Managing nearly 25 million res in Utah involved the partmcnt of the Interior's I ireau of Land Management in wide variety of activities iring 1976. According to Paul L. Howard, pl-M Utah state director, the Bureau was involved in such programs as mineral velopment, grazing, recreation, woodland products, Md the preservation of environmental and cultural values of historical places. The bureau administers approximately 47 percent of the State's land area. Hllate in February, the BLM WState. Office moved from ,the IgFedexal Building to the HlAiiversity Club Building at 136 HBnst South Temple in Salt Lake Klty. The move was made to wctntralize the staff and provide afar better service to the public. Hj Minerals activity during the Vwar included issuing 2,341 noncompetitive oil and gas Upases on 3,460,397 acres and 19 Competitive oil and gas leases Hn 4,886 acres, high bids for the competitive leases totaled $148,946. Geothermal steam leasing continued with BLM issuing 87 noncompetitive leases on 154,000 acres and 13 competitive leases on 26,968 acres with high bids totaling $96,688. Oil and gas leasing activity on BLM-administered land in western and southern Utah Increased greatly with the bureau receiving 130 lease applications for that area during the last 60 days of the year. Public Hearings on the draft environmental statement (ES) for the proposed Emery power plant near Castle Dale were held In September. Bureau personnel are also involved in statement or pre-statement work on two other proposed coal-fired generating plants In Utah: Warner Valley, near St. George; and Intermountain Power Project, 10 miles north of Caineville. A draft ES was completed and public hearings held concerning a proposed alunite processing plant in Beaver County. Alunite ore would be mined and processed at the project site in the south end of Wah Wah Valley, which is approximately 30 miles southwest of Milford. Alumina, the primary raw material for aluminum, would be the major product. As a result of the public hearings and comments, the bureau will issue a final ES, preparatory to a decision as to whether trie project should be allowed. BLM people are working on Utah's first draft ES concerning livestock grazing. The pilot effort has been titled the Hot Desert ES and includes most of the national resource lands in Washington County. The bureau will prepare 20 grazing statements in Utah over the next 12 years because of a suit against the BLM by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Mr Howard noted that BLM's wild horse management program resulted in placing 29 Utah wild horses in "foster homes" during the year. The bureau is responsible for the protection and management of nearly 1,900 wild horses and 70 wild burros in the state. The bureau was active in the management and development of recreation sites across the state. In April, a ceremony to dedicate the 60,000-acre Little Sahara Recreation Area southwest of Jericho, Juab County, was conducted at a newly completed picnic site in the recreation complex. Eight wildlife habitat improvement projects in seven counties were completed by BLM during the year in cooperation with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Basic stabilization of three historic sites in Utah was completed under supervision of BLM: Fort Pearce, southeast of St. George in Washington County; Starr Ranch, south of Hanksville in Garfield County; and Swasey's Cabin, west of Green River In Emery County. |