Draft environmental impact statement

The Bureau of Land Management proposes to exchange certain federal lands for properties owned by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. The selected public lands (5,799 acres) and offered Tribal lands (1,470 acres) occur within the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. This draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) describes and analyzes alternatives based on varying amounts of public lands to be exchanged for Tribal lands, as well as the no action alternative. The purpose of the exchange is to promote effective and efficient management of the public and Tribal lands by reducing the extent of checkerboard landownership, thereby providing the BLM and the Tribe with more logical and consistent land management responsibility in the Monument.