# 2024-31574: Feds Decide Fate Of 2.5 Million New Mexico Acres

2024-31574, Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan for the Rio Puerco Field Office in Albuquerque, NM, is a Federal Register notice from an unnamed agency published 2025-01-03, effective 2024-12-23 (as of 2026-06-08).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2024-31574
- As of: 2026-06-08
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Document number: 2024-31574
- Title: Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan for the Rio Puerco Field Office in Albuquerque, NM
- Type: Notice
- Agencies: unknown
- Citation: unknown
- Published: 2025-01-03
- Effective: 2024-12-23
- Comments close: not stated
- Significant: no
- Touches household money: no
- Regulation identifier numbers: none
- Last updated: 2026-06-08

## In one line

Feds Decide Fate Of 2.5 Million New Mexico Acres

## Summary

The Bureau of Land Management just approved a new plan to manage over 4 million acres of land and minerals in central and northwestern New Mexico, replacing a plan from 1986. This means local communities, businesses, and nature will see updated rules for how the land is used, starting right away. The plan aims to balance protecting the environment with supporting activities like mining and recreation, with no new costs announced.

## Abstract

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability of the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Approved Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Rio Puerco Field Office located in central and northwestern New Mexico. The BLM Director signed the ROD on December 23, 2024, which constitutes the decision of the BLM and makes the Approved RMP effective immediately.

## Effects PRIA read

- Plan Effective Immediately (Dec 23, 2024): mixed, low. The Bureau of Land Management's Record of Decision for the Rio Puerco Approved Resource Management Plan became effective when the Director signed it on December 23, 2024. That means the management decisions in the ROD apply right away across the decision area, which includes approximately 731,600 a…
- Mineral Estate Management Updated: mixed, medium. The Approved RMP covers about 3.6 million acres of subsurface mineral estate in the Rio Puerco decision area and updates how mineral resources will be managed in central and northwestern New Mexico. If you operate or plan to operate mining or subsurface extraction in Bernalillo, Cibola, McKinley, S…
- Livestock Grazing Management Updated: mixed, medium. The Approved RMP explicitly addresses livestock grazing within the Rio Puerco decision area that includes about 731,600 acres of surface estate. Ranchers and grazing permit holders in the listed New Mexico counties should expect the RMP's grazing management actions to apply now that the ROD is effe…
- Renewable Energy and Land Uses Addressed: mixed, medium. The Approved RMP includes management direction for renewable energy, transportation access, and land-use authorizations across the Rio Puerco decision area. Renewable energy developers and others seeking land-use authorizations in Bernalillo, Cibola, McKinley, Sandoval, Torrance, and Valencia count…
- Recreation and Public Access Management: mixed, low. The Approved RMP addresses recreation and areas with special designations in the Rio Puerco planning area, which includes parts of central and northwestern New Mexico within a 9.5 million acre planning area. If you recreate on public lands in the named counties, the RMP's management actions now gui…
- Tribal Consultation Emphasized; Pueblo Agreement: benefit, medium. The Approved RMP acknowledges ancestral lands of affiliated Tribal Nations in the planning area and emphasizes cultural consultation and continual coordination with Tribal Nations. The BLM also entered into a protest resolution agreement with the Pueblo of San Felipe as part of resolving 24 protest…

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## Sources
- [2024-31574 on federalregister.gov](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/03/2024-31574/notice-of-availability-of-the-record-of-decision-and-approved-resource-management-plan-for-the-rio)
- [2024-31574 as published (PDF)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-01-03/pdf/2024-31574.pdf)

## Related
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- [Next: 2024-31576, Change in Bank Control Notices; Acquisitions of Shares of a Bank or Bank Holdin…](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2024-31576)
- [All Federal Register documents](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2024-31574 (as of 2026-06-08).