Submitted by the Bureau of Land Management

Editor’s note: The Categorical Exclusion, or CX, is an environmental review, conducted by Bureau of Land Management officials. It was anticipated to be complete by July, when the Central Washington University class was scheduled to start their archeological dig at Iceberg Point.

The Bureau of Land Management Spokane District announced on Wednesday, June 14 that the proposed Central Washington University Field School on Iceberg Point has been postponed. The proposal is currently being reviewed under a Categorical Exclusion (CX) as part of the National Environmental Policy Act process. Part of the process is to review and analyze data in public comments and the large number of those will necessitate a longer review period than expected.

“In keeping with the Administration’s goals of better serving state and local communities, we are very pleased with the large number of substantive comments we received on this proposed action,” said Katherine Farrell, Spokane district planner. “The level of engagement from the local residents is phenomenal and we owe it to those who commented to take our time and due diligence with our review.”

A decision regarding the CX is expected to be released later this year. For more information about the proposed field school, please visit the BLM eplanning site: http://bit.ly/2renofu.

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency.