SC-G 98-22

Refer: Dean Rundle, Carlsbad, California - 760/930-0168

Abbey Kucera, Portland, Oregon - 503/231-6839

March 6, 1998

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has extended the comment period for the draft environmental assessment and land protection plan for the proposed south San Diego Bay unit of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge. The original comment period was scheduled to end March 11. The new comment period, which is a 60-day extension, will now extend to May 11, 1998. This allows a total review period of 90 days.

The Service has proposed a new national wildlife refuge boundary in and adjoining south San Diego Bay, south of the 24th Street Channel. The draft environmental assessment analyzes a "no-action" alternative and three habitat protection alternatives that would encompass from 2,000 to nearly 5,000 acres. An approved refuge boundary is an area within which the Fish and Wildlife Service has authority to work with willing landowners to acquire land, or an interest in land, primarily for the benefit of wildlife. Once the Service acquires land, or an interest in a property, the land can be managed as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

The Service released the Draft Environmental Assessment and Land Protection Plan, Proposed South San Diego Bay Unit, San Diego National Wildlife Refuge on February 5, 1998. Copies may be obtained from the regional office address listed below, or from the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex office, 2736 Loker Avenue West, Suite A, Carlsbad, California 92008 (telephone: 760/930-0168, FAX: 760/930-0256). The documents are also available for reading at local public libraries and on the Service's Pacific Region Refuge Planning website at www.r1.fws.gov/planning/plnhome.html.

Comments should be sent to Charles J. Houghten, chief of the Planning and Mapping Branch, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 911 N.E. 11th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97232-4181. Visit our website at http://www.r1.fws.gov/planning/sd1.htm, where you will find a comment form and a link to the environmental assessment, or send e-mail to r1planning_guest@fws.gov.

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