[Federal Register: April 11, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 69)]
[Notices]
[Page 18348-18350]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr11ap06-114]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Notice of Availability of the Draft Comprehensive Conservation
Plan and Environmental Assessment for D'Arbonne National Wildlife
Refuge in Ouachita and Union Parishes, LA
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service announces that a Draft
Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment for
D'Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge are available for review and
comment. The National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of
1966, as amended by the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act
of 1997, requires the Service to develop a comprehensive conservation
plan for each national wildlife refuge. The purpose in developing a
comprehensive conservation plan is to provide refuge managers with a
15-year strategy for achieving refuge purposes and contributing toward
the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System, consistent with
sound principles of fish and wildlife management, conservation, legal
mandates, and Service policies. In addition to outlining broad
management direction on conserving wildlife and their habitats, plans
identify wildlife-dependent recreational opportunities available to the
public, including opportunities for hunting, fishing wildlife
observation, wildlife photography, and environmental education and
interpretation.
Significant issues addressed in the draft plan include: Bottomland
hardwood forest management and restoration, integrity of mixed pine and
hardwood forests, invasive plants, waterfowl management, neotropical
migratory birds, species of concern, and level of visitor services.
DATES: An open house will be held to provide clarification and
explanation of the plan to the public. Mailings, a news release to
newspapers and radio, and flyers will be used to inform the public of
the date and time for the open house. Individuals should comment on the
Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment for
D'Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge no later than May 11, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the draft plan and environmental
assessment should be addressed to he Planning Team Leader, D'Arbonne
National Wildlife Refuge, 11372 Highway 143, Farmerville, Louisiana
71241; or by calling 318/726-4222, extension 5. The plan and
environmental assessment may also be accessed and downloaded from the
Service's Internet Web site http://southeast.fws.gov/planning. Comments
on the draft plan may be submitted to the above address or via
electronic mail to Lindy Garner@fws.gov. Please include your name and
return address in your Internet message. Our practice is to make
comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, available
for public review during regular business hours. Individual respondents
may request that we withhold their home addresses from the record,
which we will honor to the extent allowable by law.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Service developed three alternatives for
managing the refuge and chose Alternative A as the preferred
alternative.
Alternatives
Alternative A, the preferred alternative, emphasizes management
actions that mimic or enhance natural ecological processes. The
biological program would be enhanced with an increase in inventory and
monitoring programs so that adaptive management could be more
effectively implemented. Adaptive management would primarily benefit
migratory bird management and forest management. Migratory bird use and
nesting success on the refuge would be closely evaluated utilizing
research partnerships. Partnerships would be developed to establish
scientifically valid protocols and collaborative research projects for
data that would
[[Page 18349]]
provide information on flora and fauna response to habitat management.
Upland forest management would focus on restoring the biological
integrity of a mixed pine and hardwood forest by reintroducing a more
historic fire regime, while still providing minimum red-cockaded
woodpecker habitat as required in the recovery guidelines. A historic
fire regime will ultimately benefit red-cockaded woodpeckers by
creating a more herbaceous understory. Bottomland hardwood forest
management would include an increase in inventory data that would
better define current forest condition, and allow an increase in the
number of acres treated. Treatment would open the canopy cover (i.e.,
decrease basal area) and increase understory vegetation. The open field
would modify the natural ecological process in order to maintain it in
a grassy field unit and moist-soil unit for this specialized habitat
required for high priority species. Water control structures and
pumping capability would be maintained to enhance moist-soil management
for the benefit of wintering waterfowl. Invasive species would be
mapped and protocols established for a more intensive control effort.
Partnerships would continue to be fostered for several biological
programs, hunting regulations, law enforcement issues, and research
projects.
Public use would be similar to current management. Deer hunting
would be allowed while monitoring the availability, diversity, and deer
use of understory woody and herbaceous plants. This would allow the
refuge to better understand the pressure being exerted on the habitat,
and therefore make better habitat and harvest recommendations. Youths
would be allowed to hunt turkey. Fishing events and boat launch
facilities would be improved. Environmental education, wildlife
observation, and wildlife photography would be accommodated at present
levels, with minimal disturbance to wildlife and habitat. An enhanced,
interpretive nature trail, interpretive panels, and ``check-out kits''
for teachers would be developed. Law enforcement would work to gain
better compliance with refuge regulations.
Alternative B would focus resources toward obtaining biological
information derived from inventorying and monitoring, while providing
an artificial habitat for a diversity of wildlife that emphasizes red-
cockaded woodpeckers. Funding and staffing would be directed to these
priorities, resulting in a reduction of visitor services. The
biological program would be enhanced for extensive baseline
inventorying and monitoring. Partners would be sought to help with the
information needs for current condition of refuge habitat and
monitoring for changes in wildlife trends. Additional research projects
would be implemented by granting opportunities and partnerships with
other agencies and universities. Upland forest management would focus
on red-cockaded woodpecker guidelines for minimizing hardwoods and
maintaining a grassy understory in the entire mixed-pine and upland
forests, resulting in an intensive prescribed burning program and the
monitoring of forest conditions. Bottomland hardwood forest management
would be developed on an intensive inventory to define current
condition, and management would be limited to monitoring natural
successional changes. The open field would be allowed to go through
natural succession to bottomland hardwood forest and the moist-soil
unit and open grassy field unit would not be maintained. Invasive plant
control would become a priority for the foresters and biologists to
establish baseline information of location and density and protocols
for control. Partnerships would continue to be fostered for several
biological programs, hunting regulations, law enforcement issues, and
research projects.
Public use would be limited, with custodial-level maintenance.
Public use would be monitored more closely for impacts to wildlife,
and, with negative impacts, new restrictions or closures would result.
Deer hunting would be allowed when data were available to demonstrate
the population was exceeding the habitat carrying capacity and a
population reduction was necessary. An extensive survey for monitoring
the deer population and its association with the habitat condition
would be implemented. Several species (e.g., quail, woodcock, feral
hogs, and coyotes) would no longer be hunted due to low population
counts and the cost of providing oversight and law enforcement to
conduct the hunts. Fishing would continue as under current management
on Bayou D'Arbonne, but the area of overflow in the open field would be
closed. Fishing would not be allowed during the wintering period and
would be monitored for future impacts. Environmental education,
wildlife observation, and wildlife photography would be accommodated at
present levels, but public access would be limited to July-October and
February-April to minimize disturbance to migratory birds.
Alternative C would continue current management and public use.
Refuge management programs would continue to be developed and
implemented, with limited baseline biological information and limited
monitoring. Wildlife surveys would still be completed for presence and
absence of species and to alert refuge staff to large-scale changes in
population trends. Cooperation with partners for monitoring waterfowl,
eagle, fish, and deer herd surveys would continue. Upland forest
management would continue focusing on red-cockaded woodpecker
guidelines for minimizing hardwoods and maintaining a grassy understory
in a portion of the mixed pine and upland forests. Bottomland hardwood
forest management would continue at current rate of thinning for a
closed canopy forest and at retaining as much water tupelo and bald
cypress as possible. The open field area, where flooding occurs from
overflow of Bayou D'Arbonne, would be maintained as a moist-soil unit,
with mowing outside of the levee to provide an open grassy field. A
third of the open field area would continue on natural reforestation.
Management for invasive plants would continue with opportunistic
mapping and treatment. Partnerships would continue with Louisiana
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for several biological programs,
hunting regulations, and law enforcement issues. The Partners for Fish
and Wildlife Program would still develop projects with interested
parties for carbon sequestration and invasive plant control.
Hunting and fishing would continue to be the priority focus of
public use on the refuge, with no expansion of current opportunities.
Environmental education, wildlife observation, and wildlife photography
would be accommodated at present levels, with a few interpretive sites
added.
D'Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1975, is located
within the Lower Mississippi River floodplain in north Louisiana,
approximately 6 miles north of West Monroe, Louisiana. The refuge's
17,421 acres include deep overflow swamp, bottomland hardwood forest,
and upland mixed-pine/hardwoods in Union and Ouachita Parishes.
D'Arbonne refuge provides habitat for thousands of wintering waterfowl,
wading and waterbirds, and year-round habitat for nesting wood ducks,
squirrel, deer, river otters, and raccoon. Hunting and fishing
opportunities are permitted on most areas of the refuge, which is open
year-round for wildlife observation, nature photography, and hiking.
[[Page 18350]]
Authority: This notice is published under the authority of the
National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1977, Public Law
105-57.
Dated: January 23, 2006.
Cynthia K. Dohner,
Acting Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 06-3443 Filed 4-10-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-M