[Federal Register: February 6, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 24)]
[Notices]
[Page 6303]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr06fe09-75]
[[Page 6303]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R6-R-2008-N0331; 60138-1265-6CCP-S3]
Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan for Nine Wetland Management
Districts, North Dakota
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announces that
the Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for nine Wetland
Management Districts (Districts) is available. This final CCP describes
how the Service intends to manage the Districts for the next 15 years.
ADDRESSES: A copy of the CCP may be obtained by writing to U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, Division of Refuge Planning, 134 Union Boulevard,
Suite 300, Lakewood, Colorado 80228; or by download from http://
mountain-prairie.fws.gov/planning.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Esperance, 303-236-4369 (phone);
303-236-4792 (fax); or john_esperance@fws.gov (e-mail).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The nine Districts are Devils Lake,
Arrowwood, Audubon, Chase Lake, Crosby, J. Clark Salyer, Kulm,
Lostwood, and Valley City Wetland Management Districts.
The Districts are part of the National Wildlife Refuge System of
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Districts were started as part
of the Small Wetlands Acquisition Program in the 1950s to save wetlands
from various threats, particularly drainage. The passage of Public Law
85-585 in August, 1958, amended the Migratory Bird Hunting and
Conservation Stamp Act of 1934, allowing for the acquisition of
waterfowl production areas and easements for waterfowl production.
All nine of the Districts have a primary purpose to provide optimal
habitat conditions for the needs of a suite of waterfowl and other
migratory birds, and, to a lesser extent native, resident wildlife.
To achieve goals and objectives, aggressive wetland and upland
habitat management must be conducted. Wetland and upland habitats need
to be protected and enhanced through management. Habitat protection
needs to be evaluated through a priority system so that different means
of protection, either through fee title or easements, can be evaluated.
The draft CCP/EA was made available to the public for a 30-day
review and comment period following the announcement in the Federal
Register on August 19, 2008 (73 FR 48388). The draft CCP/EA identified
and evaluated three alternatives for managing the refuges for the next
15 years.
Alternative A, the No Action alternative, promotes a continuation
of all aspects of the District's current management. Staff would
conduct monitoring, inventory, and research activities at their current
level (i.e., limited, issue-driven research and limited avian and
vegetative monitoring and inventory). Funding and staff levels would
not change and programs would follow the same direction, emphasis, and
intensity as they do at present. The current management of wildlife
habitat and associated species on Districts Wetland Productions Areas
(WPAs) are prioritized into high, medium, and low areas. Currently,
only high priority Wetland Production Areas are receiving consistent
management. All conservation easements are monitored by Service
personnel; however, only the high priority easement violations are
consistently enforced. Currently public use events and workshops with
such groups as school districts, youth groups, and conservations groups
are conducted on a multiyear rotation among Districts.
Alternative B is the Service's proposed action and basis for the
CCP. This alternative will allow for enhanced wetland and upland
management where warranted on District lands. Management objectives for
various habitat types would be based on habitat preferences of groups
of target species, such as waterfowl, migratory shore birds, grassland
bird species and priority species. District staff will focus on high
priority tracts and medium priority tracts. The District staff will
implement compatible production enhancement techniques for targeted
migratory bird populations. The District staff will maintain existing
environmental education and public use programs, with additional
waterfowl emphases. The Service proposes, at a future date, a new
administration and visitor center for Audubon and Kulm WMD and
additionally a new visitor contact station for Lostwood, Valley City,
and Arrowwood Wetland Management District.
In Alternative C, management by the District staff would be more
intensive and widespread that targets native prairie/wetland complexes.
District staff would seek out where restoration projects were expanded
and where returning native grasslands to quality native prairie was a
priority. This alternative would have the potential to provide
additional management options to address habitat requirements and needs
of specific groups of water-dependent birds (e.g., waterfowl and
shorebirds). The staff would develop new environmental education and
public use programs. The Service proposes, at a future date, a new
administration and visitor center for Audubon and Kulm WMD and
additionally, a new visitor contact station for Lostwood, Valley City,
and Arrowwood Wetland Management District.
The Service is furnishing this notice to advise other agencies and
the public of the availability of the final CCP, to provide information
on the desired conditions for the refuges, and to detail how the
Service will implement management strategies. Based on the review and
evaluation of the information contained in the EA, the Regional
Director has determined that implementation of the final CCP does not
constitute a major Federal action that would significantly affect the
quality of the human environment within the meaning of Section
102(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act. Therefore, an
Environmental Impact Statement will not be prepared. Future site-
specific proposals discussed in the final CCP will be addressed in
separate planning efforts with full public involvement.
Dated: February 2, 2009.
Noreen E. Walsh,
Deputy Regional Director.
[FR Doc. E9-2542 Filed 2-5-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P