[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 175 (Friday, September 9, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55937-55939]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-23119]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R1-R-2011-N028; 10137-1265-0000 9B]
Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, Washoe and Humboldt Counties,
NV, and Lake County, OR; Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and
Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the
availability of a draft comprehensive conservation plan (Draft CCP) and
draft environmental impact statement (Draft EIS) for the Sheldon
National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) for public review and comment. In
these documents, we describe alternatives, including our preferred
alternative, for managing the Refuge for 15 years, following approval
of the final CCP.
DATES: To ensure consideration, please send your written comments by
November 8, 2011.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments or requests for copies or more
information by any of the following methods. You may request hard
copies or a CD-ROM of the documents.
E-mail: SheldonCCP@fws.gov. Include ``Sheldon Refuge draft CCP/
EIS'' in the subject line of the message.
Internet: http://www.fws.gov/pacific/planning/main/docs/NV/docssheldon.htm.
Fax: Attn: John Kasbohm, Project Leader, 541-947-4414.
U.S. Mail: Sheldon-Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex,
P.O. Box 111, Lakeview, OR 97630.
In-Person Drop-off, Viewing, or Pickup: Call 541-947-3315 to make
an appointment (necessary for view/pickup only) during regular business
hours at the above address. For more information on locations for
viewing or obtaining documents, see Public Availability of Documents
under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Aaron Collins, Planning Team Leader,
(541) 947-3315.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Introduction
With this notice, we continue the CCP process for Sheldon Refuge.
We started this process through a notice published in the Federal
Register on May 12, 2008 (73 FR 27003). We now announce a Draft CCP/
EIS, prepared pursuant to the National Wildlife Refuge System
Administration Act, as amended, and the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (NEPA).
The National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 (16
U.S.C. 668dd-668ee) (Refuge Administration Act), as amended by the
National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, requires us to
develop a CCP for each national wildlife refuge. The purpose for
developing a CCP is to provide refuge managers with a 15-year plan 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 our
policies. In addition to outlining broad management direction on
conserving wildlife and their habitats, CCPs identify wildlife-
dependent recreational opportunities available to the public, including
opportunities for hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and
photography, and environmental education and interpretation. We will
review and update the CCP at least every 15 years in accordance with
the Refuge Administration Act.
Habitat management activities proposed in the Draft CCP/EIS include
improving the conditions of wetland, riparian, desert grassland, and
shrub-steppe habitats, with emphasis on removing feral animals,
reducing invasive species, reducing encroachment of western juniper,
and where feasible, restoring fire to improve habitat diversity and
plant community succession.
Public-use management actions proposed in the Draft CCP/EIS include
expanding and improving trails, signs, campgrounds, and visitor contact
facilities for wildlife observation and photography, sport fishing, and
hunting; continuing fishing and hunting coordination with the States;
improving information available to all visitors; formally designating
authorized motorized vehicle routes; and reducing illegal activities.
Background
Sheldon Refuge encompasses approximately 575,000 acres primarily in
northwestern Nevada, but includes a small portion within south-central
Oregon. Originally established to protect and conserve the American
pronghorn, the Refuge provides important habitat for a variety of
wildlife, including greater sage-grouse, pygmy rabbit, American pika,
mule deer, California bighorn sheep, Sheldon tui chub, and a variety of
migratory birds, including shorebirds, raptors, and passerines. Habitat
types found on the Refuge are primarily shrub-steppe uplands, but also
include important springs and spring brooks, basalt cliffs and canyons;
emergent marshes; juniper, mountain mahogany, and aspen woodlands; and
desert greasewood flats.
The purpose of the CCP is to fulfill the purposes for which the
Refuge was established and to provide reasonable, scientifically-
grounded guidance for improving the Refuge's shrub-steppe, riparian,
wetland, and cliff-talus habitats for the long-term conservation of
native plants and animals, endemic fish, and migratory birds while
providing high-quality public-use programs for hunting, fishing,
wildlife observation, photography, and environmental education and
interpretation. The Draft CCP/EIS
[[Page 55938]]
identifies appropriate actions to protect and sustain biological
features of the Refuge's sagebrush obligate wildlife populations and
habitats, the migratory shorebird populations that use the Refuge, and
candidate or rare species.
CCP Alternatives We Are Considering
The Service identified and evaluated three alternatives for
managing the Sheldon Refuge for the next 15 years, including a No
Action Alternative (Alternative 1). Brief descriptions of the
alternatives follow.
Alternative 1: Current Management. Alternative 1 reflects current
management of Sheldon Refuge and serves as the baseline for comparing
and contrasting the other management alternatives. Under Alternative 1,
the Refuge's management focus would be on maintaining habitats
throughout the Refuge in their current conditions and preventing
further degradation of fish and wildlife habitats. The primary action
would be to continue the current program of gathering feral horses and
burros through regular roundups, and allowing their adoption, in order
to maintain a relatively stable population of approximately 800 feral
horses and 90 feral burros.
Wildland fire suppression and mechanical cutting and thinning of
encroaching juniper would continue, in order to maintain sagebrush
habitats in a late stage of plant community succession and avoid
potential widespread growth of invasive annual grasses. Prescribed
burning would continue to be used to maintain wet meadow and grassland
habitats in an early to mid stage of plant community succession.
Public uses such as wildlife observation, photography, hunting, and
fishing would continue through the maintenance of existing facilities,
which include ponds, reservoirs, fishing docks, primary roads, and 13
campgrounds in primitive, semi-primitive, and developed conditions.
Stocking fish in Refuge reservoirs would continue, and the limited
collection of rocks and minerals would be allowed to continue. Under
Alternative 1, we would not change the current proposal for lands
designated as wilderness. The Refuge would officially designate roads
and routes necessary for wildlife-dependent public uses throughout
Sheldon Refuge, consistent with existing Executive orders, Federal
regulations, and Service policies, where such uses would be compatible
with Refuge purposes.
Alternative 2: Intensive Habitat Management. Under Alternative 2,
the Service's preferred alternative, the Refuge would focus on
improving habitat for all fish and wildlife, especially those necessary
for healthy populations of sagebrush obligate wildlife species such as
American pronghorn and greater sage-grouse. Actions to improve habitats
within the Refuge would include the adoption, and if necessary, auction
of all feral horses and burros on the Refuge within 5 years of
implementing the CCP, consistent with Service policy. Other management
actions to improve habitat conditions would include relocating
campgrounds away from sensitive riparian habitats, reducing western
juniper and sagebrush encroaching into adjacent habitats, and, where
feasible, increasing the occurrence and frequency of fire, to restore
more natural habitat conditions, diversity, and plant community
succession. Removing abandoned commercial livestock developments and
reducing invasive plants along road corridors would be emphasized.
Wildlife-dependent public uses would also be emphasized, with
opportunities for hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, photography,
interpretation, and environmental education maintained or improved from
present conditions. Recreation opportunities for limited collection of
rock and mineral specimens would be allowed to continue, with added
emphasis on visitor information related to relevant laws, regulations,
and interpretation of the area's geology. The State of Nevada fish
stocking program would continue, limiting stocked fish species to those
naturally occurring within the local area.
Under Alternative 2, we would recommend wilderness designation for
approximately the same number of acres in the current proposal, but the
location and distribution of the areas recommended would differ.
Contingent upon approval of the wilderness recommendation, we would
open some designated primitive routes for motorized vehicle use under
Alternative 2. Several segments of existing and proposed routes would
be realigned to reduce erosion and other impacts to riparian habitats.
Alternative 2 is the Service's preferred alternative because it is
expected to result in the greatest improvement of habitat conditions
for native fish, wildlife, and plants on the Refuge. It also achieves
the purposes for which the Refuge was established.
Alternative 3: Less Intensive Management. Under Alternative 3, the
Refuge's management focus would be on mimicking or restoring natural
processes, to maintain, enhance, and where possible, increase native
fish, wildlife, and plant diversity representative of historical
conditions in the Great Basin. Emphasis would be placed on improving
shrub-steppe habitats and restoring modified and/or degraded habitats
to a more native condition, while using less intensive and less costly
management actions where appropriate. Habitat management actions would
include the adoption and, if necessary, auction of all feral horses and
burros from the Refuge within 10 years. Other habitat management
efforts would emphasize natural habitat restoration and creating
conditions where natural processes, such as fire, could be allowed more
frequently, with less dependence on prescribed fire and other intensive
management actions.
Public-use opportunities for wildlife observation, photography,
hunting, and fishing would be available at most current sites, except
fish stocking would be discontinued at one of the two reservoirs
currently stocked within the Refuge. Campgrounds would be consolidated
to establish larger individual campgrounds with better amenities. Under
Alternative 3, we would propose the least number of acres for
designation as wilderness, compared to the other alternatives.
Contingent upon this proposal, Alternative 3, we would open some
designated primitive routes to motorized vehicle use that would not
require intensive restoration or management to minimize adverse
impacts.
Public Availability of Documents
In addition to methods in ADDRESSES, you can view or obtain
documents at the following locations.
Our Web site: http://www.fws.gov/pacific/planning/main/docs/NV/docssheldon.htm.
Lake County Public Library, 513 Center St., Lakeview, OR.
Humboldt County Public Library, 85 East Fifth St.,
Winnemucca, NV.
Washoe County Public Library, 301 South Center St., Reno,
NV.
Submitting Comments
Public comments are requested, considered, and incorporated
throughout the planning process; please see DATES for due dates.
Comments on the Draft CCP/EIS will be analyzed by the Service and
addressed in final planning documents.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time.
[[Page 55939]]
While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal
identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we
will be able to do so.
Dated: August 31, 2011.
Robyn Thorson,
Regional Director, Region 1, Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. 2011-23119 Filed 9-8-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P