[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 153 (Wednesday, August 8, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47433-47435]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-19394]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R5-R-2012-N125; BAC-4311-K9-S3]
Presquile National Wildlife Refuge, Chesterfield County, VA;
Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the
availability of a draft comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and
environmental assessment (EA) for Presquile National Wildlife Refuge
(NWR) for public review and comment. Presquile NWR is located in
Chesterfield County, Virginia, and is administered by staff at Eastern
Virginia Rivers NWR Complex. The draft CCP/EA describes two
alternatives for managing Presquile NWR for the next 15 years.
Alternative B is identified as the Service-preferred alternative. Also
available for public review and comment are the draft compatibility
determinations, which are included as appendix B in the draft CCP/EA.
DATES: To ensure consideration of your written comments, please send
them by September 7, 2012. We will also hold public meetings. We will
announce those meetings and other opportunities for public input in
local news media, via our project mailing list, and on the refuge
planning Web site: http://www.fws.gov/northeast/presquile/refuge_planning.html.
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.
Email: EasternVirginiaRiversNWRC@fws.gov. Please include
``Presquile CCP'' in the subject line of the message.
U.S. Mail: Meghan Carfioli, Natural Resource Planner, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, 11116 Kimages Road, Charles City, VA 23030.
Fax: Attention: Meghan Carfioli, 804-829-9606.
In-Person Drop-off, Viewing, or Pickup: Call Meghan Carfioli at
804-829-5413, or Andy Hofmann, Refuge Manager, at 804-333-1470
extension 112 during regular business hours to make an appointment to
view the document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Meghan Carfioli, Natural Resource
Planner, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; mailing address: 11116 Kimages
Road, Charles City, VA 23030; 804-829-5413 (phone); 804-829-9606 (fax);
EasternVirginiaRiversNWRC@fws.gov (email) (please put ``Presquile NWR''
in the subject line).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Introduction
With this notice, we continue the CCP process for Presquile NWR. We
published our original notice of intent to prepare a CCP in the Federal
Register on April 14, 2011 (76 FR 21001).
The 1,329-acre Presquile NWR is an island in the James River near
Hopewell, Virginia, 20 miles southeast of Richmond. It was established
in 1953 as ``an inviolate sanctuary, or for any other management
purpose, for migratory birds.'' It is one of many important migratory
bird stopover sites along the Atlantic Flyway and provides protected
breeding habitat for Federal and State-listed threatened and endangered
species, as well as many neotropical migrant bird species. The refuge
is comprised of a variety of wildlife habitats, including the open
waters of the James River, tidal swamp forest, tidal freshwater
marshes, grasslands, mixed mesic forest, and river escarpment.
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Presquile NWR also offers a wide range of wildlife-dependent
recreational opportunities, including environmental education programs
for approximately 120 school-aged students each year and a 3-day deer
hunt each fall.
Background
The CCP Process
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.
Public Outreach
In March 2011, we distributed a planning newsletter to over 160
parties on our project mailing list. The newsletter informed people
about the planning process and asked recipients to contact us about
issues or concerns they would like us to address. We also posted the
newsletter on our Web site for people to access electronically. In
addition, we notified the general public of our planning project, and
our interest in hearing about issues and concerns, by publishing news
releases in local newspapers. We also held afternoon and evening public
scoping meetings on April 19, 2011, in Chester, Virginia, and an
evening meeting on April 20, 2011, in Richmond, Virginia. The purpose
of the three meetings was to share information on the planning process
and to solicit management issues and concerns. Throughout the process,
refuge staff have conducted additional outreach via participation in
community meetings, events, and other public forums. We have considered
and evaluated all of the comments we received and addressed them in
various ways in the alternatives presented in the draft CCP/EA.
CCP Alternatives We Are Considering
During the scoping process, which initiated work on our draft CCP/
EA, we, other governmental partners, and the public raised the
following general issues that are further detailed and addressed in the
draft CCP/EA:
How will the refuge respond to potential impacts of
climate change on existing refuge habitats?
How will the refuge improve its biological integrity in
light of landscape-level ecological concerns such as biological
connectivity with other nearby habitats or impacts from air and noise
pollution from surrounding industry?
How will the refuge address erosion and sediment
deposition issues on and adjacent to the refuge?
How will the refuge manage invasive, nonnative, and
overabundant species?
What will the refuge do to manage approximately 200 acres
of grassland habitat?
To what extent would the refuge interpret or educate the
public about cultural resources, historical landscapes, and American
Indian history and culture on or around the refuge?
What will the refuge do to improve its environmental
education, interpretation, wildlife-dependent recreation, and
compatible public uses?
How does the refuge plan to accommodate an increase in
visitor population while maintaining protection of sensitive fish and
wildlife resources?
To what extent will the Service use partnerships with area
agencies, businesses, and organizations to achieve the refuge's
resource conservation and visitation goals?
At what levels does the Service plan to continue staffing
and management of the refuge?
We developed two management alternatives in the draft CCP/EA for
Presquile NWR to address these issues and to achieve the refuge's
establishment purposes, and the vision and goals we developed. The
alternatives identify several actions in common. Both alternatives
include measures to continue to share staff across the Eastern Virginia
Rivers NWR Complex, require a permit for refuge access, maintain
existing facilities, control invasive species, protect cultural
resources, monitor for climate change impacts, distribute refuge
revenue sharing payments, support research on the refuge, and
participate in conservation and education partnerships. There are other
actions that differ among the alternatives. The draft CCP/EA provides a
full description of both alternatives and relates each to the issues
and concerns that arose during the planning process. Below, we provide
summaries for the two alternatives.
Presquile NWR Alternatives
Alternative A (Current Management)
This alternative is the ``no action'' alternative required by the
National Environmental Policy Act. Alternative A defines our current
management activities, including those planned, funded, or underway,
and serves as the baseline against which to compare alternative B.
Under alternative A, we would continue to protect tidal swamp forest
and marsh habitats for priority refuge resources of concern on the
refuge, such as the bald eagle, prothonotary warbler, American black
duck and other waterfowl, and the federally threatened sensitive joint-
vetch. We would accomplish this through continued partnerships with
universities and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries,
and by limiting public access in sensitive areas. For James River
aquatic resources, we would continue to improve riparian habitat, work
with the James River Association (JRA) on water quality monitoring, and
support efforts by Virginia Commonwealth University and other partners
to restore sustainable, healthy populations of the federally endangered
Atlantic sturgeon. We would also continue to maintain approximately 200
acres of grassland habitat for breeding and migrating songbirds.
Additionally, we would continue to provide environmental education
programs both on- and off-refuge in partnership with the JRA, support
wildlife-dependent recreation, and implement the 3-day fall deer hunt.
Alternative B (Focus on Species of Conservation Concern; Service-
preferred Alternative)
Alternative B is the Service-preferred alternative. It combines the
actions we believe would best achieve the refuge's purposes, vision,
and goals and respond to public issues. Under alternative B, we would
emphasize the management of specific refuge habitats to support
priority species whose habitat needs would benefit other species of
conservation concern that are found in the area. Species of
conservation concern include migrating waterfowl, waterbirds, and
forest-dependent birds, the federally endangered Atlantic sturgeon, and
the federally threatened
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sensitive joint-vetch. We would emphasize maintaining and restoring the
forest integrity of tidal freshwater marsh, tidal swamp forest, the
James River and associated backwater habitats, and mature mixed mesic
forest habitats through increased monitoring and data collection, and a
more aggressive response to habitat changes associated with invasive
species, global climate change, or storm events. We would also convert
200 acres of grassland habitat to transitional mixed mesic forest
habitat.
This alternative would enhance our visitor services programs to
improve opportunities for environmental education and wildlife-
dependent recreation. The improvements would include expanding the on-
refuge environmental education program through a partnership with the
JRA and enhancing interpretive materials. We would also evaluate
opportunities to expand the hunting program to include turkey hunting,
a 5-day hunt for deer, and a youth deer or turkey hunt.
We would also expand our conservation, research, monitoring, and
management partnerships to help restore and conserve the refuge.
Public Availability of Documents
In addition to any methods in ADDRESSES, you can view or obtain
documents from the agency Web site at: http://www.fws.gov/northeast/presquile/refuge_planning.html.
Next Steps
After this comment period ends, we will analyze the comments and
address them in the form of a final CCP and finding of no significant
impact.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comments, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. 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: July 17, 2012.
Henry Chang,
Acting Regional Director, Northeast Region.
[FR Doc. 2012-19394 Filed 8-7-12; 8:45 am]
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