[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 160 (Monday, August 23, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47137-47138]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-18013]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R4-NWRS-2019-N160; FXRS12610400000-201-FF04RFLX00; 40136-1265-
0000-S3]
Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Palm
Beach County, FL; Boundary Adjustment
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have adjusted the
acquisition boundary line of a section of Arthur R. Marshall
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, to reflect an approved action
from 2015.
ADDRESSES: Accessing Documents: You may review maps depicting the
boundary revision by either of the following methods.
Internet: https://http://www.fws.gov/refuge/ARM_Loxahatchee/map.html.
In-Person Inspection: Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee
National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters, 10211 Lee Road, Boynton Beach,
FL 33473. (Please call 561-735-6022 to make an appointment.)
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rolf Olson, Project Leader, 561-735-
6022.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), have adjusted the approved acquisition boundary line
surrounding a section of Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National
Wildlife Refuge (Refuge), to reflect an approved action from 2015.
Specifically, the South Florida Water Management District and Service
agreed to exchange two parcels of land adjacent to the Refuge in
western Palm Beach County. The land-for-land exchange was finalized on
January 11, 2018.
Background
The National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966, as
amended by the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997
(Administration Act; 16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.) provides authority for
the Service to manage national wildlife refuges across the country. In
accordance with the Administration Act, refuges are managed to fulfill
the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System; fulfill the
individual purpose of each refuge; and maintain the biological
integrity, diversity, and environmental health of the refuge system.
According to the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, national
wildlife refuges ``. . . shall be administered by [the Secretary of the
Interior] directly or in accordance with cooperative agreements . . .
and in accordance with such rules and regulations for the conservation,
maintenance, and management of wildlife, resources thereof, and its
habitat thereon . . . .'' (16 U.S.C. 664). Further, the Migratory Bird
Conservation Act of 1929, 45 Stat. 1222, states that a refuge is ``. .
. . for use as an inviolate sanctuary, or for any other management
purpose, for migratory birds.'' (16 U.S.C. 715d).
The Refuge is the last remnant of the once vast northern Everglades
ridge and slough landscape.
The Act of June 30, 1948, 62 Stat. 1171, 1176, authorizing the
construction of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project,
and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act of March 10, 1934, 48 Stat.
401, amended by the Act of August 14, 1946, 60 Stat. 1080, all
authorized the establishment of the Refuge, which took place on January
1, 1951. Notice of the Refuge boundary was published in the Federal
Register on October 21, 1955 (20 FR 7950).
The Refuge was created by two agreements entered into by the
Department of the Interior. The first agreement is a General Plan with
the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission (now the Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission) which permitted state Water
Conservation Area (WCA)-1 to be used by the Service for the national
migratory bird management program. The second agreement is a long-term
(50-year) License Agreement between the Service and the Central and
Southern Florida Flood Control District (now SFWMD) which provided for
the use of WCA-1 by the Service ``as a Wildlife Management Area, to
promote the conservation of wildlife, fish, and game, and for other
purposes embodying the principles and objective of planned multiple
land use.'' The Service manages the area as a national wildlife refuge
(NWR) under the terms of the
[[Page 47138]]
License Agreement and regulations governing the NWR system at Title 50,
Code of Federal Regulations.
In 2002, the License Agreement was revised and renewed for an
additional 50 years. On February 26, 2018, the Service and SFWMD
entered into a renegotiated 20-year license agreement.
Currently, the size of the licensed lands, referred to as the
Refuge Interior, is approximately 141,374 acres. In addition to the
``Refuge Interior,'' the USFWS owns 3,814.50 acres in fee title to the
east. This acreage is sub-divided into three management impoundments
(A, B, and C), a 400-acre cypress swamp, and the recently added 2,586-
acre Strazzulla Marsh (see below). In total, the Refuge currently
includes 145,188 acres.
Introduction
In 2015, the Service developed an environmental assessment under
which the Service would exchange a Service-owned property, Compartment
D, with a State of Florida-owned property, Strazzulla Marsh. Both
parcels are adjacent to WCA-1, the northern limit of the greater
Everglades ecosystem. The purpose of the exchange was to bring
Strazzulla Marsh, which is the last remaining sawgrass habitat in the
eastern Everglades and one of the few remaining sawgrass marshes
adjacent to the coastal ridge, into permanent protection as part of the
Refuge. At the same time, the SFWMD obtained Compartment D for use as
part of the Everglades Restoration Strategies Initiative, to improve
overall water quality in the Everglades Protection Area.
When the Congressional Appropriations Committee approved the
proposed land exchange, it requested that the Refuge acquisition
boundary be formally adjusted to reflect the changes in land ownership.
This Notice satisfies this request and ensures that the current Refuge
boundary is properly recorded.
The Service today announces that it has adjusted the Refuge
boundary lines to reflect this approved action (See Appendices), which
removes the 1,327-acre Compartment D parcel, which is now owned by the
State of Florida, from the Refuge acquisition boundary. This action
also brings a portion of Strazzulla Marsh, which was acquired by the
United States in exchange for Compartment D, within the approved Refuge
acquisition boundary.
Authority
This notice is published under the authority of the Improvement
Act, Public Law 105-57.
Leopoldo Miranda-Castro,
Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlanta, GA.
[FR Doc. 2021-18013 Filed 8-20-21; 8:45 am]
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