[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 8 (Wednesday, January 12, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2132-2133]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-453]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R4-R-2010-N258; 40136-1265-0000-S3]
Notice of Intent To Prepare Land Protection Plan and Associated
NEPA Documents for the Proposed Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife
Refuge and the Proposed Everglades Headwaters Conservation Area
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (Service) intends to gather information necessary to prepare a
land protection plan (LPP) and associated National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA) documents pursuant to NEPA and its implementing regulations
to establish the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge (NWR)
and the Everglades Headwaters Conservation Area. The Service is
furnishing this notice in compliance with the National Wildlife Refuge
System Administration Act of 1966, as amended, to achieve the
following: advise other agencies, Tribal governments, and the public of
our intentions and obtain suggestions and information on the scope of
issues to include in the environmental documents. Special mailings,
newspaper articles, and other media announcements will inform people of
the opportunities for input throughout the planning process.
DATES: We are soliciting written comments and will hold public scoping
meetings in January and February 2011.
ADDRESSES: Address comments, questions, and requests for further
information to the following: Cheri M. Ehrhardt, AICP, Fish and
Wildlife Service, Natural Resource Planner, P.O. Box 2683, Titusville,
FL 32781-2683. You may find additional information concerning the
proposed refuge and conservation area at the Service's Internet site:
http://www.fws.gov/southeast/planning/.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cheri M. Ehrhardt; telephone: 321/861-
2368; fax: 321/861-8913; e-mail:
EvergladesHeadquartersProposal@fws.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Introduction
With this notice, the Service proposes to establish a new
Everglades Headwaters NWR and the Everglades Headwaters Conservation
Area. The proposed refuge would consist of a core area within the upper
Kissimmee River Basin, where the Service would work with willing
landowners to acquire, protect, and manage up to 50,000 acres through
fee title purchases, leases, conservation easements, conservation and
mitigation banks, lands set aside through habitat conservation plans,
and/or cooperative agreements from willing sellers. The proposed
conservation area would be an area adjacent and complementary to the
proposed refuge and other conservation lands within this landscape,
where the Service and its partners, in cooperation with willing
landowners, would protect some 100,000 acres through conservation
easements, conservation and mitigation banks, lands set aside through
habitat conservation plans, and/or cooperative agreements.
The proposal represents the convergence of conservation efforts of
a variety of agencies and organizations and is a partnership effort
amongst local, State, Federal, and Tribal governmental entities; area
landowners and ranchers; and non-governmental organizations. The
proposal is biologically based, targeting the cooperative conservation
of an important Florida landscape, supporting various conservation
plans and initiatives, and protecting, restoring, and conserving
habitat for at least 88 Federal- and State-listed species and species
designated by the State of Florida as Species of Greatest Conservation
Need. This proposal helps address broad public concerns over the loss
of wildlife, habitat, access to natural lands and waters, and working
landscapes in Florida's heartland. The proposal would help preserve a
part of Florida's heritage and a national treasure.
The National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997
outlines six priority public uses (e.g., hunting, fishing, wildlife
observation, wildlife photography, and environmental education and
interpretation) that are to be facilitated on national wildlife
refuges, where compatible.
Public input into the land protection planning process is essential
for the Service to understand the public's concerns within this
landscape and about the proposed refuge and conservation area.
Following and based on this period of public scoping, the Service will
develop a LPP and associated NEPA document to propose the refuge and
conservation area, including a no action alternative (i.e., do not
propose a refuge and conservation area) and one or more action
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alternatives. The Service will then request public review and comment
on the LPP and NEPA document.
Background
This area is one of the great grassland and savanna landscapes of
eastern North America. Still largely rural, this area is a mosaic of
seasonally wet grasslands, longleaf pine savannas, and cattle ranches
that sustains one of the most important assemblages of imperiled
vertebrate wildlife in the southeastern United States and a large
portion of the unprotected natural habitat remaining in peninsular
Florida. The proposed refuge and conservation area would help conserve
and restore imperiled species habitat, protect the headwaters of the
Everglades and clean water resources, create and connect a matrix of
conservation lands and important wildlife corridors to help mitigate
the anticipated effects of global climate change, and provide
opportunities for wildlife-dependent education and recreation
experiences, while also conserving the rural agricultural and ranching
landscape that is so important to the existing wildlife resources of
the area.
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. 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.
Authority
This notice is published under the authority of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321-4370d).
Dated: November 22, 2010.
Mark J. Musaus,
Acting Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 2011-453 Filed 1-11-11; 8:45 am]
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