[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 51 (Friday, March 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14228-14229]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-05369]
[[Page 14228]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R5-R-2016-N217; BAC-4333-99]
Massasoit National Wildlife Refuge, Plymouth, MA; Draft
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 Massasoit National Wildlife Refuge
(NWR) for public review and comment. Massasoit NWR is located in
Plymouth, Massachusetts, and is administered by staff at Eastern
Massachusetts NWR Complex based in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The draft
CCP and EA describes two alternatives for managing Massasoit 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 and EA.
DATES: To ensure consideration of your written comments, please send
them by May 16, 2017. We will also hold a public meeting. We will
announce the meeting 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/refuge/Massasoit/what_we_do/conservation.html.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, request copies of the document, or
obtain more information on the plan by any of the following methods.
Email: northeastplanning@fws.gov. Please include ``Massasoit CCP''
in the subject line of the message.
U.S. Mail: Elizabeth Herland, Project Leader, Eastern Massachusetts
NWR Complex, 73 Weir Hill Road, Sudbury, MA 01776.
Fax: Attention: Elizabeth Herland, 978-443-2898.
In-Person Drop-off, Viewing, or Pickup: Call Elizabeth Herland,
Project Leader, Eastern Massachusetts NWR Complex, at 978-579-4026,
during regular business hours to make an appointment to view the
document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Herland, Project Leader,
Eastern Massachusetts NWR; mailing address: 73 Weir Hill Road, Sudbury,
MA 01776; 978-579-4026 (phone); 978-443-2898 (fax);
northeastplanning@fws.gov (email) (please put ``Massasoit NWR'' in the
subject line).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Introduction
With this notice, we continue the CCP process for Massasoit NWR. We
published our original notice of intent to prepare a CCP in the Federal
Register on January 10, 2012 (77 FR 1503).
The 209-acre Massasoit NWR is located in Plymouth, Massachusetts,
and is comprised of three parcels: Crooked Pond (184 acres), Island
Pond (15 acres), and Hoyts Pond (10 acres). The refuge was established
in 1983 primarily to conserve the federally endangered northern red-
bellied cooter (cooter). In addition, the refuge protects other
wildlife and plant species, including rare moths and other native
pollinators, migratory songbirds, and small mammals. Habitats on the
refuge include pine-oak upland forest with varying understory types,
and coastal plain ponds and associated shoreline and upland habitats.
The refuge is currently closed to all public uses. It has not been
open to the public since its establishment due to both staffing
limitations and the presence of the cooter that is sensitive to
disturbance. Exceptions have been made for occasional interpretive and
environmental education programs under a special use permit (SUP), or
via special staff-led programs.
Background
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 April 2012, we distributed a planning newsletter to inform
stakeholders 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 and published news releases in
local newspapers. We held stakeholder and public scoping meetings in
early April 2012, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. These meetings helped
refine the partner and public concerns to be address in the planning
process. Throughout the planning process, refuge staff have conducted
additional outreach via participation in community meetings and events,
other public forums, and meetings with the Massachusetts Division of
Fisheries and Wildlife. We have considered and evaluated all of the
comments we received and address them in various ways in the two
alternatives presented in the draft CCP and EA.
CCP Alternatives We Are Considering
We developed and evaluated two management alternatives in the draft
CCP and EA. A full description of each alternative is in the draft
plan. Both alternatives include measures to continue conducting
biological and ecological research and investigations on cooters, as
well as continue active habitat management to benefit the cooters and
other species of concern.
There are other actions that differ among the alternatives. Below,
we provide summaries of the two alternatives, highlighting the
differences.
Alternative A (Current Management)
Alternative A 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 contribute to rangewide
cooter population recovery goals by protecting existing pond and
shoreline habitat on the refuge from human disturbance, creating and
maintaining high quality nesting habitat, and increasing nest success
and hatchling survival. Our work with the cooter recovery team and
species experts would continue to refine our understanding of species
habitat requirements and the factors limiting survival and
reproduction. We would continue to manage mixed pine-oak forest and
other upland habitats to
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reduce hazardous fuel loading through mechanical clearing and
prescribed fire. We would also continue to allow limited environmental
education and interpretation programs under a SUP, or led by refuge
staff.
Alternative B (Increased Ecosystem Monitoring, Partnerships, and Public
Use; 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. Alternative B represents an
extension and progression of all areas of current refuge management,
including additional biological work, increased visitor services
opportunities, and enhanced outreach to local communities. Alternative
B places a greater emphasis on the importance of the refuge in a larger
landscape context. This alternative would expand habitat management and
monitoring for cooter and other species on additional refuge-owned
parcels, and would include the use of prescribed burning to increase
the structure and species composition of upland habitats to benefit
wildlife resources of concern.
Alternative B would pursue the Service's administrative
requirements to evaluate potential hunting opportunities on the Crooked
Pond parcel. Wildlife observation, photography, interpretation, and
environmental education would be allowed on special occasions when led
by refuge staff or partners working under a SUP. These activities would
allow visitors to gain a better understanding of the unique natural
resources the refuge protects and encourage visitors to become better
stewards and advocates for resource conservation.
Under alternative B, refuge staff would increase outreach to the
local community to raise the refuge's visibility and promote the
relevancy of the refuge and the Eastern Massachusetts NWR Complex to
conservation in southeast Massachusetts.
Next Steps
After this comment period ends, we will analyze the comments and
address them in the form of a final CCP and, if appropriate, finding of
no significant impact.
Public Availability of Documents
In addition to any methods listed in ADDRESSES, you can view or
obtain documents from the agency Web site at: http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Massasoit/what_we_do/conservation.html.
Submitting Comments
We consider comments substantive if they:
Question, with reasonable basis, the accuracy of the
information in the document.
Question, with reasonable basis, the adequacy of the EA.
Present reasonable alternatives other than those presented
in the EA.
Provide new or additional information relevant to the EA.
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: March 13, 2017.
Wendi Weber,
Regional Director, Northeast Region.
[FR Doc. 2017-05369 Filed 3-16-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P