Revised Draft Environmental Assessment Released, Open Houses Scheduled For Fairfield Marsh Project

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has completed the revised draft environmental assessment for the Fairfield Marsh Conservation Partnership project. Originally, the draft environmental assessment only evaluated a "no action" alternative and alternatives that would result in the establishment of what originally was proposed as the Aldo Leopold National Wildlife Refuge. The revised draft includes a new alternative that describes the Services possible contributions toward a community-based conservation effort. The Service has selected it as the preferred alternative.

The new alternative was developed in response to a report submitted in September 2000 by Farming and Conservation Together (FACT), a group consisting of landowners, elected officials, and representatives of conservation organizations seeking alternative resource protection strategies. The full text of the FACT report is presented as an appendix to the environmental assessment.

Two open house events are scheduled to give people interested in the project an opportunity to discuss it with Service representatives. The first open house is scheduled in Baraboo, Wis., from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6, at the West Square Building, Room B-30. The West Square Building is located at 505 Broadway.

A second open house will be conducted in Portage, Wis., from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 7, at the Carl Frederick Administrative Building (Courthouse), 400 DeWitt Street.

Copies of the revised draft environmental assessment are available by calling 1-800-247-1247, extension 5429. The document is also available on the Internet at: http://midwest.fws.gov/planning

In addition to the new community-based conservation alternative, the document evaluates three "action" alternatives for establishing a national wildlife refuge and one "no action" alternative. The new alternative does not include the landowner option to sell land for a national wildlife refuge national wildlife refuge
A national wildlife refuge is typically a contiguous area of land and water managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  for the conservation and, where appropriate, restoration of fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitats for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.

Learn more about national wildlife refuge , although it does include an option for landowners to sell land for federal waterfowl production areas. The new alternative also proposes that the Service would partially fund a coordinator position for one year and encourages the county and township boards to protect the rural character of the lower Baraboo River watershed through local zoning.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 520 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

For further information about programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our website at http://midwest.fws.gov