The dates and schedule of the public scoping meetings are:
June 19 - (6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.) at the Northwest Center (Made From Scratch Conference Center), 7500 Montgomery Dr., Plain City, Ohio, and
June 20 - (6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.) at the Della Selsor Building located on the Madison County Fairgrounds near London, Ohio.
The Service announced last week that, based on strong public and governmental interest in review of the refuge proposal, it will prepare an EIS for the proposed Little Darby National Wildlife Refuge. The intent to prepare the EIS was published in the Federal Register on June 9, 2000. The Federal Register is published daily by the Federal government to announce proposed rules, notices, proclamations and other notices.
The proposed refuge would restore and preserve habitat and wildlife within the Little Darby Creek Watershed, a unique warm water sub-watershed of the larger Darby Creek watershed. The Service initially prepared an Environmental Assessment for this project, however the EIS process will allow additional evaluation of the issues and opportunities associated with the proposal.
A key step in preparation of the EIS will be to ask all interested parties to share specific issues that they believe should be considered in the refuge proposal. The meetings in June will focus on gathering specific information rather than general opinion.
Rather than hearing support or opposition to the refuge proposal, we want to hear the specific issues behind support or opposition to the proposal, according to Tom Larson, the Services Chief of Ascertainment and Planning in Region 3. To prepare a document that responds to concerns, we have to know exactly what the concerns are.
Both meetings will include an ongoing open house that features break-out sessions on the three major subjects addressed in the EIS, which are: physical environment/fish and wildlife; economics; and private lands/landowner rights. In the break-out sessions, Service staff will ask participants to list the issues that are of most interest to them. The break out sessions will repeat throughout the duration of the open house to give everyone an opportunity to participate.
The open house will also give people who are concerned about the project an opportunity to discuss the refuge proposal with Service staff. Participants will also be able to provide comments without participating in the break-out sessions.
Later this summer, when the Draft EIS is released, the Service plans to conduct a formal public hearing to gather comments on the document.
Work on developing an Environmental Assessment to analyze the effects of 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 on the socioeconomic and biological environments of Madison and Union counties in Ohio began in 1998. A draft Environmental Assessment was released in December 1999. The issues identified by the public during the Environmental Assessment process will also be considered during the development of the EIS.
Historically, the Darby Creek Watershed encompassed one of the easternmost wetland, tallgrass prairie, oak savanna ecosystems in the United States. The once abundant diversity of plants and wildlife contained in these ecosystems has been reduced to small populations in scattered remnants of habitat. The proposed refuge will focus on restoring natural plant communities within the watershed, complementing and enhancing the existing diverse aquatic system, providing wetland habitat for waterfowl and marsh birds, and providing grassland areas for declining populations of songbirds. Wildlife-dependent recreation and environmental education opportunities would also be provided for the public if a refuge is established.
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
