U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Extends Public Comment Period for Preparation of Environmental Impact Statement for South Fox Land Exchange

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced it will provide additional time for the public to comment on its Notice of Intent to develop an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed exchange of lands between the State of Michigan and a private landowner on South Fox Island in Leelanau County, Michigan. The public may submit comments on the proposed land exchange until the close of business, August 31, 2001. A notice of the extension to the comment period will be published in the Federal Register tomorrow.

The Service is extending the public comment period, which was to end July 15, 2001, so that interested individuals and groups have additional opportunity to review the proposal for a land exchange, as developed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The proposal is available on the Services website at " facehttp://midwest.fws.gov/NEPA

The Service and the National Park Service, in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, are developing the EIS to evaluate several proposed land exchange actions on South Fox Island, including:

• Approval by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for exchange of 313 acres of state land (purchased by the State of Michigan using Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration funds, a program administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) for lands with equal monetary and wildlife restoration values.

Approval by the National Park Service for exchange of 105 acres of state land with National Park Service interest for private lands with equal or greater monetary and recreational value.

• Exchange of 220 acres of unencumbered state-owned land for fee title and easements for private lands of equal value.

The proposed exchange would consolidate and confine most state lands to the northern one-third of South Fox Island, a 3,400-acre located 30 miles northwest of Charlevoix in Lake Michigan. The southern portion of the island would feature three areas:

• The southernmost tip of the island, which includes a lighthouse, associated buildings and part of the harbor area, would remain in state ownership.

If transferred to private ownership, an unforested, sandy area bounded by forest on the north and south and water on the east and west would be placed in a conservation easement conservation easement
A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a government agency or qualified conservation organization that restricts the type and amount of development that may take place on a property in the future. Conservation easements aim to protect habitat for birds, fish and other wildlife by limiting residential, industrial or commercial development. Contracts may prohibit alteration of the natural topography, conversion of native grassland to cropland, drainage of wetland and establishment of game farms. Easement land remains in private ownership.

Learn more about conservation easement . The easement would prevent development and protect the federally endangered piping plover within its borders.

• The northernmost portion of the southern tip is forested and would be in private ownership if the land exchange occurs.

A map depicting this distribution is also available on the Services Region 3 website.

For more information about the Services plans to prepare an EIS or the proposed land exchange, contact the Services East Lansing field office at 517-351-2555. Comments on the proposed land exchange may be addressed to Craig Czarnecki, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, East Lansing Field Office, 2651 Coolidge Road, Suite 101, East Lansing, MI 48823. Electronic mail comments may also be submitted during the comment period to: fw3foxisland@fws.gov

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 94-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 535 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 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 the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our homepage at: http://midwest.fws.gov

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U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

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