The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public comment on adopting the Environmental Assessment Addendum (EAA) previously issued by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 2002 for proposed improvements to U.S. Highway 60 (Ashton Bypass) within the Ashton Pits Wildlife Area in Osceola County, Iowa. The Service will seek public input during a 30-day comment period beginning September 3, 2003.
The proposed highway project will encroach into and impact approximately 1.86 acres of the wildlife management area wildlife management area
For practical purposes, a wildlife management area is synonymous with a national wildlife refuge or a game preserve. There are nine wildlife management areas and one game preserve in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Learn more about wildlife management area , located one-half mile northeast of Ashton in northwest Iowa. The 33-acre wildlife area was acquired in 1965 using Federal Aid Wildlife Restoration Program funds and is owned and managed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
The Iowa DNR, Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT), and FHWA have worked cooperatively over the past three years to identify alternatives that would reduce impacts to the Ashton Pits Wildlife Area while achieving highway improvement project goals. The Iowa DOT will be replacing the 1.86 acres impacted by this project with 42.36 acres of land adjacent to the Ashton Pits Wildlife Area. The replacement lands would include a 12-acre fishing lake and a five-acre wetland area. The DOT has also agreed to upgrade the existing access road and expand the parking lot on the Ashton Pits Wildlife Area at an estimated cost of $30,000. A Memorandum of Agreement has been prepared between the Iowa DNR and the Iowa DOT which details the various mitigation measures and enhancements that will be undertaken by the Iowa DOT to minimize and/or compensate for the project’s impacts to the State wildlife area.
If the EAA is adopted by the Service, the Service will develop and approve a “Finding Of No Significant Impact,” or FONSI, that will allow the land exchange to occur.
In 1994, Department of the Interior wrote to the FHWA regarding federal transportation law that mandates transportation projects avoid special lands including historic areas, parks, and wildlife refuges when practicable. While the letter did not specifically address the Ashton Pits Wildlife Area, it set forth mitigation and replacement requirements for the Ashton Wayside Park. These requirements are also being met for the Ashton Pits Wildlife Area. Both the Iowa DNR and Service believe that the wildlife value and fisheries value of the replacement land greatly exceeds the wildlife and fisheries values of the Ashton Pits Wildlife Area lands that will be converted to highway purposes, and that this project will result in a net benefit to fish and wildlife, highway users, and users of Iowa’s natural resources. The Service and Iowa DNR also believe that all reasonable alternatives to avoiding the Ashton Pits Wildlife Area have been considered.
An Environmental Assessment (EA), EAA, and FONSI have also been prepared by the DOT/FHWA on the project. Copies of the documents can be obtained from the Iowa DOT by contacting Mr. Stephen G. Larson, National Environmental Policy Act Compliance Manager, Office of Location and Environment, at telephone number (515) 239-1786, fax number 239-1726, or by e-mail: . Excerpts from the EAA, FONSI and other documents pertaining to the Ashton Pits Wildlife Area are also available on the Service’s web site at http://midwest.fws.gov/nepa.
Public comments on the proposal may be submitted by fax, letter or e-mail to Mr. Bradley V. Johnson, Chief, Division of Federal Aid, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, 1 Federal Drive, Fort Snelling, MN 55111-4056, fax number (612) 713-5290, or e-mail: Bradley_Johnson@fws.gov . All comments must be received no later than October 3, 2003.
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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 542 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.
