The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking comments from the public on an addendum to the previously approved Environmental Assessment for the Fire Management Plan for Wisconsin’s Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. The addendum clarifies actions to be taken under the selected alternative for the refuge’s Fire Management Plan and Environmental Assessment, which were approved in 2002.
Under the preferred alternative chosen in the Environmental Assessment (EA), the refuge would follow its existing Fire Management Plan, using ongoing prescribed fire and fuels management treatments to restore, enhance and maintain upland and wetland communities on the 44,000-acre refuge.
The approved Fire Management Plan and EA did not sufficiently describe the need for mechanical fuels treatments to properly treat refuge vegetation and conduct habitat management activities that are vital to the refuge’s wildlife conservation mission. The addendum to the EA specifies types of mechanical fuels treatments that would be used on the refuge, including but not limited to timber harvesting, chipping, hydro-axe use, hauling of forest products and biomass use, mowing, and stump removal.
The addendum also describes a proposed fuels break project along the refuge’s 13.3-mile eastern boundary. This project would help to mitigate the fire danger and wildfire risk to the local community by reducing fuel loadings (fire hazards such as excessive vegetation) and providing a safety buffer separating the refuge from adjacent lands.
The addendum and proposed project area maps are available on the Web at http://midwest.fws.gov/nepa, at the address below, or by calling (608) 565-2551.
Comments on the addendum will be accepted until June 28. The public may mail comments to Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, W7996 20th St., West, Necedah, WI 54646-7531, Attn: Larry Wargowsky, Refuge Manager. Comments may also be faxed to the refuge at (608) 565-3160.
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 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 Fish and Wildlife Management offices and 81 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 Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
