The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Alaska Region announced today that the Service is beginning public scoping for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a proposed land exchange and the related establishment of a road corridor on Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The development of an EIS is required by Subtitle E of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-11, Act). The Act directs the Secretary of the Interior to develop an EIS to evaluate a three-party land exchange that would add 56,393 acres to the Izembek and Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuges (NWR), designate 43,000 acres as wilderness, transfer 1,600 acres of refuge lands on Sitkinak to the State of Alaska, and transfer a 206-acre, 9-mile corridor through Izembek NWR and designated Wilderness to the State, to allow a road to be constructed between the communities of King Cove and Cold Bay.
The EIS process will begin with public scoping meetings to discuss issues that relate to the land exchange and road corridor. The Service will conduct public scoping meetings this spring on the following dates and locations:- March 4 at the Loussac Library in Anchorage, Alaska from 5 to 8 pm
- March 11 at the Department of Interior building, Washington DC from 1 to 4 pm
- During the last week of April in five communities in Alaska: Cold Bay, King Cove, Sand Point, Nelson Lagoon and False Pass (specific dates, times, and locations to be announced).
These scoping meetings will help the Service identify issues that pertain to the development of the draft EIS. After evaluating public comments, the Service will release a draft EIS for public review and comment in the spring of 2011. Based upon a thorough review of comments, the Service will issue a final EIS, record of decision, and a public interest finding in the spring of 2012.
