Environmental Impact Statement/General Management Plan; Ross Lake National Recreation Area, North Cascades National Park Complex, Skagit and Whatcom Counties, WA; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement, 63351-63352 [06-8949]
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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 209 / Monday, October 30, 2006 / Notices
If you wish to comment, you may
submit your comments by any one of
several methods. You may mail
comments to Superintendent, Kings
Mountain National Military Park, 2625
Park Road, Blacksburg, South Carolina
20702, telephone: 864–936–7921. You
may also comment via the Internet to
https://parkplanning.nps.gov/
parkHome.cfm?parkId=390. Please
submit internet comments as a plain
text file, avoiding the use of special
characters and any form of encryption.
If you do not receive a confirmation
from the system that we have received
your internet message, contact us
directly at 404–562–3124, extension
685. Finally, you may hand-deliver
comments to Kings Mountain National
Military Park, 2625 Park Road,
Blacksburg, South Carolina 20702.
Our practice is to make comments,
including names, home addresses, home
phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of
respondents, available for public
review. Individual respondents may
request that we withhold their names
and/or home addresses, etc., but if you
wish us to consider withholding this
information you must state this
prominently at the beginning of your
comments. In addition, you must
present a rationale for withholding this
information. This rationale must
demonstrate that disclosure would
constitute a clearly unwarranted
invasion of privacy. Unsupported
assertions will not meet this burden. In
the absence of exceptional,
documentable circumstances, this
information will be released. We will
always make submissions from
organizations or businesses, and from
individuals identifying themselves as
representatives of or officials of
organizations or businesses, available
for public inspection in their entirety.
Locations, dates, and times of
public meetings will be published in
local newspapers and may also be
obtained by contacting the NPS
Southeast Regional Office, Division of
Planning and Compliance. This
information will also be published on
the GMP Web site for KIMO.
DATES:
Scoping suggestions should
be submitted to the following addresses
to ensure adequate consideration by the
NPS: Superintendent, Kings Mountain
National Military Park, 2625 Park Road,
Blacksburg, South Carolina, Telephone:
864–936–7921.
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
ADDRESSES:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Superintendent, Kings Mountain
National Military Park, 2625 Park Road,
Blacksburg, South Carolina, telephone:
864–936–7921.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
02:16 Oct 28, 2006
Jkt 211001
The Draft
and Final GMP/EIS will be made
available to all known interested parties
and appropriate agencies. Full public
participation by Federal, State, and local
agencies as well as other concerned
organizations and private citizens is
invited throughout the preparation
process of this document.
The responsible official for this
Environmental Impact Statement is the
Regional Director for the Southeast
Region, Patricia A. Hooks.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Dated: September 11, 2006.
Patricia A. Hooks,
Regional Director, Southeast Region.
[FR Doc. 06–8951 Filed 10–27–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–A3–M
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Environmental Impact Statement/
General Management Plan; Ross Lake
National Recreation Area, North
Cascades National Park Complex,
Skagit and Whatcom Counties, WA;
Notice of Intent To Prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement
Summary: In accord with § 102(2)(c)
of the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), the
National Park Service is undertaking a
conservation planning and
environmental impact analysis process
for updating the General Management
Plan (General Management Plan) for the
Ross Lake National Recreation Area, in
northwestern Washington. Ross Lake
National Recreation Area is
administratively managed as part of the
North Cascades National Park Service
Complex; however, this GMP will
specifically address the Ross Lake unit
of the part complex. An Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared
concurrently with the GMP. The GMP is
intended to set forth the basic
management philosophy for this unit of
the National Park System and provide
the strategies for addressing issues and
achieving identified management
objectives for that unit. Thus, the GMP
will serve as a blueprint to guide
management of natural and cultural
resources and visitor use during the
next 15–20 years. One or more
Development Concept Plans, which
guide more detailed, site-specific
preservation and development actions,
may be included with the GMP.
Consistent with NPS Planning
Program Standards, the update GMP
will: (1) Describe the Ross Lake National
Recreation Area’s (Ross Lake NRA)
purpose, significance, and primary
PO 00000
Frm 00073
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
63351
interpretive themes; (2) identify the
fundamental resources and values of
Ross Lake NRA, its other important
resources and values, and describe the
condition of these resources; (3)
describe desired conditions for cultural
and natural resources and visitor
experiences throughout the Ross Lake
NRA; (4) develop management zoning to
support these desired conditions; (5)
develop alternative applications of these
management zones to the Ross Lake
NRA’s landscape (i.e., zoning
alternatives); (6) address user capacity;
(7) analyze potential boundary
modifications; (8) ensure that
management recommendations are
developed in conclusion with interested
stakeholders and the public and
adopted by NPS after a thorough
analysis of the benefits, potential
environmental consequences, and
economic costs of alternative courses of
action; (9) develop cost estimates
implementing each of the alternatives;
and (10) identify and prioritize
subsequent detailed studies, plans and
actions that may be needed to
implement the updated GMP.
Scoping Process: A comprehensive
scoping outreach effort is planned so as
to elicit early public comment regarding
issues and concerns, the nature and
extent of potential environmental
impacts (and as appropriate, mitigation
measures), and possible alternatives that
should be addressed in the preparing of
the Draft EIS and proposed update to
the GMP. Through the various scoping
outreach activities planned, the NPS
welcomes information and suggestions
from the public regarding resource
protection, visitor use, and land
management. This notice formally
initiates the public scoping comment
phase for the EIS process. All written
scoping comments must be postmarked
not later than December 30, 2006. All
comments should be addressed to:
General Management Plan, Ross Lake
National Recreation Area, Attn: Bill
Paleck, Superintendent, North Cascades
National Park Service Complex, 810
State Route 20, Sedro-Woolley, WA
92884–1289. At this time, it is expected
that public workshops will be hosted in
towns near Ross Lake NRA, and the
metropolitan area of Seattle,
Washington the week of October 16,
2006, and the week of October 23, 2006.
Detailed information regarding these
meetings will be posted on the GMP
Web site (https://parkplanning.nps.gov/
rola). All participants will be given the
opportunity to ask questions and
provide comments to the planning team.
The GMP Web site will provide the
most up-to-date information regarding
E:\FR\FM\30OCN1.SGM
30OCN1
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
63352
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 209 / Monday, October 30, 2006 / Notices
the project, including project
description, planning process updates,
meeting notices, reports and documents,
and useful links associated with the
project; direct mailings will also be
made periodically.
Please note that our practice is to
make comments, including names,
home addresses, home phone numbers,
and e-mail addresses of respondents,
available for public review. Individual
respondents may request that we
withhold their names and/or home
addresses, etc., but if you wish us to
consider withholding this information
you must state this prominently at the
beginning of your comments. In
addition, you must present a rationale
for withholding this information. This
rationale must demonstrate that
disclosure would constitute a clearly
unwarranted invasion of privacy.
Unsupported assertions will not meet
this burden. In the absence of
exceptional, documentable
circumstances, this information will be
released. We will always make
submissions from organizations or
businesses, and from individuals
identifying themselves as
representatives of or officials of
organizations or businesses, available
for public inspection in their entirety.
Supplementary Information: As noted
above, Ross Lake NRA is managed as
one unit of the North Cascades National
Park Complex (North Cascades), which
also includes North Cascades National
Park (north and south units), and Lake
Chelan National Recreation Area (which
adjoins the park on the south). North
Cascades is located deep in the
northernmost reaches of the Cascades
Range in Washington State and borders
British Columbia, Canada.
Management guidance for Ross Lake
NRA was included in the North
Cascades GMP (now 18 years old) and
has become inadequate to address the
policy and operational issues now
facing park management for Ross Lake
NRA. Since the completion of the North
Cascades GMP, many changes have
occurred that affect NRA management.
Seattle City Light’s three dam facilities
have been re-licensed by the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
The mitigation package approved as part
of the relicensing agreement included
several large-scale changes and
improvements for Ross Lake NRA that
were not included or fully envisioned in
the 1988 North Cascades GMP. It is
timely to update the GMP to address
these large scale changes that are
occurring in Ross Lake NRA and to
address resource protection, visitor use,
and management issues surrounding
these enhancements.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
02:16 Oct 28, 2006
Jkt 211001
Additionally, Ross Lake NRA also
faces other broad natural and cultural
resource protection issues—these
include bioregional management
strategies for grizzly bear recovery,
control of invasive species, local climate
change effects, changing lake levels, air
quality, archeology, and American
Indian traditional uses. Complementary
management strategies will be pursued
for these resource challenges.
Visitor use within Ross Lake NRA has
diversified and significantly increased
since the 1988 North Cascades GMP,
due in part to the enhanced recreational
facilities. Boating on Diablo and Ross
Lakes has intensified. Use of
Washington State’s North Cascades
Highway 20 (which bisects
approximately 25 miles of Ross Lake
NRA) has increased dramatically and is
the most popular motorcycle touring
route in the region. The GMP update is
needed to adequately provide
management guidance for visitor use,
boats, and motor vehicles within the
Ross Lake NRA and address carrying
capacity for visitor experience and
resource protection.
Following the completion of the 1988
North Cascades GMP, the Stephen
Mather Wilderness within the North
Cascades National Park Complex was
designated by Congress in November
1988. This act brought 93% of the park
complex under the provisions of the
1964 Wilderness Act, and 69% of Ross
Lake NRA is designated wilderness (4%
is designated potential wilderness). The
new GMP is needed to adequately
update zoning for the management of
wilderness lands within Ross Lake
NRA, and will ratify the current
management contained in the
Wilderness Management Plan.
Trans-boundary ecosystem and
recreation management is also a
significant issue for Ross Lake NRA,
which borders British Columbia
provincial parks for five miles along its
northern border. Hozomeen, at the USCanada border, is the most developed
access point onto Ross Lake. Ross Lake
NRA is within a large extended
watershed that begins in Canada,
continues through the North Cascades
and lower river valley, and then drains
into the Pacific Ocean. An effort by
Skagit Environmental Endowment
Commission (SEE), an endowed
organization established by
international treaty, is underway to
manage the upper Skagit watershed
more holistically between Canada and
the United States. The new GMP will
address trans-boundary resource
management issues as well as
partnership opportunities with U.S. and
Canadian entities. In addition, SEE has
PO 00000
Frm 00074
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
provided funding to the province of
British Columbia to complete a
managment plan for its provincial park
units adjacent to Ross Lake NRA and
within the upper Skagit watershed.
Decision Process: Following the
scoping phase and consideration of
public concerns and other agency
comments, a Draft EIS and proposed
GMP will be prepared and released for
public review. Availability of the
forthcoming Draft EIS for public review
and written comment will be formally
announced with publication of a Notice
of Availability in the Federal Register,
as well as through local and regional
news media, direct mailings, and via
Web site postings. Following due
consideration of all agency and public
comment, a Final EIS will be prepared;
it is anticipated that the final GMP
proposal will be available in September
2009. As a delegated EIS, the official
responsible for the decision on the
proposed GMP is the Regional Director,
Pacific West Region, National Park
Service. Subsequently, the official
responsible for implementation of the
approved GMP would be the
Superintendent, North Cascades
National Park Service Complex.
Dated: September 14, 2006.
Patricia L. Neubacher,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific West Region.
[FR Doc. 06–8949 Filed 10–27–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312–GX–M
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Final Environmental Impact Statement/
General Management Plan, Minidoka
Internment National Monument,
Jerome County, ID; Notice of Approval
of Record of Decision
Summary: Pursuant to Section
102(2)(C) of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (Pub. L. 91–190, as
amended) and the implementing
regulation promulgated by the Council
on Environmental Quality (40 CFR
1505.2), the Department of the Interior,
National Park Service has prepared, and
the Regional Director, Pacific West
Region has approved, the Record of
Decision for the General Management
Plan for Minidoka Internment National
Monument. The formal no-action period
was officially initiated July 28, 2006,
with the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency’s Federal Register notification
of the filing of the Final Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS).
Decision: As soon as practicable the
monument will begin to implement as
its new General Management Plan the
E:\FR\FM\30OCN1.SGM
30OCN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 209 (Monday, October 30, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63351-63352]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-8949]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Environmental Impact Statement/General Management Plan; Ross Lake
National Recreation Area, North Cascades National Park Complex, Skagit
and Whatcom Counties, WA; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental
Impact Statement
Summary: In accord with Sec. 102(2)(c) of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), the
National Park Service is undertaking a conservation planning and
environmental impact analysis process for updating the General
Management Plan (General Management Plan) for the Ross Lake National
Recreation Area, in northwestern Washington. Ross Lake National
Recreation Area is administratively managed as part of the North
Cascades National Park Service Complex; however, this GMP will
specifically address the Ross Lake unit of the part complex. An
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared concurrently with
the GMP. The GMP is intended to set forth the basic management
philosophy for this unit of the National Park System and provide the
strategies for addressing issues and achieving identified management
objectives for that unit. Thus, the GMP will serve as a blueprint to
guide management of natural and cultural resources and visitor use
during the next 15-20 years. One or more Development Concept Plans,
which guide more detailed, site-specific preservation and development
actions, may be included with the GMP.
Consistent with NPS Planning Program Standards, the update GMP
will: (1) Describe the Ross Lake National Recreation Area's (Ross Lake
NRA) purpose, significance, and primary interpretive themes; (2)
identify the fundamental resources and values of Ross Lake NRA, its
other important resources and values, and describe the condition of
these resources; (3) describe desired conditions for cultural and
natural resources and visitor experiences throughout the Ross Lake NRA;
(4) develop management zoning to support these desired conditions; (5)
develop alternative applications of these management zones to the Ross
Lake NRA's landscape (i.e., zoning alternatives); (6) address user
capacity; (7) analyze potential boundary modifications; (8) ensure that
management recommendations are developed in conclusion with interested
stakeholders and the public and adopted by NPS after a thorough
analysis of the benefits, potential environmental consequences, and
economic costs of alternative courses of action; (9) develop cost
estimates implementing each of the alternatives; and (10) identify and
prioritize subsequent detailed studies, plans and actions that may be
needed to implement the updated GMP.
Scoping Process: A comprehensive scoping outreach effort is planned
so as to elicit early public comment regarding issues and concerns, the
nature and extent of potential environmental impacts (and as
appropriate, mitigation measures), and possible alternatives that
should be addressed in the preparing of the Draft EIS and proposed
update to the GMP. Through the various scoping outreach activities
planned, the NPS welcomes information and suggestions from the public
regarding resource protection, visitor use, and land management. This
notice formally initiates the public scoping comment phase for the EIS
process. All written scoping comments must be postmarked not later than
December 30, 2006. All comments should be addressed to: General
Management Plan, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, Attn: Bill Paleck,
Superintendent, North Cascades National Park Service Complex, 810 State
Route 20, Sedro-Woolley, WA 92884-1289. At this time, it is expected
that public workshops will be hosted in towns near Ross Lake NRA, and
the metropolitan area of Seattle, Washington the week of October 16,
2006, and the week of October 23, 2006. Detailed information regarding
these meetings will be posted on the GMP Web site (https://
parkplanning.nps.gov/rola). All participants will be given the
opportunity to ask questions and provide comments to the planning team.
The GMP Web site will provide the most up-to-date information regarding
[[Page 63352]]
the project, including project description, planning process updates,
meeting notices, reports and documents, and useful links associated
with the project; direct mailings will also be made periodically.
Please note that our practice is to make comments, including names,
home addresses, home phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of
respondents, available for public review. Individual respondents may
request that we withhold their names and/or home addresses, etc., but
if you wish us to consider withholding this information you must state
this prominently at the beginning of your comments. In addition, you
must present a rationale for withholding this information. This
rationale must demonstrate that disclosure would constitute a clearly
unwarranted invasion of privacy. Unsupported assertions will not meet
this burden. In the absence of exceptional, documentable circumstances,
this information will be released. We will always make submissions from
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying
themselves as representatives of or officials of organizations or
businesses, available for public inspection in their entirety.
Supplementary Information: As noted above, Ross Lake NRA is managed
as one unit of the North Cascades National Park Complex (North
Cascades), which also includes North Cascades National Park (north and
south units), and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area (which adjoins
the park on the south). North Cascades is located deep in the
northernmost reaches of the Cascades Range in Washington State and
borders British Columbia, Canada.
Management guidance for Ross Lake NRA was included in the North
Cascades GMP (now 18 years old) and has become inadequate to address
the policy and operational issues now facing park management for Ross
Lake NRA. Since the completion of the North Cascades GMP, many changes
have occurred that affect NRA management. Seattle City Light's three
dam facilities have been re-licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC). The mitigation package approved as part of the
relicensing agreement included several large-scale changes and
improvements for Ross Lake NRA that were not included or fully
envisioned in the 1988 North Cascades GMP. It is timely to update the
GMP to address these large scale changes that are occurring in Ross
Lake NRA and to address resource protection, visitor use, and
management issues surrounding these enhancements.
Additionally, Ross Lake NRA also faces other broad natural and
cultural resource protection issues--these include bioregional
management strategies for grizzly bear recovery, control of invasive
species, local climate change effects, changing lake levels, air
quality, archeology, and American Indian traditional uses.
Complementary management strategies will be pursued for these resource
challenges.
Visitor use within Ross Lake NRA has diversified and significantly
increased since the 1988 North Cascades GMP, due in part to the
enhanced recreational facilities. Boating on Diablo and Ross Lakes has
intensified. Use of Washington State's North Cascades Highway 20 (which
bisects approximately 25 miles of Ross Lake NRA) has increased
dramatically and is the most popular motorcycle touring route in the
region. The GMP update is needed to adequately provide management
guidance for visitor use, boats, and motor vehicles within the Ross
Lake NRA and address carrying capacity for visitor experience and
resource protection.
Following the completion of the 1988 North Cascades GMP, the
Stephen Mather Wilderness within the North Cascades National Park
Complex was designated by Congress in November 1988. This act brought
93% of the park complex under the provisions of the 1964 Wilderness
Act, and 69% of Ross Lake NRA is designated wilderness (4% is
designated potential wilderness). The new GMP is needed to adequately
update zoning for the management of wilderness lands within Ross Lake
NRA, and will ratify the current management contained in the Wilderness
Management Plan.
Trans-boundary ecosystem and recreation management is also a
significant issue for Ross Lake NRA, which borders British Columbia
provincial parks for five miles along its northern border. Hozomeen, at
the US-Canada border, is the most developed access point onto Ross
Lake. Ross Lake NRA is within a large extended watershed that begins in
Canada, continues through the North Cascades and lower river valley,
and then drains into the Pacific Ocean. An effort by Skagit
Environmental Endowment Commission (SEE), an endowed organization
established by international treaty, is underway to manage the upper
Skagit watershed more holistically between Canada and the United
States. The new GMP will address trans-boundary resource management
issues as well as partnership opportunities with U.S. and Canadian
entities. In addition, SEE has provided funding to the province of
British Columbia to complete a managment plan for its provincial park
units adjacent to Ross Lake NRA and within the upper Skagit watershed.
Decision Process: Following the scoping phase and consideration of
public concerns and other agency comments, a Draft EIS and proposed GMP
will be prepared and released for public review. Availability of the
forthcoming Draft EIS for public review and written comment will be
formally announced with publication of a Notice of Availability in the
Federal Register, as well as through local and regional news media,
direct mailings, and via Web site postings. Following due consideration
of all agency and public comment, a Final EIS will be prepared; it is
anticipated that the final GMP proposal will be available in September
2009. As a delegated EIS, the official responsible for the decision on
the proposed GMP is the Regional Director, Pacific West Region,
National Park Service. Subsequently, the official responsible for
implementation of the approved GMP would be the Superintendent, North
Cascades National Park Service Complex.
Dated: September 14, 2006.
Patricia L. Neubacher,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific West Region.
[FR Doc. 06-8949 Filed 10-27-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-GX-M
