Notice of Scoping for Commercial Services Plan; Haleakala National Park, Maui, HI, 69216-69217 [06-9464]
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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 230 / Thursday, November 30, 2006 / Notices
Bernardino Valley. The conservation
bank collects fees that fund a
management endowment to ensure the
permanent management and monitoring
of sensitive species and habitats,
including the DSF.
The Service’s Environmental
Assessment considers the
environmental consequences of three
alternatives, including: (1) The
Proposed Project Alternative, which
consists of issuance of the incidental
take permit and implementation of the
Plan; (2) the Alternative Site Layout,
which would consist of DSF
conservation on the project site and no
offsite conservation; and (3) the No
Action Alternative, which would result
in no impacts to DSF and no
conservation.
pwalker on PRODPC60 with NOTICES
National Environmental Policy Act
Proposed permit issuance triggers the
need for compliance with the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Accordingly, a draft NEPA document
has been prepared. The Service is the
Lead Agency responsible for compliance
under NEPA. As the NEPA lead agency,
the Service is providing notice of the
availability and is making available for
public review the Environmental
Assessment.
Public Review
The Service invites the public to
review the Plan and Environmental
Assessment during a 60-day public
comment period (see DATES). Any
comments received, including names
and addresses, will become part of the
official administrative record and may
be made available to the public. Our
practice is to make comments, including
names, home addresses, home phone
numbers, and email addresses of
respondents, available for public
review. Individual respondents may
request that we withhold their names
and /or homes 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
organization or businesses, and from
individuals identifying themselves as
representatives of or officials of
organizations or businesses, available
for public inspection in their entirety.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:44 Nov 29, 2006
Jkt 211001
This notice is provided pursuant to
section 10(a) of the Act and the
regulations for implementing NEPA, as
amended (40 CFR 1506.6). We will
evaluate the application, associated
documents, and comments submitted
thereon to determine whether the
application meets the requirements of
NEPA regulations and section 10(a) of
the Act. If we determine that those
requirements are met, we will issue a
permit to the Applicant for the
incidental take of the DSF. We will
make our final permit decision no
sooner than 60 days after the date of this
notice.
Dated: November 23, 2006.
Ken McDermond,
Deputy Manager, California/Nevada
Operations Office, Sacramento, California.
[FR Doc. E6–20284 Filed 11–29–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–55–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Scoping for Commercial
Services Plan; Haleakala National Park,
Maui, HI
Summary: Pursuant to requirements
of the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (Pub. L. 91–190), the
National Park Service is initiating the
conservation planning and
environmental impact analysis process
regarding a commercial services plan
proposed for Haleakala National Park.
This Notice initiates scoping for the
process that is expected to result in
changes to the types of commercial
services offered in the park and the way
they are managed by the park. Haleakala
National Park proposes to develop a
long-term Commercial Services Plan
(CSP) so that increasing visitor use may
be accommodated in a manner
compatible with the park’s mission; and
to assure that a full range of necessary
and appropriate commercial services are
developed and managed so that
potential impacts to cultural and natural
resources and visitor experience would
be minimized. The CSP will be
consistent with the park’s mission and
purpose statements and management
goals as specified in legislation and as
outlined in the Strategic Plan for
Haleakala National Park (fiscal year
2005–2008).
Background and Preliminary Issues:
Thus far, topics considered necessary to
address in developing the CSP include:
Assessing if, or the degree to which,
commercial service uses of the park and
overcrowding are contributing to the
degradation of natural and cultural
PO 00000
Frm 00018
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
resources, as well as adversely affecting
visitor use and appreciation of the park;
determining whether public health and
safety are being compromised through
uncontrolled uses of the park; and
evaluating whether commercial services
are operated in a manner that is
consistent with the mission of the park
and/or whether there is a consistent
portrayal by commercial service
operators of the park message.
Information from the public and
interested groups is desired so that all
pertinent issues and concerns which
should be addressed in the conservation
planning and environmental impact
analysis for the CSP may be identified.
At this time, the preliminary range of
issues and public concerns deemed
necessary to consider include the
following:
Sunrise atop Haleakala is one of the
most promoted tourist activities offered
by the visitor industry on Maui. The
Summit area of the park frequently
receives over 1,300 visitors at sunrise.
The concentration of visitor use has
resulted in trampling of threatened and
endangered plant species, increased
social trailing resulting in accelerated
erosion, and introduction of non-native
species. Sunrise visitation has increased
over the past decade to a point that
visitors in private vehicles are turned
away from parking areas filled beyond
capacity on a regular basis by
commercial vehicles. Members of the
park’s Kipuna Groups on Maui
indicated that the sacredness of the
Haleakala Summit area is diminished by
too many people visiting the site, and
opportunities to conduct cultural
practices in peace are limited. More
than one in five visitors to the Haleakala
Visitor Center before 8 a.m. felt
moderately or more crowded; more than
one third of the visitors surveyed before
8 a.m. saw more people than they think
the park should allow.
Throughout the day, there are other
significant peaks of visitation that result
in facilities at many park destinations
being filled beyond capacity by visitors
arriving in private vehicles or on
commercial tours (often with
simultaneous arrival of several
commercial operators). When the
parking areas are filled, health and
safety concerns result due to inability of
emergency vehicles (ambulance, law
enforcement, and fire apparatus) to
rapidly access these areas.
Other NPS concerns include
degradation of various park trails
resulting partially from commercial
horse tour activities. In the Summit
Area, trails are used jointly by hikers
and by horse riders. The trails are
located in fragile ecosystems where the
E:\FR\FM\30NON1.SGM
30NON1
pwalker on PRODPC60 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 230 / Thursday, November 30, 2006 / Notices
trail tread does not hold up well to
excessive use resulting in un-natural
erosion. At the trailheads and along the
first three to five miles into the
backcountry and designated Wilderness,
trail crowding from multiple users
including commercial horse and hiking
tours is diminishing the experience of
solitude in Wilderness. The mixed use
also leads to conflicts and off-trail
damage as hikers seek to move away
from dust, manure, and smell of horses.
Current permits allow for limited sizes
of groups but do not regulate numbers
of trips per day or per week.
Presently commercial use activities in
the Kipahulu area includes guided and
unguided hikes along the park’s existing
visitor trails and horse tour guided trips
on a separate trail designated for horses
only. Commercial tours typically leave
from the same pick-up points and arrive
at generally the same time at Kipahulu;
this combined with tour vans and buses
of various sizes crowd into the parking
area causing traffic congestion and
crowded hiking (which in turn prompts
trampling of vegetation and unsafe offtrail use). Visitor injuries and deaths
have occurred in these stream areas and
the park discourages visitors from
entering these pools and narrow areas.
Privately guided hiking activities in
the Kipahulu area may also be
contributing to formation of social
(unauthorized) trails that follow the
stream corridor and lead to upstream
pools. All park visitors and service
providers should be using NPS
authorized and maintained trail to
minimize resource; the deep trail
substrate combined with very high
average rainfall causes erosion, deep
trenching, and very slippery and
dangerous conditions.
Scoping Process: At this time, the NPS
invites the public, other Federal
agencies, Native Hawaiian groups, state
and local governments, and all other
interested parties to participate in the
initial scoping and in the alternative
development process. For initial
scoping and alternatives development,
the most useful comments are those that
provide the NPS with assistance in
identifying environmental issues,
suitable range of alternatives, and other
concerns that should be considered
early in the commercial services and
environmental planning process for
these projects. At this time it has not
been determined if an Environmental
Assessment or an Environmental Impact
Statement will be prepared. Although it
is anticipated that an Environmental
Assessment will be the appropriate level
of environmental compliance, this
scoping process will aid in the
preparation of either document (and
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:44 Nov 29, 2006
Jkt 211001
responses during this scoping period
will be helpful in making this
determination).
All respondents to this Notice will be
included in a mailing list to be used to
invite review and comment on the
subsequent environmental document.
The public scoping period for the
commercial services plan has been
initiated—all written comments must be
postmarked or transmitted not later than
60 days from the date of publication of
this Notice (as soon as this date can be
confirmed it will be announced on the
park’s Web site). Interested individuals,
organizations, and agencies wishing to
provide written comments may respond
by regular mail to Commercial Services
Plan, c/o Superintendent, Haleakala
National Park, P.O. Box 369, Makawao,
Maui, HI 96768 (or via e-mail c/o
HALE_CSP@nps.gov).
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.
Public Meetings: The NPS will also
conduct a public scoping meeting and
open house to provide information
about this project, to discuss issues and
concerns informally with NPS
representatives and to receive written
comments. These scoping activities will
be conducted on October 17 and 18,
2006. The October 17th meeting will be
at 6 p.m. at Helene Hall in Hana. The
October 18th meeting will be at 6 p.m.
at the Mayor Hanibal Tavares
Community Center in Pukulani.
Future Information and Decision
Process: Future information about this
conservation planning and
environmental impact analysis process
for the proposed commercial services
plan will be distributed via direct
mailings and announcements in
regional and local news media, and
PO 00000
Frm 00019
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
69217
updates will be regularly posted on the
park’s Web site (https://www.nps.gov/
hale). Availability of the forthcoming
environmental document for review and
written comment will be announced by
local and regional news media, the
above listed Web site, direct mailing (or
in the case of an EIS, also by formal
Notice of Availability of a Draft EIS
published in the Federal Register). At
this time the document is anticipated to
be available for public review and
comment in late summer, 2007.
Comments on the document will be
fully considered in the environmental
decision-making process and responded
to as appropriate. The official
responsible for the decision is the
Regional Director, Pacific West Region,
National Park Service; subsequently the
official responsible for implementation
would be the Superintendent, Haleakala
National Park.
Dated: August 31, 2006.
Patricia L. Neubacher,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific West Region.
[FR Doc. 06–9464 Filed 11–29–06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312–50–M
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
COMMISSION
Notification of Distribution of
Administrative Protective Order
Documents in Electronic Format
U.S. International Trade
Commission.
ACTION: Notification of Distribution of
Administrative Protective Order
Documents in Electronic Format via CD
or DVD.
AGENCY:
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 9, 2007.
SUMMARY: The U.S. International
Trade
Commission (ITC, or Commission) has
determined that, beginning January 9,
2007, it will distribute Administrative
Protective Order (APO) Release
documents in electronic format on
either a compact disc (CD) or digital
versatile disc (DVD) to parties on the
APO service list for Title VII and
Safeguard investigations. Parties
requiring paper copies will be
accommodated based on receipt of a
request made to the Secretary to the
Commission. The request may be made
at the time the party files its application
for disclosure of business proprietary
information (BPI) or confidential
business information (CBI) under APO.
It may also be made subsequent to filing
of the application at which point it will
be accommodated within three (3)
business days of receipt of the request.
E:\FR\FM\30NON1.SGM
30NON1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 230 (Thursday, November 30, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69216-69217]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-9464]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Scoping for Commercial Services Plan; Haleakala
National Park, Maui, HI
Summary: Pursuant to requirements of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (Pub. L. 91-190), the National Park Service is
initiating the conservation planning and environmental impact analysis
process regarding a commercial services plan proposed for Haleakala
National Park. This Notice initiates scoping for the process that is
expected to result in changes to the types of commercial services
offered in the park and the way they are managed by the park. Haleakala
National Park proposes to develop a long-term Commercial Services Plan
(CSP) so that increasing visitor use may be accommodated in a manner
compatible with the park's mission; and to assure that a full range of
necessary and appropriate commercial services are developed and managed
so that potential impacts to cultural and natural resources and visitor
experience would be minimized. The CSP will be consistent with the
park's mission and purpose statements and management goals as specified
in legislation and as outlined in the Strategic Plan for Haleakala
National Park (fiscal year 2005-2008).
Background and Preliminary Issues: Thus far, topics considered
necessary to address in developing the CSP include: Assessing if, or
the degree to which, commercial service uses of the park and
overcrowding are contributing to the degradation of natural and
cultural resources, as well as adversely affecting visitor use and
appreciation of the park; determining whether public health and safety
are being compromised through uncontrolled uses of the park; and
evaluating whether commercial services are operated in a manner that is
consistent with the mission of the park and/or whether there is a
consistent portrayal by commercial service operators of the park
message.
Information from the public and interested groups is desired so
that all pertinent issues and concerns which should be addressed in the
conservation planning and environmental impact analysis for the CSP may
be identified. At this time, the preliminary range of issues and public
concerns deemed necessary to consider include the following:
Sunrise atop Haleakala is one of the most promoted tourist
activities offered by the visitor industry on Maui. The Summit area of
the park frequently receives over 1,300 visitors at sunrise. The
concentration of visitor use has resulted in trampling of threatened
and endangered plant species, increased social trailing resulting in
accelerated erosion, and introduction of non-native species. Sunrise
visitation has increased over the past decade to a point that visitors
in private vehicles are turned away from parking areas filled beyond
capacity on a regular basis by commercial vehicles. Members of the
park's Kipuna Groups on Maui indicated that the sacredness of the
Haleakala Summit area is diminished by too many people visiting the
site, and opportunities to conduct cultural practices in peace are
limited. More than one in five visitors to the Haleakala Visitor Center
before 8 a.m. felt moderately or more crowded; more than one third of
the visitors surveyed before 8 a.m. saw more people than they think the
park should allow.
Throughout the day, there are other significant peaks of visitation
that result in facilities at many park destinations being filled beyond
capacity by visitors arriving in private vehicles or on commercial
tours (often with simultaneous arrival of several commercial
operators). When the parking areas are filled, health and safety
concerns result due to inability of emergency vehicles (ambulance, law
enforcement, and fire apparatus) to rapidly access these areas.
Other NPS concerns include degradation of various park trails
resulting partially from commercial horse tour activities. In the
Summit Area, trails are used jointly by hikers and by horse riders. The
trails are located in fragile ecosystems where the
[[Page 69217]]
trail tread does not hold up well to excessive use resulting in un-
natural erosion. At the trailheads and along the first three to five
miles into the backcountry and designated Wilderness, trail crowding
from multiple users including commercial horse and hiking tours is
diminishing the experience of solitude in Wilderness. The mixed use
also leads to conflicts and off-trail damage as hikers seek to move
away from dust, manure, and smell of horses. Current permits allow for
limited sizes of groups but do not regulate numbers of trips per day or
per week.
Presently commercial use activities in the Kipahulu area includes
guided and unguided hikes along the park's existing visitor trails and
horse tour guided trips on a separate trail designated for horses only.
Commercial tours typically leave from the same pick-up points and
arrive at generally the same time at Kipahulu; this combined with tour
vans and buses of various sizes crowd into the parking area causing
traffic congestion and crowded hiking (which in turn prompts trampling
of vegetation and unsafe off-trail use). Visitor injuries and deaths
have occurred in these stream areas and the park discourages visitors
from entering these pools and narrow areas.
Privately guided hiking activities in the Kipahulu area may also be
contributing to formation of social (unauthorized) trails that follow
the stream corridor and lead to upstream pools. All park visitors and
service providers should be using NPS authorized and maintained trail
to minimize resource; the deep trail substrate combined with very high
average rainfall causes erosion, deep trenching, and very slippery and
dangerous conditions.
Scoping Process: At this time, the NPS invites the public, other
Federal agencies, Native Hawaiian groups, state and local governments,
and all other interested parties to participate in the initial scoping
and in the alternative development process. For initial scoping and
alternatives development, the most useful comments are those that
provide the NPS with assistance in identifying environmental issues,
suitable range of alternatives, and other concerns that should be
considered early in the commercial services and environmental planning
process for these projects. At this time it has not been determined if
an Environmental Assessment or an Environmental Impact Statement will
be prepared. Although it is anticipated that an Environmental
Assessment will be the appropriate level of environmental compliance,
this scoping process will aid in the preparation of either document
(and responses during this scoping period will be helpful in making
this determination).
All respondents to this Notice will be included in a mailing list
to be used to invite review and comment on the subsequent environmental
document. The public scoping period for the commercial services plan
has been initiated--all written comments must be postmarked or
transmitted not later than 60 days from the date of publication of this
Notice (as soon as this date can be confirmed it will be announced on
the park's Web site). Interested individuals, organizations, and
agencies wishing to provide written comments may respond by regular
mail to Commercial Services Plan, c/o Superintendent, Haleakala
National Park, P.O. Box 369, Makawao, Maui, HI 96768 (or via e-mail c/o
HALE--CSP@nps.gov).
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.
Public Meetings: The NPS will also conduct a public scoping meeting
and open house to provide information about this project, to discuss
issues and concerns informally with NPS representatives and to receive
written comments. These scoping activities will be conducted on October
17 and 18, 2006. The October 17th meeting will be at 6 p.m. at Helene
Hall in Hana. The October 18th meeting will be at 6 p.m. at the Mayor
Hanibal Tavares Community Center in Pukulani.
Future Information and Decision Process: Future information about
this conservation planning and environmental impact analysis process
for the proposed commercial services plan will be distributed via
direct mailings and announcements in regional and local news media, and
updates will be regularly posted on the park's Web site (https://
www.nps.gov/hale). Availability of the forthcoming environmental
document for review and written comment will be announced by local and
regional news media, the above listed Web site, direct mailing (or in
the case of an EIS, also by formal Notice of Availability of a Draft
EIS published in the Federal Register). At this time the document is
anticipated to be available for public review and comment in late
summer, 2007. Comments on the document will be fully considered in the
environmental decision-making process and responded to as appropriate.
The official responsible for the decision is the Regional Director,
Pacific West Region, National Park Service; subsequently the official
responsible for implementation would be the Superintendent, Haleakala
National Park.
Dated: August 31, 2006.
Patricia L. Neubacher,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific West Region.
[FR Doc. 06-9464 Filed 11-29-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-M
