Notice of Intent To Prepare a General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement for Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, Missouri, 33454 [E8-13187]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 114 (Thursday, June 12, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 33454]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-13187]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent To Prepare a General Management Plan/
Environmental Impact Statement for Jefferson National Expansion 
Memorial, Missouri

AGENCY: National Park Service, DOI.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969, 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C), the National Park Service 
(NPS) is preparing a General Management Plan/Environmental Impact 
Statement (GMP/EIS) for Jefferson National Expansion Memorial 
(Memorial). The GMP/EIS will prescribe the resource conditions and 
visitor experiences that are to be achieved and maintained at the 
Memorial over the next 15 to 20 years.
    To facilitate sound planning and environmental assessment, the NPS 
intends to gather information necessary for the preparation of the GMP/
EIS and obtain suggestions and information from other Agencies and the 
public on the scope of issues to be addressed in the GMP/EIS. Comments 
and participation in this scoping process are invited. Participation in 
the planning process will be encouraged and facilitated by various 
means, including newsletters and public meetings. The NPS will conduct 
public scoping meetings to explain the planning process and to solicit 
opinion about issues to address in the GMP/EIS. Notification of all 
such meetings will be announced in the local press and in the NPS 
newsletters.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment on any issues associated with the 
GMP/EIS, you may submit your comments by any one of several methods. 
You may mail or hand-deliver comments to the Superintendent, Jefferson 
National Expansion Memorial, 11 North 4th Street, St. Louis, Missouri 
63102. You also may provide comments electronically by entering them 
into the NPS's Planning, Environment, and Public Comment Web site 
https://parkplanning.nps.gov. Information will be available for public 
review and comment from the Office of the Superintendent at the above 
address.
    Requests to be added to the project mailing list should be sent by 
mail to Superintendent, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, 11 North 
4th Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63102, by telephone 314-655-1700 or by 
electronic mail (e-mail) to JEFF_Superintendent@nps.gov.
    Before including your address, telephone number, e-mail address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comments, you should be 
aware that your entire comments (including your personal identifying 
information) may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comments to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so. We will make all submissions from organizations or 
businesses, from individuals identifying themselves as representatives 
or officials, or organizations or businesses, available for public 
inspection in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Superintendent, Jefferson National 
Expansion Memorial, 11 North 4th Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63102, by 
telephone 314-655-1700.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Memorial consists of the Gateway Arch 
and its surrounding grounds, the Museum of Westward Expansion, and St. 
Louis' Old Courthouse. During a nationwide competition in 1947-48, 
architect Eero Saarinen's inspired design for a 630-foot stainless 
steel arch was chosen as a perfect monument to the spirit of the 
western pioneers. The grounds were designed by landscape architect Dan 
Kiley, with significant input from Saarinen. With the collaboration of 
two great designers, the Arch and its grounds became merged, with one 
reflecting the other, achieving a landscape both modern and unique. In 
1987, the Gateway Arch and its surrounding grounds were designated a 
National Historic Landmark.
    The Museum of Westward Expansion, located below the Arch, contains 
an extensive collection of artifacts, mounted animal specimens, an 
authentic American Indian tipi, and an overview of the Lewis and Clark 
expedition.
    Located just two blocks west of the Arch is the Old Courthouse, one 
of the oldest standing buildings in St. Louis, begun in 1839. It was 
here that the first two trials of the Dred Scott case were held in 1847 
and 1850. Today, the building houses a museum charting the history of 
the city of St. Louis and restored courtrooms.
    The GMP/EIS will prescribe the resource conditions and visitor 
experiences that are to be achieved and maintained in the Memorial over 
the next 15 to 20 years. The clarification of what must be achieved 
according to law and policy will be based on review of the unit's 
purpose, significance, special mandates, and the body of laws and 
policies directing park management. Based on determinations of desired 
conditions, the GMP/EIS will outline kinds of resource management 
activities, visitor activities, and appropriate future development. A 
range of reasonable management alternatives will be developed through 
this planning process and will include, at a minimum, a no-action 
alternative and a preferred alternative. To facilitate sound analysis 
of environmental impacts, the NPS is gathering information necessary 
for the preparation of an associated EIS.
    The types of changes considered under the GMP/EIS process would 
include accessible walkways to the underground visitor center and 
museum, and to the grounds from the riverfront. The plan would also 
examine a pedestrian walkway over Memorial Drive and the Interstate 
Highway that would connect the Arch grounds to the grounds near the Old 
Courthouse. Such a walkway could allow visitors to move from downtown 
to the Arch more safely. Streetscape changes (plantings, pedestrian 
access changes) would be considered to make the environment surrounding 
the Memorial more inviting and visitor friendly. Minor modifications 
could be made to the interior of the Old Court House, and wayside 
exhibits added to the grounds to enhance the visitor experience and 
learning at the Memorial. Expansion of the existing museum space or 
modifications to other existing facilities would be considered to 
provide greater learning and interpretative services. Consideration 
would also be given to the addition of food service (temporary/
seasonal/portable self-contained refreshment vendors), restrooms, 
modified security checkpoints, and other changes suggested in the past 
by the public.

    Dated: May 8, 2008.
David N. Given,
Acting Regional Director, Midwest Region.
 [FR Doc. E8-13187 Filed 6-11-08; 8:45 am]
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