Notice of Intent To Amend the California Desert Conservation Area Plan, California, 57144-57145 [E8-22766]
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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 191 / Wednesday, October 1, 2008 / Notices
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goals and objectives for the refuges. The
planning process for refuges is designed
to prioritize conservation of important
wildlife habitats, while providing for
wildlife-oriented recreation
opportunities that are compatible with
the establishing purposes of each refuge
and the mission of the National Wildlife
Refuge System.
We will conduct a comprehensive
conservation planning process that will
provide opportunities for Tribal, State,
and local government agencies;
organizations; and the public to
participate in identifying planning
issues through public involvement
activities. We request input in the form
of issues, concerns, ideas, and
suggestions for future management of
Selawik Refuge.
We will prepare an EA in accordance
with the requirements of the NEPA, as
amended; NEPA regulations (40 CFR
parts 1500–1508); other appropriate
Federal laws and regulations; and
Service policies that comply with those
laws and regulations.
Refuge Overview
Selawik Refuge straddles the Arctic
Circle in northwestern Alaska,
encompassing an area approximately
the size of Connecticut. The Refuge was
established by ANILCA in 1980. When
land conveyances under the Alaska
Native Claims Settlement Act
(approximately 800,000 acres) are
completed, 2.1 million acres are
expected to remain under federal
ownership and management. The
Refuge staff manages Selawik Refuge
from a headquarters office in Kotzebue,
Alaska.
ANILCA requires us to designate areas
in refuges according to their respective
resources and values and to specify
programs and uses within the areas
designated. To meet this requirement,
the Alaska Region established categories
for refuges including Wilderness,
Minimal, Moderate, Intensive, and Wild
River management. For each
management category, we identified
appropriate activities, public uses,
commercial uses, and facilities. Only
the Minimal, Wilderness, and Wild
River management categories are
applied to Selawik Refuge. The Selawik
River and corridor is a designated Wild
River. About 11 percent of the Refuge is
designated Wilderness. The remainder,
and majority of the Refuge’s acreage, is
managed in the Minimal category.
The Selawik River meanders through
the heart of the Refuge, creating a rich
succession of habitats, including vast
wetlands. The names of both the river
and the Refuge originated from the
Inupiaq word ‘‘siilivik,’’ which means
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‘‘place of sheefish.’’ The sheefish, or
innconnu, is a member of the whitefish
family that provides an important, and
highly desired, food resource for Native
subsistence harvesters in this arctic
region of Alaska.
Extensive tundra wetlands containing
grass and sedge meadows dominate the
Refuge landscape, while boreal spruce
forests, alder, and willow thickets trace
stream and river drainages. Multitudes
of migratory waterfowl and shorebirds
breed on 24,000 lakes and ponds within
the Refuge. Neo-tropical songbirds nest
in forests and willow thickets. Moose,
wolves, lynx, bears, muskoxen, arctic
and red fox, beavers, and muskrats are
year-round residents. The Western
Arctic caribou herd migrates across
Selawik Refuge. In mild winters, small
bands of caribou remain on the Refuge
to forage in the lichen-covered foothills.
Many rivers, sloughs, and lakes support
both freshwater and anadromous
fisheries, and provide spawning
grounds for northern pike, arctic
grayling, and various types of whitefish.
Access to the Refuge is possible only
by boat, float-or ski-equipped airplane,
snowmobile, or dog sled team.
Snowmobile trails provide vital links
among the Native villages of the region
in winter and are usually passable to
travelers through the end of April.
Several Native Alaskan villages are
located within or near the Refuge
boundaries including Noorvik, Selawik,
Kiana, and Ambler.
The purposes of the Selawik Refuge
set forth by ANILCA in 1980 are (i) to
conserve fish and wildlife populations
and habitats in their natural diversity,
including but not limited to, the
Western Arctic caribou herd (including
participation in scientific studies to
better manage caribou), waterfowl,
shorebirds and other migratory birds,
and salmon and sheefish; (ii) to fulfill
the international treaty obligations of
the United States with respect to fish
and wildlife and their habitats; (iii) to
provide, in a manner consistent with the
purposes set forth in subparagraphs (i)
and (ii), the opportunity for continued
subsistence uses by local residents; and
(iv) to ensure, to the maximum extent
practicable and in a manner consistent
with the purposes set forth in paragraph
(i), water quality and necessary water
quantity within the Refuge.
Preliminary Issues, Concerns, and
Opportunities: We have identified
preliminary issues, concerns, and
opportunities that may be addressed in
the CCP. These are (1) management of
legal access such as easements and
rights-of-way; (2) management of access
for community residents and the
visiting public; (3) management of
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hunting and fishing, both subsistence
and commercial; (4) concerns about
degradation of cultural resources; (5)
impacts of off-refuge activities to Refuge
resources; and (6) concerns about how
managers can proactively address
uncertainties such as climate change
and related large-scale habitat changes.
These and other issues will be explored
during the public scoping process. The
Refuge planning team, including
representatives from State of Alaska and
Tribal governments, will determine
which key issues will be addressed in
the revised CCP.
Public Meetings: We will involve the
public in the planning process through
open houses, meetings, and multiple
requests for comments. We will mail
planning updates to individuals,
agencies, and organizations on the
Selawik Refuge mailing list to keep the
public aware of the status of the revised
CCP. We will inform the public as to
how we use their comments and other
input in each stage of the planning
process. Scoping meetings are planned
to be held in October and November
2008 in Kotzebue and in several local
communities within or near the Refuge
boundaries. Details of public
involvement and participation activities
will be announced locally.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your name, address,
phone number, e-mail address, or other
personal identifying information with
your comment, you should be aware
that your entire comment—including
your personal identifying information—
may be made publicly available at any
time. While you may ask us in your
comment to withhold your personal
identifying information from public
review, we cannot guarantee that we
will be able to do so.
Dated: September 25, 2008.
Gary Edwards,
Regional Director, U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service, Anchorage, Alaska.
[FR Doc. E8–23118 Filed 9–30–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–55–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[9000; CA–690–08–1020–EE]
Notice of Intent To Amend the
California Desert Conservation Area
Plan, California
Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Land Management.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
AGENCY:
E:\FR\FM\01OCN1.SGM
01OCN1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 191 / Wednesday, October 1, 2008 / Notices
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land
Management (BLM), Needles Field
Office intends to prepare an amendment
to the California Desert Conservation
Area (CDCA) Plan with an associated
environmental assessment (EA). This
notice initiates the public participation
and scoping processes for the CDCA
Plan amendment and environmental
assessment.
Public comments will be
accepted throughout the plan
amendment and EA process, but to be
most beneficial comments on issues and
potential impacts should be submitted
in writing to the address listed below
within 30 days following the
publication of this notice in the Federal
Register.
ADDRESSES: Comments and other
correspondence regarding issues and
planning criteria should be sent to the
BLM, Needles Field Office, attention
George R. Meckfessel, Planning and
Environmental Coordinator, Needles
Field Office, Bureau of Land
Management, 1303 South US Highway
95, Needles, California 92363.
Documents pertinent to this notice,
including comments of respondents,
will be available for public review at the
Needles Field Office, California during
regular business hours (7:30 a.m. to 4
p.m.) Monday through Friday, except
holidays.
DATES:
For
further information or to have your
name added to the project mailing list,
contact George R. Meckfessel, (760)
326–7008, or e-mail
George_Meckfessel@ca.blm.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
This
document provides notice that the BLM,
Needles Field Office intends to prepare
an amendment to the CDCA Plan with
an associated environmental assessment
that would make all or a portion of the
Valley Wells Allotment unavailable for
grazing. The allotment consists of
223,000 acres and is located in
northeastern San Bernardino County,
California. The allotment includes
portions of the North Mesquite
Mountains Wilderness, Mesquite
Wilderness, Kingston Range Wilderness,
and the Hollow Hills Wilderness areas.
The proposal to make a portion or all
of the allotment unavailable for grazing
livestock does not conform to the CDCA
Plan and, therefore, requires the
development of a plan amendment.
Approximately half of the allotment is
within a Desert Wildlife Management
Area (DWMA), designated by the BLM
through the Northern and Eastern
Mojave Plan amendment (2002) to the
CDCA Plan. Most, but not all, of the
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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
18:22 Sep 30, 2008
Jkt 214001
DWMA contains critical habitat for the
threatened desert tortoise (Gopherus
agassizii), designated by the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Making
all or a portion of the allotment
unavailable for grazing would
complement and enhance
implementation of the USFWS Desert
Tortoise (Mojave Population) Recovery
Plan (1994). Comparable desert tortoise
habitat within the allotment is
contained in, and outside, the DWMA.
Additional benefits to non-listed
species and habitats, such as the BLM
sensitive Rusby’s desert mallow
(Sphaeralcea rusbyi ssp. eremicola) and
the Mojave fringe-toed lizard (Uma
scoparia), would also be realized by
removal of cattle grazing from all or
portions of the allotment.
Preliminary issues identified include:
air quality; areas of critical
environmental concern; cultural
resources; environmental justice;
livestock grazing; Native American
religious concerns; socioeconomics;
soils, water quality; wetlands/riparian
zones; wilderness; wildlife, including
threatened or endangered species; and
vegetation, including invasive species.
Preliminary planning criteria include:
1. Developing the plan amendment in
compliance with Federal Land Policy
and Management Act, all other
applicable laws, regulations, executive
orders, and BLM supplemental program
guidance; 2. developing an EA in the
planning process that will comply with
National Environmental Policy Act
standards; 3. initiating government to
government consultation, including
tribal interests; 4. incorporating by
reference the Standards for Rangeland
Health and Guidelines for Livestock
Grazing Management into the plan
amendment/EA; 5. complying with
Appendix C of BLM’s Planning
Handbook (H 1601–1) in making
resource specific determinations; 6.
assuring that the plan amendment is
compatible, to the extent possible, with
existing plans and policies of adjacent
local, State, Tribal, and Federal
agencies; and, 7. consider the extent to
which the plan amendment achieves the
recovery goals outlined in the Desert
Tortoise (Mojave Population) Recovery
Plan and the Northern and Eastern
Mojave Plan amendment to the CDCA
Plan.
You may submit comments on issues
and planning criteria in writing to the
BLM using one of the methods listed in
the ‘‘ADDRESSES’’ section above. To be
most helpful, you should submit
comments within 30 days after the date
of publication of this notice. Before
including your address, phone number,
email address, or other personal
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
57145
identifying information in your
comment, you should be aware that
your entire comment—including your
personal identifying information—may
be made publicly available at any time.
While you can ask us in your comment
to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
The BLM will place issues identified
during scoping into one of three
categories:
1. Issues to be resolved in the plan
amendment;
2. Issues to be resolved through policy
or administrative action; or
3. Issues beyond the scope of this plan
amendment.
The BLM will provide an explanation
in the plan as to why an issue was
placed in category two or three. The
public is also encouraged to help
identify any management questions and
concerns that should be addressed in
the plan amendment. The BLM will
work collaboratively with interested
parties to identify the management
decisions that are best suited to local,
regional, and national needs and
concerns.
The BLM will use an interdisciplinary
approach to develop the plan
amendment in order to consider the
variety of resource issues and concerns
identified. Specialists with expertise in
the following disciplines that will be
involved in the planning process
include but are not limited to rangeland
management, wilderness, sensitive
species (plants and animals,) cultural
resources, and recreation.
Dated: September 16, 2008.
Rodney Mouton,
Acting Field Manager.
[FR Doc. E8–22766 Filed 9–30–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–40–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[NV912–1640–PH–006F; 08–08807; TAS:
14X1109]
Notice of Public Meeting: Sierra FrontNorthwestern Great Basin Resource
Advisory Council, Northeastern Great
Basin Resource Advisory Council, and
Mojave-Southern Great Basin
Resource Advisory Council, Nevada
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Combined Resource Advisory
Council Meeting.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: In accordance with the
Federal Land Policy and Management
E:\FR\FM\01OCN1.SGM
01OCN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 191 (Wednesday, October 1, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57144-57145]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-22766]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[9000; CA-690-08-1020-EE]
Notice of Intent To Amend the California Desert Conservation Area
Plan, California
AGENCY: Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 57145]]
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Needles Field Office
intends to prepare an amendment to the California Desert Conservation
Area (CDCA) Plan with an associated environmental assessment (EA). This
notice initiates the public participation and scoping processes for the
CDCA Plan amendment and environmental assessment.
DATES: Public comments will be accepted throughout the plan amendment
and EA process, but to be most beneficial comments on issues and
potential impacts should be submitted in writing to the address listed
below within 30 days following the publication of this notice in the
Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: Comments and other correspondence regarding issues and
planning criteria should be sent to the BLM, Needles Field Office,
attention George R. Meckfessel, Planning and Environmental Coordinator,
Needles Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, 1303 South US Highway
95, Needles, California 92363. Documents pertinent to this notice,
including comments of respondents, will be available for public review
at the Needles Field Office, California during regular business hours
(7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.) Monday through Friday, except holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information or to have
your name added to the project mailing list, contact George R.
Meckfessel, (760) 326-7008, or e-mail George_Meckfessel@ca.blm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides notice that the BLM,
Needles Field Office intends to prepare an amendment to the CDCA Plan
with an associated environmental assessment that would make all or a
portion of the Valley Wells Allotment unavailable for grazing. The
allotment consists of 223,000 acres and is located in northeastern San
Bernardino County, California. The allotment includes portions of the
North Mesquite Mountains Wilderness, Mesquite Wilderness, Kingston
Range Wilderness, and the Hollow Hills Wilderness areas.
The proposal to make a portion or all of the allotment unavailable
for grazing livestock does not conform to the CDCA Plan and, therefore,
requires the development of a plan amendment.
Approximately half of the allotment is within a Desert Wildlife
Management Area (DWMA), designated by the BLM through the Northern and
Eastern Mojave Plan amendment (2002) to the CDCA Plan. Most, but not
all, of the DWMA contains critical habitat for the threatened desert
tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS). Making all or a portion of the allotment unavailable
for grazing would complement and enhance implementation of the USFWS
Desert Tortoise (Mojave Population) Recovery Plan (1994). Comparable
desert tortoise habitat within the allotment is contained in, and
outside, the DWMA.
Additional benefits to non-listed species and habitats, such as the
BLM sensitive Rusby's desert mallow (Sphaeralcea rusbyi ssp. eremicola)
and the Mojave fringe-toed lizard (Uma scoparia), would also be
realized by removal of cattle grazing from all or portions of the
allotment.
Preliminary issues identified include: air quality; areas of
critical environmental concern; cultural resources; environmental
justice; livestock grazing; Native American religious concerns;
socioeconomics; soils, water quality; wetlands/riparian zones;
wilderness; wildlife, including threatened or endangered species; and
vegetation, including invasive species.
Preliminary planning criteria include: 1. Developing the plan
amendment in compliance with Federal Land Policy and Management Act,
all other applicable laws, regulations, executive orders, and BLM
supplemental program guidance; 2. developing an EA in the planning
process that will comply with National Environmental Policy Act
standards; 3. initiating government to government consultation,
including tribal interests; 4. incorporating by reference the Standards
for Rangeland Health and Guidelines for Livestock Grazing Management
into the plan amendment/EA; 5. complying with Appendix C of BLM's
Planning Handbook (H 1601-1) in making resource specific
determinations; 6. assuring that the plan amendment is compatible, to
the extent possible, with existing plans and policies of adjacent
local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies; and, 7. consider the extent
to which the plan amendment achieves the recovery goals outlined in the
Desert Tortoise (Mojave Population) Recovery Plan and the Northern and
Eastern Mojave Plan amendment to the CDCA Plan.
You may submit comments on issues and planning criteria in writing
to the BLM using one of the methods listed in the ``ADDRESSES'' section
above. To be most helpful, you should submit comments within 30 days
after the date of publication of this notice. Before including your
address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying
information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire
comment--including your personal identifying information--may be made
publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to
withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
The BLM will place issues identified during scoping into one of
three categories:
1. Issues to be resolved in the plan amendment;
2. Issues to be resolved through policy or administrative action;
or
3. Issues beyond the scope of this plan amendment.
The BLM will provide an explanation in the plan as to why an issue
was placed in category two or three. The public is also encouraged to
help identify any management questions and concerns that should be
addressed in the plan amendment. The BLM will work collaboratively with
interested parties to identify the management decisions that are best
suited to local, regional, and national needs and concerns.
The BLM will use an interdisciplinary approach to develop the plan
amendment in order to consider the variety of resource issues and
concerns identified. Specialists with expertise in the following
disciplines that will be involved in the planning process include but
are not limited to rangeland management, wilderness, sensitive species
(plants and animals,) cultural resources, and recreation.
Dated: September 16, 2008.
Rodney Mouton,
Acting Field Manager.
[FR Doc. E8-22766 Filed 9-30-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P
