Final Wilderness and Backcountry Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement for Isle Royale National Park, MI, 60525-60526 [2011-25062]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 189 (Thursday, September 29, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60525-60526]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-25062]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Final Wilderness and Backcountry Management Plan and 
Environmental Impact Statement for Isle Royale National Park, MI

AGENCY: National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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) announces the availability of a Final Wilderness and Backcountry 
Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (Plan/EIS)for Isle 
Royale National Park, Michigan (Isle Royale).

DATES: The final Plan/EIS will remain available for public review for 
30 days following the publishing of the notice of availability in the 
Federal Register by the Environmental Protection Agency.

ADDRESSES: The Plan/EIS is available via the Internet through the NPS 
Planning, Environment, and Public Comment Web site (https://parkplanning.nps.gov/ISRO); click on the link to Wilderness and 
Backcountry Management Plan. You may also obtain a copy of the final 
Plan/EIS by sending a request to the Superintendent, Isle Royale 
National Park, 800 East Lakeshore Drive, Houghton, Michigan 49931.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of the Plan/EIS is to serve as a 
public document that outlines steps for preserving Isle Royale's 
wilderness character, natural resources, and cultural resources while 
also providing for the use and enjoyment of the park's wilderness and 
backcountry by current and future generations. It also serves as a 
management document that will provide accountability, consistency, and 
continuity for managing Isle Royale's wilderness and backcountry and 
this park's place in the NPS's wilderness management program.
    The Plan/EIS addresses issues and provides guidelines for managing 
the wilderness and backcountry areas of the park, which encompass all 
areas of Isle Royale outside of the Developed and Open Water Zones. 
This Plan/EIS addresses a wide array of management issues, and 
identifies specific goals, objectives, and decisionmaking guidelines 
for administrative actions and visitor use. In many cases this Plan/EIS 
formalizes current NPS management practices in Isle Royale's wilderness 
and backcountry. However, several modifications and changes are 
proposed that are intended to bring management practices on Isle Royale 
into better compliance with NPS policies, improve visitor services, or 
generally improve wilderness and backcountry management in the park. 
This Plan/EIS does not propose any changes in the wilderness boundaries 
set forth in Isle Royale's 1976 Wilderness Legislation.
    Adopting this Plan/EIS causes some changes in how the NPS manages 
wilderness and backcountry in Isle Royale, some of which will be 
readily apparent to the public, while others will be primarily 
operational. The NPS will institutionalize a Minimum Requirement 
process to guide and document decisions on appropriate tools for 
maintenance activities in the park's wilderness, appropriate research 
projects and field methods within wilderness, and appropriate 
administrative actions within the wilderness. The NPS will aim to make 
better use of research and monitoring to guide management through the 
creation and implementation of a coordinated monitoring plan, and will 
strive to increase staff training and accountability for wilderness 
management.
    The most obvious changes from the public perspective are those that 
address crowding and visitor distribution, visitor information 
services, and resource conditions. Several issues were presented in the 
draft Plan/EIS with multiple alternatives for goals and management 
actions, which were developed with extensive public input. These issues 
are: (1) Managing overnight camping and boating in Isle Royale's 
wilderness and backcountry, including permitting and information 
services; (2) managing day use in the park's wilderness and 
backcountry; (3) managing campfires; (4) maintaining or removing the 
fire towers in the park's wilderness; and (5) maintaining or removing 
picnic tables from wilderness campgrounds. Chapter 2 outlines the 
details of all of the previously proposed changes, and identifies the 
NPS preferred alternative (the final, approved action alternative) for 
each of these issues.
    The draft Plan/EIS proposed several changes in how Isle Royale's 
wilderness and backcountry are managed. The preferred alternatives were 
crafted with an intention of creating one cohesive management program, 
with management goals for each of several issues being complementary, 
not contradictory. The planning team's intention was to respond to 
public interest and the concerns of subject matter experts, and 
incorporate the best science available for guiding preservation of Isle 
Royale's resources and values. General goals included improving the 
quality of wilderness and backcountry experiences for visitors while 
still providing high public access to the park for appropriate types of 
recreation. Existing facilities could be used more efficiently, while 
unnecessary facilities would be removed from the wilderness.
    The preferred alternatives in combination also strive to minimize 
adverse resource impacts, in many cases improving resource conditions 
that are currently showing degradation. Since Isle Royale is already a 
difficult and expensive park to visit, the preferred alternatives were 
also crafted with an interest in not further restricting general

[[Page 60526]]

public access to the park. The preferred alternative for managing 
overnight camping and boating on Isle Royale focused on more 
efficiently utilizing existing camping facilities through the creation 
of a backcountry office and advanced permitting. The intent is to 
expand visitor services for trip planning and reduce campground 
crowding to improve social and resource conditions in campgrounds. This 
could result in a decrease in visitor access to the backcountry for 
camping during the busiest weeks of the season. The preferred 
alternative for managing day use was crafted with an intention to allow 
an increase in day use and concessions lodging throughout the visitor 
season. Day tours would be managed to concentrate the majority of day 
visitors close to developed and frontcountry areas of the park and 
minimize adverse impacts to wilderness character and other critical 
resources.
    The preferred alternatives in combination also aimed to minimize or 
reduce the impacts of development in the park's wilderness. Although 
the preferred alternative for overnight use would add one additional 
campsite at North Desor campground and a few rustic cabins in Rock 
Harbor, and the preferred alternative for day use would add three to 
five miles of new trail, no new campgrounds would be constructed other 
than those approved in the park's General Management Plan, up to two 
fire towers would be removed, and campfire rings would be located only 
where resource conditions could tolerate the associated impacts.
    The Plan/EIS involves analysis of current conditions in the park 
and the likely impacts of implementing each of the alternatives, 
considering impacts to visitor use and experiences, wilderness 
character, natural resources, cultural resources, socioeconomics, and 
NPS operations and administration. In general, each of the alternatives 
would be expected to result in both beneficial and adverse impacts to 
park resources and values.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact Superintendent Phyllis Green, 
Isle Royale National Park, at the address above or by telephone at 906-
482-0984.

    Dated: May 17, 2011.
Michael T. Reynolds,
Regional Director, Midwest Region.
[FR Doc. 2011-25062 Filed 9-28-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-92-P