White-Tailed Deer Management Plan, Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Fire Island National Seashore, New York, 46874-46875 [2014-18456]

Download as PDF 46874 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 154 / Monday, August 11, 2014 / Notices Any comments regarding the proposed sale will be reviewed by the BLM Nevada State Director or other authorized official of the Department of the Interior, who may sustain, vacate, or modify this realty action in response to such comments. In the absence of any comments, this realty action will become the final determination of the Department of the Interior. Authority: 43 CFR 2711.1–2. Vanessa Hice, Assistant Field Manager, Division of Lands. [FR Doc. 2014–18854 Filed 8–8–14; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4310–HC–P DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Land Management [CACA 048811, LLCAD01500, L51010000.LVRWB13B5340.ER0000] Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the Proposed Right-ofWay Amendment for the Blythe Solar Power Project, Riverside County, CA Bureau of Land Management, Interior. ACTION: Notice of availability. AGENCY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability of the Record of Decision (ROD) to amend the Right-of-Way (ROW) for the Blythe Solar Power Project (BSPP), Riverside County, California. The Assistant Secretary— Land and Minerals Management, approved the ROD on August 1, 2014, which constitutes the final decision of the Department of the Interior. ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD have been sent to affected Federal, State, and local government agencies and to other stakeholders. Copies of the ROD are available for public inspection at the Palm Springs/South Coast Field Office, 1201 Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262, and the California Desert District Office, 22835 Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 92553– 9046. Interested persons may also review the ROD on the Internet at: https://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/ palmsprings/solar_projects/Blythe_ Solar_Power_Project.html. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frank McMenimen, BLM Project Manager, telephone 760–833–7150; address: 1201 Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262; email: capssolarblythe@blm.gov. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1– 800–877–8339 to contact the above mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES SUMMARY: VerDate Mar<15>2010 17:35 Aug 08, 2014 Jkt 232001 individual during normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to leave a message or question with the above individual. You will receive a reply during normal business hours. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NextEra Blythe Solar Energy Center, LLC (Grant Holder) requested a variance from the existing approval to amend the ROW grant to convert the BSPP’s generation technology and to reduce the project footprint. The project site is located 8 miles west of Blythe and 3 miles north of Interstate 10. The BSPP was permitted and approved in 2010 as a 1,000-megawatt (MW) solar thermal generating plant. The Grant Holder purchased the fully permitted (un-built) project assets in mid-2012 and now proposes to modify the technology to solar photovoltaic (PV) and reduce the size of the project from 6,831 acres to 4,138 acres entirely within the approved BSPP footprint. On August 22, 2012, the BLM approved the assignment of the ROW Grant from the prior holder, Palo Verde Solar I, LLC, to the Grant Holder. In anticipation of the Modified Project, the Grant Holder voluntarily relinquished approximately 35 percent of the previously approved ROW grant area on March 7, 2013. The Selected Alternative consists of the proposed 485 MW PV solar plant on 4,138 acres of BLM-administered public land, referred to in the ROD as the Modified Project, with authorization for constructing and operating a range of panel types and tracking options so that the Modified Project can take advantage of the rapid improvements in PV technology/efficiency that are anticipated to take place between early permitting and commencing construction. The Modified Project reduces project impacts from the 2010 Approved Project by reducing the project footprint and avoiding bighorn sheep habitat and most of the microphyll woodlands impacted by the 2010 Approved Project. For other impacts, the BLM has included mitigation and monitoring requirements in the ROD. In addition to mitigation and monitoring measures applied to all large ground disturbance projects on BLM-managed land, the following are several of the key mitigation measures included in the ROD: • Desert Tortoise Translocation Plan and measures to avoid take of desert tortoise; • Burrowing Owl Mitigation and Monitoring Plan; • American badger and desert kit fox avoidance and minimization measures; • Compensatory mitigation for Mojave fringe-toed lizard habitat losses; PO 00000 Frm 00106 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 • Avian, bat, and golden eagle protection measures; • Programmatic Agreement with the State Historic Preservation Office to avoid, minimize, and mitigate adverse effects to historic properties, including a Historic Properties Treatment Plan; and • Measures to integrate visual design elements into project design, building, and structural materials. A Notice of Availability of the Final EIS for the BSPP published in the Federal Register on May 30, 2014 (79 FR 31133). The BLM received four comment letters following the publication of the Final EIS. The BLM’s consideration of these letters did not result in changes in the design, location, or timing of the project in a way that would cause significant effects to the human environment outside of the range of effects analyzed in the Final EIS. Similarly, none of the letters identified new significant circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns that bear on the project and its effects. The project site is in the California Desert District within the planning boundary of the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan, which is the applicable resource management plan for the project site and surrounding areas. The 2010 ROD for the Approved Project also amended the CDCA Plan to allow for the development of the BSPP and ancillary facilities on land managed by the BLM. This Plan Amendment is unaffected by the changes contemplated by the Modified Project since it is entirely within the footprint for the Approved Project. Therefore, the Modified Project does not require a separate CDCA Plan amendment. Because this decision is approved by the Assistant Secretary—Land and Minerals Management, it is not subject to administrative appeal (43 CFR 4.410(a)(3)). Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6. Neil Kornze, Director, Bureau of Land Management. [FR Doc. 2014–18973 Filed 8–8–14; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4310–40–P DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Park Service [NPS–NER–FIIS–15729; PX.XDESCPP02001] White-Tailed Deer Management Plan, Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Fire Island National Seashore, New York AGENCY: E:\FR\FM\11AUN1.SGM National Park Service, Interior. 11AUN1 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 154 / Monday, August 11, 2014 / Notices ACTION: Notice of availability. Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C), the National Park Service (NPS) announces the availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Whitetailed Deer Management Plan (Plan), Fire Island National Seashore, New York. The focus of this plan is to guide and direct deer management strategies that support preservation of the cultural landscape, the protection and natural restoration of native vegetation, and the minimization of human-deer interactions. These strategies include population control of white-tailed deer (lethal and non-lethal) and fencing. DATES: The National Park Service will accept comments on the DEIS through October 10, 2014, 60 days after the publication in the Federal Register. You may check the Web site of Fire Island National Seashore, www.nps.gov/fiis, for dates, times, and places of public meetings to be conducted by the National Park Service during the 60-day public comment period, or by calling project contacts below. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by the following methods: You may mail comments to: Fire Island National Seashore, 120 Laurel Street, Patchogue, NY 11772–3596. The preferred method of comment is via the internet at https://park planning.nps.gov. The document will be available for public review and comment online at https://park planning.nps.gov/fiis, and can be viewed at the following locations: Patchogue-Medford Library, 54–60 East Main Street, Patchogue, NY 11772– 3596. 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—might 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. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Project Manager Morgan Elmer at (303) 969–2317. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Fire Island National Seashore (the Seashore), a unit of the National Park System, is located along the south shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York. The Seashore encompasses 19,579 acres of upland, tidal, and submerged lands along a 26-mile stretch of the 32-mile mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES SUMMARY: VerDate Mar<15>2010 17:35 Aug 08, 2014 Jkt 232001 barrier island—part of a much larger system of barrier islands and bluffs stretching from New York City to the very eastern end of Long Island at Montauk Point. An extensive dunes system, centuries-old maritime forests, and solitary beaches are easily accessed on Fire Island. Also on Fire Island, within the boundary of the Seashore, are nearly 1,400 acres of federally designated wilderness and the Fire Island Lighthouse. Nearby on Long Island, also part of the Seashore is the William Floyd Estate, the home of one of New York’s signers of the Declaration of Independence. The purpose of this plan is to guide and direct the actions of the NPS in the management of white-tailed deer in Fire Island National Seashore, including the William Floyd Estate on Long Island. The Seashore sustains a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) population that has expanded since the late 1960s to the extent that impacts from high densities of deer have impacted and continue to impact the Seashore’s ecosystem. As a result, the Seashore is preparing this White-tailed Deer Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (plan/ EIS). The plan/EIS has been prepared in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS–DEC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS). The NPS has developed the DEIS under section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and consistent with National Park Service law, regulations, and policies. The DEIS describes and analyzes a No Action alternative (Alternative A) and three action alternatives (Alternatives B, C, and D) to guide management actions and strategies for managing white-tailed deer. The alternatives include lethal and non-lethal actions to manage and reduce the impacts of white-tailed deer. There are three action alternatives for the management of white-tailed deer. Alternative B of the plan provides a nonlethal deer reduction option to implement nonsurgical reproductive control of female deer (does) when an acceptable reproductive control agent is available that meets NPS established criteria. Large fence exclosures would also protect the Sunken Forest—a globally rare forest type (holly maritime forest) to allow natural restoration of the forest and culturally significant vegetation at the William Floyd Estate. Alternative C of the Plan provides a lethal deer reduction option with sharpshooting, controlled public hunt, and limited capture and euthanasia to PO 00000 Frm 00107 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 46875 reduce deer populations to the target density and maintain that level. Similar to alternative B, a large fence exclosure would protect the Sunken Forest. Alternative D of the Plan provides a combined lethal and nonlethal deer reduction option with sharpshooting, a controlled public hunt and limited capture and euthanasia to reduce deer populations to the target deer density. Once the target density has been reached, and an acceptable reproductive control agent is available that meets NPS established criteria, the use of nonsurgical reproductive control of does would be implemented to maintain deer density at the target level. If an acceptable agent is not available, then population maintenance would occur using lethal methods. Similar to alternative B, large fence exclosures would protect the Sunken Forest and culturally significant vegetation at the William Floyd Estate. The DEIS evaluates potential environmental consequences of implementing these alternatives. Impact topics include the natural, cultural, and socioeconomic environments. Dated: June 18, 2014. Michael A. Caldwell, Regional Director, Northeast Region, National Park Service. [FR Doc. 2014–18456 Filed 8–8–14; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4310–WV–P DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Antitrust Division Notice Pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993; Opendaylight Project, Inc. Notice is hereby given that, on July 11, 2014, pursuant to Section 6(a) of the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, 15 U.S.C. 4301 et seq. (‘‘the Act’’), OpenDaylight Project, Inc. (‘‘OpenDaylight’’) has filed written notifications simultaneously with the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission disclosing changes in its membership. The notifications were filed for the purpose of extending the Act’s provisions limiting the recovery of antitrust plaintiffs to actual damages under specified circumstances. Specifically, Flextronics, Ebene, Mauritius; Extreme Networks, San Jose, CA; and KEMP Technologies, New York, NY, have been added as parties to this venture. No other changes have been made in either the membership or planned activity of the group research project. Membership in this group research project remains open, and OpenDaylight E:\FR\FM\11AUN1.SGM 11AUN1

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[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 154 (Monday, August 11, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46874-46875]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-18456]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-NER-FIIS-15729; PX.XDESCPP02001]


White-Tailed Deer Management Plan, Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement, Fire Island National Seashore, New York

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

[[Page 46875]]


ACTION: Notice of availability.

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

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 42 
U.S.C. 4332(2)(C), the National Park Service (NPS) announces the 
availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the 
White-tailed Deer Management Plan (Plan), Fire Island National 
Seashore, New York. The focus of this plan is to guide and direct deer 
management strategies that support preservation of the cultural 
landscape, the protection and natural restoration of native vegetation, 
and the minimization of human-deer interactions. These strategies 
include population control of white-tailed deer (lethal and non-lethal) 
and fencing.

DATES: The National Park Service will accept comments on the DEIS 
through October 10, 2014, 60 days after the publication in the Federal 
Register. You may check the Web site of Fire Island National Seashore, 
www.nps.gov/fiis, for dates, times, and places of public meetings to be 
conducted by the National Park Service during the 60-day public comment 
period, or by calling project contacts below.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by the following methods:
    You may mail comments to: Fire Island National Seashore, 120 Laurel 
Street, Patchogue, NY 11772-3596.
    The preferred method of comment is via the internet at https://parkplanning.nps.gov. The document will be available for public review 
and comment online at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/fiis, and can be 
viewed at the following locations: Patchogue-Medford Library, 54-60 
East Main Street, Patchogue, NY 11772-3596.
    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--might 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Project Manager Morgan Elmer at (303) 
969-2317.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Fire Island National Seashore (the 
Seashore), a unit of the National Park System, is located along the 
south shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York. The Seashore 
encompasses 19,579 acres of upland, tidal, and submerged lands along a 
26-mile stretch of the 32-mile barrier island--part of a much larger 
system of barrier islands and bluffs stretching from New York City to 
the very eastern end of Long Island at Montauk Point. An extensive 
dunes system, centuries-old maritime forests, and solitary beaches are 
easily accessed on Fire Island. Also on Fire Island, within the 
boundary of the Seashore, are nearly 1,400 acres of federally 
designated wilderness and the Fire Island Lighthouse. Nearby on Long 
Island, also part of the Seashore is the William Floyd Estate, the home 
of one of New York's signers of the Declaration of Independence.
    The purpose of this plan is to guide and direct the actions of the 
NPS in the management of white-tailed deer in Fire Island National 
Seashore, including the William Floyd Estate on Long Island. The 
Seashore sustains a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) 
population that has expanded since the late 1960s to the extent that 
impacts from high densities of deer have impacted and continue to 
impact the Seashore's ecosystem. As a result, the Seashore is preparing 
this White-tailed Deer Management Plan and Environmental Impact 
Statement (plan/EIS). The plan/EIS has been prepared in cooperation 
with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS-
DEC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant 
Health Inspection Services (APHIS).
    The NPS has developed the DEIS under section 102(2)(C) of the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and consistent with National 
Park Service law, regulations, and policies. The DEIS describes and 
analyzes a No Action alternative (Alternative A) and three action 
alternatives (Alternatives B, C, and D) to guide management actions and 
strategies for managing white-tailed deer. The alternatives include 
lethal and non-lethal actions to manage and reduce the impacts of 
white-tailed deer.
    There are three action alternatives for the management of white-
tailed deer.
    Alternative B of the plan provides a nonlethal deer reduction 
option to implement nonsurgical reproductive control of female deer 
(does) when an acceptable reproductive control agent is available that 
meets NPS established criteria. Large fence exclosures would also 
protect the Sunken Forest--a globally rare forest type (holly maritime 
forest) to allow natural restoration of the forest and culturally 
significant vegetation at the William Floyd Estate.
    Alternative C of the Plan provides a lethal deer reduction option 
with sharpshooting, controlled public hunt, and limited capture and 
euthanasia to reduce deer populations to the target density and 
maintain that level. Similar to alternative B, a large fence exclosure 
would protect the Sunken Forest.
    Alternative D of the Plan provides a combined lethal and nonlethal 
deer reduction option with sharpshooting, a controlled public hunt and 
limited capture and euthanasia to reduce deer populations to the target 
deer density. Once the target density has been reached, and an 
acceptable reproductive control agent is available that meets NPS 
established criteria, the use of nonsurgical reproductive control of 
does would be implemented to maintain deer density at the target level. 
If an acceptable agent is not available, then population maintenance 
would occur using lethal methods. Similar to alternative B, large fence 
exclosures would protect the Sunken Forest and culturally significant 
vegetation at the William Floyd Estate.
    The DEIS evaluates potential environmental consequences of 
implementing these alternatives. Impact topics include the natural, 
cultural, and socioeconomic environments.

    Dated: June 18, 2014.
Michael A. Caldwell,
Regional Director, Northeast Region, National Park Service.
[FR Doc. 2014-18456 Filed 8-8-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-WV-P

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