Massasoit National Wildlife Refuge, Plymouth, MA; Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment, 14228-14229 [2017-05369]

Agencies

• Fish and Wildlife Service
• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 51 (Friday, March 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14228-14229]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-05369]



[[Page 14228]]

=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R5-R-2016-N217; BAC-4333-99]


Massasoit National Wildlife Refuge, Plymouth, MA; Draft 
Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the 
availability of a draft comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and 
environmental assessment (EA) for Massasoit National Wildlife Refuge 
(NWR) for public review and comment. Massasoit NWR is located in 
Plymouth, Massachusetts, and is administered by staff at Eastern 
Massachusetts NWR Complex based in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The draft 
CCP and EA describes two alternatives for managing Massasoit NWR for 
the next 15 years. Alternative B is identified as the Service-preferred 
alternative. Also available for public review and comment are the draft 
compatibility determinations, which are included as appendix B in the 
draft CCP and EA.

DATES: To ensure consideration of your written comments, please send 
them by May 16, 2017. We will also hold a public meeting. We will 
announce the meeting and other opportunities for public input in local 
news media, via our project mailing list, and on the refuge planning 
Web site: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Massasoit/what_we_do/conservation.html.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, request copies of the document, or 
obtain more information on the plan by any of the following methods.
    Email: northeastplanning@fws.gov. Please include ``Massasoit CCP'' 
in the subject line of the message.
    U.S. Mail: Elizabeth Herland, Project Leader, Eastern Massachusetts 
NWR Complex, 73 Weir Hill Road, Sudbury, MA 01776.
    Fax: Attention: Elizabeth Herland, 978-443-2898.
    In-Person Drop-off, Viewing, or Pickup: Call Elizabeth Herland, 
Project Leader, Eastern Massachusetts NWR Complex, at 978-579-4026, 
during regular business hours to make an appointment to view the 
document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Herland, Project Leader, 
Eastern Massachusetts NWR; mailing address: 73 Weir Hill Road, Sudbury, 
MA 01776; 978-579-4026 (phone); 978-443-2898 (fax); 
northeastplanning@fws.gov (email) (please put ``Massasoit NWR'' in the 
subject line).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction

    With this notice, we continue the CCP process for Massasoit NWR. We 
published our original notice of intent to prepare a CCP in the Federal 
Register on January 10, 2012 (77 FR 1503).
    The 209-acre Massasoit NWR is located in Plymouth, Massachusetts, 
and is comprised of three parcels: Crooked Pond (184 acres), Island 
Pond (15 acres), and Hoyts Pond (10 acres). The refuge was established 
in 1983 primarily to conserve the federally endangered northern red-
bellied cooter (cooter). In addition, the refuge protects other 
wildlife and plant species, including rare moths and other native 
pollinators, migratory songbirds, and small mammals. Habitats on the 
refuge include pine-oak upland forest with varying understory types, 
and coastal plain ponds and associated shoreline and upland habitats.
    The refuge is currently closed to all public uses. It has not been 
open to the public since its establishment due to both staffing 
limitations and the presence of the cooter that is sensitive to 
disturbance. Exceptions have been made for occasional interpretive and 
environmental education programs under a special use permit (SUP), or 
via special staff-led programs.

Background

    The National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 (16 
U.S.C. 668dd-668ee) (Refuge Administration Act), as amended by the 
National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, requires us to 
develop a CCP for each national wildlife refuge. The purpose for 
developing a CCP is to provide refuge managers with a 15-year plan for 
achieving refuge purposes and contributing toward the mission of the 
National Wildlife Refuge System, consistent with sound principles of 
fish and wildlife management conservation, legal mandates, and our 
policies. In addition to outlining broad management direction on 
conserving wildlife and their habitats, CCPs identify wildlife-
dependent recreational opportunities available to the public, including 
opportunities for hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and 
photography, and environmental education and interpretation. We will 
review and update the CCP at least every 15 years, in accordance with 
the Refuge Administration Act.

Public Outreach

    In April 2012, we distributed a planning newsletter to inform 
stakeholders about the planning process and asked recipients to contact 
us about issues or concerns they would like us to address. We also 
posted the newsletter on our Web site and published news releases in 
local newspapers. We held stakeholder and public scoping meetings in 
early April 2012, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. These meetings helped 
refine the partner and public concerns to be address in the planning 
process. Throughout the planning process, refuge staff have conducted 
additional outreach via participation in community meetings and events, 
other public forums, and meetings with the Massachusetts Division of 
Fisheries and Wildlife. We have considered and evaluated all of the 
comments we received and address them in various ways in the two 
alternatives presented in the draft CCP and EA.

CCP Alternatives We Are Considering

    We developed and evaluated two management alternatives in the draft 
CCP and EA. A full description of each alternative is in the draft 
plan. Both alternatives include measures to continue conducting 
biological and ecological research and investigations on cooters, as 
well as continue active habitat management to benefit the cooters and 
other species of concern.
    There are other actions that differ among the alternatives. Below, 
we provide summaries of the two alternatives, highlighting the 
differences.

Alternative A (Current Management)

    Alternative A is the ``no action'' alternative required by the 
National Environmental Policy Act. Alternative A defines our current 
management activities, including those planned, funded, or underway, 
and serves as the baseline against which to compare alternative B. 
Under alternative A, we would continue to contribute to rangewide 
cooter population recovery goals by protecting existing pond and 
shoreline habitat on the refuge from human disturbance, creating and 
maintaining high quality nesting habitat, and increasing nest success 
and hatchling survival. Our work with the cooter recovery team and 
species experts would continue to refine our understanding of species 
habitat requirements and the factors limiting survival and 
reproduction. We would continue to manage mixed pine-oak forest and 
other upland habitats to

[[Page 14229]]

reduce hazardous fuel loading through mechanical clearing and 
prescribed fire. We would also continue to allow limited environmental 
education and interpretation programs under a SUP, or led by refuge 
staff.

Alternative B (Increased Ecosystem Monitoring, Partnerships, and Public 
Use; Service-Preferred Alternative)

    Alternative B is the Service-preferred alternative. It combines the 
actions we believe would best achieve the refuge's purposes, vision, 
and goals and respond to public issues. Alternative B represents an 
extension and progression of all areas of current refuge management, 
including additional biological work, increased visitor services 
opportunities, and enhanced outreach to local communities. Alternative 
B places a greater emphasis on the importance of the refuge in a larger 
landscape context. This alternative would expand habitat management and 
monitoring for cooter and other species on additional refuge-owned 
parcels, and would include the use of prescribed burning to increase 
the structure and species composition of upland habitats to benefit 
wildlife resources of concern.
    Alternative B would pursue the Service's administrative 
requirements to evaluate potential hunting opportunities on the Crooked 
Pond parcel. Wildlife observation, photography, interpretation, and 
environmental education would be allowed on special occasions when led 
by refuge staff or partners working under a SUP. These activities would 
allow visitors to gain a better understanding of the unique natural 
resources the refuge protects and encourage visitors to become better 
stewards and advocates for resource conservation.
    Under alternative B, refuge staff would increase outreach to the 
local community to raise the refuge's visibility and promote the 
relevancy of the refuge and the Eastern Massachusetts NWR Complex to 
conservation in southeast Massachusetts.

Next Steps

    After this comment period ends, we will analyze the comments and 
address them in the form of a final CCP and, if appropriate, finding of 
no significant impact.

Public Availability of Documents

    In addition to any methods listed in ADDRESSES, you can view or 
obtain documents from the agency Web site at: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Massasoit/what_we_do/conservation.html.

Submitting Comments

    We consider comments substantive if they:
     Question, with reasonable basis, the accuracy of the 
information in the document.
     Question, with reasonable basis, the adequacy of the EA.
     Present reasonable alternatives other than those presented 
in the EA.
     Provide new or additional information relevant to the EA.

Public Availability of Comments

    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comments, 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.

    Dated: March 13, 2017.
Wendi Weber,
Regional Director, Northeast Region.
[FR Doc. 2017-05369 Filed 3-16-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P