Fish and Wildlife Service August 24, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of a draft comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and environmental assessment (EA) for the Great Lakes Islands National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) for public review and comment. The group of five national wildlife refuges includes Gravel Island and Green Bay National Wildlife Refuges, Door County, Wisconsin; Harbor Island National Wildlife Refuge, Chippewa County, Michigan; Huron National Wildlife Refuge, Marquette County, Michigan; and Michigan Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Charlevoix, Arenac, and Alpena Counties, Michigan. In this draft CCP/EA we describe how we propose to manage these refuges for the next 15 years.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively referred to as the ``Services'' or ``we''), propose to revise our regulations pertaining to impact analyses conducted for designations of critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (the Act). These changes are being proposed as directed by the President's February 28, 2012, memorandum, which directed us to take prompt steps to revise our regulations to provide that the economic analysis be completed and made available for public comment at the time of publication of a proposed rule to designate critical habitat.