National Park Service February 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Under and by virtue of the authority conferred upon the Secretary of the Interior by section 3 of the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site Act of December 19, 2003 (117 Stat. 2873), the property at 1538 Ninth Street, NW., Washington, DC, with the structure thereon, is established and designated a unit of the National Park System having the name ``Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site.'' The administration, protection and development of this national historic site shall be exercised by the National Park Service in accordance with the provisions of the authorizing legislation as well as laws generally applicable to units of the National Park System, including the Act of August 25, 1916 (16 U.S.C. 1, 2-4) and the Act of August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666; 16 U.S.C. 461-467). Warning is expressly given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate, injure, destroy, deface, or remove any feature of this historic site.

The National Park Service (NPS) is proposing to designate areas for the limited purpose of providing passage access through park waters for personal watercraft (PWC) use in the Jamaica Bay Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area (GATE), New York/New Jersey. This proposed rule implements the provisions of the NPS general regulations authorizing park areas to allow the use of PWC by promulgating a special regulation. Individual parks must determine whether PWC use is appropriate for a specific park area based on an evaluation of that area's enabling legislation, resources and values, other visitor uses, and overall management objectives. The proposed rule designating areas where PWC may be used in the Sandy Hook unit of GATE, New York/New Jersey is published elsewhere in today's Federal Register.

Under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the National Park Service (NPS) is preparing an environmental impact statement for a Dog Management Plan for Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). The purpose of the Dog Management Plan is to provide clear, enforceable guidelines to determine the manner and extent of dog-walking use in appropriate areas of the park. The objectives are to protect and preserve natural and cultural resources; provide a variety of visitor experiences; improve visitor and employee safety; reduce user conflicts; and to maintain park resources and values for future generations. The Dog Management Plan will also address public desire to walk dogs off-leash in certain areas of GGNRA. Background: A dog management plan is needed at this time because the existing NPS regulation governing dogs in parks, codified at 36 CFR 2.15, has not been effective in resolving longstanding, controversial resource management and public use conflicts and safety issues at GGNRA. If no action is taken, GGNRA resources and values could be compromised to the extent that areas of the park may not be available for enjoyment by future generations. A history of a dog management policy that has been inconsistent with NPS regulations has resulted in controversy and litigation, compromised visitor and employee safety, affected visitor experience and resulted in resource degradation. The conflicts will likely escalate if not addressed in a comprehensive dog management plan. In order to implement a dog management plan that may allow off- leash dog walking, a special federal regulation would need to be promulgated governing dog walking in GGNRA. Largely because of intense public interest and debate regarding dog walking, GGNRA has decided to use a negotiated rulemaking process to reach consensus on a proposed regulation for the management of dogs within the park. Although each process has its own separate legal requirements, the negotiated rulemaking process will run concurrently with the preparation of the EIS in order to facilitate informed decision-making. GGNRA intends to create a Negotiated Rulemaking Committee, consistent with the Negotiated Rulemaking Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act, made up of representatives of interest groups that could be affected by a change to the current regulation governing dogs. The Negotiated Rulemaking Committee will negotiate to reach consensus on concepts and language to use as the basis for a special regulation for dog management at GGNRA. If the Committee reaches a consensus on most or many issues, that consensus would be incorporated into one or more alternatives in the Draft EIS and if selected, would ultimately become the basis of a special regulation for dog-walking within GGNRA. Scoping Process: To be most helpful to the scoping process necessary to inform preparation of the dog management plan and Draft EIS, comments regarding the scope of the plan/EIS, relevant environmental information, or issues or concerns are encouraged. All comments must be postmarked or transmitted not later than 30 days after publication of this notice in the Federal Register; immediately upon confirmation of this date it will be announced on the park's Web site (https://www.nps.gov/goga). The NPS intends to conduct public scoping meetings in the GGNRA area in early 2006. Please check the park's Web site, the NPS planning, environment, and public comment (PEPC) Web site (https://parkplanning.nps.gov/goga), or telephone the GGNRA Negotiated Rulemaking Information Line (415) 561-4728 for current information on when and where these meetings will be held. To request a sign language interpreter for a meeting, please call Mike Feinstein at (415) 561-4733 a week in advance of the meeting. Regularly updated information regarding this project can be found on the GGNRA and PEPC websites, and will be available for public review at the park's visitor centers at Fort Mason, Pacifica, Presidio, Marin Headlands and Muir Woods. A public scoping brochure that further explains the purpose, needs, issues, and objectives of the plan/EIS will also be available before the meetings. Copies of the brochure will be sent to those on the Dog Management Plan mailing list, or may be obtained on the GGNRA or PEPC websites, or at the GGNRA visitor centers at Fort Mason, Presidio, Pacifica, Marin Headlands and Muir Woods. All interested individuals and organizations may submit comments online through the PEPC website (https://parkplanning.nps.gov/goga). Click on ``Golden Gate National Recreation Area Dog Management Plan'' and follow the instructions on the website. Detailed written comments may also be sent to the attention of the Superintendent, GGNRA, Fort Mason, Building 201, San Francisco, CA 94123. Please note that names and addresses of people who comment become part of the public record. If individuals commenting request that their name and/or address be withheld from public disclosure, it will be honored to the extent allowable by law. Such requests must be stated prominently in the beginning of the comments. There also may be circumstances wherein the NPS will withhold from the record a respondent's identity, as allowable by law. As always: The NPS will make available to public inspection all submissions from organizations or businesses and from persons identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations and businesses; and, anonymous comments may not be considered. When using PEPC to comment, if you would like your name and/or address withheld from the public record but would like to receive future mailings on the project, you may fill in the name and address field, and mark ``keep my contact information private''. If you do not want to receive any additional information on the project in the future and are only using PEPC to comment, you may put N/A in the name and address field. Decision Process: At this time it is anticipated that the draft plan/EIS will be made available for public review in late fall, 2006. Availability of the draft document will be formally announced through the publication of a Notice of Availability in the Federal Register, as well as through local and regional news media, the GGNRA and PEPC websites, and direct mailing to the project mailing list. Public meetings on the draft plan/EIS will also be held following its release; as soon as dates and locations are determined these will be announced via local and regional press and direct mailings. As a delegated EIS, the official responsible for approval of the Record of Decision is the NPS Regional Director, Pacific West Region; subsequently the official responsible for implementation is the Superintendent, Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Under the provisions of Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the National Park Service (NPS) is preparing a Seagrass Restoration Plan/Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (RP/PEIS) to guide all future seagrass restoration activities performed within Biscayne National Park (BISC). NPS is undertaking restoration planning and impact analysis to identify and assess the potential impacts of performing restoration activities on injured seagrass at vessel grounding sites within BISC. As part of this process NPS will evaluate a range of alternatives for seagrass restoration to determine the potential impacts of those alternatives, including those on land use, water quality, biological resources, geology, cultural resources, human health and safety, and aesthetics. The purpose of the RP/PEIS is to develop a restoration plan that can be used by the NPS to restore seagrass beds. This plan is needed to remedy injuries caused by vessel groundings. Preliminary alternatives that may be evaluated for seagrass restoration include sediment placement, sediment stabilization, seagrass transplantation, fertilizer use, protective measures, and monitoring. To facilitate sound planning and consideration of environmental resources, the NPS intends to gather information necessary for the preparation of the seagrass RP/PEIS and to obtain suggestions and information from other agencies and the public on the scope of issues to be addressed in the RP/PEIS. Vessel groundings and propeller dredging are common occurrences in BISC due to shallow water conditions outside marked channels. When a vessel runs aground on a seagrass bed, its propellers usually cut or uproot seagrasses, leaving a ``scar.'' It can take years for seagrasses to recover from such damage, and in some areas it may never grow back. When vessels attempt to ``power off,'' they blow large holes (``blowholes'') in the bottom of the bay displacing large volumes of sediment and seagrass. Displaced sediment often smothers bottom- dwelling organisms. Seagrass beds are a valuable natural resource because they provide a variety of important services to the marine environment including enhancing sediment stability, decreasing wave energy, providing nursery habitat and feeding grounds for fish and invertebrates, providing feeding grounds for wading and diving birds, providing food and habitat for endangered species, and creating habitat and substrate diversity. BISC seagrass beds are natural resources that the NPS preserves and protects for the education, inspiration, recreation, and enjoyment of present and future generations. The vessel groundings cause injury to those natural resources in BISC. The Park System Resource Protection Act (PSRPA) authorizes the NPS to seek compensation for injuries to park system resources and use the recovered funds to restore, replace, or acquire equivalent resources, and to monitor such resources. It is the intent of NPS to prepare this seagrass RP/PEIS so that a tiered process can be used to facilitate future restoration actions within BISC. The seagrass RP/PEIS will facilitate subsequent environmental compliance and the development of individual restoration plans.

The Secretary of the Interior is establishing the Negotiated Rulemaking Advisory Committee for Dog Management to negotiate and develop a special regulation for dog management at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, in accordance with the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990, 5 U.S.C. 564.

Notice is hereby given in accordance with the Federal Advisory Commission Act and 36 CFR Part 65 that a meeting of the Landmarks Committee of the National Park System Advisory Board will be held beginning at 1 p.m. on April 11, 2006, at the location listed below. The meeting will continue beginning at 9 a.m. on April 12.

This notice sets forth the date of the February 18, 2006 meeting of the Flight 93 Advisory Commission.

This notice is a solicitation on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior for nominations to fill a vacancy on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee. Nominations may be submitted by Indian tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, and traditional Native American religious leaders. Nominees must be traditional Native American religious leaders. Appointments are made by the Secretary of the Interior.

Pursuant to Civil Action No. 03-04 (RMC), The Wilderness Society v. Gale Norton, January 10, 2005, and in accordance with National Park Service (NPS) Management Policies 2001 section 6.2.1, the NPS has completed a Wilderness Suitability Assessment to determine if lands within Redwood National Park meet criteria indicating suitability for preservation as wilderness. The Redwood National Park staff reviewed management related documents that discussed potential wilderness, reviewed existing resource conditions, and weighed this information against Primary Suitability Criteria, section 6.2.1.1, of Management Policies 2001. Since the expansion of Redwood National Park in 1978, the park has undertaken an intense watershed rehabilitation program with a focus on removing roads. Since park expansion in 1978, about 219 miles of road have been removed and another 123 miles are proposed for removal within the Redwood Creek portion of the park. The 1999 Final General Management/General Plan and FEIS for Redwood National and State Parks states that until watershed restoration activities are completed that no wilderness area will be proposed. The 1979 General Management Plan concluded that a wilderness recommendation would be premature until rehabilitation efforts are completed because of the continuing need for large construction vehicles and the maintenance and heavy use of roads, activities inconsistent with wilderness designation. Based on these findings, the NPS has concluded that the lands within Redwood National Park do not warrant further study for wilderness evaluation at this time. However, following successful completion of watershed restoration activities in 12-15 years, or during the next General Management Plan effort, reconsideration of wilderness suitability for certain tracts of land within Redwood Creek could be warranted.