National Park Service January 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to the Council of Environmental Quality regulations and National Park Service policy, this notice announces the availability of an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the improvements to the existing West Potomac Park Levee System which extends from 23rd Street, NW., to the grounds of the Washington Monument. The goal of this project is to improve the reliability of the existing levee in order to meet the current post-Hurricane Katrina standards for flood protection as required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The existing levee protects much of the monumental core and large portions of downtown Washington, DC.

This notice constitutes the official publication of the decision to submit nominations to the World Heritage List for Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Hawaii, and Mount Vernon, Virginia, and serves as the Third Notice referred to in Sec. 73.7(j) of the World Heritage Program regulations (36 CFR part 73). The nominations are being submitted through the Department of State for consideration by the World Heritage Committee, which will likely occur at the Committee's 34th annual session in mid-2010. These two properties have been selected from the U.S. World Heritage Tentative List. The Tentative List consists of properties that appear to qualify for World Heritage status and which may be considered for nomination by the United States to the World Heritage List. The current U.S. Tentative List was transmitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre on January 24, 2008. The new U.S. Tentative List appeared in a Federal Register notice on March 19, 2008 (73 FR 14835-14838, March 19, 2008) with a request for public comment on possible initial nominations from the 14 sites on the U.S. Tentative List, particularly for the two sites named above. The comments received and the Department of the Interior's responses to them as well as the Department's decision to request preparation of these two nominations appeared in a subsequent Federal Register Notice published on July 8, 2008 (73 FR 39036-39039, July 8, 2008). The Department considered public comments received during the comment period as well as the advice of the Federal Interagency Panel for World Heritage in making the decisions to submit the two U.S. World Heritage nominations. Both properties meet the legal prerequisites for nomination by the United States to the World Heritage List. They appear to meet one or more of the World Heritage criteria and all owners of the two sites support the nomination of these nationally significant properties to the World Heritage List. Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument was selected for nomination in part because it would, as a marine site and a mixed cultural and natural site in the Pacific, fill conspicuous gaps in the U.S. portfolio of World Heritage Sites. Similar gaps likewise exist in the World Heritage List as a whole, wherein few marine, Pacific, or mixed sites are listed. The State of Hawaii, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the three co-stewards of the Monument, are strongly supportive of the nomination. George Washington's Mount Vernon likewise would fill a gap in the U.S. cultural site list and on the World Heritage List as a whole. It is an outstanding example of a type of colonial cultural landscape that was tied to the plantation economy based on slavery that prevailed in the American South during the colonial and early Federal periods. It is also the primary illustration of the early historic preservation movement in the United States. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association, the owner, strongly supports the property's nomination.

The Denali National Park Subsistence Resource Commission (SRC) will meet to develop and continue work on National Park Service (NPS) subsistence hunting program recommendations and other related subsistence management issues. This meeting is open to the public and will have time allocated for public testimony. The public is welcome to present written or oral comments to the SRC. This meeting will be recorded and meeting minutes will be available upon request from the park superintendent for public inspection approximately six weeks after each meeting. The NPS subsistence resource commission program is authorized under Title VIII, Section 808 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, Public Law 96-487, to operate in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C), the National Park Service (NPS) is preparing an environmental impact statement for a general management plan for Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas. The environmental impact statement will be approved by the Director, Intermountain Region. The general management plan will prescribe the resource conditions and visitor experiences that are to be achieved and maintained in the Preserve over the next 15 to 20 years. The clarification of what must be achieved according to law and policy will be based on review of the Preserve's purpose, significance, special mandates, and the body of laws and policies directing park management. Based on determinations of desired conditions, the general management plan will outline the kinds of resource management activities, visitor activities, and development that would be appropriate in the future. A range of reasonable management alternatives will be developed through this planning process and will include, at a minimum, a no-action and a preferred alternative. The NPS is required to prepare a GMP for all NPS units. A GNP was completed for Big Thicket National Preserve in 1980. The 1980 GMP does not address lands added to the Preserve since 1993 or current NPS park planning standards or NPS management policies. Issues to be addressed will include but are not limited to the following: The management of lands added to the Preserve since the original GMP in 1980; visitor use and resource management issues; access to and within the Preserve; and changes in land use patterns and their impact on natural and cultural resources in the Preserve. A scoping newsletter will be prepared that describes the issues identified to date. Copies of the newsletter may be obtained in June from Todd Brindle, Superintendent, Big Thicket National Preserve, 6044 FM 420, Kountze, Texas 77625, Phone: 409-951-6802, the park Web site https://www.nps.gov/bith, or on the Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) website at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/bith.

Notice is hereby given in accordance with 36 CFR 9.52(b), of a Plan of Operations submitted by Cimarex Energy, Co., for a cable-only 3-D seismic survey, Hardin County, Texas.