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

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Park Service (NPS) NEPA guidelines, NPS prepared and in October 2008 made available for a 30-day public review an Environmental Assessment (EA) evaluating the potential impacts of a proposed transfer of jurisdiction of a portion of Fort Dupont Park to the Government of the District of Columbia (the District). This transfer would be for recreational purposes and in assessing this proposed transfer, the EA also considered the District's general plan to expand and improve sports-related recreational facilities to the extent that these details are presently known.

In accord with section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), the National Park Service is undertaking a conservation planning and environmental impact analysis process for developing a General Management Plan (GMP) for Kalaupapa National Historical Park, Hawaii. An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared concurrently with the GMP. The GMP is intended to set forth the basic management philosophy for this unit of the National Park System and provide the strategies for addressing issues and achieving identified management objectives. Thus, the GMP serves as a ``blueprint'' to guide management of natural and cultural resources and visitor use during the next 15-20 years. Consistent with NPS Planning Program Standards, the updated GMP will: (1) Describe the National Historical Park's purpose, significance, and primary interpretive themes; (2) identify the fundamental resources and values of the park, its other important resources and values, and describe the condition of these resources; (3) describe desired conditions for cultural and natural resources and visitor experiences throughout the park; (4) develop management zoning to support these desired conditions; (5) develop alternative applications of these management zones to the Park's landscape (i.e., zoning alternatives); (6) address user capacity; (7) analyze potential boundary modifications; (8) ensure that management recommendations are developed in consultation with interested partners and the public and adopted by NPS leadership after an adequate analysis of the benefits, environmental impacts, and economic costs of alternative courses of action; (9) develop cost estimates implementing each of the alternatives; and (10) identify and prioritize subsequent detailed studies, plans and actions that may be needed to implement the updated GMP. Scoping Process: The park will undertake extensive scoping outreach efforts in order to elicit early public comment regarding issues and concerns, the nature and extent of potential environmental impacts (and as appropriate, mitigation measures), and alternatives which should be addressed in the GMP. Through the outreach activities planned in the scoping phase, the NPS welcomes information and suggestions from the public regarding resource protection, visitor use, and land management. This notice formally initiates the public scoping comment phase for the EIS process. All scoping comments must be postmarked or transmitted not later than July 15, 2009, and should be addressed to: General Management Plan, Attn: Steve Prokop, Superintendent, Kalaupapa National Historical Park, P.O. Box 2222, Kalaupapa, HI 96742 (or may also be transmitted electronically via https://parkplanning.nps.gov/kala). Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire commentincluding your personal identifying informationmay 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. At this time, it is expected that public workshops will take place on Molokai, Oahu, and Maui, and possibly Hawaii and Kauai in late April and early May 2009. Detailed information regarding these meetings will be posted on the GMP Web site (noted above) and announced through local and regional press media. All attendees will be given the opportunity to ask questions and provide comments to the planning team. The GMP Web site will provide the most up-to-date information regarding the project, including project description, planning process updates, meeting notices, reports and documents, and useful links associated with the project.

Under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the National Park Service (NPS) is preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the General Management Plan (GMP) for Buffalo National River, Arkansas. The GMP/EIS will establish the overall direction for Buffalo National River by setting broad management goals for managing the area over the next 15 to 20 years.