National Park Service December 20, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C), and the Council on Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR part 1500-1508), the Department of the Interior, National Park Service (NPS) has prepared and approved a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) for the South Florida and Caribbean Parks Exotic Plant Management Plan. The nine parks included in this Plan are: Big Cypress National Preserve, Biscayne National Park, Canaveral National Seashore, Dry Tortugas National Park, Everglades National Park, Buck Island Reef National Monument, Christiansted National Historic Site, Salt River Bay National Historic Park and Ecological Preserve, and Virgin Islands National Park. The ROD documents the decision by the NPS to implement Alternative C (New Framework for Exotic Plant management: Increased Planning, Monitoring, and Mitigation, with an Emphasis on Active Restoration of Native Plants) as the selected action for the South Florida and Caribbean Parks Exotic Plant Management Plan. Alternative C was also identified in the Final EIS as the environmentally preferable alternative. The selected action is necessary to promote restoration of native species and habitat conditions in ecosystems that have been invaded by exotic plants and to protect park resources and values from adverse effects resulting from exotic plant presence and control activities. The intended effects or objectives of this action are to: Establish priorities for exotic plants to be treated and treatment locations in parks; Reduce the number of individual targeted exotic plants to minimize the threat to natural resources (native habitat, plants, and wildlife); Reduce to the greatest extent possible the introduction of new exotic plants into parks; Ensure that park exotic plant management programs support, and are consistent with, south Florida ecosystem restoration goals; Reconcile potential conflicts between preservation of significant cultural landscapes and removal of exotic plants; Preserve plants and sites valued by native Americans and other traditional cultures and protect archeological and historic resources, while reducing the spread of exotic plant species; Conduct the exotic plant management plan so it is continually monitored and improved, environmentally safe, incorporates best management practices, and supports and is supported by science and research; Minimize unintended impacts of control measures on park resources, visitors, employees, and the public; Use Federal resources with increased efficiency; Ensure that control measures are consistent with the Wilderness Act and NPS wilderness policy; Increase visitor and public awareness of the impacts exotic plants have on native habitat and species and on cultural resources, building support for NPS management efforts; Coordinate NPS efforts with partners and neighbors (nationally and internationally) to establish compatible goals and provide assistance to achieve them; and Restore and protect native plant communities in ways that allow natural processes, function, cycles, and biota to be re- established and maintained in perpetuity.