National Park Service April 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C), the National Park Service (NPS) announces the availability of a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Coral Reef Restoration Plan (Plan/FEIS) for Biscayne National Park, Florida. The Plan/FEIS provides a systematic approach to addressing injuries to coral reefs caused by vessel groundings within Biscayne National Park.

In accordance with Sec. 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (PL91-190) Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI) are initiating the conservation planning and environmental impact analysis process required to inform consideration of alternative strategies for the future management of SEKI wilderness. The Sequoia-Kings Canyon and John Krebs Wildernesses (an 808,000-acre expanse of wild High Sierra lands that were designated by the California Wilderness Act of 1984 and the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009) are contained wholly within these two national parks. Through this process, SEKI will identify and analyze a range of alternatives for achieving wilderness stewardship objectives, which include providing appropriate types and levels of access for visitors and authorized users, preserving wilderness character, protecting cultural and natural resources, and adhering to legally-mandated management and preservation requirements. This planning process represents a significant commitment by SEKI to complete a Wilderness Stewardship Plan (WSP) for these two national parks. On April 30, 1997, SEKI published a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in the Federal Register to notify the public of the intent to prepare a WSP, and had previously held seven public scoping sessions in communities throughout California between May 28 and October 5, 1996. Based on an analysis of the numerous scoping comments received, and with consideration of a variety of other factors, SEKI determined that the WSP/EIS process should be suspended and that SEKI should instead first prepare a new General Management Plan for the parks. The General Management Plan (GMP) process was initiated in October 1997 and culminated with a Record of Decision in September 2007 (the Final EIS/General Management Plan/Comprehensive River Management Plan and associated Record of Decision are available at https://www.nps.gov/ seki/parkmgmt/gmp.htm). The GMP provides broad, programmatic direction for wilderness management. Importantly, however, the GMP commits SEKI to preparing a tiered plan for the management of wilderness resources, and explains that this tiered plan would be an implementation level plan focused on both SEKI wilderness stewardship overall, as well as stock use within wilderness. As an implementation level plan, the WSP will provide detailed guidance on a variety of issues including, but not limited to: Day and overnight use; wilderness permitting; use of campfires; wildlife and proper food storage; party size; camping and campsites; human waste management; stock use; meadow management; research activities; wildlife management in wilderness; cultural resources in wilderness; maintenance of trails, bridges, or other necessary infrastructure; and the ``minimum requirement'' for administration of the areas as Wilderness. Also to be analyzed and determined is the extent to which commercial services are necessary to fulfill the recreational and other purposes of SEKI's Congressionally designated wilderness areas. This ``extent necessary'' determination for commercial services will be performed to ensure compliance with Sec. 4(d)(5) of the Wilderness Act. The WSP will reevaluate existing wilderness-related plans and guidance, such as the 1986 Backcountry Management Plan and the 1986 Stock Use and Meadow Management Plan. The WSP will also provide for more detailed management direction on provisions of the California Wilderness Act of 1984, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, the NPS Management Policies (2006), and current interagency policies regarding the preservation of wilderness character as they relate to wilderness within SEKI. How to Comment: In consideration for the complexity and scope of wilderness stewardship issues in SEKI, the period during which comments will be accepted will extend for 90 days. SEKI encourages comments regarding the range of issues which should be addressed, alternative approaches to managing SEKI wilderness areas, and other concerns regarding SEKI wilderness areas or the wilderness planning process. All written comments must be transmitted, postmarked, or hand-delivered no later than July 25, 2011. The status of the Draft EIS (DEIS) will updated periodically at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/sekiwild. You may request to be added to the project mailing list by mailing or faxing your request to: Superintendent Karen F. Taylor-Goodrich, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Attn: Wilderness Stewardship Plan, 47050 Generals Highway, Three Rivers, CA 93271. So that we may plan accordingly, please note in your request whether you will prefer to receive a printed or compact disk copy of the DEIS/WSP when it is released, or just wish to receive a notice that the document is available for review on the Web site (to assist in reducing costs, the public is strongly encouraged to accept compact disks versus printed copies). In order to ensure that information you may provide or any concerns expressed are fully considered, you may use either of two methods to respond during this scoping period. To respond electronically, you may submit your comments online to the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) Web site (https://parkplanning.nps.gov/sekiwild). To submit written comments (e.g., in a letter), you may send them by U.S. Postal Service or other mail delivery service, or hand deliver your comments to the address provided above. Written comments will also be accepted during public scoping meetings. Comments in any format (written or electronic) submitted by an individual or organization on behalf of another individual or organization will not be accepted. It is the practice of the NPS to make all comments available for public review, after the close of the EIS process. 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.

Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and National Park Service (NPS) policy in Director's Order Number 2 (Park Planning) and Director's Order Number 12 (Conservation Planning, Environmental Impact Analysis, and Decision- making), the NPS announces the availability of the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Tamiami Trail (U.S. Highway 41) Modifications: Next Steps Project for Everglades National Park (ENP), Florida.

The National Park Service has prepared a Draft Dog Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (Plan/DEIS). The Plan/DEIS evaluates six alternatives for dog management in 21 areas of Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). The original Notice of Availability (published in the Federal Register on January 20, 2011) announced a 90-day public comment period. In recognition of the complexity of the document and with deference to interest from the public and interested organizations, the comment period has been extended for an additional 45 days.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C), the National Park Service announces the availability of the Record of Decision for the Long Draw Reservoir Special Use Authorization, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. On September 17, 2010, the Regional Director, Intermountain Region approved the Record of Decision for the project. As soon as practicable, the National Park Service will begin to implement the Preferred Alternative contained in the FEIS issued on March 27, 2009.

We (National Park Service) will ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) described below. Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 5 CFR part 1320, Reporting and Record Keeping Requirements, and as part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we invite the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on this new collection of information form (NPS 10-650). We may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Notice is hereby given in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770, 5 U.S.C. App 1, Section 10) of a meeting of the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission.