National Park Service August 12, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The National Park Service (NPS) intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to develop and implement a plan to manage vehicles along the Denali park road, including carrying capacity (the maximum number of vehicles that can be accommodated on the Denali park road May-September). The goal of the plan is to provide a high quality experience for visitors while protecting wilderness resource values, scenic values, wildlife and other park resources, and maintaining the unique character of the park road. The plan will comprehensively evaluate the existing visitor transportation system to determine its effectiveness in protecting park resources and providing for visitor access and enjoyment. Demand for bus seats exceeds capacity in some cases and trends indicate that visitation will continue to increase. There is also a need to accommodate the changing demographics, interests, and needs of visitors. The EIS will evaluate a no action alternative of maintaining the existing vehicle management system on the Denali park road including current bus schedules, vehicle allocation, and carrying capacity. The effectiveness of the existing transportation system will be assessed and used to guide development of a range of action alternatives. Action alternatives will consider potential changes to transportation system components including carrying capacity, and allocation of vehicle use among shuttle buses, tours, inholders, professional photographers, and administrative vehicles. It will also consider changes to bus scheduling and spacing; the size and type of buses; tour services; educational opportunities and interpretive services; wildlife viewing opportunities; and possibly other factors. Alternatives may also consider operational improvements such as the quality of the buses, space for backpacks and bicycles, communications, accessibility and interpretive services (both on the buses or prior to departure). The NPS may consider utilizing an adaptive management approach based on a Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) experimental design to implement any proposed changes. This BACI approach would increase the ability to detect and correct any future negative impacts on visitor experience or park resources and values caused by management actions. The NPS will consider a wide range of information including data collected from the 1930's to the present. Intensive studies conducted over the last three years on wildlife populations and behavior, social science studies on visitor experience, and extensive modeling of traffic patterns on the park road will be considered in the development and analysis of alternatives. This EIS is being prepared in accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4331 et seq.), and its implementing regulations at 40 CFR part 1500. Scoping: The planning team requests input from interested federal and state agencies, local governments, groups, organizations, park visitors, and the public. Written and verbal scoping comments are being solicited. Further information on this planning process will be available through public scoping meetings, press releases, and the park Web site. Public scoping meetings will be held in Anchorage, Denali Park, Susitna Valley, and Fairbanks, Alaska in 2008. Additional locations may be added as appropriate. Specific dates, times, and locations of scoping meetings will be announced in local media and posted on the NPS Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) Web site at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/DENA. 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.