Keweenaw National Historical Park, Michigan

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

Keweenaw National Historical Park, Michigan

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice--Record of Decision.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Interior, National Park Service, has

prepared a Record of Decision on The Final General Management Plan and

Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Keweenaw National

Historical Park, in Houghton County, Michigan.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Frank Fiala, Superintendent,

Keweenaw National Historical Park, P.O. Box 471, Calumet, Michigan

49931-0471. Telephone number 906-337-3168.

Supplementary Information:

Introduction

The Department of the Interior, National Park Service, has prepared

this Record of Decision on the Final General Management Plan/

Environmental Impact Statement (FGMP/EIS) for Keweenaw National

Historical Park, in Houghton County, Michigan. This Record of Decision

is a statement of the decision made, the background of the project,

other alternatives considered, the basis for the decision, the

environmentally preferable alternative, measures to minimize

environmental harm, and public involvement in the decision-making

process.

Decision

The National Park Service will implement the proposed action as

described in the Alternative 4 and Actions Common to All sections in

the Final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement issued

in June 1998.

The intent of the proposed action is to create a dynamic national

park area that commemorates the significance of copper mining on the

Keweenaw Peninsula. Over time, the National Park Service will establish

a strong public presence in the Quincy and Calumet park units through

ownership, management, and interpretation of key resources. Also,

through technical and financial assistance to the community, the

National Park Service will be a contributing member of an organized and

active partnership of local

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government and community groups that will work toward preservation and

interpretation of park and area resources. This approach will in the

long term best meet the purposes of Public Law 102-543 and provide the

broadest level of resource protection and visitor services for the park

and its cooperating sites.

In concept, this plan would be implemented by gradually building

park funding and a staff of professionals to provide increased

financial and technical assistance to the partners and cooperating

sites and other community groups to facilitate the preservation,

maintenance, and interpretation of resources. Once a strong assistance

program is established, the NPS would begin a concerted program to

acquire or otherwise protect and interpret significant properties in

the Calumet and Quincy units of the park, as funding and staffing

levels and legal constraints permit.

Initially, visitors will depend primarily on the preservation

accomplishments and interpretive programs of park cooperating sites and

others to gain an understanding of the park and region and its

significance. Gradually visitors will experience a much more

traditional national park visit as more resources within the park

boundary are preserved and interpreted by the park and community. At

least one property in each unit will be leased or acquired for park

administrative and visitor use facilities, with the intent that a

Quincy visitor facility will provide most visitors the first point of

introduction and orientation to the park, and that the park

headquarters and additional visitor orientation services will be

located in Calumet.

The Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission was

established as part of Public Law 102-543 to, among other things,

advise and assist the Secretary of the Interior in the planning and

implementation of this general management plan. Toward this end, the

commission will serve as the catalyst to bring interested public and

private agencies on the Keweenaw Peninsula together and help facilitate

and organize their activities toward achieving the intent of Public Law

102-543 and the park's general management plan. While the

responsibility and authority for the management of the park will remain

with the NPS, the Park Service will pursue through appropriate methods

the amendment of Public Law 102-543 to activate the commission's

operating authorities. These authorities will allow the Commission the

ability to conduct educational programs, accept donations, and acquire

real property to further the purposes of Public Law 102-543.

A limited number of cooperative sites will be established that

represent a unique story that is not well represented within park

boundaries. These sites would be eligible for funding or assistance

from the Commission and the partnership and consultative assistance

from the NPS. The NPS would have no liability for the sites. Within

park boundaries, the NPS can enter into cooperative agreements with

owners of nationally significant historic properties and they would be

eligible for specific NPS financial and technical assistance,

regardless of whether they are designated cooperating sites.

The NPS will use various methods of leasing, acquiring, or

otherwise protecting properties primarily in the core industrial areas

in the park. Department of the Interior policy 602 DM 2, section 2.4,

regulates acquisition of real property contaminated by hazardous

material. This policy allows a degree of flexibility that is not

permitted by language in the legislation that created Keweenaw National

Historical Park (KEWE). The NPS will seek, through legislative

processes, to modify that language, thereby assuring KEWE is on the

same footing as other parks in the system with regard to property

acquisition. A land protection plan will be developed for the park and

will establish priorities for acquisition of lands or interests in

lands.

Additional future studies and plans will be needed to implement the

broad guidance of the general management plan, such as historic

structure reports, a historic resource study, a cultural landscape

report, an ethnographic overview, oral history interviews, a

comprehensive interpretive plan, a resource management plan, a boundary

study, and hazardous substances surveys for lands proposed for

acquisition.

Background of Project

The concept of a park to commemorate the significance of copper

mining on the Keweenaw Peninsula surfaced in northern Michigan in 1974.

In response to a congressional request, the National Park Service

prepared national historic landmark nominations that resulted in the

establishment in 1989 of the Quincy Mining Company Historic District

and the Calumet Historic District. A Study of Alternatives, Proposed

Keweenaw National Historical Park, was prepared in 1991 and its

findings led Congress to pass Public Law 102-543 on October 27, 1992.

Public Law 102-543 established Keweenaw National Historical Park as a

unit of the National Park System. The purposes of the legislation are

to (1) preserve the nationally significant historical and cultural

sites, structures, and districts of a portion of the Keweenaw Peninsula

in the State of Michigan for the education, benefit, and inspiration of

present and future generations; and (2) to interpret the historic

synergism between the geological, aboriginal, sociological, cultural,

technological, and corporate forces that relate the story of copper on

the Keweenaw Peninsula.

The legislation also established the Keweenaw National Historical

Park Advisory Commission to advise and assist the Secretary of

Interior. While the legislation identified operating authorities for

the Commission, President Bush did not activate those authorities due

to incongruities in the language related to how Commission members were

appointed. These operating authorities, once activated, will provide

the avenue by which much of the legislative intent, especially as it

relates to the preservation and interpretation of resources outside the

park boundaries, can be realized.

The Quincy unit, with about 1,120 acres, is just northeast of the

city of Hancock and adjacent to Portage Lake. It includes the remnant

structures and mines of the Quincy Mining Company and its associated

historic landscape, including the Quincy Smelter. About 11 miles to the

northeast is the Calumet unit. It includes about 750 acres of remnant

administrative and mine buildings and the associated historic landscape

of the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, and the supporting commercial

and residential areas of the Village of Calumet and Calumet Township.

Other Alternatives Considered

The Final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement

describes four alternatives for management actions, the environment

that would be affected by those alternatives, and the environmental

consequences of implementing the alternative actions. The major topic

areas covered in each alternative are visitor experience and

interpretation, financial and technical preservation assistance,

acquisition of properties, development and use of properties,

administration and operation, and implementation. An earlier

preliminary management concept looked at NPS acquisition and management

of virtually every significant property in the two park units. This was

considered but rejected due to cost and contradiction of the

partnership approach to

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management envisioned by the park's enabling legislation.

The three alternatives that have been considered in addition to the

Alternative 4 proposed action can be characterized as follows:

Alternative 1, the no-action alternative, proposes no changes in

the current management direction. Visitors would still rely primarily

on the services provided by groups like the Quincy Mine Hoist

Association and Coppertown USA and other sites to learn about the

historic resources and the history of copper mining on the Keweenaw.

Calumet would remain primarily a self-discovery area, although some

information would be available at park headquarters and other places.

The park staff would continue to work in partnership with the community

to find ways to protect resources and provide visitor services. These

efforts would be limited by minimal NPS staffing and funding.

The community assistance alternative, alternative 2, would place

the community at the forefront of implementing preservation actions and

interpretive and educational programs at sites throughout the park. The

protection of the park's significant resources would be vested in the

local governments through the designation of local historic districts

and preservation ordinances. The National Park Service would remain

primarily in the background in a support role, providing a

comprehensive program of technical and financial assistance to the

community to help make their actions a success. The primary areas of

interaction between NPS staff and visitors would be at a destination

visitor facility in the Quincy unit; basic visitor services and

administrative offices would be provided in a facility at Calumet.

Alternative 3 proposes a much more traditional park experience in

the core industrial areas of each park unit. As funding and staffing

levels allowed, the NPS would invest substantially in each of the core

industrial areas by acquiring significant properties, conducting

resource preservation, and adaptively using the structures.

Interpretive staff and media would be located at key sites.

Partnerships would be established and technical and financial

assistance provided in order to advance preservation of core industrial

area resources. Preservation and interpretation of resources outside

the core areas would be dependent on the efforts of the community.

Basis For Decision

Alternative 4, the selected action, combines the best aspects of

alternatives 2 and 3. This results in potentially the broadest level of

resources protection, interpretation, visitor services, and the optimum

opportunity for high quality visitor experiences. This approach remains

true to a major partnership approach by placing significant emphasis on

the role of the advisory commission and park partners, yet ensures the

National Park Service will have a very public role in the management

and interpretation of resources.

Environmentally Preferable Alternative

Environmentally preferable is defined as ``the alternative that

will promote the national environmental policy as expressed in NEPA's

section 101. Ordinarily, this means the alternative that causes the

least damage to the biological and physical environment; it also means

the alternative which best protects, preserves, and enhances historic,

cultural, and natural resources'' (Forty Most Asked Questions

Concerning CEQ's National Environmental Policy Act Regulations, 1981).

Alternative 4, the selected action, is the environmentally

preferable action. It best meets the full range of national

environmental policy goals as stated in NEPA's section 101. Alternative

4 combines the two major resource preservation strategies presented in

alternatives 2 and 3. A comprehensive financial and technical

assistance program will provide more opportunities for the community to

accomplish preservation and education efforts within the park and

surrounding community. A strong partnership between all entities will

help ensure good communication and effective decision making regarding

the highest and best use of available funds and expertise. And, a

strong NPS presence will show Federal commitment to and leadership in

resource preservation and management. The NPS acquisition program will

result in additional protection of structures and landscapes. The

emphasis on preserving and adaptively using the many historic

structures limits the future need for significant new development and

natural resource disturbance.

Measures To Minimize Environmental Harm

All practicable measures to avoid or minimize environmental impacts

that could result from implementation of the selected action have been

identified and incorporated in the selected action. These measures are

presented in the FGMP/EIS. However, due to the programmatic nature of

the general management plan, specific implementation projects will be

reviewed as necessary for compliance with the National Historic

Preservation Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Comprehensive

Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, and

other applicable Federal and State laws and regulations prior to

project clearance and implementation. Specific measures to minimize

environmental harm will be included in implementation plans called for

(as necessary) by the FGMP/EIS. These plans include: a historic

resource study, a cultural landscape report, historic structure

reports, an ethnographic assessment, a resource management plan,

development concept plans, schematic design documents, archeological

surveys, a land protection plan, level 1, 2, and 3 hazardous substances

surveys, and a boundary study.

The following measures will be implemented by Keweenaw National

Historical Park to avoid or minimize environmental harm as a result of

implementing the selected action, or to enhance protection of resources

on the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Keweenaw National Historical Park will work

cooperatively with the advisory commission, state, county, township,

city, and village agencies, community organizations, and individual

landowners to preserve and manage resources and provide for public

use. Key to this is assisting local jurisdictions in establishing

local historic districts and preservation ordinances. Ordinances

would promote both preservation of historic properties and

compatible design of new development in the park. This will lead to

enhanced protection of landscapes and structures, as well as to

enhanced enjoyment of these resources by the public.

The park will establish preservation financial

assistance grants to encourage preservation projects by private

property owners. Grant criteria would include adherence to the

Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic

Properties.

The park will engage in additional study, data

collection, and monitoring, especially of archeological and

ethnographic resources, cultural landscapes, historic structures,

and visitor uses to provide the knowledge base needed to make

informed decisions for the long-term protection and preservation of

park resources.

The park will acquire and provide appropriate

architectural treatment and use of some historic structures.

Treatments will conform to the Secretary of the Interior's

Standards. Prior to acquisition the resources proposed for

acquisition will be surveyed to

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determine the nature and extent of hazardous materials

contamination, if any.

Short- and long-term soil disturbance and vegetation

loss from construction activities, including parking areas,

pulloffs, walkways, utility lines, public facilities, and landscape

restoration, will be minimized through appropriate erosion control

and revegetation and placement of facilities on previously disturbed

areas wherever possible.

Public Involvement

Public scoping meetings for the general management plan were held

in the Keweenaw area in 1994 and 1995, including meetings with the

Commission and park partners. A scoping newsletter with comment form

was distributed in May 1995. Park issues, vision statements, purpose

and significance statements, and interpretive themes were drafted as

part of this process.

In September 1995, a briefing booklet on conceptual planning

alternatives was distributed for review and comment, and public

meetings were held in Houghton, Calumet, Marquette, and Lansing during

the week of September 12, 1995. In February 1996, meetings and

briefings were held with members of the advisory commission and park

partners on the preliminary draft plan. Substantial revisions were made

per those meetings and a revised preliminary draft plan and

environmental document was distributed for review during the fall of

1996. On December 10 and 11, 1996, further meetings were held with the

advisory commission and other park partners, local agencies, and

cooperating sites. Substantive comments focused on concern that the

seriousness of the hazardous materials issue had been overstated and

presented too negatively; the need to formalize the current informal

arrangements between the NPS and cooperating sites; and that formal

recognition and establishment of a workable partnership arrangement was

needed that did not weaken the authority of the park's advisory

commission and treated other groups as partners, not as ``friends'' of

the park.

Reflecting many revisions in response to comments on the

preliminary draft, the Draft General Management Plan/Environmental

Impact Statement was printed and made available to the public on

September 1, 1997. The official review period closed on October 31,

1997. Copies were placed on review in local libraries and government

offices and were mailed primarily to the park's mailing list of

agencies and organizations. A summary newsletter was distributed to

others announcing public meetings and the availability of the draft

document. The first meeting was held at Calumet Elementary on September

22, 1997 and approximately 35 attended. A second public meeting was

held on September 23, 1997 at Suomi College in Hancock, with about 15

attending. During the 60-day public comment period, seven letters were

received. These letters were reproduced in the final document along

with agency responses.

The Final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement

was made available for a 30-day no-action period on June 19, 1998.

Approximately 250 copies of the FGMP/EIS were distributed primarily to

key agencies and organizations. Copies were made available in local

libraries and government agencies and upon request. The FGMP/EIS

contains a full summary of the public involvement process and

substantive comments received.

Approved: August 13, 1998.

David Given,

Acting Regional Director, Midwest Region, National Park Service.

[FR Doc. 98-23273 Filed 8-28-98; 8:45 am]

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