Availability of Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Availability of Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Draft

Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan

and Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that a Draft Comprehensive

Conservation Plan (CCP) and a Draft Environmental Impact Statement

(DEIS) for Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge is available

for public review. The Refuge is located in Stevens County, Washington.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) Service is furnishing this

notice in compliance with Service CCP policy and the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and implementing regulations for the

following purposes: (1) To advise the public and other agencies of the

availability of the document; (2) to solicit public comment on the

Draft CCP and DEIS; and (3) to announce public open house meetings.

DATES: Submit comments on or before June 30, 1999. See Supplementary

Information for meeting dates and locations.

ADDRESSES: Address comments and requests for more information to:

Refuge Manager, Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge, 1310 Bear

Creek Road, Colville, Washington 99114. E-mail comments may be sent to:

FWS1Public__ [email protected]

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa Langelier, Refuge Manager (509)

684-8384

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed action is to develop a

Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the Little Pend Oreille National

Wildlife Refuge that best achieves the unit's purpose, vision and

goals; contributes to the System mission; addresses the significant

issues and relevant mandates, and is consistent with principles of

sound fish and wildlife management.

Major issues addressed in the draft CCP/EIS include grazing;

management of degraded aquatic and riparian habitats; overstocked

forest habitats; military training; and various recreational public

uses. The plan includes the following topics: (a) An assessment of

existing biological, physical, and cultural resources, and their

condition; (b) a summary of significant issues identified through

scoping; (c) identification of five alternatives which incorporate

varying objectives and strategies for habitat management, management of

public access and uses, and management of other programs including

military training, grazing, and cultural resources; (d) an analysis of

the environmental consequences that would be predicted under adoption

of any of the identified alternatives; (e) compatibility determinations

for public uses, as required by Service law and policy; (f) an appendix

summarizing the projects that would be undertaken under the preferred

alternative.

A range of alternatives are considered in the draft CCP/EIS:

(A) The no Action Alternative--Make no changes to the prevailing

practices and uses at the refuge.

(B) Restore Wildlife Habitat While Managing Existing Public Uses--

This alternative incorporates an active forest and riparian restoration

program. It also accomodates most existing public uses, but adopts some

restrictions on some uses to ensure less impact to the environment.

(C) Restore Wildlife Habitat While Emphasizing Priority Uses--This

alternative adopts a greater emphasis on priority uses identified under

the Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105-57) and

eliminates non-priority uses. This alternative also incorporates a

strong forest and riparian restoration program.

(D) Manage the Refuge as an Ecological Reserve and Reduce Human

Disturbances--This alternative minimizes human access and use of the

refuge while conducting a habitat restoration program. This alternative

includes a greater emphasis on hydrologic restoration than other

alternatives.

(E) Combination of Alternatives B and C--Agency Preferred

Alternative--This alternative places management emphasis on restoration

of forest and riparian habitat components. A wide range of recreational

activities would be supported including hunting, fishing, wildlife

observation, photography, and interpretation. Snowmobiling would be

eliminated. Other recreational uses, such as camping and horseback

riding would continue, but would be managed to reduce impacts to the

environment. Camping would be restricted in environmentally sensitive

areas such as riparian zones and during some seasons. The annual

livestock grazing program would be discontinued, however some periodic

grazing may occur to meet wildlife objectives. The Air Force survival

training program would be phased out over 5 years.

With the publication of this notice, the public is encouraged to

attend public open houses and/or submit written comments on draft CCP/

EIS.

Two public open houses will be held as follows:

May 12, 1999, 5pm-8pm, Community Colleges of Spokane, Colville Center,

985 South Elm, Theater, Colville, Washington. (Presentation at 7:00 pm)

May 13, 1999, 5pm-8pm, Inland NW Wildlife Council Building, 6116 North

Market St., Spokane, Washington. (Presentation at 7:00 pm)

The Service started the process of developing a management plan for

Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge (Little Pend Oreille NWR)

in 1995. Open houses and public meetings were held in 1995, 1996, 1997,

and 1998. Previous notices have been published in the Federal Register

(61 FR 65591, Dec. 13, 1996 and 63 FR 39884, July 24, 1998).

Persons and organizations involved in the scoping process have

included: the U.S. Forest Service; U.S. Natural Resource Conservation

Service; Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife; U.S. Air Force;

Washington Department of Natural Resources; interested local tribes,

members of conservation organizations; timber industry representatives;

grazing permittees; recreational interest groups; inholders and

neighboring landowners;

[[Page 24169]]

and other interested citizens. Comments and concerns received have been

used to identify issues, prepare alternatives and identify a preferred

alternative (Alternative E) for the draft CCP/EIS.

All comments received from individuals on Environmental Assessments

and Environmental Impact Statements become part of the official public

record. Requests for such comments will be handled in accordance with

the Freedom of Information Act, the Council on Environmental Quality's

NEPA regulations [40CFR 1506.6(f)], and other Service and Departmental

policy and procedures. When requested, the Service generally will

provide comment letters with the names and addresses of the individuals

who wrote the comments. However, the telephone number of the commenting

individual will not be provided in response to such requests to the

extent permissible by law. Additionally, public comment letters are not

required to contain the commentator's name, address, or other

identifying information. Such comments may be submitted anonymously to

the Service.

The environmental review of this project will be conducted in

accordance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy

Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), NEPA Regulations (40

CFR 1500-1508), other appropriate Federal laws and regulations, the

National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, and Service

policies and procedures for compliance with those regulations.

We estimate that the Final CCP/Environmental Impact Statement will

be available in November, 1999.

Dated: April 28, 1999.

Tom Dwyer,

Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland, Oregon.

[FR Doc. 99-11240 Filed 5-4-99; 8:45 am]

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