[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 213 (Wednesday, November 4, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59573-59574]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-29503]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Intent To Amend and Supplement a Comprehensive Management Plan
and Supplement a Final Environmental Impact Statement
SUMMARY: This notice advises the public and other agencies that the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) intends to gather information
necessary to prepare a Pronghorn Management Plan (PMP) and associated
supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Hart Mountain
National Antelope Refuge (Refuge), Lake County, Oregon. The PMP will
amend and supplement the Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) that was
approved for the Refuge in May 1994. The supplemental EIS will disclose
the environmental consequences of the changes and additions the PMP or
its alternatives would make to the CMP. The Service is providing this
notice to advise the public and other agencies of our intentions, to
request suggestions and information on the scope of issues and
alternatives to be included in the PMP and supplemental EIS, and to
announce that public meetings will be held in appropriate locations
between November 4, 1998 and December 4, 1998. Information about the
times and locations of the public meetings will be published in local
media, provided to known interested parties through public notices, and
made available upon request from persons who contact the refuge at the
address and telephone number provided herein. This notice is provided
in compliance with the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration
Act, as amended by the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act;
Service policy on refuge planning; and the National Environmental
Policy Act and its implementing regulations.
DATES: Written comments should be received on or before December 21,
1998.
ADDRESSES: Address comments and requests for information to: Hart
Mountain Refuge Pronghorn Plan; U.S.F.W.S.; P.O. Box 111 (18 South G
Street, #301); Lakeview, Oregon 97630 (541/947-3315).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Victoria Roberts at the above address
and telephone number.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Service completed and approved a CMP and
EIS in May 1994 to provide guidance for management of Hart Mountain
National Antelope Refuge for the subsequent 15-year period. In this
CMP, the Service acknowledged that many of the refuge habitats had been
degraded by a long history of livestock grazing and fire suppression,
and selected a ``Native Community Restoration'' alternative that
emphasized habitat management actions including reintroduction of fire
and removal of livestock grazing.
The PMP would be prepared as an amendment and step-down supplement
to the approved CMP in accordance with the National Wildlife Refuge
System Administration Act of 1966 as amended by the National Wildlife
Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 (Refuge Improvement Act) (16
U.S.C. 668dd et seq.). The 1997 amendment to the Refuge Administration
Act defines new
[[Page 59574]]
planning standards for national wildlife refuges and strengthens the
compatibility standard for national wildlife refuges by defining a
mission for the National Wildlife Refuge System and specifying that
uses of refuges must be compatible with both the purpose(s) of the
individual refuge and mission of the System. It also clarifies that if
there are conflicts between the purpose(s) of a refuge and the mission
of the System, the conflict must be resolved to first protect the
purpose(s) of the refuge. Furthermore, the Service is directed to
recognize compatible wildlife-dependent recreation as the priority
public uses of the System, facilitate compatible wildlife-dependent
recreation, and provide increased opportunities for families to
experience compatible wildlife-dependent recreation.
Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge was established `` * * * as
a range and breeding ground for antelope and other species of wildlife
* * * '' by Executive Order 7523 on Dec. 21, 1936. The 1994 CMP for the
refuge emphasized wildlife habitat management actions, de-emphasized
wildlife population management actions, and did not establish
population objectives for pronghorn. Pronghorn population numbers have
fluctuated widely since the establishment of the refuge, and the
population is currently declining despite significant habitat
improvements that have occurred since the Service began implementing
the CMP in 1994.
This decline has surfaced debate over pronghorn population
objectives and the role of wildlife population management in meeting
these objectives and other refuge goals including the public use
direction provided by Congress in the Refuge Improvement Act. The
existing management plan provides that ``wildlife populations, with few
exceptions, would be managed through managing upland and wetland
habitat'' on the refuge. The limited direction provided for population
management in the CMP, such as in the case of predator control, is
ambiguous and has resulted in public controversy over interpretations
of the CMP's intent.
The Service is initiating a public process to develop a PMP that is
intended to resolve some of the differences in interpretation of the
CMP and to provide more detailed direction on pronghorn management that
reflects recent legislative direction and biological information that
has been gathered since the CMP's completion. The PMP will establish
population management objectives for the pronghorn herd that uses the
Refuge, develop population management actions to meet these objectives,
develop decision criteria that could be used to initiate these
population management actions, and establish a link between these
population objectives and the wildlife-dependent recreational uses the
Service is directed to provide. No changes are contemplated to the
habitat-related objectives or actions approved in the 1994 CMP.
The range of alternative pronghorn population management strategies
being considered for the PMP at this time include to: (1) maximize the
pronghorn population and increase wildlife-dependent recreation
opportunities in a manner consistent with the habitat objectives of the
1994 CMP (intensive population management intervention to benefit
pronghorn); (2) define and maintain minimum pronghorn population limits
that will meet public expectations about the purpose of the refuge and
demand for wildlife recreation (limited, incremental population
management intervention); and (3) manage the pronghorn population
primarily through management of refuge habitat as provided in the 1994
CMP (population management intervention only when the species is at
risk) (no action). The alternatives that will be considered in the PMP
and supplemental EIS are expected to evolve through the public
participation process.
The supplemental EIS would identify the environmental consequences
of changes and additions the proposed PMP and its alternatives would
make to the CMP 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), and Service policies and
procedures for compliance with those regulations.
Dated: October 5, 1998.
Thomas J. Dwyer,
Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. 98-29503 Filed 11-3-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-M
