96-23814. Draft General Management Plan/Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Public Meeting; Saint Croix Island International Historic Site

[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 181 (Tuesday, September 17, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Page 48967]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-23814]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service


Draft General Management Plan/Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement and Public Meeting; Saint Croix Island International Historic 
Site

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTIONS: (1) Availability of draft general management plan (DGMP)/draft 
environmental impact statement (DEIS) for Saint Croix Island 
International Historic Site located in Calais, Washington County, 
Maine, U.S.A., and (2) a public meeting in Calais, Maine, for public 
review and discussion of the DGMP/DEIS.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969, the National Park Service (NPS) announces the 
availability of the draft general management plan/draft environmental 
impact statement for Saint Croix Island International Historic Site, 
the only international historic site (IHS) in the National Park 
Service.
    In 1604, Pierre Dugua Sieur de Mons and 78 other men, including 
Samuel Champlain, established a colony on St. Croix Island in the St. 
Croix River, now the boundary between Maine, U.S.A., and New Brunswick, 
Canada. Isolation and a harsh winter severely tested the colonists. 
Almost half died of scurvy before mild weather brought Native peoples 
to the island with fresh game, and a supply vessel arrived from France. 
Sieur de Mons moved his colony to a more favorable setting at Port 
Royal in what is now the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia.
    St. Croix Island was authorized as a national monument in 1949, 
dedicated in 1968, and redesignated an international historic site in 
1984. A memorandum of understanding between Canada and the United 
States recognizes the international significance of the site and 
commits both nations to joint planning and commemoration.
    The document describes four management alternatives, each of which 
would preserve and protect significant site resources. Site 
interpretive media would be in both English and French. All 
alternatives would encourage visitors to view the site with respect. 
Alternative 1No Action, would entail no new facilities development. 
Alternative 2Walk in the Footsteps, would provide an outdoor 
interpretive experience emphasizing the natural setting. Alternative 
3--NPS Contact Station, the preferred alternative, would provide 
increased visitor services and interpretive programs by developing a 
modest visitor contact station on the mainland. Alternative 4Regional 
Resource Center, would promote development of a cooperative, community-
supported regional resource center located in downtown Calais, Maine.

DATES: Comments on the DGMP/DEIS should be received no later than 
November 25, 1996. A public meeting on the DGMP/DEIS will be held in 
Calais, Maine, on October 24, 1996.

MEETING: NPS staff will present the DGMP/DEIS at a meeting to be held 
in the assembly room of Washington County Technical College on River 
Road (U.S. Route 1), Calais, Maine, at 7:00 p.m. October 24, 1996. The 
public is invited to comment on the preferred and other alternatives 
and their potential impacts. The meeting will be announced in local 
news media in October 1996. Citizens of both nations are invited to 
attend.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public reading copies of the DGMP/DEIS will 
be available for review at the Department of Interior Natural Resources 
Library, 1849 C Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20240, and at the 
following public libraries: Calais Free Library; Peavey Memorial 
Library, Eastport; Porter Memorial Library, Machias; Bangor Public 
Library; and Jesup Memorial Library, Bar Harbor, Maine, U.S.A.; and in 
the St. Croix Library, St. Stephen; and Ross Memorial Library, St. 
Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada.
    Comments on the DGMP/DEIS should be submitted to the 
Superintendent, Acadia National Park, P.O. Box 177, Bar Harbor, Maine 
04609-0177.

    For Further Information contact the superintendent at the above 
address, or call [phone]. Direct faxes to [phone]; E-
mail to [e-mail].

    Dated: September 4, 1996.
Len Bobinchock,
Acting Superintendent, Acadia National Park.
[FR Doc. 96-23814 Filed 9-16-96; 8:45 am]
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