[Federal Register: January 17, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 10)]
[Notices]
[Page 2560-2561]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17ja06-66]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability of the Draft Comprehensive Conservation
Plan and Environmental Assessment for the Mackay Island National
Wildlife Refuge in Currituck County, NC, and Virginia Beach, VA.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces that a Draft Comprehensive Conservation
Plan and Environmental Assessment for Mackay Island National Wildlife
Refuge are available for review and comment. The National Wildlife
Refuge System Administration Act of 1966, as amended by the National
Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, requires the Service to
develop comprehensive conservation plan for each national wildlife
refuge. The purpose in developing a comprehensive conservation plan is
to provide refuge managers with a 15-year strategy for achieving refuge
purposes and contributing toward the mission of the National Wildlife
Refuge System, consistent with sound principles of fish and wildlife
management, conservation, legal mandates, and Service policies. In
addition to outlining broad management direction on conserving wildlife
and their habitats, the plan identifies wildlife-dependent recreational
opportunities available to the public, including opportunities for
hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, wildlife photography, and
environmental education and interpretation.
DATES: Meetings will be held in early 2006 in Knotts Island, Currituck,
and Corolla, North Carolina, and Virginia Beach, Virginia, to present
the plan to the public. Mailings, newspaper articles, and postings on
the refuge's Web site will be the avenues to inform the public of the
dates and times of the meetings. Individuals wishing to comment on the
Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment for
Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge should do so no later than
February 16, 2006. Public comments were requested, considered, and
incorporated throughout the planning process in numerous ways. Public
outreach has included scoping meetings, a review of the biological
program, an ecosystem planning newsletter, and a Federal Register
notice.
ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the Draft Comprehensive Conservation
Plan and Environmental Assessment should be addressed to Tim Cooper,
P.O. Box 39, Knotts Island, North Carolina 27950, or you may send your
comments via electronic mail to: tim_cooper@fws.gov with a subject
line, ``Draft CCP Comments: Mackay Island NWR.'' Our practice is to
make comments, including names and home addresses of respondents,
available for public review during regular business hours. Individual
respondents may request that we withhold their home addresses from the
record, which we will honor to the extent allowed by law.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Service analyzed three alternatives for
future management of the refuge and chose Alternative 2 as the
preferred alternative.
Proposed goals for the refuge include:
Conserve and maintain healthy and viable populations of
migratory birds, wildlife, fish, and plants, including Federal and
State endangered species and trust species.
[[Page 2561]]
Restore, enhance, and maintain the health and biodiversity
of brackish marsh, forests, and other habitats to ensure optimum
ecological productivity and to protect the water quality of Currituck
Sound and Back Bay.
Provide the public with safe, quality wildlife-dependent
recreational and educational opportunities that focus on the wildlife
and habitats of the refuge and the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Protect refuge resources by limiting the adverse impacts
of human activities and development.
Acquire and manage adequate funding, human resources,
facilities, equipment, and infrastructure to accomplish the other
refuge goals.
Also available for review are draft compatibility determinations
for recreational hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, wildlife
photography, and environmental education and interpretation.
Alternatives
Alternative 1 proposes to maintain the status quo. The refuge would
manage very intensively the water levels of the impoundments and the
vegetation to create optimum habitat for migrating waterfowl. It would
also manage marshes with prescribed fire. The staff would survey
waterfowl on a routine basis. The refuge would allow the six priority
public use activities: hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, wildlife
photography, and environmental education and interpretation. The staff
would conduct environmental education and interpretation on a request
basis only. There would be seven staff members stationed at Mackay
Island Refuge. They would spend 4.15 full-time equivalent staff years
at Mackay Island Refuge and 2.85 full-time equivalent staff years at
Currituck National Wildlife Refuge.
Alternative 2, the preferred alternative, proposes moderate program
increases. The refuge would develop a habitat management plan and
manage all habitats on the refuge. It would survey a wide range of
wildlife on the refuge. The refuge would continue to allow the six
priority public use activities, but would have the capacity to increase
the number of opportunities. The staff would conduct regularly
scheduled environmental education and interpretation programs. The
Service would build an environmental education center. There would be
fifteen staff members, eleven of whom would be stationed at Mackay
Island Refuge and four of whom would be stationed at Currituck Refuge.
They would spend 7.8 full-time equivalent staff years at Mackay Island
Refuge and 7.2 full-time equivalent staff years at Currituck Refuge.
The staff would include a biologist and public use specialist.
Alternative 3 proposes substantial program increases. The refuge
would develop a habitat management plan and manage all habitats on the
refuge. The staff would survey all wildlife on the refuge. The refuge
would increase further the number of public use opportunities. The
Service would build an environmental education center. There would be
twenty-four staff members, seventeen of whom would be stationed at
Mackay Island Refuge and seven of whom would be stationed at Currituck
Refuge. They would spend 11.25 full-time equivalent staff years at
Mackay Island Refuge and 12.75 full-time equivalent staff years at
Currituck Refuge. The staff would include separate law enforcement
officers and public use specialists for Mackay Island and Currituck
Refuges.
Actions Common to All Alternatives
All three alternatives share the following concepts and techniques
for achieving the goals of the refuge:
Cooperating with local, State, and Federal agencies, as
well as non-governmental organizations, to administer refuge programs;
Utilizing volunteers to execute the public use,
biological, and maintenance programs on the refuge;
Monitoring populations of waterfowl, shorebirds, and
wading birds, and vegetation in the refuge impoundments;
Maintaining vegetation in the marsh with prescribed fire;
and
Encouraging scientific research on the refuge.
Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge, in northeastern North
Carolina, consists of 8,219 acres, of which 4,251 acres are brackish
marsh, 1,515 acres are coastal fringe evergreen forest, 995 acres are
managed wetlands (impoundments), and 298 acres are cropland. These
habitats support a variety of wildlife species, including waterfowl,
shorebirds, wading birds, marsh birds, neotropical migratory songbirds,
and deer.
The refuge hosts more than seventy five thousand visitors annually,
who participate in hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, wildlife
photography, and environmental education and interpretation.
Authority: This notice is published under the authority of the
National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement act of 1997, Public Law
105-57.
Dated: April 29, 2005.
Cynthia K. Dohner,
Acting Regional Director.
Editorial Note: This document was received at the Office of the
Federal Register January 11, 2006.
[FR Doc. 06-370 Filed 1-13-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-M