[Federal Register: February 4, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 23)]
[Notices]
[Page 6522-6524]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr04fe08-62]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R5-R-2008-N0021; 50130-1265-0000-S3; ABC Code: S3]
Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, Sussex, NJ
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability: draft comprehensive conservation plan
and environmental assessment; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the
availability for review of the Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan
(CCP) and Environmental Assessment (EA) for Wallkill River National
Wildlife Refuge (NWR). The Service prepared the Draft CCP/EA in
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the
National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966, as amended
by the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997. We
request public comments.
DATES: The Draft CCP/EA will be available for public review and comment
until close of business on March 10, 2008.
ADDRESSES: You may obtain copies of the Draft CCP/EA on CD-ROM or in
print by writing to Beth Goldstein, Refuge Planner, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, 300 Westgate Center Drive, Hadley, Massachusetts
01035, or by electronic mail at northeastplanning@fws.gov. You may also
view the draft plan on the Web at: http://www.fws.gov/northeast/planning/Wallkill%20River/ccphome.html.
We will host public meetings on
Wednesday, Feb. 20 in Augusta, NJ and Thursday, Feb. 21 in Wantage, NJ
We will post the details of each meeting 2 weeks in advance, via our
project mailing list, in local papers, and at the refuge.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information, or to get on the
project mailing list, contact Beth Goldstein, Refuge Planner, at the
address above, by telephone at 413-253-8564, by fax at 413-253-8468, or
by electronic mail at Beth_Goldstein@fws.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Wildlife Refuge System
Administration Act of 1966, as amended by the National Wildlife Refuge
System Improvement Act of 1997 (16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.), requires the
Service to develop a CCP for each refuge. The purpose of developing a
CCP is to
[[Page 6523]]
provide refuge managers with a 15-year strategy for achieving refuge
purposes and contributing to the mission of the National Wildlife
Refuge System (NWRS), in conformance with the sound principles of fish
and wildlife science, natural resources conservation, legal mandates,
and Service policies. In addition to outlining broad management
direction on conserving wildlife and habitats, CCPs identify compatible
wildlife-dependent recreational opportunities available to the public,
including opportunities for hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and
photography, and environmental interpretation and education. The
Service will review and update each CCP at least once every 15 years.
Congress established the Wallkill River Refuge by law on November
16, 1990 (Section 107 of H.R. 3338; Pub. L. 101-593) with the following
purposes: (1) To preserve and enhance the refuge's lands and waters in
a manner that will conserve the natural diversity of fish, wildlife,
plants, and their habitats for present and future generations, (2) to
conserve and enhance populations of fish, wildlife, and plants within
the refuge, including populations of black ducks and other waterfowl,
raptors, passerines, and marsh and water birds, (3) to protect and
enhance the water quality of aquatic habitats within the refuge, (4) to
fulfill international treaty obligation of the United States with
respect to fish and wildlife and their habitats, and (5) to provide
opportunities for compatible scientific research, environmental
education, and fish- and wildlife-oriented recreation (104 Stat. 2955).
The refuge encompasses approximately 5,000 acres, stretching from
Sussex County, New Jersey to Orange County, New York. It is located
along a 9-mile stretch of the Wallkill River, and lies in a rolling
valley within the Appalachian Ridge and Valley physiographic province.
The region's major wetlands are former glacial lake bottoms, and the
lake's organic muck soils support extensive bottomland hardwood
forests, wet meadows, and farm fields. Since establishing the refuge,
we have focused primarily on conserving, restoring, and enhancing the
natural diversity of fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats along
the Wallkill River. Management activities include restoring wetlands,
creating moist soil management units, maintaining grasslands and
providing wildlife-dependent recreational opportunities.
The Draft CCP/EA evaluates three alternatives that address nine
major issues identified during the planning process. Several sources
generated those issues, including the public, State or Federal
agencies, other Service programs, and our planning team. The Draft CCP/
EA describes those issues in detail. Highlights of the alternatives
follow.
Alternative A (Current Management): This alternative is the ``No
Action'' alternative required by the National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321-4347, as amended). Alternative A defines our
current management activities, including those planned, funded, or
under way, and serves as the baseline against which to compare the
other two action alternatives. It would maintain our present levels of
approved refuge staffing and the biological and visitor programs. Our
biological program would continue to use a variety of habitat
management tools to maintain the refuge's scrub-shrub habitats, non-
forested wetlands, grasslands and forested communities. We would
continue efforts to protect the federally-threatened bog turtle by
managing occupied sites on refuge-owned lands and attempting to acquire
occupied sites within the current acquisition boundary. We would
continue to offer hunt programs for deer, spring and fall turkey,
woodcock, resident Canada geese, waterfowl and other migratory birds
according to New Jersey State seasons. We would maintain current access
sites for fishing and boating, and current trails for wildlife
observation and photography. We would continue to offer limited
environmental education and interpretation programs, as staffing and
funding allows. Finally, we would continue to pursue the acquisition
from willing sellers of the remaining 2,021 acres of important wildlife
habitat that lies within our currently approved acquisition boundary.
Alternative B (the Service-preferred alternative): This alternative
represents the combination of actions we believe most effectively
achieves the purposes and goals of the refuge and addresses the major
issues. It builds on the programs identified under current management.
We would conduct field surveys of all suitable bog turtle sites on
refuge-owned lands and we would develop a site management and
monitoring plan for occupied and potential sites. We would hire a
contractor to conduct surveys of Indiana bats (federally listed as
endangered) and we would determine the feasibility of re-establishing
dwarf wedgemussel (federally listed as endangered) populations on
Service-owned lands. We would take a more proactive approach to
restoring wetlands and establish a 100-meter forested riparian corridor
along either side of the Wallkill River where it traverses the refuge.
We would establish three grassland focus areas on the refuge and let
other small fields revert to scrub-shrub habitat.
We would open the refuge to bear hunting according to State seasons
and provide at least one additional fishing access site in the current
refuge boundary. We would increase access to Service-owned lands within
the current refuge by opening at least two new trails and extending an
existing trail. We would also develop new interpretive materials and
work with partners to expand the refuge's environmental education
programs.
Alternative B proposes to expand the current approved refuge
boundary by 9,550 acres through a combination of fee-simple and
easement acquisition from willing sellers. The proposed expansion
boundary includes four focus areas, including the 7,079-acre Papakating
Creek Focus Area, which encompasses a 15-mile tributary of the Wallkill
River. All four focus areas have tremendous wetland resource values,
and together they form a key corridor connection between preserved
habitats on the Kittatinny Ridge to the west and the Hudson Highlands
to the east. Finally, they would fully complement and enhance the
Federal, State and private conservation partnerships actively involved
in protecting this unique ecosystem.
Alternative C: This alternative proposes to establish and maintain
the ecological integrity of natural communities on the refuge and
surrounding landscape without specific emphasis or concern for any
particular species or species groups. Under this alternative, refuge
lands would be restored to their historic condition as they existed in
the Wallkill River Valley during the late 1600s. At this time, the area
was thought to consist of a forested matrix dominated by floodplain
forest. A bottomland hardwood forest component would be established on
more than 70 percent of the current refuge. Sites prone to continuous
flooding would likely be sustained as emergent marsh and shrublands.
Upland sites would likely revert to a mixed mid-Atlantic hardwood
forest association. We would also restore, to the extent practicable,
the natural hydrologic regimen of the Wallkill River and its
tributaries by removing man-made impediments to natural flow, such as
the freshwater impoundments in place to benefit waterfowl.
Under Alternative C, we would allow hunting for deer and resident
Canada geese only. Otherwise, public use within the current refuge
boundary
[[Page 6524]]
would remain the same as Alternative A.
Alternative C proposes a 7,609-acre boundary expansion that
includes two of the four focus areas proposed in Alternative B. These
focus areas were chosen because they offer the greatest potential for
restoring the natural hydrologic regimen of the Wallkill River system.
As in Alternative B, those expansion lands consist of high-quality,
important wildlife habitat; occur in an amount and distribution that
provide us the management flexibility to achieve refuge habitat goals
and objectives; and fully complement and enhance the land management of
adjacent conservation partners.
We plan to announce the availability of our Draft CCP/EA in the
Federal Register for a 30-day public review and comment period. After
we evaluate and respond to public comments on the draft document, we
will prepare a final CCP for review by our Regional Director. We will
simultaneously submit the Land Protection Plan, outlining our expansion
proposal, to the Director for his review. The Regional Director will
evaluate the final CCP for agency compliance requirements, and to
determine whether it will achieve refuge purposes and help fulfill the
Refuge System mission. If he approves that document, and the Director
concurs with the Land Protection Plan, the decision will be documented
in a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). We can begin
implementation of the final CCP as soon as our Regional Director issues
the FONSI.
Dated: September 26, 2007.
Thomas J. Healy,
Acting Regional Director, Northeast Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Hadley, Massachusetts.
Editorial Note: This document was received at the Office of the
Federal Register on January 30, 2008.
[FR Doc. E8-1936 Filed 2-1-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P