[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 27 (Wednesday, February 11, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Page 6859]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-2818]
[[Page 6859]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Estuarine Research Reserve System
AGENCY: Estuarine Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal
Resource Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of Approval and Availability for the Revised Management
Plan for the Chesapeake Bay Virginia National Estuarine Research
Reserve.
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SUMMARY: The Estuarine Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal
Resource Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce has
approved the Chesapeake Bay Virginia National Estuarine Research
Reserve Management Plan Revision. Notice and an opportunity for public
comment on the Revised Management Plan was first published in the
Federal Register on November 5, 2008 (73 FR 65837).
Four sites along the York River comprise the Chesapeake Bay
Virginia National Estuarine Research Reserve; Sweet Hall Marsh,
Taskinas Creek, the Catlett Islands, and the Goodwin Islands. The four
sites were designated as the Chesapeake Bay Virginia National Estuarine
Research Reserve in 1991 pursuant to Section 315 of the Coastal Zone
Management Act of 1972, as amended, 16 U.S.C. 1461. The reserve has
been operating in partnership with the Virginia Institute of Marine
Science under a management plan approved in 1991. Pursuant to 15 CFR
Section 92 1.33(c), a state must revise their management plan every
five years. The submission of this plan fulfills this requirement and
sets a course for successful implementation of the goals and objectives
of the reserve. A boundary expansion, a revised geographic vision for
the reserve, new facilities, and updated programmatic objectives are
notable revisions to the 1991 approved management plan.
The revised management plan outlines the administrative structure;
the education, stewardship, and research goals of the reserve; and the
plans for future land acquisition and facility development to support
reserve operations. This management plan describes how the strengths of
the reserve will focus on four areas relevant to the Chesapeake Bay:
Functions and linkages of land-margin ecosystems; ecosystem
vulnerability to climate and human-induced stressors; water quality and
aquatic stressors; and integrated ocean observing systems.
Since 1991, the reserve has added a coastal training program that
delivers science-based information to key decision makers in the
Chesapeake Bay; has completed a site profile that characterizes the
reserve; and has expanded the monitoring, stewardship and education
programs significantly. A new administrative building (2003) and a new
science and education lab (2005) have been built to support the growth
of reserve programs.
With the approval of this management plan, the Chesapeake Bay
Virginia National Estuarine Research Reserve will change their total
acreage from 2,849 acres to a new total of 2,705 acres. This change is
attributable to boundary modifications at two of the reserve sites. At
Sweet Hall Marsh, 189 acres of reserve property are being removed from
the reserve boundary due to a change in ownership. At the Taskinas
Creek site, 44.5 acres are being added to the reserve boundary to
provide a deciduous and hardwood forest buffer to protect the estuarine
areas used for research and education.
The 1991 Management Plan proposed a multi-phased expansion of the
reserve that started with the four sites on the York River and planned
to incorporate over 20 sites throughout Virginia to ensure adequate
representation of Virginian estuarine areas important to the Chesapeake
Bay. This expansion has not occurred since 1991. Due to the anticipated
logistical, economic, and programmatic difficulties of having over 20
sites administered as part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve,
the 2008 Management Plan focuses on the York River for the next five
years.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Miglion at (301) 563-1126 or
Laurie McGilvray at (301) 563-1158 of NOAA's National Ocean Service,
Estuarine Reserves Division, 1305 East-West Highway, N/ORM5, 10th
floor, Silver Spring, MD 20910. For copies of the Chesapeake Bay
Virginia Management Plan revision, visit http://web.vims.edu/cbnerr/index.htm.
Dated: February 4, 2009.
David M. Kennedy,
Director, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. E9-2818 Filed 2-10-09; 8:45 am]
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