[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 101 (Wednesday, May 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29574-29575]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-12608]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Final Legislative Environmental Impact Statement for the Harvest
of Glaucous-Winged Gull Eggs by the Huna Tlingit in Glacier Bay
National Park
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of the Final Legislative Environmental
Impact Statement for the Harvest of Glaucous-Winged Gull Eggs by the
Huna Tlingit in Glacier Bay National Park.
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SUMMARY: The National Park Service (NPS) announces the availability of
a final Legislative Environmental Impact Statement (LEIS) for the
harvest of glaucous-winged gull eggs by the Huna Tlingit in Glacier Bay
National Park. The document describes and analyzes the environmental
impacts of a preferred alternative and one additional action
alternative for managing a limited harvest of glaucous-winged gull
eggs. A no action alternative is also evaluated. This notice announces
the availability of the final LEIS.
DATES: A Record of Decision will be made no sooner than 30 days after
the date the Environmental Protection Agency's Notice of Availability
for this final LEIS appears in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: The final LEIS may be viewed online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov. Hard copies of the final LEIS are available on
request from the address below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Beth Moss, Project Manager,
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Telephone: (907) 723-1777.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NPS has prepared an LEIS to analyze the
effects of authorizing the limited collection of glaucous-winged gull
eggs within Glacier Bay National Park by Hoonah Indian Association
(HIA; the federally recognized government of the Huna Tlingit) tribal
members. Glacier Bay is the traditional homeland of the Huna Tlingit
who traditionally harvested eggs there prior to park establishment. The
practice was curtailed in the 1960s, as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act
and federal regulations prohibit it. In the late 1990s, at the behest
of tribal leaders, the NPS agreed to explore ways to authorize this
important cultural tradition. Section 4 of the Glacier Bay National
Park Resource Management Act of 2000 directed the Secretary of
Interior, in consultation with local residents, to assess whether gull
eggs could be collected in Glacier Bay National Park on a limited basis
without impairing the biological sustainability of the gull population.
The Act further requires that the Secretary submit recommendations for
legislation to Congress if the study determines that gull egg harvest
could occur without impairing the biological sustainability of the
park's gull population. NPS commissioned ethnographic and biological
studies to inform the analysis included in this LEIS.
The NPS outlined a range of alternatives based on project
objectives, park resources and values, and public input and analyzed
the impacts each would have on the biological and human environment.
Alternative 1: No Action: This alternative serves as a baseline for
evaluating the impacts of the action alternatives. This alternative
would not authorize the harvest of glaucous-winged gull eggs in Glacier
Bay National Park. Glaucous-winged gulls would continue to breed in
Glacier Bay without human disturbance.
Alternative 2: This alternative would propose legislation to
authorize the annual harvest of glaucous-winged gull eggs at up to two
designated locations on a single pre-selected date on or before June 9
of each year.
Alternative 3: NPS Preferred Alternative: Alternative 3 would
propose legislation to authorize the annual harvest of glaucous-winged
gull eggs at up to five designated locations in Glacier Bay National
Park on two separate dates. A first harvest visit would be authorized
to occur at each of the open sites on or before the 5th day following
onset of laying as determined by NPS staff monitoring a reference site.
A second harvest at the same sites
[[Page 29575]]
would be authorized to occur within nine days of the first harvest.
Both action alternatives would manage harvest activities under the
guidelines of a harvest management plan cooperatively developed by the
NPS and the HIA. NPS would conduct monitoring activities to ensure that
park resources and values were not impacted. The Superintendent would
retain the authority to close gull colonies to harvest.
Victor W. Knox,
Acting Regional Director, Alaska.
[FR Doc. 2010-12608 Filed 5-25-10; 8:45 am]
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