Federal Register: November 13, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 219)
DOCID: FR Doc 01-28139
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
NOTICE: NOTICES
ACTION: Environmental statements; availability, etc.:
DOCUMENT ACTION: Availability of Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) for reanalysis of Cumulative Impacts on the Sonoran Pronghorn, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona.
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
Supplement to the Environmental Impact Statement for the General Management Plan, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
DATES: The DSEIS will remain available for public review for 45 days from the publication of this notice. If any public meetings are held concerning the DSEIS, they will be announced at a later date.
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
Pursuant to section 102(2)(c) the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the National Park Service announces the availability of a DSEIS for Cumulative Impacts on the Sonoran Pronghorn, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona.
SUMMARY:
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ; general management plan,
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Final General Management Plan/Development Concept Plans/Environmental Impact Statement was approved in 1997. On February 12, 2001, The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Civil Action No. 99927) found that the EIS did not fully comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 because the cumulative impacts (re: Sonoran pronghorn) of all agency activities were not fully analyzed.
The major issue to be addressed in the EIS Supplement is the Sonoran Pronghorn. The pronghorn, one of five subspecies of pronghorn, has evolved in a unique desert environmental and has distinct adaptations to this environment that distinguished it from other subspecies. In 1967, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) designated the Sonoran Pronghorn as endangered. The most recent estimates indicate that approximately 100 pronghorn exist in the United States today. The only habitat in which Sonoran pronghorn currently remain in the United States is federallyowned land in Southwest Arizona. The court order declared that the USFWS issued Biological Opinions that failed to address the impacts of the National Park Service and other surrounding federal agencies current and planning activities on the pronghorn in an ``environmental baseline''. The court order also declared that the National Park Service issued an environmental impact statement that failed to address the cumulative impacts of their activities on the pronghorn, when added to other past, present, and reasonable foreseeable future actions, regardless of what agency undertake those actions.
Pursuant to the court order, the National Park Service, through a supplement to the GMP/EIS, will address all cumulative impacts of actions on the Sonoran Pronghorn that were not fully considered at the time of its GMP, regardless of what agency undertakes those actions. The National Park Service is not proposing to add, change, or delete any alternatives or impacts of alternatives that were presented in either the Draft General Management Plan/Development Concept Plan/ Environmental Impact Statement or the Supplement to the Draft General Management Plan/Development Concept Plans/Environmental Impact Statement. Alternatives addressed will be (1) Existing Conditions/No Action Alternative (2) New Proposed Action Alternative.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Superintendent, Organ Pipe Cactus National Park at the above address and telephone number.
Dated: June 28, 2001.
William Ladd,
Director, Intermountain Region, National Park Service.
[FR Doc. 0128139 Filed 11901; 8:45 am]
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