[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 149 (Thursday, August 1, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40247-40248]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-19599]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Comprehensive Management and Use Plan, Juan Bautista de Anza
National Historic Trail, California and Arizona; Notice of Availability
of Final Environmental Impact Statement
Summary: Pursuant to Section 102 (2) (C) of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (Pub. L. 91-190 as amended), the National Park
Service, Department of the Interior, has prepared a final environmental
impact statement (FEIS) assessing the potential impacts of the proposed
Comprehensive Management and Use Plan for the Juan Bautista de Anza
National Historic Trail, a 1200-mile trail in California and Arizona.
The proposal (alternative D), which is the National Park Service's
comprehensive management and use plan for the trail, calls for marking
the historic route, identifies an auto route, and envisions a
continuous multi-use recreational retracement trail. The National Park
Service (NPS) will take an active role in administrative oversight of
the trail by helping protect a trail right-of-way and historic,
cultural, and natural resources associated with the trail. The NPS will
certify eligible sites and segments and provide leadership of state,
regional, and local governments, private landowners, organizations,
corporations, and individuals to create a continuous and unified trail.
The NPS will form partnerships with nonprofit groups supporting the
Anza Trail. Interpretive programs and a system of wayside exhibits will
enhance visitor opportunities along the route. A planned promotional
and tourism program will increase visitor awareness of American Indian
and Spanish colonial cultures and history related to the Anza
expeditions to Alta (Upper) California.
The other alternatives include No Action (alternative AA), Single
Theme (alternative A), Multi-theme (alternative B), and Broad Outreach
(alternative C). Alternative AA represents what would happen if there
were no national trail. Alternative A would limit trail recognition and
resource protection to federal lands and state parks and focus
interpretation on only the 1775-76 Anza trek. Trail uses would be
limited to those of the original expedition. Management would emphasize
volunteers, and the National Park Service would play a minor
administrative role. Alternative B is similar to the proposal but would
not include the promotional aspects. Alternative C is similar to the
proposal, but would broaden the interpretive themes to the overlay of
history along the trail route from prehistory to the present and would
include points of interest associated with the trail corridor.
The environmental consequences of the proposed action and
alternatives were addressed in the draft environmental impact statement
(DEIS) and are presented with modifications in this FEIS. The public
review period for the DEIS ended March 1, 1995.
[[Page 40248]]
Responses to public and agency comment on the DEIS are included in the
FEIS. This programmatic FEIS considers impacts to cultural resources,
natural resources, and the socioeconomic environment. No significant
adverse impacts are anticipated.
Dates: The no-action period for the plan will commence when the
Environmental Protection Agency formally announces the availability of
the FEIS in the Federal Register, and end 30 days thereafter.
Addresses: Inquiries and comments on the FEIS should be directed to:
Superintendent, Pacific Great Basin System Support Office, 600 Harrison
Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, Attention: Meredith Kaplan.
The telephone number for further information is (415) 744-3968.
Copies of the plan and FEIS are available at the Pacific Great
Basin System Support Office at the above address. Copies are also
available for inspection at libraries located in cities along the Anza
Trail route.
Dated: July 22, 1996.
Patricia L. Neubachen,
Acting Field Director, Pacific West Area.
[FR Doc. 96-19599; Filed 7-31-96; 8:45 am]
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