[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 114 (Monday, June 15, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32676-32677]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-15802]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Notice of Intent (Notice) To Prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) on the Development of a Comprehensive Conservation Plan
for Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Complex, Churchill and
Storey Counties, Nevada, and a Boundary Revision for Stillwater NWR,
Churchill County
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent.
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SUMMARY: The Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing an EIS for a
comprehensive conservation plan for Stillwater NWR Complex and an
associated boundary revision for Stillwater NWR. Stillwater NWR Complex
currently consists of Stillwater NWR, Fallon NWR, Stillwater Wildlife
Management Area (WMA), and Anaho Island NWR.
DATES: To ensure that the Service has adequate time to evaluate and
incorporate suggestions and other input into the planning process,
comments must be received by July 17, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments, or requests to be added to the
mailing list, to the following address: Stillwater NWR Complex CCP/
Boundary Revision, c/o Refuge Manager, Stillwater National Wildlife
Refuge Complex, P.O. Box 1236, Fallon, Nevada 89407, telephone (702)
423-5128.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The first notification of the intent to
prepare an EIS on the development of a comprehensive conservation plan
for Stillwater NWR Complex, including a boundary revision for
Stillwater NWR, was published in the Federal Register on March 14, 1997
in a Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS and hold public scoping
workshops on water resources management proposals in the Truckee and
Carson Rivers, Churchill, Douglas, Lyon, Storey, and Washoe Counties,
Nevada (Pages 12245-12246, Volume 62, Number 50). Comprehensive
conservation planning at the Stillwater NWR Complex, including the
Stillwater NWR boundary revision, was one of four Federal actions
covered in the March 14, 1997 Notice for this Department of the
Interior EIS. Scoping meetings were held on March 10, 11, and 19, 1997
in Fallon, Fernley, and Reno, Nevada, respectively, to identify
potential issues related to various water resource management proposals
in the Truckee and Carson River drainages, including the development of
a comprehensive conservation plan and boundary revision for Stillwater
NWR Complex. During March, April, and July 1997, a total of six
additional open-house workshops were conducted in Fallon and Reno
specifically to address the comprehensive conservation plan and
boundary revision. A number of other meetings have been held with the
Nevada Division of Wildlife, Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, Pyramid Lake
Paiute Tribe, Churchill County, City of Fallon, and various
organizations and individuals to gain additional information about
issues relevant to the comprehensive conservation plan and boundary
revision. Comments received from the public during these meetings
constitute the bulk of the public scoping comments being used by the
Fish and Wildlife Service to prepare a separate draft EIS on
comprehensive conservation planning and boundary revisions for
Stillwater NWR Complex, which will no longer be analyzed in a
Department of the Interior EIS on water resources management proposals
in the Truckee and Carson Rivers.
Wetlands on Stillwater NWR and Stillwater WMA are located at the
terminus of the Carson River. They are major components of the Lahontan
Valley wetland ecosystem. Stillwater NWR, Stillwater WMA, and Fallon
NWR also encompass significant upland habitats, including parts of a
25-mile-long sand dune complex. Anaho Island NWR is located on Pyramid
Lake within the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation, at the terminus of the
Truckee River in Storey County, Nevada.
Comprehensive Conservation Plan
A comprehensive conservation plan is being developed for the
Stillwater NWR Complex in accordance with the National Wildlife Refuge
System Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 6688dd et seq.), as
amended. This act requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to prepare
comprehensive conservation plans for all refuges in the Refuge System.
The comprehensive conservation plan for the Stillwater NWR Complex will
cover a 15-year planning period and will identify goals, objectives,
strategies, and a monitoring program for achieving refuge purposes and
contributing to the mission of the Refuge System. Care will be taken to
ensure consistency with the National Wildlife Refuge System
Administration Act, as amended; other applicable laws and international
treaties; Fish and Wildlife Service policy; and sound principles of
biodiversity conservation and other aspects of natural resources
management. The mission of the Refuge System ``is to administer a
national network of lands and waters for the conservation, management,
and where appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife, and plant
resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit
of present and future generations of Americans.''
Stillwater NWR and Stillwater WMA were originally established in
1948 as part of an agreement (Tripartite Agreement) between the Fish
and Wildlife Service, Nevada Division of Wildlife, and the Truckee-
Carson Irrigation District. Stillwater WMA, which was established for
the co-equal purposes of conserving wildlife and public hunting, will
cease to exist after November 26, 1998, when the 50-year Tripartite
Agreement expires. The Tripartite Agreement also specified that
livestock grazing and muskrat trapping were to be managed commensurate
with wildlife conservation and hunting. Anaho Island was originally
established in 1913 under Executive Order 1819 as a preserve and
breeding ground for native birds. Fallon NWR was established in 1931
for the purpose of providing a refuge and breeding ground for birds and
other wildlife.
The Truckee-Carson-Pyramid Lake Water Settlement Act of 1990 (Title
II of Public Law 101-618) enlarged Stillwater NWR by reducing the size
of Stillwater WMA and directed the Secretary of the Interior to manage
Stillwater NWR for the following purposes:
(A) restoring and maintaining natural biological diversity within
the refuge;
(B) conserving and managing fish, wildlife, and their habitat
within the refuge;
(C) fulfilling international treaty obligations with respect to
fish and wildlife; and
(D) providing opportunities for scientific research, environmental
[[Page 32677]]
education, and wildlife-oriented recreation.
Public Law 101-618 also directed the Secretary to manage Anaho
Island for the benefit and protection of colonial nesting species and
other migratory birds.
The comprehensive conservation plan will include strategies for
managing water and water rights that the Fish and Wildlife Service is
acquiring through its water-rights acquisition program that was
authorized and directed by Public Law 101-618. In November 1996, an EIS
was completed and a Record of Decision was signed for cooperative
efforts to acquire water rights to sustain, on a long-term average,
approximately 25,000 acres of primary wetlands habitat in Lahontan
Valley, including wetlands on Stillwater NWR and Stillwater WMA. To
date, about 27,000 acre-feet of water rights have been acquired by Fish
and Wildlife Service, State of Nevada, and Nevada Waterfowl Association
to supplement agricultural drainwater and intermittent controlled
releases from Lahontan Reservoir. Given the mandate to restore natural
biological diversity within the refuge, natural hydrologic patterns and
their applications to management are being explored.
The comprehensive conservation plan will guide the management of
public use on the Stillwater NWR Complex in accordance with existing
laws. These laws require that refuge planning efforts explore
opportunities for hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and
photography, and environmental education and interpretation, to the
extent these activities do not interfere with or detract from (i.e.,
are compatible with) achieving the purposes of individual refuge units
and the mission of the Refuge System. Compatibility of public uses will
be evaluated as part of the comprehensive planning process, in
accordance with the requirement that such determinations must be
consistent with sound principles of fish and wildlife management,
available scientific information, and applicable laws.
The comprehensive conservation plan comprises the following
programs: wildlife and habitat management, including management of
acquired water, control of undesirable species, prescribed burning, and
livestock grazing; public use management, including the management of
areas open to different types of public uses, and the management of
hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and photography, and
environmental interpretation and education; cultural resource
management; law enforcement; facilities management; and administration.
Several alternative management scenarios are being developed and
evaluated. The following draft goals for the Stillwater NWR Complex
were developed based primarily on establishing authorities, the Refuge
System mission, and other provisions of applicable laws, international
treaties, and principles of natural resource conservation.
Stillwater NWR
(1) Conserve and manage fish, wildlife, and their habitats to
restore and maintain natural biological diversity.
(2) Fulfill obligations of international treaties and other
international agreements with respect to fish and wildlife.
(3) Provide opportunities for scientific research, environmental
education, and wildlife-dependent recreation that are compatible with
refuge purposes.
Fallon NWR
(1) Provide high-quality sanctuary and nesting habitat for
migratory birds.
(2) Restore and maintain natural biological diversity.
(3) Provide opportunities for scientific research, environmental
education, and wildlife-dependent recreation that are compatible with
refuge purposes.
Anaho Island NWR
(1) Protect and perpetuate colonial nesting birds and other
migratory birds.
(2) Restore and maintain natural biological diversity.
Major categories of issues identified to date include wildlife and
habitat protection and enhancement, including concerns with respect to
emphasizing natural biological diversity; opportunities for wildlife-
dependent recreational uses; continued protection of cultural
resources; and potential effects on local agriculture, irrigation
project, and economy. Major, on-refuge environmental problems to be
addressed in the comprehensive conservation plan include inadequate
water supplies and timing of water inflows, dominance and spread of
invasive nonnative plants, contaminants, and the effects of livestock
grazing on biological communities. Major public use issues to be
addressed include the balancing of compatible wildlife-dependent
recreational uses (including concerns with respect to a legally-
required shift from managing the hunting program as a co-equal top
priority with wildlife conservation to managing hunting as one of
several recreational uses that are secondary to wildlife conservation),
inadequate facilities to provide a broad spectrum of high-quality
experiences for refuge visitors and for environmental education
activities, and the compatibility and appropriateness of camping and
other nonwildlife-dependent recreational uses.
Stillwater NWR Boundary Revision
Public Law 101-618 authorized the Secretary of the Interior to
recommend to Congress boundary revisions to Stillwater NWR that may be
appropriate to carry out the purposes of the refuge and to facilitate
the protection and enhancement of Lahontan Valley wetland habitat. It
also authorized the Secretary to recommend the transfer of any Bureau
of Reclamation withdrawn public lands within existing wildlife use
areas in Lahontan Valley (e.g., Stillwater WMA) to the Fish and
Wildlife Service for addition to the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Furthermore, it authorized the identification of lands in Lahontan
Valley currently under the jurisdiction of the Fish and Wildlife
Service that no longer warrant continued status as units of the Refuge
System. Several alternative boundary revisions are being analyzed.
Tentative Schedule
Estimated dates for completing an EIS that evaluates the potential
impacts of implementing a comprehensive conservation plan for
Stillwater NWR Complex and revising the boundary of Stillwater NWR are
as follows:
Supplemental Scoping Period--July 17, 1998
Draft EIS Distributed to Public--November 1998
Public Review/Comment Period November 1998--February 1999
Final EIS filed with EPA--August 1999
Implementation of the Decision--September 1999
Date: June 8, 1998.
Thomas J. Dwyer,
Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. 98-15802 Filed 6-12-98; 8:45 am]
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