[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 213 (Wednesday, November 4, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59573-59574]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-29503]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Intent To Amend and Supplement a Comprehensive Management Plan 
and Supplement a Final Environmental Impact Statement

SUMMARY: This notice advises the public and other agencies that the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) intends to gather information 
necessary to prepare a Pronghorn Management Plan (PMP) and associated 
supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Hart Mountain 
National Antelope Refuge (Refuge), Lake County, Oregon. The PMP will 
amend and supplement the Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) that was 
approved for the Refuge in May 1994. The supplemental EIS will disclose 
the environmental consequences of the changes and additions the PMP or 
its alternatives would make to the CMP. The Service is providing this 
notice to advise the public and other agencies of our intentions, to 
request suggestions and information on the scope of issues and 
alternatives to be included in the PMP and supplemental EIS, and to 
announce that public meetings will be held in appropriate locations 
between November 4, 1998 and December 4, 1998. Information about the 
times and locations of the public meetings will be published in local 
media, provided to known interested parties through public notices, and 
made available upon request from persons who contact the refuge at the 
address and telephone number provided herein. This notice is provided 
in compliance with the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration 
Act, as amended by the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act; 
Service policy on refuge planning; and the National Environmental 
Policy Act and its implementing regulations.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before December 21, 
1998.

ADDRESSES: Address comments and requests for information to: Hart 
Mountain Refuge Pronghorn Plan; U.S.F.W.S.; P.O. Box 111 (18 South G 
Street, #301); Lakeview, Oregon 97630 (541/947-3315).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Victoria Roberts at the above address 
and telephone number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Service completed and approved a CMP and 
EIS in May 1994 to provide guidance for management of Hart Mountain 
National Antelope Refuge for the subsequent 15-year period. In this 
CMP, the Service acknowledged that many of the refuge habitats had been 
degraded by a long history of livestock grazing and fire suppression, 
and selected a ``Native Community Restoration'' alternative that 
emphasized habitat management actions including reintroduction of fire 
and removal of livestock grazing.
    The PMP would be prepared as an amendment and step-down supplement 
to the approved CMP in accordance with the National Wildlife Refuge 
System Administration Act of 1966 as amended by the National Wildlife 
Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 (Refuge Improvement Act) (16 
U.S.C. 668dd et seq.). The 1997 amendment to the Refuge Administration 
Act defines new

[[Page 59574]]

planning standards for national wildlife refuges and strengthens the 
compatibility standard for national wildlife refuges by defining a 
mission for the National Wildlife Refuge System and specifying that 
uses of refuges must be compatible with both the purpose(s) of the 
individual refuge and mission of the System. It also clarifies that if 
there are conflicts between the purpose(s) of a refuge and the mission 
of the System, the conflict must be resolved to first protect the 
purpose(s) of the refuge. Furthermore, the Service is directed to 
recognize compatible wildlife-dependent recreation as the priority 
public uses of the System, facilitate compatible wildlife-dependent 
recreation, and provide increased opportunities for families to 
experience compatible wildlife-dependent recreation.
    Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge was established `` * * * as 
a range and breeding ground for antelope and other species of wildlife 
* * * '' by Executive Order 7523 on Dec. 21, 1936. The 1994 CMP for the 
refuge emphasized wildlife habitat management actions, de-emphasized 
wildlife population management actions, and did not establish 
population objectives for pronghorn. Pronghorn population numbers have 
fluctuated widely since the establishment of the refuge, and the 
population is currently declining despite significant habitat 
improvements that have occurred since the Service began implementing 
the CMP in 1994.
    This decline has surfaced debate over pronghorn population 
objectives and the role of wildlife population management in meeting 
these objectives and other refuge goals including the public use 
direction provided by Congress in the Refuge Improvement Act. The 
existing management plan provides that ``wildlife populations, with few 
exceptions, would be managed through managing upland and wetland 
habitat'' on the refuge. The limited direction provided for population 
management in the CMP, such as in the case of predator control, is 
ambiguous and has resulted in public controversy over interpretations 
of the CMP's intent.
    The Service is initiating a public process to develop a PMP that is 
intended to resolve some of the differences in interpretation of the 
CMP and to provide more detailed direction on pronghorn management that 
reflects recent legislative direction and biological information that 
has been gathered since the CMP's completion. The PMP will establish 
population management objectives for the pronghorn herd that uses the 
Refuge, develop population management actions to meet these objectives, 
develop decision criteria that could be used to initiate these 
population management actions, and establish a link between these 
population objectives and the wildlife-dependent recreational uses the 
Service is directed to provide. No changes are contemplated to the 
habitat-related objectives or actions approved in the 1994 CMP.
    The range of alternative pronghorn population management strategies 
being considered for the PMP at this time include to: (1) maximize the 
pronghorn population and increase wildlife-dependent recreation 
opportunities in a manner consistent with the habitat objectives of the 
1994 CMP (intensive population management intervention to benefit 
pronghorn); (2) define and maintain minimum pronghorn population limits 
that will meet public expectations about the purpose of the refuge and 
demand for wildlife recreation (limited, incremental population 
management intervention); and (3) manage the pronghorn population 
primarily through management of refuge habitat as provided in the 1994 
CMP (population management intervention only when the species is at 
risk) (no action). The alternatives that will be considered in the PMP 
and supplemental EIS are expected to evolve through the public 
participation process.
    The supplemental EIS would identify the environmental consequences 
of changes and additions the proposed PMP and its alternatives would 
make to the CMP in accordance with the requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), 
NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1500-1508), and Service policies and 
procedures for compliance with those regulations.

    Dated: October 5, 1998.
Thomas J. Dwyer,
Acting Regional Director, Region 1, Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. 98-29503 Filed 11-3-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-M