[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 81 (Thursday, April 26, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21013-21014]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-10405]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


General Management Plan, Environmental Impact Statement 
Supplement, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona

AGENCY: National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare a supplement to the environmental 
impact statement for the general management plan, Organ Pipe Cactus 
National Monument.

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[[Page 21014]]

SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, 
the National Park Service is preparing a supplement to the 
environmental impact statement (EIS) for the final general management 
plan (GMP) for Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The supplement will 
be approved by the Director, Intermountain Region.
    Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was established as a unit of 
the National Park System in 1937 to preserve almost 132,275 hectares of 
the Sonoran Desert for the public interest. It is located in 
southwestern Arizona and shares its southern border with Mexico. 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. 99-927) found that the EIS did 
not fully comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 
1969 because the cumulative impacts 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 environment and has distinct adaptations 
to this environment that distinguish it from other subspecies. In 1967, 
the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) designated the Sonoran 
Pronghorn as endangered. The most recent estimates indicate that 
approximately 120 to 250 pronghorn exist today. The only habitat in 
which Sonoran pronghorn currently remain in the United States is 
federally-owned 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 declares 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 undertakes 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 Plans/
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 and Alternative (2) New Proposed Action Alternative. The 
National Park Service will begin the process to the supplement to the 
GMP/EIS in mid-March, 2001.

Comments

    With this Notice of Intent, scoping comments will be accepted for 
30 days from the date of this notice. If you wish to comment on this 
notice, you may submit your comments by any one of several methods. You 
may mail comments to Laurie Domler, Intermountain Region, Denver 
Support Office, 12795 Alameda Parkway, P.O. Box 25287, Denver, CO 
80225-0287. You may also submit comments via electronic mail to 
[email protected]. Please include your name and return address in 
any message. Our practice is to make comments, including the names and 
addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular 
business hours. Individual respondents may request that we withhold 
their home address from the record, which we honor to the extent 
allowable by law. If you wish us to withhold your name and/or address, 
you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comment. 
However, we will not consider anonymous comments. We will make all 
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals 
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations 
or businesses, available for public inspection in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Superintendent, Bill Wellman, Organ 
Pipe Cactus National Monument, Route 1, Box 100, Ajo, AZ 85321; Tel: 
(520); FAX: (520) e-mail: [email protected].

    Dated: April 2, 2001.
Jack Neckels,
Director, Intermountain Region.
[FR Doc. 01-10405 Filed 4-25-01; 8:45 am]
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