[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 219 (Tuesday, November 13, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Page 56852]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-28139]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Supplement to the Environmental Impact Statement for the General 
Management Plan, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

AGENCY: National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Availability of Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement (DSEIS) for re-analysis of Cumulative Impacts on the Sonoran 
Pronghorn, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona.

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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.

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.

COMMENTS: If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments by any 
one of several methods. You may mail comments to Superintendent, Organ 
Pipe Cactus National Monument, 10 Organ Pipe Drive, Ajo, AZ 85321. 
Please also include: ``Ref: Supplemental EIS, Sonoran Pronghorn''.
    You may also comment via the Internet to Laurie [email protected]. 
Please submit Internet comments as an ASCII file avoiding the use of 
special characters and any form of encryption. Please also include 
``Ref: Supplemental EIS, Sonoran Pronghorn''. Please include your name 
and return address in your Internet message. Finally, you may hand-
deliver comments to Organ Pipe Cactus National Park, Headquarters, 10 
Organ Pipe Drive, Ajo AZ 85321. Our practice is to make comments, 
including names and home 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 
will honor to the extent allowable by law. There also may be 
circumstances in which we would withhold from the record a respondent's 
identity, as 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.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the DSEIS for re-analysis of Cumulative Impacts on 
the Sonoran Pronghorn are available from the Superintendent, Organ Pipe 
Cactus National Monument, 10 Organ Pipe Drive, Ajo, AZ 85321. Public 
reading copies of the DSEIS will be available for review at the 
following locations:

Office of the Superintendent, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, 10 
Organ Pipe Drive, Ajo, AZ 85321, Telephone: (520) 387-7661
Planning and Environmental Quality, Intermountain Support Office--
Denver, National Park Service, 12795 W. Alameda Pkwy., Denver, CO 
80225-0287, Telephone: (303) 969-2036
Office of Public Affairs, National Park Service, Department of 
Interior, 18th and C Streets NW., Washington, DC 20240, Telephone: 
(202) 208-6843

SUPPLEMENTARY 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. 
99-927) 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 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 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. 01-28139 Filed 11-9-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-M