[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 225 (Wednesday, November 21, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58519-58520]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-29169]


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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 final Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement (SEIS) 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 SEIS for Cumulative Impacts on the Sonoran Pronghorn, 
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona.

Dates: The SEIS will remain available for public review for 30 days 
from the publication of this notice. If any public meetings are held 
concerning the SEIS, 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 SEIS 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 SEIS 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 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 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 undertakes those 
actions.
    Pursuant to the court order, the National Park Service, through a 
supplement to the GMP/EIS, re-analyzes the 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. 
Two alternatives that were contained in the Final General Management 
Plan/Development Concept Plans/Environmental Impact Statement are 
analyzed; (A) Existing Conditions/No Action; and (B) New Proposed 
Action. In order to present the current environmental baseline at the 
park, Alternative (A) Existing Conditions/No Action has been updated 
with those actions, authorized by the plan, that have either occurred 
since its approval or are curently underway. Alternative (B) New 
Proposed Action, appears exactly as it did in the approved plan.
    Under Alternative (B) New Proposed Action, the cumulative impacts 
of all Federal and non-Federal actions are likely to result in a 
continued, incremental reduction in the ability of Sonoran pronghorn to 
maintain a viable population in the United States. Although there are 
many beneficial action include in this cumulative scenario, they are 
outweighed by adverse impacts.

For Further Information: Contact Superintendent, Organ Pipe Cactus

[[Page 58520]]

National Park at the above address and telephone number.

    Dated: October 25, 2001.
R. Everhart,
Director, Intermountain Region, National Park Service.
[FR Doc. 01-29169 Filed 11-16-01; 3:59 pm]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-P