[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 21 (Thursday, January 31, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4733-4734]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-2308]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent; Fire Management Plan, Environmental Impact 
Statement, Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona

AGENCY: National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement 
for the Fire Management Plan for Chiricahua National Monument.

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SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969, the National Park Service is preparing an environmental impact 
statement for the Fire Management Plan for Chiricahua National 
Monument. This effort will result in a new wildland fire management 
plan that meets current policies, provides a framework for making fire-
related decisions, and serves as an operational manual. Development of 
a new fire plan is compatible with the broader goals and objectives 
derived from the park purpose that governs resources management. 
Alternatives are based on internal scoping done by National Park 
Service staff on October 17 and 18, 2001. Besides the No-action 
alternative, preliminary alternatives include the proposed Corridor 
Plan alternative and Landscape Plan alternative. The No-action 
alternative maintains the current 1992 fire management plan strategy of 
suppression, prescribed natural fire, and prescribed burning. The 
proposed alternative Corridor Plan alternative would allow natural 
fires and prescribed fires that meet management objectives except in 
the narrow corridor of developments. This area of the park would be 
subject to suppression and selective prescribed burning and mechanical 
thinning to reduce fuel hazards. The Landscape Plan alternative would 
call for the National Park Service and adjacent US Forest Service to 
jointly formulate a fire management plan that covers the entire 
landscape of the Chiricahua Mountains or a more naturally-bound portion 
of the range.
    Major issues are environmental effects of the FMP that are 
potential problems and include reduction of plant and wildlife 
populations, disturbance of unique sites, increased erosion or debris 
flow, increased air pollution, hazards to life and property, visitor 
inconvenience, reduced tourism, and damage to cultural resources
    A scoping brochure has been prepared describing the issues 
identified to date. Copies of the brochures may be obtained from 
Superintendent, Chiricahua National Monument, 13063 E. Bonita Canyon 
Road, Willcox, AZ 85643-9737. The scoping period will be 30 days from 
the date this notice is published in the Federal Register.

Comments

    If you wish to comment on the scoping brochure, you may submit your 
comments by any one of several methods. You may mail comments to 
Superintendent, Chiricahua National

[[Page 4734]]

Monument, 13063 E. Bonita Canyon Road, Willcox, AZ 85643-9737. You may 
also comment via the Internet to [email protected]. Please 
submit Internet comments as an ASCII file avoiding the use of special 
characters and any form of encryption. Please also include ``Attn: 
Chiricahua Fire Management Plan'' and your name and return address in 
your Internet message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the 
system that we have received your Internet message, contact us directly 
at Resources Management 520-824-3560 x120. Finally, you may hand-
deliver comments to the above address or at the two public meetings 
that will be held in Portal, Arizona, and a location near the monument. 
Notification of the public meetings will be given in a brochure 
describing the fire planning process, which will be mailed to the 
addresses generated for the monument's recently approved general 
management plan. The brochure will be mailed once we are notified of 
the date that this Notice of Intent is published in the Federal 
Register. If you are not on the monument's mailing list and would like 
a copy of the brochure, please contact the Superintendent.
    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. 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, Chiricahua National 
Monument, 520-824-3560 x105.

    Dated: December 20, 2001.
Michael D. Snyder,
Acting Director, Intermountain Region, National Park Service.
[FR Doc. 02-2308 Filed 1-30-02; 8:45 am]
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