[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 184 (Monday, September 23, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59534-59535]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-24051]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement on 
the Backcountry Management Plan and General Management Plan Amendment 
for Glacier Bay National Park

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Backcountry management plan, General Management Plan Amendment, 
and Environmental Impact Statement, Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska.

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SUMMARY: The National Park Service (NPS) is amending the Glacier Bay 
National Park and Preserve General Management Plan with a Backcountry 
Management Plan and accompanying Environmental Impact Statement (plan/
EIS). Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve was expanded by the 1980 
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (NILCA). With passage 
of ANILCA, Congress designated nearly 2.7 million acres of wilderness 
within the park and set forth special provisions for management in 
recognition of the unique situations and traditional lifeways in 
Alaska.
    The purpose of the plan/EIS is to formulate a comprehensive plan 
that will provide management direction during the next 15-20 years for 
the backcountry of Glacier Bay National Park. The backcountry consists 
of all designated wilderness lands and waters within the part except 
the Alsek River watershed, which is managed cooperatively with British 
Columbia Parks, Parks Canada, and the Yukon Department of Renewable 
Resources. The plan/EIS also will cover a non-wilderness island in Blue 
Mouse Cove and Cenotaph Island in Lituya Bay. Glacier Bay National 
Preserve, the Bartlett Cove area, and tracts in private ownership are 
excluded.
    Glacier Bay National Park is one of four national park units in 
Alaska to initiate a backcountry management planning process and GMP 
amendment. This notice of intent is being published simultaneously with 
notices to prepare plans/EISs for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and 
Preserve and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. A plan/EIS 
for Denali National Park and Preserve is underway (64 FR 49503, 
September 13, 1999).
    The Glacier Bay National Park plan/EIS is being prepared in 
response to the increasing level and diversity of activities in the 
park, resource management and protection needs, and requests for 
activities and facilities not anticipated or addressed in the 1984 
General Management Plan or the 1989 Wilderness Visitor Use Management 
Plan. Specific topics to be addressed in the plan/EIS include, but are 
not limited to: backcountry hiking, mountaineering, aviation, non-
motorized boating (such as kayaking), commercial services, 
administrative and scientific/research activities, and the various 
facilities related to these activities. Motorized vessels in Glacier 
Bay proper, Dundas Bay, and Taylor Bay will be addressed under the 
Vessel Quota and Operating Plan/EIS currently under development (67 FR 
8313, February 22, 2002).
    The proposed action and other action alternatives will assess 
variations in the types and levels of backcountry activities and 
facilities. Toward this end, prescriptive management zones will be 
described and allocated to park land to provide a spectrum of visitor 
experience opportunities, resource conditions, and management 
activities throughout the backcountry of Glacier Bay National Park. A 
no-action alternative also will be evaluated.
    The NPS requests written and verbal comments about the scope of the 
planning process (e.g., issues and concerns, alternatives, potential 
environmental impacts), from federal and state agencies, local 
government, Native tribes, private organizations, backcountry users, 
and the general public. Further information on this planning process 
will be available through public scoping meetings, press releases, web 
sites, and newsletters. Joint public scoping meetings on the plans/EIS 
for Glacier Bay National Park, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and 
Preserve, and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve will be 
held in Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Juneau, Alaska, as well as in 
Seattle, Washington. Additional scoping meetings will be held in 
communities near the respective parks. The public will be notified in 
the future of the specific dates, times, and locations of the scoping 
meetings.
    The Glacier Bay draft plan/EIS is anticipated to be available for 
public review in the fall of 2004. Public meetings will be scheduled 
during the 60-day comment period after release of

[[Page 59535]]

the draft plan/EIS. Interested groups, organizations, individuals, and 
government agencies are invited to comment on the plan. 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 
administrative record, which we will honor to the extent allowable by 
law. There also may be circumstances in which we would withhold from 
the administrative 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 not, 
however, consider anonymous comments. We will make all submissions from 
organization or businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves 
as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, 
available for public inspection in their entirety.
    The plan/EIS is being prepared in accordance with the requirements 
of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 
4331 et seq.) and its implementing regulations at 40 CFR part 1500.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Tomie Lee, Superintendent, Glacier 
Bay National Park and Preserve, P.O. Box 140, Gustavus, Alaska 99826. 
Telephone (907) 697-2232.

    Dated: August 22, 2002.
Ralph H. Tingey,
Acting Regional Director, Alaska.
[FR Doc. 02-24051 Filed 9-20-02; 8:45 am]
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