[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 197 (Thursday, October 10, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Page 63151]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-25868]



[[Page 63151]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Fire Management Plan, Environmental Impact Statement, Guadalupe 
Mountains National Park, Texas

AGENCY: National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement 
for the Fire Management Plan for Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

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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 Guadalupe Mountains National 
Park. 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. In 
cooperation with the USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, 
State of Texas, and neighboring private land owners, attention will 
also be given to resources outside the boundaries that affect the 
integrity of Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Alternatives are based 
on internal scoping done by National Park Service staff on March 12 and 
13, 2002. Besides the No-action alternative, preliminary alternatives 
include the proposed Two-Fire Management Unit alternative and 
Cooperative Watershed Plan alternative. The No-action alternative 
maintains the current 1996 Fire Management Plan strategy of 
suppression, prescribed natural fire, and prescribed burning. The 
proposed alternative Two-Fire Management Unit (FMU) defines a 
relatively small FMU surrounding the visitor center area and the 
facilities and residences south of U.S. Highway 62/180. This FMU 
applies full suppression and prescribed burning. The rest of the park 
comprises the second FMU, with protection and suppression emphasis for 
special features, such as historic properties, McKittrick Canyon, and 
habitats of threatened and endangered species. In the second FMU, 
wildland fire use, prescribed fire, and suppression are management 
options. The Cooperative Watershed Plan is a variation on the two-unit 
plan that extends the backcountry FMU along the north boundary to 
include portions of the McKittrick Canyon watershed that lie on the 
USDA Forest Service land. Ideally, the park would cooperate on 
prescribed fire, wildland fire use, monitoring fire effects, as well as 
suppression. This cooperative plan would be a step toward interagency 
management of the entire Guadalupe Mountains landscape sometime in the 
future.
    Major issues will consider environmental effects of the FMP that 
are potential problems and include reduction of plant and wildlife 
populations, disturbance of unique sites and sensitive species, large-
scale changes to landscapes, damage to geological resources and 
increased geohazards, increased air pollution, hazards to life and 
property, visitor inconvenience, enhanced conditions for non-indigenous 
species, 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, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, HC 60, Box 400, Salt 
Flat, Texas 79847-9400, (915) 828-3251.

DATES: The Park Service will accept comments from the public for 30 
days from the date this notice is published in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Information will be available for public review and comment 
in the office of the Superintendent, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, 
HC 60, Box 400, Salt Flat, Texas 79847-9400, (915) 828-3251.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Superintendent, Guadalupe Mountains 
National Park, (915) 828-3251.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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, Guadalupe Mountains National 
Park, HC 60, Box 400, Salt Flat, Texas 79847-9400. 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: 
Guadalupe Mountains NP 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 915-828-3251 x251. Finally, you may 
hand-deliver comments to the above address or at the three public 
meetings that will be held in Dell City and El Paso, Texas, and 
Carlsbad, New Mexico. Notification of the public meetings will be given 
in the scoping brochure that will be mailed to the addresses generated 
for the park's current General Management Plan process. 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 
park'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, Guadalupe Mountains 
National Park, 915-828-3251 x104.

Michael D. Snyder,
Acting Director, Intermountain Region, National Park Service.
[FR Doc. 02-25868 Filed 10-9-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-P