[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 122 (Wednesday, June 25, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 37862]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-15979]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement General 
Management Plan Amendment for a Visitor Learning Center Great Basin 
National Park White Pine County, Nevada; Notice of Approval of Record 
of Decision

    Summary: Pursuant to ``102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969 (Pub. L. 91-190, as amended) and the regulations 
promulgated by the Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR 1505.2), 
the Department of the Interior, National Park Service has prepared and 
approved a Record of Decision for the Final Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement (SEIS) and General Management Plan Amendment for Great 
Basin National Park. The no-action period was initiated April 4, 2003, 
with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Federal Register 
notification of the filing of the Final SEIS.
    Decision: As soon as practical the National Park Service will begin 
to implement the amended General Management Plan described as the 
Proposed Action (Alternative 2) contained in the Final SEIS. This 
alternative was deemed to be the Aenvironmentally preferred'' 
alternative. This course of action and two alternatives were identified 
and analyzed in the Final and Draft SEIS (the latter was distributed in 
March-April, 2002). The full range of foreseeable environmental 
consequences was assessed, and appropriate mitigation measures 
identified.
    Alternatives and Review Comments: The selected action (described as 
Alternative 2 in the SEIS) modifies the 1993 General Management Plan 
and allows for constructing a park Visitor Learning Center on a 
previously disturbed 80 acre site located at the outskirts of the town 
of Baker, Nevada (rather than on an undisturbed site located within the 
park approximately 6 miles outside the town of Baker). In addition to a 
no-action alternative developed to provide a comparative baseline for 
assessing environmental consequences, a third alternative of not 
constructing a new Visitor Learning Center and relying on the Lehman 
Caves Visitor Center as the only orientation facility was also 
evaluated.
    From the initial scoping period in December 1999 through the 
opportunity to review and comment on the Draft SEIS (ending in June 
2002), a total of nine public comment letters were received. Only minor 
points were raised, and no respondents objected to the proposed 
amendment. The Final SEIS was released in April 2003; no responses were 
received during the no-action period. Consultations with interested 
Tribes, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the state of Nevada 
resulted in no substantive changes to the proposal.
    Copies: Interested parties desiring to review the Record of 
Decision may obtain a copy by contacting the Superintendent, Great 
Basin National Park, Baker, Nevada, 89311; or via telephone request at 
(775) 234-7331.

    Dated: May 29, 2003.
Patricia L. Neubacher,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific West Region.
[FR Doc. 03-15979 Filed 6-24-03; 8:45 am]
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