[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 77 (Wednesday, April 21, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21570-21571]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-8990]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Notice of Formal Establishment of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal 
National Wildlife Refuge, Adams County, CO

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the provisions of the Rocky Mountain 
Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge Act of 1992 (Pub. L. 102-402, 106 
Stat. 1961, hereinafter referred to as the Refuge Act), the Secretary 
of the Army has transferred primary administrative jurisdiction over 
approximately 4,929.85 acres of real property at Rocky Mountain Arsenal 
(RMA), Adams County, Colorado, to the Secretary of the Interior. The 
transfer of jurisdiction over this property occurred on April 2, 2004.
    Pursuant to section 4(a) of the Refuge Act, the Secretary of the 
Interior hereby announces the formal establishment of the Rocky 
Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge will be managed 
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) as a unit of the 
National Wildlife Refuge System. The refuge will be managed in 
accordance with the Refuge Act, and the National Wildlife Refuge System 
Administration Act of 1966, as amended (16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.).

DATES: This action will be effective on April 2, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dean Rundle, Refuge Manager, Bldg. 111 
RMA, Commerce City, Colorado 80022, or at telephone number (303) 289-
0350.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Refuge Act mandates that following 
environmental remediation of RMA, under the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, and other applicable 
provisions of law, the Secretary of the Army will transfer jurisdiction 
over the real property comprising the Arsenal to the Secretary of the 
Interior for the formal establishment of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal 
National Wildlife Refuge.
    Environmental remediation of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National

[[Page 21571]]

Priorities List (RMA/NPL) Site has been ongoing, pursuant to a Record 
of Decision signed in 1996 by the Army, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA), and the State of Colorado. On January 15, 2004, the 
Regional Administrator of the EPA published notice(s) in the Federal 
Register announcing deletion of the Selected Perimeter Area (SPA) and 
Surface Deletion Area (SDA) from the RMA/NPL Site. On January 27, 2004, 
the Administrator of EPA, acting through the Regional Administrator of 
EPA, Region 8, certified to the Secretary of the Army that all response 
actions required for the SPA and SDA have been completed.
    Pursuant to the Refuge Act, portions of the SPA and SDA will be 
transferred by the Army to local units of government to permit the 
widening of existing roads. Approximately 4,901.81 acres of the SPA and 
SDA were available for transfer, for refuge purposes, to the Secretary 
of the Interior. Additionally, approximately 28.04 acres, known as the 
``Klein Halo,'' was included in an area deleted from the RAM/NPL Site, 
as the Western Tier Parcel partial deletion, on January 21, 2003, and 
was also available for transfer to the Secretary of the Interior. 
Administrative jurisdiction over these approximately 4,929.85 acres was 
transferred from the Department of the Army to the Department of the 
Interior on April 2, 2004. This notice is required within 30 days of 
that transfer by section 4(a) of the Refuge Act.
    It is anticipated that as the environmental remediation at RMA 
proceeds, additional lands may be deleted from the RMA/NPL Site. As 
those partial deletions are completed and certification of completion 
of required response actions is made by EPA to the Secretary of the 
Army, primary administrative jurisdiction of additional lands will be 
transferred to the Secretary of the Interior. Such transfers will 
continue until such time as the remediation is complete and the final 
configuration of the refuge is determined.
    Since 1992, and in accordance with section 2(a) of the Refuge Act, 
Rocky Mountain Arsenal has been managed ``as if it were a unit of the 
National Wildlife Refuge System'' under provisions of a Cooperative 
Agreement between the Army and the Service. The Cooperative Agreement, 
mandated by the Refuge Act, created an overlay/secondary jurisdiction 
refuge status for the Rocky Mountain Arsenal with primary jurisdiction 
remaining with the Army. As such, the real property comprising the 
Rocky Mountain Arsenal has previously been reported as Real Property 
Number 1229, with 17,000 acres under secondary jurisdiction, in the 
``Annual Report of Lands Under Control of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service,'' by the Service's Division of Realty. The action of this 
notice is the formal establishment of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal 
National Wildlife Refuge, under primary jurisdiction of the Department 
of the Interior, and does not require establishment of a new Real 
Property Number by the Service's Division of Realty.

    Dated: April 6, 2004.
Mike Stempel,
Regional Director, Region 6, Denver, Colorado.
[FR Doc. 04-8990 Filed 4-20-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P