[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 123 (Monday, June 28, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 36101]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-14529]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation


Central Valley Project Improvement Act, Criteria for Developing 
Refuge Water Management Plans

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The ``Criteria for Developing Refuge Water Management Plans'' 
(Refuge Criteria) are now available for public comment. The Refuge 
Criteria provides a common methodology, or standard, for efficient use 
of water by Federal Wildlife Refuges, State wildlife management areas 
and resource conservation Districts that receive water under provisions 
of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA). They document 
the process and format by which Refuge Water Management Plans should be 
prepared and submitted to Reclamation as part of the Refuge/District 
Water Supply Contracts and Memorandum of Agreements. The Refuge 
Criteria refers to Refuges, Wildlife Areas and Resource Conservation 
Districts as Refuges. Those Refuges that entered into water supply 
contracts with Reclamation, as a result of the CVPIA and subsequent 
Department of the Interior administrative review processes, are 
required to prepare Refuge Water Management Plans using the Refuge 
Criteria.

DATES: All public comments must be received by July 28, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Please mail comments to Leslie Barbre, Bureau of 
Reclamation, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, California 95825, 916-978-
5232 (TDD 978-5608), or e-mail at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To be placed on a mailing list for any 
subsequent information, please contact Ms. Barbre at the e-mail address 
or telephone number above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In response to the Central Valley Project 
Improvement Act of 1992 and a 1995 Department of the Interior 
administrative review process, the Interagency Coordinated Program for 
Wetland and Water Use Planning (ICP) was formed. The ICP was comprised 
of representatives from the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the 
Grassland Water District/Grassland Resource Conservation District. The 
ICP developed the 1998 Task Force Report, which outlines past, present, 
and future wetland planning and management issues and a methodology for 
Refuge Criteria. To continue the work of the now disbanded ICP, an 
Interagency Refuge Water Management Team (IRWMT) was formed to continue 
working on wetland issues such as water delivery, including additional 
work on wetland Refuge Criteria. The IRWMT is comprised of 
representatives from the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the 
Grassland Water District/Grassland Resource Conservation District. The 
IRWMT used the 1998 Task Force Report and Reclamation's 1999 
Conservation and Efficiency Criteria as the foundation for developing 
the water management planning requirements or criteria included in 
these Refuge Criteria. The Refuge Criteria will also incorporate 
comments, ideas, and suggestions from Refuge/District managers, 
biologists, water conservation specialists, engineers, the CALFED Bay-
Delta Program, and other Central Valley stakeholders.
    Our practice is to make comments, including names and home 
addresses of respondents, available for public review. Individual 
respondents may request that we withhold their home address from public 
disclosure, which we will honor to the extent allowable by law. There 
also may be circumstances in which we would withhold a respondent's 
identity from public disclosure, 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 disclosure in their entirety. Public 
comments for the Refuge Criteria are now being accepted.

    Dated: June 21, 2004.
Donna E. Tegelman,
Regional Resources Manager, Mid-Pacific Region.
[FR Doc. 04-14529 Filed 6-25-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MN-P