[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 17, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2560-2561]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-370]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the Draft Comprehensive Conservation 
Plan and Environmental Assessment for the Mackay Island National 
Wildlife Refuge in Currituck County, NC, and Virginia Beach, VA.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice announces that a Draft Comprehensive Conservation 
Plan and Environmental Assessment for Mackay Island National Wildlife 
Refuge are available for review and comment. The National Wildlife 
Refuge System Administration Act of 1966, as amended by the National 
Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, requires the Service to 
develop comprehensive conservation plan for each national wildlife 
refuge. The purpose in developing a comprehensive conservation plan is 
to provide refuge managers with a 15-year strategy for achieving refuge 
purposes and contributing toward the mission of the National Wildlife 
Refuge System, consistent with sound principles of fish and wildlife 
management, conservation, legal mandates, and Service policies. In 
addition to outlining broad management direction on conserving wildlife 
and their habitats, the plan identifies wildlife-dependent recreational 
opportunities available to the public, including opportunities for 
hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, wildlife photography, and 
environmental education and interpretation.

DATES: Meetings will be held in early 2006 in Knotts Island, Currituck, 
and Corolla, North Carolina, and Virginia Beach, Virginia, to present 
the plan to the public. Mailings, newspaper articles, and postings on 
the refuge's Web site will be the avenues to inform the public of the 
dates and times of the meetings. Individuals wishing to comment on the 
Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment for 
Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge should do so no later than 
February 16, 2006. Public comments were requested, considered, and 
incorporated throughout the planning process in numerous ways. Public 
outreach has included scoping meetings, a review of the biological 
program, an ecosystem planning newsletter, and a Federal Register 
notice.

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of the Draft Comprehensive Conservation 
Plan and Environmental Assessment should be addressed to Tim Cooper, 
P.O. Box 39, Knotts Island, North Carolina 27950, or you may send your 
comments via electronic mail to: [email protected] with a subject 
line, ``Draft CCP Comments: Mackay Island NWR.'' 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 addresses from the 
record, which we will honor to the extent allowed by law.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Service analyzed three alternatives for 
future management of the refuge and chose Alternative 2 as the 
preferred alternative.
    Proposed goals for the refuge include:
     Conserve and maintain healthy and viable populations of 
migratory birds, wildlife, fish, and plants, including Federal and 
State endangered species and trust species.

[[Page 2561]]

     Restore, enhance, and maintain the health and biodiversity 
of brackish marsh, forests, and other habitats to ensure optimum 
ecological productivity and to protect the water quality of Currituck 
Sound and Back Bay.
     Provide the public with safe, quality wildlife-dependent 
recreational and educational opportunities that focus on the wildlife 
and habitats of the refuge and the National Wildlife Refuge System.
     Protect refuge resources by limiting the adverse impacts 
of human activities and development.
     Acquire and manage adequate funding, human resources, 
facilities, equipment, and infrastructure to accomplish the other 
refuge goals.
    Also available for review are draft compatibility determinations 
for recreational hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, wildlife 
photography, and environmental education and interpretation.

Alternatives

    Alternative 1 proposes to maintain the status quo. The refuge would 
manage very intensively the water levels of the impoundments and the 
vegetation to create optimum habitat for migrating waterfowl. It would 
also manage marshes with prescribed fire. The staff would survey 
waterfowl on a routine basis. The refuge would allow the six priority 
public use activities: hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, wildlife 
photography, and environmental education and interpretation. The staff 
would conduct environmental education and interpretation on a request 
basis only. There would be seven staff members stationed at Mackay 
Island Refuge. They would spend 4.15 full-time equivalent staff years 
at Mackay Island Refuge and 2.85 full-time equivalent staff years at 
Currituck National Wildlife Refuge.
    Alternative 2, the preferred alternative, proposes moderate program 
increases. The refuge would develop a habitat management plan and 
manage all habitats on the refuge. It would survey a wide range of 
wildlife on the refuge. The refuge would continue to allow the six 
priority public use activities, but would have the capacity to increase 
the number of opportunities. The staff would conduct regularly 
scheduled environmental education and interpretation programs. The 
Service would build an environmental education center. There would be 
fifteen staff members, eleven of whom would be stationed at Mackay 
Island Refuge and four of whom would be stationed at Currituck Refuge. 
They would spend 7.8 full-time equivalent staff years at Mackay Island 
Refuge and 7.2 full-time equivalent staff years at Currituck Refuge. 
The staff would include a biologist and public use specialist.
    Alternative 3 proposes substantial program increases. The refuge 
would develop a habitat management plan and manage all habitats on the 
refuge. The staff would survey all wildlife on the refuge. The refuge 
would increase further the number of public use opportunities. The 
Service would build an environmental education center. There would be 
twenty-four staff members, seventeen of whom would be stationed at 
Mackay Island Refuge and seven of whom would be stationed at Currituck 
Refuge. They would spend 11.25 full-time equivalent staff years at 
Mackay Island Refuge and 12.75 full-time equivalent staff years at 
Currituck Refuge. The staff would include separate law enforcement 
officers and public use specialists for Mackay Island and Currituck 
Refuges.

Actions Common to All Alternatives

    All three alternatives share the following concepts and techniques 
for achieving the goals of the refuge:
     Cooperating with local, State, and Federal agencies, as 
well as non-governmental organizations, to administer refuge programs;
     Utilizing volunteers to execute the public use, 
biological, and maintenance programs on the refuge;
     Monitoring populations of waterfowl, shorebirds, and 
wading birds, and vegetation in the refuge impoundments;
     Maintaining vegetation in the marsh with prescribed fire; 
and
     Encouraging scientific research on the refuge.
    Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge, in northeastern North 
Carolina, consists of 8,219 acres, of which 4,251 acres are brackish 
marsh, 1,515 acres are coastal fringe evergreen forest, 995 acres are 
managed wetlands (impoundments), and 298 acres are cropland. These 
habitats support a variety of wildlife species, including waterfowl, 
shorebirds, wading birds, marsh birds, neotropical migratory songbirds, 
and deer.
    The refuge hosts more than seventy five thousand visitors annually, 
who participate in hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, wildlife 
photography, and environmental education and interpretation.

    Authority: This notice is published under the authority of the 
National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement act of 1997, Public Law 
105-57.

    Dated: April 29, 2005.
Cynthia K. Dohner,
Acting Regional Director.

    Editorial Note: This document was received at the Office of the 
Federal Register January 11, 2006.
[FR Doc. 06-370 Filed 1-13-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-M