[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 27 (Thursday, February 9, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6786-6787]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-1200]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service


Currituck National Wildlife Refugee

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of the Draft Comprehensive Conservation 
Plan and Environmental Assessment for Currituck National Wildlife 
Refuge in Currituck County, North Carolina.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces that a Draft Comprehensive Conservation 
Plan and Environmental Assessment for Currituck 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 a 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, plans identify wildlife-dependent recreational 
opportunities available to the public, including opportunities for 
hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, wildlife photography, and 
environmental education and interpretation.

DATES: Individuals wishing to comment on the Draft Comprehensive 
Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment for Currituck National 
Wildlife Refuge should do so no later than March 13, 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, 
Refuge Manager, Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge, P.O. Box 39, 
Knotts Island, North Carolina 27950; Telephone (252) 429-3100; Fax 
(252) 429-3186. 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 allowed by law.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Service analyzed three alternatives for 
future management of the refuge and chose Alternative 2, an alternative 
that addresses the refuge's highest priorities.
    Proposed goals for the refuge include:
     Conserve, protect, and maintain healthy and viable 
populations of migratory birds, wildlife, fish, and plants, including 
Federal and State endangered species and trust species.
     Restore, enhance, and maintain the health and biodiversity 
of beach and dune systems, maritime forests, and marsh habitats to 
ensure optimum ecological productivity and protect the water quality of 
Currituck Sound.
     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 maintains the status quo. The refuge would manage 
very intensively the water levels of the impoundments and the 
vegetation to create 50 parent good vegetation for migrating waterfowl, 
but would not manage for mudflats for shorebirds. 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 no staff stationed at Currituck National 
Wildlife Refuge. Seven staff members would serve the refuge and be 
stationed at Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge. They would spend 
2.85 staff years at Currituck Refuge and 4.15 full time equivalent 
staff years at Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge.
    Alternative 2 proposes moderate program increases. The refuge would 
develop a habitat management plan and manage all habitats on the 
refuge. The refuge would manage very intensively the water levels of 
the impoundments and the vegetation to create 60 percent good 
vegetation for migrating waterfowl and 20 percent mudflats in the 
spring for shorebirds when feasible. The Service would add new 
impoundments. The staff would monitor vegetation in the marshes before 
and after prescribed burns and inventory vegetation in the maritime 
swamp forest. They 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

[[Page 6787]]

to increase the number of opportunities. The staff would conduct 
regularly schedule environmental education and interpretation programs. 
The Service would partner with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources 
Commission to use the environmental education center being built by the 
Commission in corolla. There would be fifteen staff members, four of 
whom would be stationed at Currituck Refuge and eleven of whom would be 
stationed at Mackay Island Refuge. They would spend 7.2 full time 
equivalent staff years at Currituck Refuge and 7.8 full time equivalent 
staff years at Mackay Island Refuge. The staff would include a 
biologist, public use specialist, refuge operations specialist, and law 
enforcement officer.
    Alternative 3 proposes substantial program increases. The refuge 
would develop a habitat management plan and manage all habitats on the 
refuge. The refuge would manage very intensively the water levels of 
the impoundments and the vegetation to create 70 percent good 
vegetation for migrating waterfowl, and 20 percent mudflats in the 
spring and 10 percent in the fall for shorebirds. The Service would add 
new impoundments. The staff would survey invertebrates in the mudflats 
to determine the effects of management. The staff would monitor 
vegetation in the marshes before and after prescribed burns, adapt the 
burn plan to the monitoring results, and inventory vegetation in the 
maritime swamp forest. The staff would survey all wildlife on the 
refuge. The refuge would increase further the number of public use 
opportunities. The Service would use the environmental education center 
being built by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. There 
would be twenty-four staff members, seven of whom would be stationed at 
Currituck Refuge and seventeen of whom would be stationed at Mackay 
Island Refuge. They would spend 12.75 full time equivalent staff years 
at Currituck Refuge and 11.25 full time equivalent staff years at 
Mackay Island Refuge. The staff would include separate law enforcement 
officers and public use specialists for each refuge.

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-government 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.
    Currituck National Wildlife Refuge, in northeastern North Carolina, 
consists of 4,570 acres of fee simple land and 3,931 acres of 
conservation easements. Of the fee simple land, 2,202 acres are 
brackish marsh, 778 acres are brackish shrub, 637 acres are maritime 
forest, 202 acres are dune, and 143 acres are managed wetlands 
(impoundments). These habitats support a variety of wildlife species, 
including waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, marsh birds, and 
neotropical migratory songbirds.
    The refuge hosts more than nineteen 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.
[FR Doc. 06-1200 Filed 2-8-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-M