[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 30 (Wednesday, February 14, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7081-7082]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-2518]


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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), as applied in the following areas, are now available 
for public comment.
     Gray Lodge Wildlife Area.
    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 (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 Plans using the Refuge Criteria.

DATES: All public comments must be received by March 16, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Please mail comments to Ms. Laurie Sharp, Bureau of 
Reclamation, 2800 Cottage Way, MP-410, Sacramento, California, 95825, 
916-978-5232, or e-mail at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To be placed on a mailing list for any 
subsequent information or to obtain a copy of any water management 
plans, please contact Ms. Sharp 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 also 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 also incorporated 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

[[Page 7082]]

for public disclosure in their entirety. Public comments for the Refuge 
Criteria are now being accepted.

    Dated: February 8, 2007.
Tracy Slavin,
Program Management Branch Chief, Mid-Pacific Region, Bureau of 
Reclamation.
[FR Doc. E7-2518 Filed 2-13-07; 8:45 am]
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