[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 64 (Wednesday, April 4, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 16330]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-6195]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


National Estuarine Research Reserve System

AGENCY: Estuarine Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal 
Resource Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Public Comment Period for the Revised Management Plan 
for the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Estuarine Reserves Division, 
Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean 
Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. 
Department of Commerce is announcing a thirty day public comment period 
on the revised Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Management 
Plan which will begin on the day this announcement is published. 
Comments should be sent within the comment period in hard copy or e-
mail to Matthew Chasse at [email protected] or NOAA's Estuarine 
Reserves Division, 1305 East-West Highway, N/ORM5, 10th floor, Silver 
Spring, MD 20910.
    The Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve was designated in 
February 1986 pursuant to Section 315 of the Coastal Zone Management 
Act of 1972, as amended, 16 U.S.C. 1461. The reserve has been operating 
under a management plan approved in 1998. Pursuant to 15 CFR 921.33(c), 
a state must revise its management plan every five years. The 
submission of this plan fulfills this requirement and sets a course for 
successful implementation of the goals and objectives of the reserve. A 
boundary expansion, new facility and land acquisition plans, and 
updated programmatic objectives are notable revisions to the 1998 
approved management plan.
    Since the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve was 
designated, it has been managed by the Alabama Department of Economic 
and Community Affairs. Since that time, state responsibility for the 
management of the reserve has been transferred to the Alabama 
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR), State Lands 
Division. A revised MOU between NOAA and the State of Alabama was 
approved to reflect these changes. Under ADCNR, the revised management 
plan outlines the administrative structure; the education, stewardship, 
and research goals of the reserve; and the plans for future land 
acquisition and facility development to support reserve operations.
    Three hundred and thirty three (333) acres of state-owned coastal 
and submerged lands adjacent to the reserve are incorporated through 
the boundary amendment in the management plan revision. The expansion 
provides a broader and more representative diversity of wetland and 
water habitats into the reserve boundary. The new boundary and will 
provide areas for reserve related research and education programs. The 
tidal freshwater riverine, emergent and forested wetland communities 
protected through this expansion further enhance the Weeks Bay reserve 
as an appropriate and ecologically representative site for long-term 
research and education.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matt Chasse at (301) 563-1198 or 
Laurie McGilvray at (301) 563-1158 of NOAA's National Ocean Service, 
Estuarine Reserves Division, 1305 East-West Highway, N/ORM5, 10th 
floor, Silver Spring, MD 20910. For copies of the Weeks Bay Management 
Plan revision, visit http://www.sarpc.org.

    Dated: March 28, 2007.
David M. Kennedy,
Director, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. E7-6195 Filed 4-3-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-08-P