[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 143 (Thursday, July 26, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 41063]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-14487]


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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 Wells (Maine) 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 Wells (Maine) 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 Doris Grimm at [email protected] or NOAA's 
Estuarine Reserves Division, 1305 East-West Highway, N/ORM5, 10th 
floor, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
    The Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve was designated in 
February 1984 pursuant to Section 315 of the Coastal Zone Management 
Act of 1972, as amended, 16 U.S.C. 1461. Pursuant to 15 CFR 921.33(c), 
a state must revise its management plan every five years. The reserve 
has been operating under a management plan approved in 1996. The 
submission of this plan fulfills this requirement and sets a course for 
successful implementation of the goals and objectives of the reserve.
    Since the last management plan, the Wells Reserve acquired two key 
parcels of land, changed its boundary, constructed needed facilities, 
and has implemented several system-wide programs. It acquired the 27-
acre Alheim property and the 2\1/2\-acre Lord parcel, and changed its 
boundary to include 359 acres of the watershed areas of the Reserve. 
The Reserve built the Maine Coastal Ecology Center, new interpretive 
exhibits, the Alheim Commons dormitory, and the Forest Learning 
Shelter, and equipped and opened the Coastal Resource Library. This new 
management plan serves as the primary guidance document for the 
operation of the Wells Reserve's core and system-wide programs in 
research and monitoring, education and coastal training, and resource 
management and stewardship. The plan provides guidance on the 
acquisition of land to be added to the Reserve and on the construction 
and renovation of buildings and exhibits that support NERR programs. It 
also guides the Reserve in important related programs, such as 
volunteerism and outreach to communities to encourage stewardship of 
coastal resources in southern Maine.
    The Wells Reserve is a public/private partnership whose 
administrative oversight is vested in the Reserve Management Authority 
(RMA). This independent state agency was established in 1990 to support 
and promote the interests of the Wells Reserve. The RMA has a Board of 
Directors composed of representatives having a property, management, or 
program interest in the Wells Reserve. The RMA members represent the 
Maine Department of conservation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
the Town of Wells, the Laudholm Trust, the Maine State Planning Office, 
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doris Grimm at (301) 563-7107 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 Wells Management Plan 
revision, visit http://www.wellsreserve.org.

    Dated: July 20, 2007.
David M. Kennedy,
Director, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. E7-14487 Filed 7-25-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-08-P