[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 130 (Monday, July 7, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 38403]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-15362]


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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 Padilla 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 management plan for the Padilla Bay National Estuarine 
Research Reserve.
    The Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve is located in 
Skagit County, Washington. The Reserve was designated in 1980 pursuant 
to Section 315 of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, 
16 U.S.C. 1461. The reserve is revising their plan pursuant to 15 CFR. 
The submission of this revised plan sets a course for successful 
implementation of the goals and objectives of the reserve. New 
facilities, a focus on broad Puget Sound issues and climate change, and 
updated programmatic objectives are notable revisions to the previous 
approved management plan.
    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. Since 2002, the reserve has added a coastal 
training program that delivers science-based information to key 
decision makers in Washington State. The reserve has realized nearly 
all aspects of the original plan and expanded its programs dramatically 
since the original plan. The reserve has completed major facility 
expansion and renovation projects that provide classrooms, lab space, 
exhibit space, dormitory, and office space. The reserve has expanded, 
but not yet completed, its ownership of in-holdings within its boundary 
and increased staff which have resulted in the implementation of 
research, education, stewardship, GIS, and volunteer activities at the 
reserve.
    This management plan calls for continued land acquisition within 
its boundaries from willing sellers, implementation of a habitat 
mapping and change plan, responsiveness to existing and emerging 
regional partnerships focusing on the management of Puget Sound, a 
focus on climate change within all reserve programs, implementation of 
the National Estuarine Research Reserve's K-12 Estuarine Education 
Program and continued implementation of the graduate research 
fellowship, coastal training, and system-wide monitoring programs.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nina Garfield at (301) 563-1171 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 Padilla Bay 
Management Plan revision, visit http://www.padillabay.gov/.

    Dated: June 30, 2008.
David M. Kennedy,
Director, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. E8-15362 Filed 7-3-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-08-P