[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 185 (Friday, September 23, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59158-59159]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-24543]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

 National Park Service


Notice of Availability of Draft General Management Plan/
Environmental Impact Statement for Effigy Mounds National Monument, 
Iowa

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969, 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C), the National Park Service 
(NPS) announces the availability of a draft General Management Plan 
(GMP)/Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Effigy Mounds National 
Monument in Harpers Ferry, Iowa.

DATES: The draft GMP/EIS will remain available for public review for 60 
days following the publishing of the notice of availability in the 
Federal Register by the Environmental Protection Agency. Public 
meetings will be held during the 60-day review period on the GMP/EIS in 
the Harpers Ferry, Iowa area, in summer 2011. Meeting times and 
locations will be announced in the local press, sent out to the mailing 
list for this project and uploaded to the plan Web site at http://www.parkplanning.nps.gov/efmo.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the draft GMP/EIS are available from the 
Superintendent, Effigy Mounds National Monument at 151 Highway 76, 
Harpers Ferry, Iowa 52146. The document is also available to be picked 
up in person at the address shown above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document is a revised Draft GMP/EIS for 
Effigy Mounds National Monument, which replaces the Draft GMP/EIS 
released in May of 2009. Shortly after that public release, the NPS 
took a close look at past construction activities and practices in the 
park, particularly those with the potential to harm the archeological 
resources the park was created to protect, and decided to substantially 
revise the draft.
    This GMP/EIS will guide the management of the Effigy Mounds 
National Monument for the next 25 years. The draft GMP/EIS considers 
three draft conceptual alternatives--a no-action and two action 
alternatives, including the NPS preferred alternative. The draft GMP/
EIS assesses impacts to cultural resources (archeological, landscapes, 
ethnographic resources, and museum collections), to natural resources 
(soils, wild and scenic rivers, vegetation, fish and wildlife, special 
status species, and visual resources/viewsheds), to visitor use and 
experience, to the socioeconomic environment, and to monument 
operations and facilities. The preferred alternative focuses on 
providing an enhanced visitor experience with increased understanding 
of the monument while protecting and preserving natural and cultural 
resources. The desired visitor experience would be to make personal 
connections to the monument's tangible resources through understanding 
of the significance of the (pre-European contact) American Indian 
moundbuilding story and its relationship to the heritage of the region. 
The landscape and visitor facilities would support a contemplative 
atmosphere with opportunities for the public to spend time reflecting 
on the lives and legacy of the moundbuilders and the sacred nature of 
the site today. The natural setting created by preserving or restoring 
landscapes would provide a connection between the moundbuilding 
cultures and the environment that shaped their lives and beliefs.
    The biggest change proposed in the revised Draft GMP/EIS is the 
elimination of the Multipurpose Research Center as a physical structure 
in the monument. While the NPS continues to believe there is tremendous 
value in promoting and coordinating additional non-invasive research 
aimed at the mounds and their long-term preservation, we now believe 
this would best be accomplished by establishing either a virtual 
research center (via enhanced partnerships and better coordination and 
cooperation with existing entities), or by establishing a physical 
presence for the research center outside the monument in a nearby 
community. Therefore, new construction of facilities and trails at 
Effigy Mounds National Monument would be minimal under the preferred 
alternative. Using the direction provided in this plan, specific 
locations of trails in the Heritage Addition would be identified in a 
subsequent trail development plan. This plan envisions a small visitor 
contact station at the Sny Magill unit of the park within an expanded 
boundary area. Once this land

[[Page 59159]]

is acquired, subsequent site development planning would determine 
location and design of the station as well as of redesigned trails for 
Sny Magill.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The Superintendent, Effigy Mounds 
National Monument, at the address or telephone number above.
    You may submit your comments by any one of several methods. You may 
comment via the Internet through the Web site noted above. You may also 
send comments to the Superintendent, Effigy Mounds National Monument at 
the address above. You may contact the Superintendent by phone at 563-
873-3491. Finally, you may hand-deliver comments to the Effigy Mounds 
National Monument headquarters at the address above. Before including 
your address, telephone number, electronic mail address, or other 
personal identifying information in your comments, you should be aware 
that your entire comment (including your personal identifying 
information) may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comments to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so. We will make all submissions from organizations or 
businesses, from individuals identifying themselves as representatives 
or officials, of organizations or businesses, available for public 
inspection in their entirety.

    Dated: April 27, 2011.
Martin A. Sterkel,
Acting Regional Director, Midwest Region.
[FR Doc. 2011-24543 Filed 9-22-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-93-P