[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 12, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15738-15739]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-05610]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-MWR-EFMO-10830; PPMWMWROW2/PPMPSAS1Y.YP0000]


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

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: The National Park Service (NPS) announces the availability of 
the Final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (GMP/
EIS) for Effigy Mounds National Monument (EFMO), Iowa.

DATES: The Final GMP/EIS will remain available for public review for 30 
days following the publishing of the Notice of Availability in the 
Federal Register by the Environmental Protection Agency.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Final GMP/EIS are available to the public by 
request by writing to the Superintendent, Effigy Mounds National 
Monument, 151 Highway 76, Harpers Ferry, Iowa 52146. The document is 
available on the internet at the NPS Planning, Environment, and Public 
Comment Web site at http://www.parkplanning.nps.gov/indu.efmo.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Superintendent Jim Nepstad, Effigy 
Mounds National Monument, 151 Highway 76, Harpers Ferry, Iowa, at (563) 
873-3491.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the NPS, have developed this GMP/EIS to 
guide the management of EFMO for the next 25 years. The Draft GMP/EIS 
considered three draft conceptual alternatives--a no-action and two 
action alternatives, including the NPS preferred alternative. The Draft 
GMP/EIS assessed 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 
EFMO operations and facilities.
    The preferred alternative in both the Draft GMP/EIS and Final GMP/
EIS focuses on providing an enhanced visitor experience with increased 
understanding of EFMO while protecting and preserving natural and 
cultural resources. The desired visitor experience would be to make 
personal connections to EFMO's tangible resources through understanding 
of the

[[Page 15739]]

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.
    New construction of facilities and trails at EFMO 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 within an 
expanded boundary area. Once this land is acquired, subsequent site 
development planning would determine location and design of the station 
as well as of redesigned trails for Sny Magill.

    Dated: July 18, 2012.
Michael T. Reynolds,
Regional Director, Midwest Region.

     This document was received by the Office of the Federal 
Register on March 7, 2013.

[FR Doc. 2013-05610 Filed 3-11-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MA-P