[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 174 (Monday, September 9, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55093-55094]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-21726]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS- PWR-PWRO-12232: PPWONRADE2- PMP00EI05.YP0000]


Dog Management Plan, Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, 
Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

[[Page 55094]]


ACTION: Notice of availability.

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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) is releasing a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for 
the Dog Management Plan (Plan/SEIS), Golden Gate National Recreation 
Area (GGNRA), California. Current dog management in the park is based 
on a number of factors. Areas included in the GGNRA Citizens' Advisory 
Commission's 1979 pet policy, followed by the park for over twenty 
years, must be managed in accordance with the June 2, 2005, decision by 
the U.S. District Court for Northern California (US vs. Barley, 405 
F.Supp. 2d 1121) holding that NPS cannot enforce the NPS-wide 
regulation requiring on leash walking of pets (36 CFR 2.15(a)(2)) in 
areas where the park had previously allowed off leash use until notice 
and comment rulemaking under 36 CFR 1.5(b) is completed. A Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking will be published for notice and comment after 
comments on the Plan/SEIS have been received, evaluated, and addressed. 
A final rule will be published after the final Plan/FEIS has been 
published and a Record of Decision signed.
    The purpose of the Plan/SEIS is to determine the manner and extent 
of dog use in appropriate areas of the park, provide a clear, 
enforceable dog management policy, preserve and protect natural and 
cultural resources and natural processes, provide a variety of visitor 
experiences, improve visitor and employee safety, and reduce user 
conflicts.
    The Plan/SEIS evaluates the impacts of six alternatives for dog 
management in 22 areas of GGNRA. The range of alternatives includes the 
consensus recommendations of the GGNRA Negotiated Rulemaking Committee 
for Dog Management, the 1979 Pet Policy, 36 CFR 2.15, voice-control dog 
walking and commercial dog walking. The preferred alternative includes 
site specific treatments from multiple action alternatives that 
together allow for a balanced range of visitor experiences, including 
areas that prohibit dogs, and areas that allow on-leash and voice-
control dog walking. It includes the following key elements: The 
Negotiated Rulemaking Committee's consensus agreements; on-leash and/or 
voice and sight-control dog walking in multiple specific areas of the 
park where impacts to sensitive resources and visitor experience are 
minimized; no dogs in areas of the park where impacts are unacceptable 
and can not be mitigated; a monitoring-based management strategy 
measuring compliance in on-leash and voice and sight-control dog 
walking areas that will provide information for a range of management 
responses as needed, including further restrictions or elimination of a 
use where compliance is not able to be achieved by lesser actions; 
permits for both individual and commercial dog walkers for more than 
three dogs, with a maximum of six, in limited areas of the park; and 
the site-specific analysis of Rancho Corral de Tierra as a recently-
acquired GGNRA site evaluated under the Plan/SEIS.

DATES: All written comments must be postmarked or transmitted not later 
than 90 days following publication in the Federal Register by the 
Environmental Protection Agency of the notice of filing and 
availability of the Plan/SEIS.

ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of the Plan/SEIS will be available for 
public review at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/goga. A limited number of 
printed copies will be available at Park Headquarters, Fort Mason, 
Building 201, San Francisco, CA. Copies will be available at local 
libraries in San Mateo, San Francisco and Marin Counties, as well as in 
Berkeley and Oakland. For further information or to request a copy of 
the Plan/SEIS, please contact: Shirwin Smith, Management Assistant, 
Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Fort Mason, Building 201, San 
Francisco, CA 94123, (415) 561-4947.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NPS is most interested in comments on 
the changes between the draft and supplemental EIS, including the 
following: The addition of new data (including additional law 
enforcement and visitor use data), additional references, additional 
information regarding compliance with the Americans with Disabilities 
Act, changes to the impacts analysis (including additional analysis of 
potential redistributive effects of opening/closing areas to dog 
walking), changes to the compliance-based management strategy (now the 
monitoring-based management strategy) by including natural and cultural 
resource monitoring and removing automatic triggers and restrictions, 
evaluation of fencing as a method to minimize dog walking impacts, and 
relatively minor changes to some site specific changes in the preferred 
alternative. Additionally, a site recently transferred to GGNRA, Rancho 
Corral de Tierra, was added to the park sites considered in the range 
of reasonable alternatives analyzed by the plan/SEIS. Comments 
submitted on the earlier Plan/draft EIS (DEIS) will continue to be 
considered and do not need to be resubmitted.
    After the EPA's Federal Register notice is published, the NPS will 
schedule three open-house style public meetings during the comment 
period. Dates, times, and locations of these meetings will be announced 
in press releases, email announcements and on the NPS Planning, 
Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) Web site for the project at 
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/goga.
    If you wish to comment electronically, you may submit your comments 
online at the PEPC Web site by visiting http://parkplanning.nps.gov/goga, clicking on open for comment, clicking on Dog Management Plan/
EIS, and then clicking on Comment on Document. NPS encourages 
commenting electronically through PEPC. Note that the deadline for 
submitting comments online at the PEPC Web site is midnight, Mountain 
Time (11 p.m. Pacific Time), on the last day of the public comment 
period. If you wish to submit your written comments in hard copy (e.g. 
in a letter), you may send them by U.S. Postal Service or other mail 
delivery service or hand-deliver them to: Frank Dean, General 
Superintendent, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Fort Mason, 
Building 201, San Francisco, CA 94123. Comments will also be accepted 
during the three open house public meetings. Comments will not be 
accepted by fax, email, or in any other way than those specified above. 
Bulk comments in any format (hard copy or electronic) submitted on 
behalf of others will not be accepted.
    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, 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 comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.
    Because this is a delegated EIS, the official responsible for 
approval of the final Plan is the Regional Director, Pacific West 
Region, National Park Service; subsequently the official responsible 
for implementation of the approved Plan is the General Superintendent, 
Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

    Dated: August 27, 2013.
Christine S. Lehnertz,
Regional Director, Pacific West Region.
[FR Doc. 2013-21726 Filed 9-6-13; 8:45 am]
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