[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 33 (Thursday, February 19, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Page 8898]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03505]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-NER-SHEN-16985; PXPD203503C002]


Notice of Termination of the Environmental Impact Statement for a 
Chronic Wasting Disease Management Plan for Shenandoah National Park, 
Virginia

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Terminate preparation of an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: The National Park Service (NPS) is terminating the preparation 
of an environmental impact statement (EIS) for a proposed Chronic 
Wasting Disease Management Plan at Shenandoah National Park. A Notice 
of Intent to Prepare the EIS was published in the Federal Register at 
78 FR 13376 on February 27, 2013. Instead, the NPS has prepared an 
environmental assessment to amend its approved Chronic Wasting Disease 
Detection and Assessment Plan to include chronic wasting disease 
management actions.

ADDRESSES: The environmental assessment can be viewed at the NPS 
Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) Web site at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/cwdplanamendment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Northup, Superintendent, 
Shenandoah National Park, 3655 U.S. Hwy 211 East, Luray, VA 22835.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In October 2013, the NPS approved a Chronic 
Wasting Disease Detection and Assessment Plan for the purpose of 
detecting the presence, and assessing the prevalence, of chronic 
wasting disease (CWD) within the boundaries of Shenandoah National Park 
(the park). The CWD Detection and Assessment Plan was evaluated in an 
environmental assessment (EA) that was released for public review in 
July 2012. Concurrent with the detection and assessment plan, the NPS 
initiated an EIS for long-term management of CWD within the park. The 
CWD management plan/EIS process focused on reducing deer density in 
specific areas as the most effective tool for managing CWD in the park. 
However, the results of scoping and preliminary analysis showed that 
the impacts of reducing deer density in specific areas for CWD 
management would not be substantially different than the impacts of the 
approved detection and assessment actions that were previously analyzed 
in the 2012 EA because the CWD Detection and Assessment Plan allows for 
the lethal removal of up to 300 deer for the purposes of detection and 
assessment, and specifies the same high deer density areas as proposed 
for managing CWD. The main differences are that density reductions may 
be done more frequently than lethal removals for detection or 
assessment, and there may be situations in which density reductions 
would be carried out concurrently with detection and assessment 
actions, which may increase the number of lethal removals but not to a 
level that changes the impacts or warrants analysis in an EIS. 
Therefore, the NPS determined that, rather than preparing a separate 
CWD management plan, the most efficient way to manage CWD would be to 
expand the range of management tools in the CWD Detection and 
Assessment Plan to include CWD response actions for the purpose of 
reducing the likelihood of establishment, and slowing the progression, 
of CWD within the park. The NPS further determined that an EA was the 
appropriate level of environmental review necessary to evaluate any 
differences in environmental impacts as a result of amending the 
approved CWD Detection and Assessment Plan to include CWD response 
actions.

    Dated: February 12, 2015.
Michael A. Caldwell,
Regional Director, Northeast Region, National Park Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-03505 Filed 2-18-15; 8:45 am]
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