[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 160 (Monday, August 23, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47137-47138]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-18013]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R4-NWRS-2019-N160; FXRS12610400000-201-FF04RFLX00; 40136-1265-
0000-S3]


Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Palm 
Beach County, FL; Boundary Adjustment

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have adjusted the 
acquisition boundary line of a section of Arthur R. Marshall 
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, to reflect an approved action 
from 2015.

ADDRESSES: Accessing Documents: You may review maps depicting the 
boundary revision by either of the following methods.
     Internet: https://http://www.fws.gov/refuge/ARM_Loxahatchee/map.html.
     In-Person Inspection: Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee 
National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters, 10211 Lee Road, Boynton Beach, 
FL 33473. (Please call 561-735-6022 to make an appointment.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rolf Olson, Project Leader, 561-735-
6022.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service), have adjusted the approved acquisition boundary line 
surrounding a section of Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National 
Wildlife Refuge (Refuge), to reflect an approved action from 2015. 
Specifically, the South Florida Water Management District and Service 
agreed to exchange two parcels of land adjacent to the Refuge in 
western Palm Beach County. The land-for-land exchange was finalized on 
January 11, 2018.

Background

    The National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966, as 
amended by the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 
(Administration Act; 16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.) provides authority for 
the Service to manage national wildlife refuges across the country. In 
accordance with the Administration Act, refuges are managed to fulfill 
the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System; fulfill the 
individual purpose of each refuge; and maintain the biological 
integrity, diversity, and environmental health of the refuge system.
    According to the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, national 
wildlife refuges ``. . . shall be administered by [the Secretary of the 
Interior] directly or in accordance with cooperative agreements . . . 
and in accordance with such rules and regulations for the conservation, 
maintenance, and management of wildlife, resources thereof, and its 
habitat thereon . . . .'' (16 U.S.C. 664). Further, the Migratory Bird 
Conservation Act of 1929, 45 Stat. 1222, states that a refuge is ``. . 
. . for use as an inviolate sanctuary, or for any other management 
purpose, for migratory birds.'' (16 U.S.C. 715d).
    The Refuge is the last remnant of the once vast northern Everglades 
ridge and slough landscape.
    The Act of June 30, 1948, 62 Stat. 1171, 1176, authorizing the 
construction of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project, 
and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act of March 10, 1934, 48 Stat. 
401, amended by the Act of August 14, 1946, 60 Stat. 1080, all 
authorized the establishment of the Refuge, which took place on January 
1, 1951. Notice of the Refuge boundary was published in the Federal 
Register on October 21, 1955 (20 FR 7950).
    The Refuge was created by two agreements entered into by the 
Department of the Interior. The first agreement is a General Plan with 
the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission (now the Florida Fish 
and Wildlife Conservation Commission) which permitted state Water 
Conservation Area (WCA)-1 to be used by the Service for the national 
migratory bird management program. The second agreement is a long-term 
(50-year) License Agreement between the Service and the Central and 
Southern Florida Flood Control District (now SFWMD) which provided for 
the use of WCA-1 by the Service ``as a Wildlife Management Area, to 
promote the conservation of wildlife, fish, and game, and for other 
purposes embodying the principles and objective of planned multiple 
land use.'' The Service manages the area as a national wildlife refuge 
(NWR) under the terms of the

[[Page 47138]]

License Agreement and regulations governing the NWR system at Title 50, 
Code of Federal Regulations.
    In 2002, the License Agreement was revised and renewed for an 
additional 50 years. On February 26, 2018, the Service and SFWMD 
entered into a renegotiated 20-year license agreement.
    Currently, the size of the licensed lands, referred to as the 
Refuge Interior, is approximately 141,374 acres. In addition to the 
``Refuge Interior,'' the USFWS owns 3,814.50 acres in fee title to the 
east. This acreage is sub-divided into three management impoundments 
(A, B, and C), a 400-acre cypress swamp, and the recently added 2,586-
acre Strazzulla Marsh (see below). In total, the Refuge currently 
includes 145,188 acres.

Introduction

    In 2015, the Service developed an environmental assessment under 
which the Service would exchange a Service-owned property, Compartment 
D, with a State of Florida-owned property, Strazzulla Marsh. Both 
parcels are adjacent to WCA-1, the northern limit of the greater 
Everglades ecosystem. The purpose of the exchange was to bring 
Strazzulla Marsh, which is the last remaining sawgrass habitat in the 
eastern Everglades and one of the few remaining sawgrass marshes 
adjacent to the coastal ridge, into permanent protection as part of the 
Refuge. At the same time, the SFWMD obtained Compartment D for use as 
part of the Everglades Restoration Strategies Initiative, to improve 
overall water quality in the Everglades Protection Area.
    When the Congressional Appropriations Committee approved the 
proposed land exchange, it requested that the Refuge acquisition 
boundary be formally adjusted to reflect the changes in land ownership. 
This Notice satisfies this request and ensures that the current Refuge 
boundary is properly recorded.
    The Service today announces that it has adjusted the Refuge 
boundary lines to reflect this approved action (See Appendices), which 
removes the 1,327-acre Compartment D parcel, which is now owned by the 
State of Florida, from the Refuge acquisition boundary. This action 
also brings a portion of Strazzulla Marsh, which was acquired by the 
United States in exchange for Compartment D, within the approved Refuge 
acquisition boundary.

Authority

    This notice is published under the authority of the Improvement 
Act, Public Law 105-57.

Leopoldo Miranda-Castro,
Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Atlanta, GA.
[FR Doc. 2021-18013 Filed 8-20-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P