[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 16 (Tuesday, January 25, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3778-3779]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-01429]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Final Management Plan for the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine 
Research Reserve

AGENCY: Office for Coastal Management, National Ocean Service, National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of approval of the revised management plan for the 
Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Office for Coastal Management, 
National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce approves the revised 
management plan for the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research 
Reserve in Alaska. In accordance with applicable Federal regulations, 
the University of Alaska--Anchorage's Alaska Center for Conservation 
Science revised the reserve's management plan, which replaces the plan 
previously approved in 2012.

ADDRESSES: The approved management plan is available at https://accs.uaa.alaska.edu/kbnerr/, or by sending an email to Bree Turner of 
NOAA's Office for Coastal Management, at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bree Turner of NOAA's Office for 
Coastal Management, email at [email protected], or phone at 206-526-
4641.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to 15 CFR 921.33(c), a State must 
revise the management plan for a research reserve at least every five 
years. Changes

[[Page 3779]]

to a reserve's management plan may be made only after receiving written 
approval from NOAA. NOAA approves changes to management plans via 
notice in the Federal Register.
    On May 27, 2021, NOAA issued a notice in the Federal Register 
announcing a 30-day public comment period for the proposed revision of 
the management plan for the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research 
Reserve (86 FR 28576). Responses to written and oral comments received, 
and an explanation of how comments were incorporated into the final 
version of the revised management plan, are available in appendix D of 
the plan.
    The management plan outlines the reserve's strategic goals and 
objectives; administrative structure; programs for conducting research 
and monitoring, education, and training; resource protection, 
restoration, and manipulation plans; public access and visitor use 
plans; consideration for future land acquisition; and facility 
development to support reserve operations. Since 2012, the reserve has 
undergone a significant State agency administration transition from the 
Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Division of Sport Fish to the 
University of Alaska-Anchorage's Alaska Center for Conservation 
Science. With the administrative transition, the reserve staff and 
programs have relocated from the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor 
Center to the reserve's field station modular office and bunkhouse. Due 
to the change in facilities, some of the education and training 
programs have changed, but many of the core research, monitoring, 
education, and training activities have remained the same. The revised 
management plan, once approved, would serve as the guiding document for 
the 372,000-acre Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve for 
the next five years.
    NOAA reviewed the environmental impacts of the revised management 
plan and determined that this action is categorically-excluded from 
further analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act, 
consistent with NOAA Administrative Order 216-6.
    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.; 15 CFR 921.33.

Keelin S. Kuipers,
Deputy Director, Office for Coastal Management, National Ocean Service, 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2022-01429 Filed 1-24-22; 8:45 am]
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