[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 2, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5799-5800]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-02074]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Draft Revised Management Plan for the Grand Bay National 
Estuarine Research Reserve

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

ACTION: Request for comments on draft revised management plan.

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SUMMARY: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is 
soliciting comments from the public regarding a proposed revision of 
the management plan for the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research 
Reserve. A management plan provides a framework for the direction and 
timing of a reserve's programs; allows reserve managers to assess a 
reserve's success in meeting its goals and to identify any necessary 
changes in direction; and is used to guide programmatic evaluations of 
the reserve. Plan revisions are required of each reserve in the 
National Estuarine Research Reserve System at least every five years. 
This revised plan

[[Page 5800]]

is intended to replace the plan approved in 2018.

DATES: Comments are due by March 4, 2022.

ADDRESSES: The draft revised management plan is available at: 
grandbaynerr.org/reserve-management-plan/, or by emailing Matt Chasse 
of NOAA's Office for Coastal Management at [email protected].
    You may submit comments by the following method:
    Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments by 
email to [email protected] and [email protected]. Include 
``Comments on draft Grand Bay Reserve Management Plan'' in the 
message's subject line.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matt Chasse of NOAA's Office for 
Coastal Management at [email protected] or (240) 628-5417.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to 15 CFR 921.33(c), a State must 
revise the management plan for the research reserve at least every five 
years. If approved by NOAA, the Grand Bay Reserve's revised plan will 
replace the plan previously approved in 2013.
    The draft revised 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. In particular, this draft of 
the revised management plan focuses on addressing specific research 
priorities, including restoration effectiveness monitoring; 
understating physical and hydrological processes within the reserve; 
sources and impacts of contaminants; and the socio-economic impacts of 
ecosystem restoration. There is also an added focus related to 
monitoring programs as a valued regional and national reference site 
through the use of abiotic parameters, sentinel sites, atmospheric 
mercury, and restoration monitoring. Furthermore, the plan prioritizes 
improving public access and the visitor experience through enhanced 
trail and debris management efforts, and a greater focus on habitat 
restoration, especially upland habitats (e.g., wet pine savannas and 
flatwoods) and along the marsh upland interface. Much of the effort in 
this plan is linked to the multi-year Grand Bay Land Acquisition and 
Habitat Management project. The reserve will also pursue research 
designed to protect shorelines and re-establish viable oyster 
populations in this area of the Mississippi coast. Another priority 
identified in the plan calls for reserve investments in the maintenance 
and upgrade of the existing facilities and monitoring infrastructure.
    The reserve's training program will design trainings around 
priority issues, such as invasive species, habitat restoration, coastal 
and estuarine processes, marsh and uplands ecology, coastal habitats, 
sea level rise, and community resilience. A new focus area of the 
reserve identified in the plan is the transfer of skills and knowledge 
relating to flood mitigation to nearby disadvantaged communities. 
Education programming will have a continued emphasis on place-based 
learning for students, teachers, non-traditional audiences (i.e., 
artists, veterans, seniors and others). New programs will be added to 
target non-traditional reserve audiences, such as, pre-K students, 
people with disabilities, seniors, and other groups. These new programs 
will create opportunities for people who do not typically use the 
reserve or participate in reserve events.
    Reserve research continues to generate peer-reviewed and published 
research about the estuary. The reserve has expanded its role in 
restoring coastal habitats through the Natural Resource Damage 
Assessment funded `Land Acquisition and Habitat Management Project' in 
areas adjacent to the reserve. Reserve research and monitoring 
capabilities have also been integrated into habitat restoration 
projects and bring a new level of monitoring effectiveness for this 
type of project. In recent years, the reserve's monitoring efforts have 
confirmed the nitrogen limitations of the estuary, contributed to a 
national analyses of sediment elevation table data, and helped create 
digital elevation models for the reserve's sentinel sites.
    The reserve successfully conducted a 2019 assessment of municipal 
officials that identified priorities for coastal training programming. 
These results were incorporated into the revised plan. In addition to 
success of the K-12 student-focused `On the Road' program, the reserve 
has emphasized place-based learning opportunities for the public, K-12 
students, teachers, and non-traditional audiences (i.e., artists, 
veterans, seniors, pre-K students, people with disabilities, and other 
non-traditional groups). Engaging with non-traditional audiences has 
been a successful endeavor for this reserve.
    Since the last management plan, the reserve has prioritized the 
comprehensive management of upland and estuarine resources at a 
landscape scale. Public trails were created or maintained, and boat 
access was improved. The reserve has actively used fire management to 
restore wet pine savanna in collaboration with State and Federal 
partners. The revised management plan, once approved, would serve as 
the guiding document for the 18,049-acre research reserve for the next 
five years.
    NOAA's Office for Coastal Management analyzes the environmental 
impacts of the proposed approval of this draft revised management plan 
in accordance with section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C), and the Council 
on Environmental Quality Regulations for Implementing the Procedural 
Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR 1500-1508). The public is invited to comment 
on the draft revised management plan. NOAA will take these comments 
into consideration in deciding whether to approve the draft revised 
management plan in whole or in part.

(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. 2022-02074 Filed 2-1-22; 8:45 am]
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