[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 78 (Friday, April 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24098-24099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-08590]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Final Management Plan for the Delaware 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 for the revised management plan for the 
Delaware 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 Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve. 
In accordance with applicable Federal regulations, the Delaware 
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control revised the 
reserve's management plan, which replaces the plan previously approved 
in 2013.

ADDRESSES: The approved management plan can be downloaded or viewed at 
https://documents.dnrec.delaware.gov/coastal/DNERR/2022-DNERR-Management-Plan.pdf. The document is also available by sending a 
written request to the point of contact identified below (see FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jean R. Brodeur, 
[email protected], 854-900-2575.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to 15 CFR 921.33(c), a state must 
revise the management plan for its research reserve at least every five 
years. Changes to a reserve's management plan may be made only after 
receiving written approval from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA). NOAA approves changes to management plans via 
notice in the Federal Register. On December 16, 2021, NOAA issued a 
notice in the Federal Register announcing a thirty-day public comment 
period for the proposed revision of the Delaware National Estuarine 
Research Reserve management plan (86 FR 71421). No comments were 
received.
    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 2013, this research 
reserve has had an important impact on the local area and its 
communities. The reserve's training program held 53 trainings, 
workshops or conferences with 27,851 contact hours with local 
constituents. The education program had 32,466 contact hours with 
11,722 K-12 students and 23,599 public participants. Reserve volunteers 
donated 20,739 hours of time producing the full-time employee 
equivalent of 10.5 years of work. Some of those volunteer hours were 
spent recording 1,784,923 spawning horseshoe crabs on the three beaches 
that the reserve monitors. Research and monitoring efforts produced 15 
peer-reviewed publications that used this reserve's infrastructure and 
data. The mini-grant opportunity, available through their research and 
monitoring program, distributed $183,766 of funding to local, Delaware-
based researchers, many of which were early career faculty. Seventy-six 
acres of land within this reserve's boundary have been enhanced

[[Page 24099]]

through reforestation and other restoration efforts.
    With the approval of this revised management plan, the boundary 
will be amended to incorporate an additional six parcels--all found 
within the priority acquisition area identified in the 2013 revision of 
the plan--increasing the total acreage to 6,364 acres. These parcels 
include lands that enhance and contribute to the ecological protection 
within the Blackbird Creek watershed. The ``McKinley'' property at 531 
Union Church Road is 67.4 acres in size and includes a mix of native 
hardwoods and coastal plain ponds (Delmarva Bays). At 0 Taylors Bridge 
Road, the 32-acre ``Unruh'' property includes a wooded tributary buffer 
and agricultural lands. Three parcels known as the ``Norris'' property, 
totaling 42.6 acres at Union Church Road, were acquired to improve 
wildlife corridor habitat and include forest and agriculture lands. 
Additionally, an inholding property known as ``Manwaring'' at 789 
Blackbird Landing Road, 16.3 acres in size, was acquired. More details 
on these parcels and the boundary change may be found in the revised 
management plan.
    In addition to continuing the tradition of robust local community 
education, training and research and stewardship programs, the Delaware 
National Estuarine Research Reserve intends, in this next management 
planning period, to focus on creating demonstration areas that can be 
used to model best management practices for local landowners; fostering 
the next generation of coastal professionals and conservation stewards; 
engaging land managers in conversations based on watershed scale 
conservation; and connecting with the Delaware community in a 
meaningful and inclusive manner to identify their needs as the 
stakeholders of this research reserve. The revised management plan will 
serve as the guiding document for this 6,364-acre 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. 2022-08590 Filed 4-21-22; 8:45 am]
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