81 FR 91185 - Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge; Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 242 (December 16, 2016)

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability for review of our final comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and environmental impact statement (EIS) for Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge (Conte NFWR). The CCP/EIS describes how we propose to manage the refuge for the next 15 years.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 242 (Friday, December 16, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 91185-91187]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-30420]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R5-R-2016-N207; BAC-4333-99]


Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge; Final 
Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; final comprehensive conservation plan 
and environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the 
availability for review of our final comprehensive conservation plan 
(CCP) and environmental impact statement (EIS) for Silvio O. Conte 
National Fish and Wildlife Refuge (Conte NFWR). The CCP/EIS describes 
how we propose to manage the refuge for the next 15 years.

DATES: The Service's decision on issuance of an the final CCP/EIS will 
occur no sooner than 30 days after the publication of the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) notice of the final EIS in the 
Federal Register and will be documented in a Service Record of Decision 
(ROD).

ADDRESSES: You may view or obtain copies of the final CCP/EIS by any of 
the following methods. You may also request a copy on CD-ROM and 
limited hard copies will be available.
    Agency Web site: Download a copy of the document at https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Silvio_O_Conte/what_we_do/conservation.html.
    Email: Send requests to [email protected], and include 
``Conte NFWR CCP'' in the subject line of your email.
    U.S. Mail: Nancy McGarigal, Refuge Planner, 300 Westgate Center 
Drive, Hadley, MA 01035.
    Fax: Attention: Nancy McGarigal, 413-253-8468.
    To view comments on the final CCP/EIS from the EPA, or for 
information on EPA's role in the EIS process, see EPA's Role in the EIS 
Process under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrew French, Refuge Manager, 413-
548-9725 (phone); [email protected] (email).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction

    With this notice, we continue the CCP process for Conte NFWR, which 
we began by publishing a notice of intent in the Federal Register (71 
FR 62006) on October 20, 2006. For more about the initial process and 
the history of this refuge, please see that notice. On August

[[Page 91186]]

18, 2015, we announced the release of the draft CCP/EIS to the public 
and requested comments in a notice of availability in the Federal 
Register (80 FR 50023). In addition, EPA published a notice in the 
Federal Register (80 FR 52273) announcing the draft CCP/EIS on August 
28, 2015, as required under section 309 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) (42 
U.S.C. 7401 et seq.). We now announce the final CCP/EIS. Under the CAA, 
EPA also will announce the final CCP/EIS via the Federal Register.

EPA's Role in the EIS Process

    The EPA is charged under section 309 of the CAA with reviewing all 
Federal agencies' EISs and commenting on the adequacy and the 
acceptability of the environmental impacts of proposed actions in the 
EISs.
    EPA also serves as the repository (EIS database) for EISs prepared 
by Federal agencies and provides notice of their availability in the 
Federal Register. The EIS database provides information about EISs 
prepared by Federal agencies, as well as EPA's comments concerning the 
EISs. All EISs are filed with EPA, which publishes a notice of 
availability on Fridays in the Federal Register.
    A notice of availability is published at the start of the 45-day 
public comment period for draft EISs, as well as at the start of the 
30-day ``wait period'' for final EISs. With final EISs, agencies are 
generally required to wait 30 days before making a decision on a 
proposed action. For more information, see http://www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/eisdata.html. You may search for EPA comments on EISs, 
along with EISs themselves, at https://cdxnodengn.epa.gov/cdx-enepa-public/action/eis/search.
    This notice announces the availability of the final CCP/EIS for 
Conte NFWR in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) (40 CFR 1506.6(b)). The final CCP/EIS includes a detailed 
description of the four management alternatives we considered to guide 
us in managing and administering the refuge for the next 15 years. That 
document also contains a thorough analysis of impacts predicted from 
implementing each of the alternatives on the surrounding natural and 
human environments. We propose that alternative C, the Service-
preferred alternative, serve as the foundation for the final, stand-
alone CCP. We highlight the modifications we made to alternative C 
between the draft and final CCP/EIS in Comments, below.
    Our next planning step is to complete a record of decision no 
sooner than 30 days after publication of this notice (40 CFR 
1506.10(b)(2)).

Background

The CCP Process

    The National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 (16 
U.S.C. 668dd-668ee) (Refuge Administration Act), as amended by the 
National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, requires us to 
develop a CCP for each national wildlife refuge. The purpose for 
developing a CCP is to provide refuge managers and the public with a 
15-year plan for achieving refuge purposes and goals and contributing 
to the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS). CCPs 
should be consistent with sound principles of fish and wildlife 
management, conservation, legal mandates, and our policies, as well as 
respond to key issues and public concerns. In addition to outlining 
broad management direction on conserving wildlife and their habitats, 
CCPs identify wildlife-dependent recreational opportunities available 
to the public, including opportunities for hunting, fishing, wildlife 
observation and photography, and environmental education and 
interpretation. We will review and update the CCP at least every 15 
years, in accordance with the Refuge Administration Act.

Silvio O. Conte NFWR

    Conte NFWR was established in 1997 to conserve, protect, and 
enhance the abundance and diversity of native plant, fish, and wildlife 
species, and the ecosystems on which they depend throughout the 7.2-
million-acre Connecticut River watershed (watershed). Currently, the 
refuge is comprised of 37,000 acres within parts of the four watershed 
states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

CCP Alternatives

    During the scoping phase of the planning process, we identified a 
variety of major issues based on input from the public, State or 
Federal agencies, other Service programs, and our planning team. We 
developed refuge management alternatives and strategies to address 
these issues; help achieve refuge goals, objectives, and purposes; 
support our partners' conservation efforts, and support the NWRS 
mission. Our draft CCP/EIS (80 FR 50023) and final CCP/EIS fully 
analyze four alternatives for the future management of the refuge: (1) 
Alternative A, Current Management; (2) Alternative B, Consolidated 
Stewardship; (3) Alternative C, Enhanced Conservation Connections and 
Partnerships (Service-preferred Alternative); and (4) Alternative D, 
Conservation Connections Emphasizing Natural Processes. Alternative A 
satisfies the NEPA requirement of a ``No Action'' alternative. Both the 
draft and final plans identify alternative C as the Service-preferred 
alternative, although Alternative C has been slightly modified in the 
final plan in response to public comments, as discussed below. Please 
refer to the final CCP/EIS for more details on each of the 
alternatives.

Comments

    We solicited comments on the draft CCP/EIS for Conte NFWR from 
August 18 to November 16, 2015 (80 FR 50023). During this comment 
period, we held 14 public information meetings in towns across the 
Connecticut River watershed and four public hearings; one in each of 
the four states in the watershed. Overall, we received 363 separate 
written responses and collected 73 oral comments at the public 
hearings. We also received a petition to ban trapping at the refuge's 
Nulhegan Basin Division, signed by approximately 2,546 individuals. We 
evaluated all of the substantive comments we received, and include a 
summary of those comments, and our responses to them, as appendix O in 
the final CCP/EIS.

Changes to the Alternative C, the Service's Preferred Alternative

    After considering the comments we received on our draft CCP/EIS, we 
have made several modifications to alternative C, including adding or 
revising several management strategies. Below we present a brief 
overview of these changes; a full description of the changes is 
included in appendix O in the final CCP/EIS.
     Conservation Partnership Areas (CPAs)--We added two CPAs, 
increased the size of five CPAs, and reduced the size of one CPA.
     Conservation Focus Areas (CFAs)--We updated maps to 
reflect new refuge acquisitions and an updated conserved lands base, 
and to incorporate core areas identified in the Connect the Connecticut 
landscape conservation design. We increased the size of one CFA. 
Combined total acreage in CFAs increased by 41 acres.
     Land Acquisition Process--We refined our proposal to 
pursue acquisition of 90 percent of target acreage in CFAs, on average, 
and 10 percent of target acreage in surrounding CPAs. The total 
acquisition authority we are seeking (197,337 acres) increased by the 
41 acres noted above.
     Public Uses--We emphasize our intent to continue to allow 
priority public uses on newly acquired lands wherever compatible. We 
withdrew our

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proposal to eliminate one section of snowmobile trail on Nulhegan Basin 
Division. We determined that recreational drone use is not appropriate.
     Habitat Management--We emphasize our intent to develop 
refuge division-specific habitat management plans with state agency and 
public involvement.
    Alternative C, with these changes, is still our preferred 
alternative in the final CCP/EIS for Conte NFWR for several reasons. 
First, alternative C comprises a mix of actions that, in our 
professional judgment, work best towards achieving the refuge's 
purposes, vision, and goals, NWRS policies, and the goals of other 
state and regional conservation plans. Second, we also believe that 
alternative C most effectively addresses key issues raised during the 
planning process.

Public Availability of Documents

    See ADDRESSES, above.

Next Steps

    We will document the final decision in a record of decision, which 
will be published in the Federal Register after the 30-day ``wait 
period'' that begins when EPA announces this final CCP/EIS. For more 
information, see EPA's Role in the EIS Process.

    Dated: December 1, 2016.
Deborah Rocque,
Deputy Regional Director, Northeast Region.
[FR Doc. 2016-30420 Filed 12-15-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4333-15-P