Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 242 / Friday, December 17, 2004 / Notices 75567

Environmental Impact Statement (GMP/

EIS) for the George Washington 

Birthplace National Monument, 

Westmoreland County, Virginia. The 

park contains 550 acres that comprise 

significant portions of the 17th and 18th 

century Washington family plantation 

holdings, including the site of the home 

where George Washington was born and 

spent his early years. Prepared 

byplanners in the NPS Northeast 

Region, with assistance from advisors 

and consultants, the GMP/EIS will 

propose a long-term approach to 

managing the George Washington 

BirthplaceNational Monument.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Superintendent, George Washington 

Birthplace National Monument, (804) 

224–1732

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Consistent 

with the site’s mission, NPS policy, 

andother laws and regulations, 

alternatives will be developed to guide 

the management of the siteover the next 

15 to 20 years. The alternatives will 

incorporate various zoning and 

managementprescription to ensure 

resource preservation and public 

enjoyment of the site. The 

environmentalconsequences that could 

result from implementing the various 

alternatives will be evaluated inthe 

plan. Impact topics will include cultural 

and natural resources, visitor 

experience, parkoperations, the 

socioeconomic environment, 

impairment, and sustainability. The 

public will beinvited to express 

opinions about the management of the 

site early in the process through 

publicmeetings and other media; and 

will have an opportunity to review and 

comment on a draftGMP/EIS. Following 

public review processes outlined under 

NEPA, the final plan will 

becomeofficial, authorizing 

implementation of a preferred 

alternative. The target date for the 

Record ofDecision is December 2007.

Dated: November 22, 2004. 

Vidal Martinez, 

Superintendent, George Washington 

Birthplace National Monument.

[FR Doc. 04–27606 Filed 12–17–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4312–52–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement for an 

Elk Management Plan, Wind Cave 

National Park, SD

AGENCY: National Park Service, 

Department of the Interior.

SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), 

the National Park Service (NPS) is 

preparing an environmental impact 

statement (EIS) for an Elk Management 

Plan for Wind Cave National Park 

(WICA), South Dakota. An elk 

management plan is needed to manage 

the elk population within established 

acceptable levels, to identify a range of 

elk management strategies that are 

compatible with long-term protection of 

other park resources and natural 

ecosystems and processes, and to test 

for and manage disease situations in the 

elk population. A number of factors 

contribute to the need for this plan. The 

elk population within the park has 

fluctuated since reintroduction and 

dictated both lethal and translocation 

control in the past. Due to the 

insufficient number of predators and the 

limited movement of elk in and out of 

the park, the elk population will likely 

continue to grow unchecked. Excessive 

browsing caused by high densities of elk 

may adversely affect mixed-grass prairie 

and other forage, as well as cultural 

resources in the park. Furthermore, this 

plan is needed because the NPS has the 

responsibility to manage the elk 

population within the park at levels that 

are compatible with park goals.

DATES: The National Park Service (NPS) 

intends to conduct public scoping at 

locations in South Dakota, including 

Pierre, Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Custer, 

and Hot Springs. Public scoping is 

intended to identify issues and concerns 

that should be addressed in the 

development of an Elk Management 

Plan for WICA. To be most helpful to 

the scoping process, comments should 

be received within 60 days of the 

publication of this notice in the Federal 

Register. See details for sending 

comments in SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION below. Please check local 

newspapers, the WICA Web site at http:/

/www.nps.gov/wica, or contact the name 

listed below to find out when and where 

these open houses will be held and to 

view draft documents and other current 

information regarding elk management 

and the EIS. In addition to this scoping 

process, there will be additional 

opportunities to comment on the plan 

throughout the planning process, 

including the draft and final document.

ADDRESSES: Information will be 

available for public review and 

comment at WICA headquarters located 

14 miles north of Hot Springs, SD. The 

address is: Wind Cave National Park, 

RR1, Box 190, Hot Springs, SD 57747.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom 

Farrell, Public Information Officer, or 

Linda Stoll, Superintendent, at 605–

745–4600.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NPS 

seeks to complete an EIS to address elk 

management at WICA. Section 4.4.2 of 

the NPS Management Policies (2001) 

provides for the active management of 

native animals when management of a 

population is necessary because it 

occurs in unnaturally high or low 

numbers because of human influence. 

An elk management strategy is needed 

at WICA because past and current 

actions within and beyond the park 

have created conditions that allow the 

WICA elk population to increase with 

little or no control. These conditions 

include the insufficient number of elk 

predators, the limited effectiveness of 

public hunting outside of the park as a 

population control method for elk that 

range primarily within the park, lack of 

significant winter kill and other 

environmentally-caused elk mortalities, 

high reproductive and survival rates, 

and the discontinuation of translocating 

elk from the park. 

Elk were reintroduced to the park in 

1913 to restore an extirpated native 

species. The park is surrounded by 

thirty-seven miles of 7 foot high and 

four miles of 4.5 foot high woven-wire 

fence. This fence was designed to allow 

for movement of most wildlife, yet 

confines bison within the park. Wolves 

and bears have been extirpated since the 

late 1800s, and effective natural 

predation on ungulates is limited to that 

which occurs by mountain lions, 

coyotes and bobcats. Since elk 

reintroduction in 1913, the population 

has doubled approximately every 3 

years. Research was conducted in the 

mid-1960s and again in 2003 to provide 

insight into the forage requirements of 

elk and other grazers in the park. The 

resulting data, which considers the 

forage needs of all ungulates in the park, 

suggested the park could maintain 

approximately 350–400 elk. Since 

reintroduction, the population has 

exceeded 400 at various times, 

prompting the removal of animals by 

both lethal and translocation means. In 

the fall of 2002, chronic wasting disease 

(CWD) was found in the park. The NPS 

policy dictates that translocation of elk 

may only occur if the animals are free 

of disease, which removes the 

possibility of translocation of animals 

from WICA. Currently, the elk herd 

numbers about 700, exceeding the 

maximum number of animals that data 

suggest can be sustained long-term 

without negatively affecting other park 

resources. 

A determination of the effects of the 

elk management plan will be conducted

75568 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 242 / Friday, December 17, 2004 / Notices 

1Commissioners Marcia E. Miller and Jennifer A. 

Hillman dissented, voting to conduct expedited 

reviews on the basis that the domestic interested 

party group response was adequate but the 

respondent interested party group response was 

inadequate.

in accordance with NEPA (42 U.S.C. 

4372 et seq.), NEPA regulations (40 CFR 

1500–1508), other appropriate Federal 

regulations, and NPS procedures and 

policies for compliance with those 

regulations. 

The South Dakota Game, Fish and 

Parks Department will serve as a 

Cooperating Agency in the preparation 

of the EIS, per NEPA guidelines. 

If you wish to comment on the 

scoping brochure or any other issues 

associated with the plan, you may 

submit your comments by any one of 

several methods. Written comments 

may be mailed or hand-delivered to the 

Superintendent at the address above. 

You may e-mail comments to 

wica_forum@nps.gov. Please submit 

internet comments as a text file and 

avoid the use of special characters and 

any form of encryption. Please put in 

the subject line ‘‘Elk Management Plan,’’

and include your name and return 

address in your message. If you do not 

receive a confirmation from the system 

that we have received your message, 

contact Tom Farrell, Public Information 

Officer, at the number listed above. 

Our practice is to make comments, 

including names and home addresses of 

respondents, available for public review 

during regular business hours. 

Individual respondents may request that 

we withhold their home addresses from 

the record, which we will honor to the 

extent allowable by law. There also may 

be circumstances in which we would 

withhold from the record a respondent’s 

identity, as allowable by law. If you 

wish us to withhold your name and/or 

address, you must state this 

prominently at the beginning of your 

comment. We will make all submissions 

from organizations or businesses, and 

from individuals identifying themselves 

as representatives or officials of 

organizations or businesses, available 

for public inspection in their entirety.

Dated: August 20, 2004. 

Ernest Quintana, 

Regional Director, Midwest Region.

[FR Doc. 04–27611 Filed 12–16–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4312–AL–P

INTERNATIONAL TRADE 

COMMISSION 

[Investigation Nos. 104–TAA–7 and 

AA1921–198–200 (Second Review)] 

Sugar From Belgium, European Union, 

France, and Germany

AGENCY: International Trade 

Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Commission 

determinations to conduct full five-year 

reviews concerning the countervailing 

duty order on sugar from the European 

Union and the antidumping findings on 

sugar from Belgium, France, and 

Germany. 

SUMMARY: The Commission hereby gives 

notice that it will proceed with full 

reviews pursuant to section 751(c)(5) of 

the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 

1675(c)(5)) to determine whether 

revocation of the countervailing duty 

order on sugar from the European Union 

and the antidumping findings on sugar 

from Belgium, France, and Germany 

would be likely to lead to continuation 

or recurrence of material injury within 

a reasonably foreseeable time. A 

schedule for the reviews will be 

established and announced at a later 

date. For further information concerning 

the conduct of these reviews and rules 

of general application, consult the 

Commission’s Rules of Practice and 

Procedure, part 201, subparts A through 

E (19 CFR part 201), and part 207, 

subparts A, D, E, and F (19 CFR part 

207).

DATES: Effective Date: December 6, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mary Messer (202) 205–3193), Office of 

Investigations, U.S. International Trade 

Commission, 500 E Street SW., 

Washington, DC 20436. Hearingimpaired persons can obtain 

information on this matter by contacting 

the Commission’s TDD terminal on 

(202) 205–1810. Persons with mobility 

impairments who will need special 

assistance in gaining access to the 

Commission should contact the Office 

of the Secretary at (202) 205–2000. 

General information concerning the 

Commission may also be obtained by 

accessing its Internet server (http://

www.usitc.gov). The public record for 

these reviews may be viewed on the 

Commission’s electronic docket (EDIS) 

at http://edis.usitc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

December 6, 2004, the Commission 

determined that it should proceed to 

full reviews in the subject five-year 

reviews pursuant to section 751(c)(5) of 

the Act.1 The Commission found that 

the domestic interested party group 

response to its notice of institution (69 

FR 53466, September 1, 2004) was 

adequate and that the respondent 

interested party group response to its 

notice of institution was inadequate. 

The Commission also found that other 

circumstances warranted conducting 

full reviews. A record of the 

Commissioners’ votes, the 

Commission’s statement on adequacy, 

and any individual Commissioner’s 

statements will be available from the 

Office of the Secretary and at the 

Commission’s Web site.

Authority: These reviews are being 

conducted under authority of title VII of the 

Tariff Act of 1930; this notice is published 

pursuant to section 207.62 of the 

Commission’s rules.

Issued: December 13, 2004.

By order of the Commission. 

Marilyn R. Abbott, 

Secretary to the Commission.

[FR Doc. 04–27650 Filed 12–16–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7020–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment Standards Administration 

Wage and Hour Division 

Minimum Wages for Federal and 

Federally Assisted Construction; 

General Wage Determination Decisions 

General wage determination decisions 

of the Secretary of Labor are issued in 

accordance with applicable law and are 

based on the information obtained by 

the Department of Labor from its study 

of local wage conditions and data made 

available from other sources. They 

specify the basic hourly wage rates and 

fringe benefits which are determined to 

be prevailing for the described classes of 

laborers and mechanics employed on 

construction projects of a similar 

character and in the localities specified 

therein. 

The determinations in these decisions 

of prevailing rates and fringe benefits 

have been made in accordance with 29 

CFR part 1, by authority of the Secretary 

of Labor pursuant to the provisions of 

the Davis-Bacon Act of March 3, 1931, 

as amended (46 Stat. 1494, as amended, 

40 U.S.C. 276a) and of other Federal 

statutes referred to in 29 CFR part 1, 

Appendix, as well as such additional 

statutes as may from time to time be 

enacted containing provisions for the 

payment of wages determined to be 

prevailing by the Secretary of Labor in 

accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act. 

The prevailing rates and fringe benefits 

determined in these decisions shall, in 

accordance with the provisions of the 

foregoing statutes, constitute the 

minimum wages payable on Federal and 

federally assisted construction projects 

to laborers and mechanics of the 

specified classes engaged on contract 

work of the character and in the 

localities described therein.