Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 162 / Monday, August 24, 2009 / Notices 42651 

III. Opportunity for a Public Hearing 

Pursuant to Department of Commerce 

regulations, the Secretary may hold a 

public hearing on this appeal, either in 

response to a request for a public 

hearing or upon his own initiative. A 

request for a public hearing must be 

filed with the Secretary within 30 days 

of the publication of this notice in the 

Federal Register. If a hearing is held, it 

shall be noticed in the Federal Register, 

and the Secretary shall reopen the 

public and Federal agency comment 

period for a 10-day period following the 

hearing. Requests for a public hearing 

must be sent to the NOAA, Office of the 

General Counsel for Ocean Services, 

1305 East-West Highway, Room 6111, 

Silver Spring, MD 20910 or via e-mail 

to gcos.comments@noaa.gov. 

IV. Appeal Documents 

NOAA intends to provide the public 

with access to all publicly available 

materials and related documents 

comprising the appeal record on the 

following Web site: http:// 

www.ogc.doc.gov/czma.htm; and during 

business hours, at the NOAA, Office of 

the General Counsel for Ocean Services. 

For additional information concerning 

this appeal, please contact Gladys P. 

Miles, Attorney-Advisor, NOAA, Office 

of the General Counsel, 301–713–7393 

or gcos.inquiries@noaa.gov. 

Dated: August 19, 2009. 

Joel La Bissonniere, 

Assistant General Counsel for Ocean Services. 

[Federal Domestic Assistance Catalog 

No. {XX.XXX} Coastal Zone 

Management Program Assistance.] 

[FR Doc. E9–20318 Filed 8–21–09; 8:45 am] 

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Final Management Plan and 

Environmental Assessment for 

Thunder Bay National Marine 

Sanctuary: Notice of Public Availability 

AGENCY: Office of National Marine 

Sanctuaries (ONMS), National Ocean 

Service (NOS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Department of Commerce (DOC). 

ACTION: Notice of public availability. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with section 

304(e) of the National Marine 

Sanctuaries Act (NMSA), as amended, 

NOAA is releasing the Final 

Management Plan and Environmental 

Assessment for Thunder Bay National 

Marine Sanctuary. 

DATES: The Final Management Plan and 

Environmental Assessment for Thunder 

Bay National Marine Sanctuary will be 

available on August 25, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: To obtain a copy: For a 

copy of the Final Management Plan and 

Environmental Assessment, please 

contact Tera Panknin, Management Plan 

Review Coordinator, Thunder Bay 

National Marine Sanctuary, 500 W. 

Fletcher Street, Alpena, MI 49707; (989) 

356–8805 ext. 38; or via e-mail at 

TBMPR@noaa.gov. Copies can also be 

downloaded from the Thunder Bay 

NMS Web site at http:// 

thunderbay.noaa.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tera 

Panknin at (989) 356–8805 ext. 38 or via 

e-mail at TBMPR@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background Information 

Thunder Bay was designated in 2000 

as the nation’s thirteenth national 

marine sanctuary. It is jointly managed 

by NOAA and the State of Michigan. It 

was designated to preserve nationally 

significant shipwrecks and regional 

maritime landscape through resource 

protection, education, and research. 

Thunder Bay NMS’s first management 

plan review began in September 2006 

with public scoping meetings, followed 

by meetings of working groups made up 

of sanctuary staff, sanctuary advisory 

council members, and members of the 

public to developed action plans of the 

management plan. 

NOAA released a draft revised 

management plan on February 24, 2009 

(74 FR 8231) and accepted comments 

through April 10, 2009. During this 

time, NOAA held four public meetings 

in Rogers City, MI (March 18, 2009), 

Harrisville, MI (March 19, 2009), 

Lansing, MI (March 20, 2009), and 

Alpena, MI (March 24, 2009). A total of 

24 people provided oral comments at 

those meetings, and 23 people 

submitted written comments on the 

draft revised management plan for a 

total of 61 individual comments. Each of 

these comments are addressed in the 

Response to Comments document. 

II. Summary of the Final Management 

Plan 

The core of the Final Management 

Plan is four action plans: Resource 

Protection, Education and Outreach, 

Research, and Sanctuary Operations and 

Administration. Each is summarized 

below: 

A. Resource Protection Action Plan 

This action plan involves considering 

the need for boundary expansion, 

assessing recreational use of the 

sanctuary, increasing compliance with 

regulations, fostering greater awareness 

of the sanctuary by recreational users, 

and preserving maritime heritage 

artifacts. 

B. Education and Outreach Action Plan 

The second action plan involves 

developing education material for a 

broader audience, increasing awareness 

of the sanctuary through education 

programs, enhancing sanctuary 

communications with other entities, 

maintaining a sanctuary presence in the 

community, and maximizing the effects 

of education through ongoing 

evaluation. 

C. Research Action Plan 

The third action plan involves 

characterizing the sanctuary’s maritime 

heritage resources and landscape 

features, developing a monitoring 

program for sanctuary maritime heritage 

sites, continuing partnership with 

Alpena County Public Library to 

manage the Thunder Bay Sanctuary 

Research Collection, developing 

partnerships with local, national, and 

international researchers and 

organizations, and utilizing volunteers, 

fellows, students, and interns for 

sanctuary characterization, research, 

and monitoring. 

D. Sanctuary Operations and 

Administration Action Plan 

The fourth and final action plan 

involves developing infrastructure to 

enhance and maintain the Great Lakes 

Maritime Heritage Center and for 

research vessels, equipment, and field 

operations; hiring staff; enhancing 

operation of the Thunder Bay Sanctuary 

Advisory Council; and developing 

procedures to ensure safety for staff and 

sanctuary visitors. 

III. Environmental Assessment 

NOAA prepared an environmental 

assessment that analyzes the 

environmental impacts of the revised 

management plan pursuant to the 

National Environmental Policy Act. In 

doing so, the environmental assessment 

analyzes two alternatives: The status 

quo (no change to the 1999 management 

plan) and the preferred alternative 

(revising the 1999 management plan). 

Included with the environmental 

assessment is NOAA’s finding of no 

significant impact. 

Dated: August 17, 2009. 

Daniel J. Basta, 

Director, Office of National Marine 

Sanctuaries. 

[FR Doc. E9–20332 Filed 8–21–09; 8:45 am] 

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