50236 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 188 / Wednesday, September 30, 2009 / Notices 

We request input as to which issues 

affecting management or public use 

should be addressed during the 

planning process. We are especially 

interested in receiving public input in 

the following areas: 

(a) What do you value most about this 

Refuge? 

(b) What problems or issues do you 

see affecting management of this 

Refuge? 

(c) What changes, if any, would you 

like to see in the management of this 

Refuge? 

We provide the above questions for your 

optional use. We have no requirement 

that you provide information; however, 

any comments the planning team 

receives will be used as part of the 

planning process. 

Public Meetings 

We will give the public an 

opportunity to provide input at a public 

meeting to be scheduled for fall 2009. 

You can obtain the schedule from the 

planning team leader or the Refuge 

office (see ADDRESSES). Exact dates and 

times for these public meetings are yet 

to be determined, but will be announced 

via local and State media, the Region 6 

planning Web site at http:// 

www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/ 

planning/ccp.htm, and a planning 

update. If you would like to be notified 

of this meeting by mail, please provide 

your mailing address to the planning 

team leader (ADDRESSES). There will be 

additional opportunities to provide 

public input once we have prepared a 

draft CCP. 

Public Availability of Comments 

Before including your address, phone 

number, e-mail address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Dated: September 8, 2009. 

Noreen E. Walsh, 

Deputy Regional Director. 

[FR Doc. E9–23551 Filed 9–29–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R8–ES–2009–N163; 80221–1113– 

0000–D3] 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Draft Post-Delisting 

Monitoring Plan for the Brown Pelican 

(Pelecanus occidentalis) 

AGENCY: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of document availability 

for review and comment. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), announce the 

availability of the draft post-delisting 

monitoring plan for the brown pelican 

(Pelecanus occidentalis) (draft PDM 

Plan, Draft Monitoring Plan). The 

Endangered Species Act (Act) requires 

that we implement a system, in 

cooperation with the States, to monitor 

effectively, for at least 5 years, the status 

of all species that have been recovered 

and no longer need the protection 

afforded by the Act (i.e. delisted). The 

brown pelican has been proposed to be 

removed from the Federal List of 

Threatened and Endangered Wildlife 

and Plants due to recovery. If the brown 

pelican is removed from the list, we 

propose to monitor the status of the 

brown pelican over a 10-year period 

from 2010 through 2020, through annual 

evaluation of information collected by 

the States of California, Texas, and 

Louisiana; the Commonwealth of Puerto 

Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the 

West Indies; Mexico; other partners; and 

the Service. 

DATES: To ensure consideration, please 

send your written comments by October 

30, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: An electronic copy of the 

Draft Monitoring Plan will be available 

on the Internet at http://www.fws.gov/ 

Ventura. Requests for copies of the Draft 

Monitoring Plan and submission of 

written comments or materials regarding 

the plan should be addressed to Field 

Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, Ventura Fish and Wildlife 

Office, 2493 Portola Road, Suite B, 

Ventura, CA 93003. The Draft 

Monitoring Plan, reference materials, 

and submitted comments regarding the 

Draft Monitoring Plan will also be 

available for inspection, by 

appointment, during normal business 

hours at the above address. You may 

also submit electronic comments on the 

Draft Monitoring Plan to: 

FW8pelicanmonitoring@fws.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael McCrary, Listing and Recovery 

Coordinator, at the above address or at 

telephone 805–644–1766, extension 

372. If you use a telecommunications 

device for the deaf (TDD), call the 

Federal Information Relay Service 

(FIRS) at 800–877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On February 20, 2008, we published 

a proposed rule to remove the brown 

pelican from the Federal List of 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

(List) due to recovery (73 FR 9408), with 

a 60-day comment period that closed on 

April 21, 2008. Our proposed rule 

concluded that the primary reason for 

severe declines in the brown pelican 

population in the United States, and for 

designating the species as endangered, 

was DDT contamination in the 1960s 

and early 1970s. Banning of DDT, along 

with other recovery actions, has resulted 

in increased population numbers and 

reproductive success, and information 

now indicates that major threats to 

brown pelicans have been reduced, 

managed, or eliminated. We are 

currently reviewing comments we 

received on the proposed rule and 

preparing responses as appropriate. 

Section 4(g) of the Act requires the 

Secretary of the Interior to implement a 

system in cooperation with the States to 

monitor effectively for not less than 5 

years the status of any species that is 

delisted due to recovery. The intent of 

this monitoring is to determine whether 

the species should be proposed for 

relisting under the normal listing 

procedures, relisted under the 

emergency listing authority of the Act, 

or kept off of the List because it remains 

neither threatened nor endangered. 

Brown pelican populations currently 

listed under the Act breed along the 

coast of the Gulf of Mexico from 

Mississippi to Texas; along the Pacific 

Coast from southern California, south 

through Mexico into Central and South 

America; and in the West Indies 

(Shields 2002, pp. 2–4). Additional 

information about the brown pelican’s 

biology and life history can be found in 

the Birds of North America, No. 609 

(Shields 2002, pp. 1–36). 

The brown pelican draft PDM Plan 

was developed in cooperation with the 

State resources agencies of California, 

Louisiana, and Texas and the 

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. If the 

brown pelican is removed from the 

Federal List of Threatened and 

Endangered Wildlife and Plants, our 

Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office will be 

the lead office responsible for this 

monitoring effort, and will coordinate 

all phases of implementation of the plan 

and ensure that monitoring 


CPrice-Sewell on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 188 / Wednesday, September 30, 2009 / Notices 50237 

requirements outlined within the plan 

are accomplished. The draft PDM Plan 

proposes to conduct monitoring 

annually for at least 10 years. Postdelisting monitoring of the brown 

pelican will consist primarily of annual 

collection of information on colony 

occupancy and number of nesting pairs. 

Information on contaminants will also 

be collected at 5-year intervals 

beginning with the first year. 

Post-delisting monitoring of the 

brown pelican will be focused along the 

Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas; the 

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the 

U.S. Virgin Islands in the West Indies; 

the Pacific coast of southern California 

and Baja California, Mexico; and the 

Gulf of California. We will be 

monitoring these areas because: (1) 

Existing population data are available 

for these areas for comparison with data 

to be collected during post-delisting 

monitoring; (2) these populations were 

among some of the largest (outside of 

those in Peru) prior to listing (73 FR 

9408); and (3) these populations 

suffered the greatest declines in 

productivity and abundance that led to 

the listing of the species. Additionally, 

we have no evidence that brown 

pelicans outside these areas ever 

suffered declines in response to 

persistent organic pesticides. We are 

also interested in any information that 

may suggest a new or increasing threat 

that may impact the brown pelican in 

other parts of its range proposed for 

delisting under the Act but not covered 

by this Draft Monitoring Plan. 

Request for Public Comments 

We solicit written comments on the 

Draft Monitoring Plan described in this 

notice. All comments received by the 

date specified above will be considered 

in development of a final post-delisting 

monitoring plan for the brown pelican. 

We will take into consideration the 

relevant comments, suggestions, or 

objections that we receive by the 

comment due date indicated above in 

the DATES section. These comments, 

suggestions, or objections, and any 

additional information we receive, may 

lead us to adopt a final PDM Plan that 

differs from this draft PDM Plan. 

Comments merely stating support or 

opposition to the draft PDM Plan 

without providing supporting data are 

not as helpful. We particularly seek 

comments concerning: 

(1) Information and data on 

contaminants from brown pelicans or 

other seabirds near pelican nesting 

colonies throughout the range of the 

brown pelican that may affect our 

selection of the areas to be monitored; 

(2) The appropriateness of assaying 

contaminants in brown pelicans and/or 

their eggs every 5 years and reasons, if 

any, for increasing or decreasing the 

frequency of analysis; and 

(3) The appropriateness of the areas 

selected for monitoring and reasons, if 

any, for modifying the survey areas, 

including information related to the 

number of nesting pairs and population 

trends of brown pelicans outside the 

survey areas in the Draft Monitoring 

Plan. 

Public Availability of Comments 

Before including your address, phone 

number, electronic mail address, or 

other personal identifying information 

in your comment, you should be aware 

that your entire document—including 

your personal identifying information— 

may be publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comments 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Authority: The authority for this action is 

the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

Alexandra Pitts, 

Acting Regional Director, Fish and Wildlife 

Service, Pacific Southwest Region. 

[FR Doc. E9–23557 Filed 9–29–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R4–R–2009–N0117; 40136–1265– 

0000–S3] 

Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife 

Refuge, Ouachita Parish, LA 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability: draft 

comprehensive conservation plan and 

environmental assessment; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife 

Service (Service), announce the 

availability of a draft comprehensive 

conservation plan and environmental 

assessment (Draft CCP/EA) for Black 

Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge 

(Black Bayou Lake NWR) for public 

review and comment. In this Draft CCP/ 

EA, we describe the alternative we 

propose to use to manage this refuge for 

the 15 years following approval of the 

final CCP. 

DATES: To ensure consideration, we 

must receive your written comments by 

October 30, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments, questions, 

and requests for information to: Ms. 

Tina Chouinard, Refuge Planner, Fish 

and Wildlife Service, 6772 Highway 76 

South, Stanton, TN 38069, or by e-mail 

to: tina_chouinard@fws.gov. The Draft 

CCP/EA is available on compact disk or 

in hard copy. The Draft CCP/EA may 

also be accessed and downloaded from 

the Service’s Internet Site: http:// 

southeast.fws.gov/planning. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Tina Chouinard; telephone: 731–432– 

0981. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction 

With this notice, we continue the CCP 

process for Black Bayou Lake NWR. We 

started the process through a notice in 

the Federal Register on May 8, 2008 (73 

FR 26139). 

Background 

The CCP Process 

The National Wildlife Refuge System 

Improvement Act of 1997 (16 U.S.C. 

668dd–668ee) (Improvement Act), 

which amended the National Wildlife 

Refuge System Administration Act of 

1966, requires us to develop a CCP for 

each national wildlife refuge. The 

purpose for developing a CCP is to 

provide refuge managers with a 15-year 

strategy for achieving refuge purposes 

and contributing toward the mission of 

the National Wildlife Refuge System, 

consistent with sound principles of fish 

and wildlife management, conservation, 

legal mandates, and our policies. In 

addition to outlining broad management 

direction on conserving wildlife and 

their habitats, CCPs identify wildlifedependent recreational opportunities 

available to the public, including 

opportunities for hunting, fishing, 

wildlife observation, wildlife 

photography, and environmental 

education and interpretation. We will 

review and update the CCP at least 

every 15 years in accordance with the 

Improvement Act. 

Black Bayou Lake NWR is a unit of 

the North Louisiana National Wildlife 

Refuge Complex. Other refuges in the 

Complex include: D’Arbonne, Upper 

Ouachita, Handy Brake, and Red River, 

and the Louisiana Wetlands 

Management District. Each refuge has 

unique issues and has had separate 

planning efforts and public 

involvement. 

Black Bayou Lake NWR, established 

in 1997, is 3 miles north of the city of 

Monroe, just east of Highway 165 in 

Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. It contains 

4,522 acres of wetland, bottomland 

hardwood, and upland mixed pine/ 


CPrice-Sewell on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with NOTICES