69216 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 230 / Thursday, November 30, 2006 / Notices 

Bernardino Valley. The conservation 

bank collects fees that fund a 

management endowment to ensure the 

permanent management and monitoring 

of sensitive species and habitats, 

including the DSF. 

The Service’s Environmental 

Assessment considers the 

environmental consequences of three 

alternatives, including: (1) The 

Proposed Project Alternative, which 

consists of issuance of the incidental 

take permit and implementation of the 

Plan; (2) the Alternative Site Layout, 

which would consist of DSF 

conservation on the project site and no 

offsite conservation; and (3) the No 

Action Alternative, which would result 

in no impacts to DSF and no 

conservation. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

Proposed permit issuance triggers the 

need for compliance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). 

Accordingly, a draft NEPA document 

has been prepared. The Service is the 

Lead Agency responsible for compliance 

under NEPA. As the NEPA lead agency, 

the Service is providing notice of the 

availability and is making available for 

public review the Environmental 

Assessment. 

Public Review 

The Service invites the public to 

review the Plan and Environmental 

Assessment during a 60-day public 

comment period (see DATES). Any 

comments received, including names 

and addresses, will become part of the 

official administrative record and may 

be made available to the public. Our 

practice is to make comments, including 

names, home addresses, home phone 

numbers, and email addresses of 

respondents, available for public 

review. Individual respondents may 

request that we withhold their names 

and /or homes addresses, etc., but if you 

wish us to consider withholding this 

information you must state this 

prominently at the beginning of your 

comments. In addition, you must 

present a rationale for withholding this 

information. This rationale must 

demonstrate that disclosure would 

constitute a clearly unwarranted 

invasion of privacy. Unsupported 

assertions will not meet this burden. In 

the absence of exceptional, 

documentable circumstances, this 

information will be released. We will 

always make submissions from 

organization or businesses, and from 

individuals identifying themselves as 

representatives of or officials of 

organizations or businesses, available 

for public inspection in their entirety. 

This notice is provided pursuant to 

section 10(a) of the Act and the 

regulations for implementing NEPA, as 

amended (40 CFR 1506.6). We will 

evaluate the application, associated 

documents, and comments submitted 

thereon to determine whether the 

application meets the requirements of 

NEPA regulations and section 10(a) of 

the Act. If we determine that those 

requirements are met, we will issue a 

permit to the Applicant for the 

incidental take of the DSF. We will 

make our final permit decision no 

sooner than 60 days after the date of this 

notice. 

Dated: November 23, 2006. 

Ken McDermond, 

Deputy Manager, California/Nevada 

Operations Office, Sacramento, California. 

[FR Doc. E6–20284 Filed 11–29–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

National Park Service 

Notice of Scoping for Commercial 

Services Plan; Haleakala National Park, 

Maui, HI 

Summary: Pursuant to requirements 

of the National Environmental Policy 

Act of 1969 (Pub. L. 91–190), the 

National Park Service is initiating the 

conservation planning and 

environmental impact analysis process 

regarding a commercial services plan 

proposed for Haleakala National Park. 

This Notice initiates scoping for the 

process that is expected to result in 

changes to the types of commercial 

services offered in the park and the way 

they are managed by the park. Haleakala 

National Park proposes to develop a 

long-term Commercial Services Plan 

(CSP) so that increasing visitor use may 

be accommodated in a manner 

compatible with the park’s mission; and 

to assure that a full range of necessary 

and appropriate commercial services are 

developed and managed so that 

potential impacts to cultural and natural 

resources and visitor experience would 

be minimized. The CSP will be 

consistent with the park’s mission and 

purpose statements and management 

goals as specified in legislation and as 

outlined in the Strategic Plan for 

Haleakala National Park (fiscal year 

2005–2008). 

Background and Preliminary Issues: 

Thus far, topics considered necessary to 

address in developing the CSP include: 

Assessing if, or the degree to which, 

commercial service uses of the park and 

overcrowding are contributing to the 

degradation of natural and cultural 

resources, as well as adversely affecting 

visitor use and appreciation of the park; 

determining whether public health and 

safety are being compromised through 

uncontrolled uses of the park; and 

evaluating whether commercial services 

are operated in a manner that is 

consistent with the mission of the park 

and/or whether there is a consistent 

portrayal by commercial service 

operators of the park message. 

Information from the public and 

interested groups is desired so that all 

pertinent issues and concerns which 

should be addressed in the conservation 

planning and environmental impact 

analysis for the CSP may be identified. 

At this time, the preliminary range of 

issues and public concerns deemed 

necessary to consider include the 

following: 

Sunrise atop Haleakala is one of the 

most promoted tourist activities offered 

by the visitor industry on Maui. The 

Summit area of the park frequently 

receives over 1,300 visitors at sunrise. 

The concentration of visitor use has 

resulted in trampling of threatened and 

endangered plant species, increased 

social trailing resulting in accelerated 

erosion, and introduction of non-native 

species. Sunrise visitation has increased 

over the past decade to a point that 

visitors in private vehicles are turned 

away from parking areas filled beyond 

capacity on a regular basis by 

commercial vehicles. Members of the 

park’s Kipuna Groups on Maui 

indicated that the sacredness of the 

Haleakala Summit area is diminished by 

too many people visiting the site, and 

opportunities to conduct cultural 

practices in peace are limited. More 

than one in five visitors to the Haleakala 

Visitor Center before 8 a.m. felt 

moderately or more crowded; more than 

one third of the visitors surveyed before 

8 a.m. saw more people than they think 

the park should allow. 

Throughout the day, there are other 

significant peaks of visitation that result 

in facilities at many park destinations 

being filled beyond capacity by visitors 

arriving in private vehicles or on 

commercial tours (often with 

simultaneous arrival of several 

commercial operators). When the 

parking areas are filled, health and 

safety concerns result due to inability of 

emergency vehicles (ambulance, law 

enforcement, and fire apparatus) to 

rapidly access these areas. 

Other NPS concerns include 

degradation of various park trails 

resulting partially from commercial 

horse tour activities. In the Summit 

Area, trails are used jointly by hikers 

and by horse riders. The trails are 

located in fragile ecosystems where the 


pwalker on PRODPC60 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 230 / Thursday, November 30, 2006 / Notices 69217 

trail tread does not hold up well to 

excessive use resulting in un-natural 

erosion. At the trailheads and along the 

first three to five miles into the 

backcountry and designated Wilderness, 

trail crowding from multiple users 

including commercial horse and hiking 

tours is diminishing the experience of 

solitude in Wilderness. The mixed use 

also leads to conflicts and off-trail 

damage as hikers seek to move away 

from dust, manure, and smell of horses. 

Current permits allow for limited sizes 

of groups but do not regulate numbers 

of trips per day or per week. 

Presently commercial use activities in 

the Kipahulu area includes guided and 

unguided hikes along the park’s existing 

visitor trails and horse tour guided trips 

on a separate trail designated for horses 

only. Commercial tours typically leave 

from the same pick-up points and arrive 

at generally the same time at Kipahulu; 

this combined with tour vans and buses 

of various sizes crowd into the parking 

area causing traffic congestion and 

crowded hiking (which in turn prompts 

trampling of vegetation and unsafe offtrail use). Visitor injuries and deaths 

have occurred in these stream areas and 

the park discourages visitors from 

entering these pools and narrow areas. 

Privately guided hiking activities in 

the Kipahulu area may also be 

contributing to formation of social 

(unauthorized) trails that follow the 

stream corridor and lead to upstream 

pools. All park visitors and service 

providers should be using NPS 

authorized and maintained trail to 

minimize resource; the deep trail 

substrate combined with very high 

average rainfall causes erosion, deep 

trenching, and very slippery and 

dangerous conditions. 

Scoping Process: At this time, the NPS 

invites the public, other Federal 

agencies, Native Hawaiian groups, state 

and local governments, and all other 

interested parties to participate in the 

initial scoping and in the alternative 

development process. For initial 

scoping and alternatives development, 

the most useful comments are those that 

provide the NPS with assistance in 

identifying environmental issues, 

suitable range of alternatives, and other 

concerns that should be considered 

early in the commercial services and 

environmental planning process for 

these projects. At this time it has not 

been determined if an Environmental 

Assessment or an Environmental Impact 

Statement will be prepared. Although it 

is anticipated that an Environmental 

Assessment will be the appropriate level 

of environmental compliance, this 

scoping process will aid in the 

preparation of either document (and 

responses during this scoping period 

will be helpful in making this 

determination). 

All respondents to this Notice will be 

included in a mailing list to be used to 

invite review and comment on the 

subsequent environmental document. 

The public scoping period for the 

commercial services plan has been 

initiated—all written comments must be 

postmarked or transmitted not later than 

60 days from the date of publication of 

this Notice (as soon as this date can be 

confirmed it will be announced on the 

park’s Web site). Interested individuals, 

organizations, and agencies wishing to 

provide written comments may respond 

by regular mail to Commercial Services 

Plan, c/o Superintendent, Haleakala 

National Park, P.O. Box 369, Makawao, 

Maui, HI 96768 (or via e-mail c/o 

HALE_CSP@nps.gov). 

Our practice is to make comments, 

including names, home addresses, home 

phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of 

respondents, available for public 

review. Individual respondents may 

request that we withhold their names 

and/or home addresses, etc., but if you 

wish us to consider withholding this 

information you must state this 

prominently at the beginning of your 

comments. In addition, you must 

present a rationale for withholding this 

information. This rationale must 

demonstrate that disclosure would 

constitute a clearly unwarranted 

invasion of privacy. Unsupported 

assertions will not meet this burden. In 

the absence of exceptional, 

documentable circumstances, this 

information will be released. We will 

always make submissions from 

organizations or businesses, and from 

individuals identifying themselves as 

representatives of or officials of 

organizations or businesses, available 

for public inspection in their entirety. 

Public Meetings: The NPS will also 

conduct a public scoping meeting and 

open house to provide information 

about this project, to discuss issues and 

concerns informally with NPS 

representatives and to receive written 

comments. These scoping activities will 

be conducted on October 17 and 18, 

2006. The October 17th meeting will be 

at 6 p.m. at Helene Hall in Hana. The 

October 18th meeting will be at 6 p.m. 

at the Mayor Hanibal Tavares 

Community Center in Pukulani. 

Future Information and Decision 

Process: Future information about this 

conservation planning and 

environmental impact analysis process 

for the proposed commercial services 

plan will be distributed via direct 

mailings and announcements in 

regional and local news media, and 

updates will be regularly posted on the 

park’s Web site (http://www.nps.gov/ 

hale). Availability of the forthcoming 

environmental document for review and 

written comment will be announced by 

local and regional news media, the 

above listed Web site, direct mailing (or 

in the case of an EIS, also by formal 

Notice of Availability of a Draft EIS 

published in the Federal Register). At 

this time the document is anticipated to 

be available for public review and 

comment in late summer, 2007. 

Comments on the document will be 

fully considered in the environmental 

decision-making process and responded 

to as appropriate. The official 

responsible for the decision is the 

Regional Director, Pacific West Region, 

National Park Service; subsequently the 

official responsible for implementation 

would be the Superintendent, Haleakala 

National Park. 

Dated: August 31, 2006. 

Patricia L. Neubacher, 

Acting Regional Director, Pacific West Region. 

[FR Doc. 06–9464 Filed 11–29–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4312–50–M 

INTERNATIONAL TRADE 

COMMISSION 

Notification of Distribution of 

Administrative Protective Order 

Documents in Electronic Format 

AGENCY: U.S. International Trade 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notification of Distribution of 

Administrative Protective Order 

Documents in Electronic Format via CD 

or DVD. 

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 9, 2007. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. International Trade 

Commission (ITC, or Commission) has 

determined that, beginning January 9, 

2007, it will distribute Administrative 

Protective Order (APO) Release 

documents in electronic format on 

either a compact disc (CD) or digital 

versatile disc (DVD) to parties on the 

APO service list for Title VII and 

Safeguard investigations. Parties 

requiring paper copies will be 

accommodated based on receipt of a 

request made to the Secretary to the 

Commission. The request may be made 

at the time the party files its application 

for disclosure of business proprietary 

information (BPI) or confidential 

business information (CBI) under APO. 

It may also be made subsequent to filing 

of the application at which point it will 

be accommodated within three (3) 

business days of receipt of the request. 


pwalker on PRODPC60 with NOTICES