Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 54 / Wednesday, March 21, 2007 / Notices 13301 

The electric utility industry has 

documented instances of birds being 

killed by electrocutions and collisions 

with power equipment since the 19th 

Century. A bird is electrocuted when it 

contacts two energized phases (wires) at 

the same time, or when it 

simultaneously contacts grounded pole 

equipment and an energized phase. 

Large birds with long wingspans are 

most at risk, particularly species such as 

eagles and hawks that use power poles 

and towers for hunting, resting, feeding, 

nesting, and territorial defense. In areas 

where eagles occur, bald and golden 

eagles are electrocuted at a much higher 

rate than other birds. Since 2000, bald 

eagle electrocutions in Alaska make up 

58 percent of the documented bird 

electrocutions. 

We are asking electric utility 

companies to input information into the 

electronic bird incident reporting 

system. The information that we plan to 

collect includes: 

(1) Details on the fatality/injury of the 

bird. 

(2) Location where the bird was 

found. 

(3) Configuration of the electrical 

equipment. 

(4) Environmental conditions. 

(5) Existing protection/retrofit 

measures. 

(6) Photographs. 

We will use this information as a 

management tool to facilitate a 

cooperative approach between the 

Service and the electric utility industry 

to address the wide-scale problem of 

bird electrocutions and collisions with 

power equipment. The information will 

help us to understand how and why a 

bird is electrocuted or involved in a 

collision with power equipment, and 

will assist in the development and use 

of effective and economically feasible 

electrical configurations and protective 

equipment to prevent future bird 

electrocutions and collisions. 

The information will be available only 

to designated Service representatives 

and to the submitting electric utility for 

its internal use, unless the electric 

utility decides to share certain 

information in the query results section 

of the system. 

II. Data 

OMB Control Number: None. 

Title: Electronic Reporting of Bird 

Electrocutions and Collisions with 

Power Lines. 

Service Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: New collection. 

Affected Public: Electric utility 

companies. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary. 

Frequency of Collection: On occasion. 

Estimated Annual Number of 

Respondents: 120. 

Estimated Total Annual Responses: 

1,440. 

Estimated Time Per Response: 15 

minutes. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 360. 

III. Request for Comments 

We invite comments concerning this 

IC on: 

(1) whether or not the collection of 

information is necessary, including 

whether or not the information will 

have practical utility; 

(2) the accuracy of our estimate of the 

burden for this collection of 

information; 

(3) ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and 

(4) ways to minimize the burden of 

the collection of information on 

respondents. 

Comments submitted in response to 

this notice are a matter of public record. 

We will include and/or summarize each 

comment in our request to OMB to 

approve this IC. 

Dated: March 5, 2007 

Hope Grey, 

Information Collection Clearance Officer, 

Fish and Wildlife Service. 

FR Doc. E7–5076 Filed 3–20–07; 8:45 am 

Billing Code 4310–55–S 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

Intent To Prepare a Draft 

Environmental Impact Report/ 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

the Buena Vista Lagoon Restoration 

Project, San Diego County, CA 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife 

Service (Service), the California 

Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), 

and the State Coastal Conservancy (SCC) 

are announcing our intent to prepare a 

joint Draft Environmental Impact 

Report/Environmental Impact Statement 

(DEIR/DEIS) for the proposed 

restoration of approximately 200 acres 

(81 hectares) of wetland habitat at 

Buena Vista Lagoon, a coastal lagoon in 

the cities of Carlsbad and Oceanside, 

CA. The Buena Vista Lagoon is a State 

Ecological Reserve, managed by the 

CDFG. It is bordered by the Pacific 

Ocean on the west, Vista Way/State 

Highway 78 on the north, and Jefferson 

Street on the east and south. The 

proposed action, for purposes of 

environmental analysis, is restoration of 

the Buena Vista Lagoon to a 

predominantly tidal saltwater system to 

increase shorebird and marine fish 

habitat, while taking advantage of the 

lagoon basin bathymetry to protect and 

enhance existing freshwater habitat at 

the lagoon’s upper (easterly) end that 

supports sensitive bird species. The 

DEIR/DEIS is being developed to assess 

the impacts of various lagoon 

restoration alternatives as discussed 

below and further identified during the 

public scoping process. 

DATES: A public scoping meeting to 

receive input on topics, issues, and 

alternatives for the DEIS/DETR is 

scheduled for April 18, 2007, from 6:30 

p.m. to 8 p.m. Written comments will be 

accepted until close of business on 

April 20, 2007. See ADDRESSES section 

below for information on submitting 

comments. 

ADDRESSES: The public scoping meeting 

will be held at the City of Carlsbad, 

Faraday Building, Room 173 A & B, 

1635 Faraday Avenue, Carlsbad, CA 

92008. Written comments should be 

addressed to the Coastal Program 

Coordinator, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife 

Office, 6010 Hidden Valley Road, 

Carlsbad, CA 92011. Written comments 

may be sent by facsimile to 760–431–

5901. Comments may be submitted by 

electronic mail (e-mail) to: 

fw8cfwocomments@fws.gov. Please 

include ‘‘Public Comments on the 

Buena Vista Lagoon Restoration NOI’’ in 

the subject line of the email and your 

name and return address in the body of 

your e-mail message. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jack 

Fancher, Coastal Program Coordinator, 

Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office, 760–

431–9440 extension 215. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Several 

Federal, state, and local agencies, and 

citizen groups are jointly proposing a 

project to restore approximately 200 

acres (81 hectares) of wetland habitant 

at Buena Vista Lagoon. Historically (e.g., 

pre-1940s), the lagoon was in a dynamic 

equilibrium between a tidal-influenced 

saltwater system during dry conditions 

and a river-influenced freshwater 

system during wet weather. Over time, 

the lagoon has been converted to a 

freshwater system as a result of 

highway, roadway, and railroad 

construction and installation of a weir. 

Buena Vista Lagoon has been 

progressively degrading in terms of its 

value to biological communities, 

habitats, and human uses. Without 

restoration, it would most likely become 

a vegetated freshwater marsh or riparian 

woodland-meadow within the next 30 

to 50 years. This degradation would 

reduce or eliminate wetland functions 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
13302 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 54 / Wednesday, March 21, 2007 / Notices 

and values, and result in greater 

concerns about mosquitoes, water 

quality impairment, and impacts to 

aesthetic resources. Creation of a 

predominantly saltwater regime would 

be achieved through elimination and 

disposal of existing freshwater 

vegetation (principally cattails), 

dredging and disposal to remove excess 

sediment (up to approximately 2 million 

cubic yards), and establishment of 

continuous tidal exchange through an 

ocean inlet/outlet. Dredging would 

create elevations for intertidal salt 

marsh and eelgrass habitats. An existing 

50-foot wide weir would be removed 

and an open channel would be 

constructed to provide continuous tidal 

exchange between the lagoon and the 

Pacific Ocean. Depending on the final 

distribution of habitats to be created and 

inlet maintenance considerations, the 

ocean inlet/outlet may require 

stabilization with one or two jetties of 

similar length to those constructed 

farther south in the City of Carlsbad for 

the Batiquitos Lagoon inlet/outlet. 

Various scenarios of habitat creation 

and lagoon flow characteristics would 

influence which potential infrastructure 

modifications may be considered for the 

three action alternatives. Potential 

modifications may include changes to 

the existing bridges over the lagoon for 

U.S. Interstate 5 (I–5), a railroad, and 

Carlsbad Boulevard (‘‘Coast Highway’’), 

along with culverts and/or a weir. 

Guidelines under the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (40 

CFR 1502.14[a]) and the California 

Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 

(Public Resources Code, Section 21000–

21177) require that an EIR and a EIS 

examine alternatives to a project in 

order to explore a reasonable range of 

alternatives that fulfill the project’s 

purpose, while reducing potentially 

significant environmental impacts. A 

series of Technical Advisory Committee 

(TAC) meetings and informal public 

meetings/workshops were held over the 

past few years to solicit input on the 

development of project alternatives. 

Three public meetings were held 

between June 2002 and April 2004 with 

the last meeting held on April 8, 2004. 

Further, a comprehensive Feasibility 

Analysis funded by the SCC was 

completed in 2004 by Everest 

International Consultants, Inc. This 

analysis documented the general 

engineering feasibility and associated 

potential environmental impacts and 

considerations for a full range of 

hydrologic regimes and alternatives. 

Based on this analysis and input from 

the public and the TAC, alternatives 

that will receive detailed analysis in the 

DEIR/DEIS, are: (a) Proposed Action; (b) 

Restore and Enhance the Existing 

Freshwater Regime; (c) Create a Mixed 

Saltwater-Freshwater Regime; and (d) 

No Project/No Acton. 

The alternative to Restore and 

Enhance the Existing Freshwater 

Regime would focus on elimination and 

disposal of some existing freshwater 

vegetation to help restore flow 

conditions, and dredging and disposal 

to remove excess sediment necessary for 

creation of freshwater habitat and two 

islands to provide riparian forest and 

fringing upland habitat. Additionally, 

channel enhancement would be 

provided to improve water flow and 

circulation, and the existing 50-foot 

wide weir would be replaced with a 

larger-width weir at the ocean outlet. No 

structural modifications would occur to 

the existing I–5, railroad, or Coast 

Highway crossings over the lagoon. 

The alternative to Create a Mixed 

Saltwater-Freshwater Regime would 

focus on elimination and disposal of 

some existing freshwater vegetation to 

help restore flow conditions, dredging 

and disposal to remove excess sediment 

necessary for creation of saltwater 

habitat and eelgrass habitat west of I–5, 

and shallow freshwater habitat east of I–

5. The existing weir would be replaced 

with an ocean inlet/outlet to provide 

continuous tidal exchange between the 

western portion of the lagoon and the 

ocean, and a new weir would be 

constructed under I–5 to maintain a 

freshwater basin east of the freeway. As 

noted for the proposed action, the ocean 

inlet/outlet may require stabilization 

with one or two jetties, and various 

scenarios of habitat creation and lagoon 

flow characteristics would influence 

considerations for modifying lagoon 

crossings to optimize tidal exchange, 

such as related to I–5, railroad, and 

Coast Highway bridges. 

The No Project/No Action alternative 

would not involve any restoration or 

enhancement of the lagoon. 

Written comments from interested 

parties are welcome to ensure that 

issues of public concern related to the 

proposed action are identified. 

Comments and materials received will 

be available for public inspection, by 

appointment, during normal business 

hours at the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife 

Office (see ADDRESSES above). 

Comments will also be accepted at the 

public scoping meting (see DATES). 

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 is 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. 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. 

The environmental review of this 

project will be conducted in accordance 

with the requirements of the NEPA of 

1969 as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 

seq.), Council on Environmental Quality 

regulations (40 CFR parts 1500–1518), 

other applicable Federal laws and 

regulations, and applicable policies and 

procedures of the Service. This notice is 

being furnished in accordance with 40 

CFR 1501.7 to obtain suggestions and 

information from other agencies and the 

public on the scope of issues and 

alternatives to be addressed in the DEIR/ 

DEIS. 

Dated: March 14, 2007. 

Ken McDermond, 

Deputy Manager, California/Nevada 

Operations Office, Sacramento, California. 

[FR Doc. 07–1373 Filed 3–20–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–M 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

Lake Champlain Sea Lamprey Control 

Alternatives Workgroup 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service (Service, we, our), announces a 

meeting of the Lake Champlain Sea 

Lamprey Control Alternatives 

Workgroup (Workgroup). The 

Workgroup’s purpose is to provide, in 

an advisory capacity, recommendations 

and advice on research and 

implementation of sea lamprey control 

techniques alternative to lampricide that 

are technically feasible, cost effective, 

and environmentally safe. The primary 

objective of the meeting will be to 

discuss potential focus research 

initiatives that may enhance alternative 

sea lamprey control techniques. The 

meeting is open to the public. 

DATES: The Lake Champlain Sea 

Lamprey Control Alternatives 


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