Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 178 / Friday, September 15, 2023 / Proposed Rules 63547 

understand, including answers to 

questions such as the following: 

• Are the requirements in the 

proposed priorities, requirements, and 

definitions clearly stated? 

• Do the proposed priorities, 

requirements, and definitions contain 

technical terms or other wording that 

interferes with their clarity? 

• Does the format of the proposed 

priorities, requirements, and definitions 

(grouping and order of sections, use of 

headings, paragraphing, etc.) aid or 

reduce their clarity? 

• Would the proposed priorities, 

requirements, and definitions be easier 

to understand if we divided them into 

more (but shorter) sections? 

• Could the description of the 

proposed priorities, requirements, and 

definitions in the SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION section of this preamble be 

more helpful in making the proposed 

priorities, requirements, and definitions 

easier to understand? If so, how? 

• What else could we do to make the 

proposed priorities, requirements, and 

definitions easier to understand? 

To send any comments that concern 

how the Department could make these 

proposed priorities, requirements, and 

definitions easier to understand, see the 

instructions in the ADDRESSES section. 

Intergovernmental Review: This 

program is subject to Executive Order 

12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR 

part 79. One of the objectives of the 

Executive order is to foster an 

intergovernmental partnership and a 

strengthened federalism. The Executive 

order relies on processes developed by 

State and local governments for 

coordination and review of proposed 

Federal financial assistance. 

This document provides early 

notification of our specific plans and 

actions for this program. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification 

The Secretary certifies that these 

proposed priorities, requirements, and 

definitions would not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. The U.S. Small 

Business Administration Size Standards 

define proprietary institutions as small 

businesses if they are independently 

owned and operated, are not dominant 

in their field of operation, and have total 

annual revenue below $7,000,000. 

Nonprofit institutions are defined as 

small entities if they are independently 

owned and operated and not dominant 

in their field of operation. Public 

institutions are defined as small 

organizations if they are operated by a 

government overseeing a population 

below 50,000. 

The small entities that this proposed 

regulatory action would affect are IHEs, 

or public or private entities with 

relevant experience and capacity, in 

consortia with LEAs or SEAs applying 

for and receiving funds under this 

program. The Secretary believes that the 

costs imposed on applicants by the 

proposed priorities, requirements, and 

definitions would be limited to 

paperwork burden related to preparing 

an application and that the benefits 

would outweigh any costs incurred by 

applicants. 

Participation in this program is 

voluntary. For this reason, the proposed 

priorities, requirements, and definitions 

would impose no burden on small 

entities in general. Eligible applicants 

would determine whether to apply for 

funds and have the opportunity to 

weigh the requirements for preparing 

applications, and any associated costs, 

against the likelihood of receiving 

funding and the requirements for 

implementing projects under the 

program. Eligible applicants most likely 

would apply only if they determine that 

the likely benefits exceed the costs of 

preparing an application. The likely 

benefits include the potential receipt of 

a grant as well as other benefits that may 

accrue to an entity through its 

development of an application, such as 

the use of that application to seek 

funding from other sources to address a 

shortage in bilingual or multilingual 

teachers working in a language 

instruction education program or 

serving ELs. 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

These proposed priorities, 

requirements, and definitions do not 

contain any information collection 

requirements. 

Accessible Format: On request to the 

program contact person listed under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, 

individuals with disabilities can obtain 

this document in an accessible format. 

The Department will provide the 

requestor with an accessible format that 

may include Rich Text Format (RTF) or 

text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 

file, braille, large print, audiotape, or 

compact disc, or other accessible format. 

Electronic Access to This Document: 

The official version of this document is 

the document published in the Federal 

Register. You may access the official 

edition of the Federal Register and the 

Code of Federal Regulations at 

www.govinfo.gov. At this site you can 

view this document, as well as all other 

documents of this Department 

published in the Federal Register, in 

text or Adobe Portable Document 

Format (PDF). To use PDF you must 

have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is 

available free at the site. 

You may also access documents of the 

Department published in the Federal 

Register by using the article search 

feature at www.federalregister.gov. 

Specifically, through the advanced 

search feature at this site, you can limit 

your search to documents published by 

the Department. 

Montserrat Garibay, 

Assistant Deputy Secretary and Director for 

the Office of English Language Acquisition. 

[FR Doc. 2023–20011 Filed 9–14–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Chapter I 

[Docket No. FWS–HQ–NWRS–2023–0024; 

FXRS12610900000–FF09R25000–234] 

National Wildlife Refuge System 

Planning Policies (602 FW 1–4) for the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed policy updates; 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), are making 

available for public comment our 

proposed updated planning policies, 

602 FW 1–4, for the National Wildlife 

Refuge System (Refuge System). The 

purpose of these policy updates is to 

modernize the Refuge System’s refuge 

management by incorporating landscape 

conservation plans and consideration of 

climate change and other anthropogenic 

forces in refuge management. 

DATES: The Service will accept 

comments received or postmarked on or 

before October 16, 2023. Please note that 

if you are using Regulations.gov (see 

ADDRESSES), the deadline for submitting 

an electronic comment is 11:59 p.m. 

Eastern Standard Time on this date. 

ADDRESSES: 

Obtaining Documents: You may 

obtain copies of the documents online at 

https://www.regulations.gov. In the 

Search box, enter the docket number, 

which is FWS–HQ–NWRS–2023–0024. 

Submitting Comments: You may 

submit comments by one of the 

following methods: 

• Internet: https://

www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, 

enter the docket number, which is 

FWS–HQ–NWRS–2023–0024. You may 

enter a comment by clicking on the 

‘‘Comment’’ button. Please ensure that 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
63548 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 178 / Friday, September 15, 2023 / Proposed Rules 

you have found the correct docket 

before submitting your comment. 

• U.S. mail or hand delivery: Public 

Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. 

FWS–HQ–NWRS–2023–0024; Policy 

and Regulations Branch; U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike, 

MS: PRB (JAO/3W); Falls Church, VA 

22041–3803. 

We will post all comments on https:// 

www.regulations.gov. This generally 

means that we will post any personal 

information you provide us (see Request 

for Information, below, for more 

information). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julie 

Henning, Chief, Branch of Conservation 

Planning and Policy, National Wildlife 

Refuge System, via email at julie_

henning@fws.gov; by mail at U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service, c/o Julie Henning, 

5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 

22041–3803; or by telephone at (703) 

358–1945. Individuals in the United 

States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of 

hearing, or have a speech disability may 

dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to 

access telecommunications relay 

services. Individuals outside the United 

States should use the relay services 

offered within their country to make 

international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction 

We are providing four proposed 

updated National Wildlife Refuge 

System (Refuge System) planning 

policies for public comment. The Refuge 

System’s authority for these policies 

comes from the Refuge System 

Administration Act of 1966, as amended 

by the Refuge System Improvement Act 

of 1997 (Administration Act) (16 U.S.C. 

668dd–668ee). When these proposed 

policies become final, we will 

incorporate them in part 602 of the 

Service Manual, and they will replace 

the existing policies at 602 FW 1, 3, and 

4. Service Manual chapter 602 FW 2 

will replace 341 FW 1 and 2, both 

published in 1996. The purpose of the 

policy updates is to modernize the 

Refuge System’s refuge management by 

incorporating landscape conservation 

planning and design and consideration 

of climate change and other 

anthropogenic forces in refuge 

management. 

Draft Policies 

Refuge planning sets the broad vision 

for refuge management and determines 

goals, objectives, strategies, and actions 

to ensure refuges are managed 

consistently with a refuge’s purposes; 

the Refuge System’s mission and goals; 

the Administration Act, as amended; the 

Alaska National Interest Lands 

Conservation Act (ANILCA, for Alaska 

refuges); and all other applicable laws 

and regulations. The four planning 

policies the Service is updating are: 

Refuge Planning Overview (602 FW 1), 

Land Protection Planning (602 FW 2), 

Comprehensive Conservation Planning 

(602 FW3), and Step-down Planning 

(602 FW 4). 

• 602 FW 1, Refuge Planning 

Overview, describes the Service’s 

overall policy and goals for refuge 

planning, such as landscape context and 

habitat connectivity, as well as how the 

Refuge System incorporates climate 

adaptation and resiliency into refuge 

planning. The policy also describes how 

the Refuge System coordinates with 

Federal, State, and local agencies; 

Tribes; Alaska Native Corporations 

(ANCs); Alaska Native Organizations 

(ANOs); the Native Hawaiian 

Community; territories; and other 

partners and stakeholders in refuge 

planning. 

• 602 FW 2, Land Protection 

Planning, describes the Service’s overall 

policy and goals for land protection 

planning, and establishes who is 

responsible for different aspects of land 

protection planning. The policy 

provides an overview of the Service’s 

land protection planning process, 

including coordination with partners, 

land acquisition, and minor and major 

refuge boundary modifications. 

• 602 FW 3, Comprehensive 

Conservation Planning, describes the 

Service’s overall policy and goals for 

comprehensive conservation planning, 

and establishes who is responsible for 

different aspects of the process. The 

policy provides an overview of the 

requirements for developing 

comprehensive conservation plans 

(CCPs), including CCPs for new refuges, 

their scope, their required content, and 

coordination with partners. Finally, it 

provides guidance for reviewing and 

updating CCPs. 

• 602 FW 4, Step-down Planning, 

describes the Service’s overall policy 

and goals for step-down planning, and 

establishes who is responsible for 

different aspects of step-down planning. 

The policy provides an overview of the 

requirements for developing step-down 

plans, including how they are integrated 

with CCPs, consideration of the 

National Environmental Policy Act, and 

coordination with partners. Finally, it 

provides guidance for reviewing and 

updating step-down plans. 

Background and Development of These 

Draft Policies 

Many of the planning and natural 

resource regulations and policies 

guiding the Refuge System were 

developed following passage of the 

Improvement Act more than 20 years 

ago. Much has changed since then, and 

there is a need to consider climate 

change and other anthropogenic forces 

more explicitly and effectively in Refuge 

System management. The Service must 

also incorporate landscape planning and 

design into its planning policies. These 

are just a few of the drivers that led to 

convening five chartered national 

Service teams to update existing or 

develop new natural resource 

regulations, policies, and handbooks for 

the Refuge System. The Service’s 

Conservation Planning team is 

comprised of Service planning subjectmatter experts from across the agency’s 

Regions. 

These draft policy updates were 

distributed for internal Service review 

throughout all Regions and programs 

within the agency in August of 2022. 

We provided an opportunity for State 

engagement through the Association of 

Fish and Wildlife Agencies in February 

2023. Additionally, we hosted national 

webinars and provided opportunity for 

engagement by Tribal leaders, ANCs, 

ANOs, and the Native Hawaiian 

Community in February and March 

2023. We will incorporate feedback 

received from these partners and 

stakeholders into the planning policies 

after the public comment period is 

complete. 

Open Comment Period 

While this publication opens the 30- 

day public review period, we also invite 

and encourage Tribes, ANCs, ANOs, and 

the Native Hawaiian Community to 

continue to review and submit 

comments within this review period. 

Comments from local, State, and Federal 

agencies and other partners and 

stakeholders are also welcome. 

Request for Information 

Before including your address, phone 

number, email 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. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 178 / Friday, September 15, 2023 / Proposed Rules 63549 

Authority 

The authority for this action is the 

National Wildlife Refuge System 

Administration Act of 1966, as amended 

by the National Wildlife Refuge System 

Improvement Act of 1997 

(Administration Act, as amended; 16 

U.S.C. 668dd–668ee). 

Martha Williams, 

Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19994 Filed 9–14–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with PROPOSALS1