Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 93 / Tuesday, May 15, 2007 / Notices 27327 

and (2) ‘‘* * * for any other 

management purpose, for migratory 

birds.’’

Dated: March 30, 2007. 

Elliott Sutta, 

Acting Regional Director, Region 6, Denver, 

Colorado. 

[FR Doc. E7–9280 Filed 5–14–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska 

AGENCY: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of Availability of the 

Draft Revised Comprehensive 

Conservation Plan and Environmental 

Assessment for Kanuti National Wildlife 

Refuge; request for comments; 

announcement of public meetings. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service, we) announce 

that the Draft Revised Comprehensive 

Conservation Plan (CCP) and 

Environmental Assessment (EA) for the 

Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge is 

available for public comment. We 

prepared this CCP pursuant to the 

Alaska National Interests Land 

Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA), the 

National Wildlife Refuge System 

Administration Act of 1966 (Refuge 

Administration Act), as amended by the 

National Wildlife Refuge System 

Improvement Act of 1997 (Refuge 

Improvement Act), and the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA). In this plan, we describe how 

the Service proposes to manage this 

refuge over the next 15 years. 

DATES: We must receive your comments 

on or before July 16, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: To provide written 

comments or to request a paper copy or 

compact disk of the Draft CCP/EA, 

contact: Peter Wikoff, Planning Team 

Leader, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

1011 East Tudor Rd., MS. 231, 

Anchorage, Alaska 99503, or at 

fw7_kanuti_planning@fws.gov, or at 

907–786–3837. You may view or 

download a copy of the Draft CCP/EA 

at: http://www.r7.fws.gov/nwr/planning/ 

plans.htm. Copies of the Draft CCP/EA 

may be viewed at the Kanuti Refuge 

Office in Fairbanks, Alaska; at local 

libraries; and at the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service Regional Office in 

Anchorage, Alaska. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Peter Wikoff at the above address. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

National Wildlife Refuge System 

Administration Act of 1966, as amended 

by the Refuge Improvement Act of 1997 

(16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.), requires each 

refuge to develop and implement a CCP. 

The purpose of developing CCPs 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 science, conservation, legal 

mandates, and Service policies. In 

addition to outlining broad management 

direction on conserving wildlife and 

their habitats, the CCPs identify 

wildlife-dependent recreational 

opportunities available to the public, 

including opportunities for hunting, 

fishing, wildlife observation and 

photography, and environmental 

education and interpretation. We will 

review and update these CCPs at least 

every 15 years. The original CCP for the 

Kanuti Refuge was approved in 1987. 

After reviewing that plan, we decided to 

revise it to comply with current policies 

and to provide more complete 

management direction. 

Background: The Kanuti National 

Wildlife Refuge was established on 

December 2, 1980 by ANILCA. The 

purposes for which the Kanuti National 

Wildlife Refuge was established 

include: 

1. To conserve fish and wildlife 

populations and habitats in their natural 

diversity including, but not limited to, 

white-fronted geese and other waterfowl 

and migratory birds, moose, caribou 

(including participation in coordinated 

ecological studies and management of 

the Western Arctic caribou herd), and 

furbearers; 

2. to fulfill the international treaty 

obligations of the United States with 

respect to fish and wildlife and their 

habitats; 

3. to provide, in a manner consistent 

with the purposes set forth in 1 and 2 

above, the opportunity for continued 

subsistence uses by local residents; and 

4. to ensure, to the maximum extent 

practicable and in a manner consistent 

with the purposes set forth in 1 above, 

water quality and necessary water 

quantity within the refuge. 

The refuge is roadless and lies on the 

Arctic Circle about 150 miles northwest 

of Fairbanks. It is situated in a broad 

basin formed by the Koyukuk and 

Kanuti rivers between the Brooks Range 

and the Ray Mountains. The Dalton 

Highway and Alyeska pipeline lie 

within eight miles of its eastern 

boundary. The refuge consists of nearly 

1.3 million acres of Federal lands within 

an external boundary that encompasses 

approximately 1.6 million acres of 

Federal, State, and private lands. The 

landscape consists primarily of rolling 

hills, wetlands, ponds, and streams. 

Elevations range from 500 feet to over 

3,000 feet. The major natural resources 

are wildlife, fisheries, and their 

associated habitats. 

Issues and Alternatives: Conservation 

of the natural, unaltered character of the 

refuge: During scoping, many people 

expressed a desire that the refuge 

remain in a natural, wild state. They 

wanted minimal intrusion on natural 

systems and for the refuge to remain 

wild for the future. This was true for 

people from both urban and rural 

backgrounds. The Kanuti Refuge is one 

of the few refuges in Alaska that is both 

roadless and without permanent villages 

or towns. These characteristics help to 

maintain the natural wild state with 

minimal intrusion that people expressed 

a desire for during the scoping process. 

Acceptance and integration of new 

management policies and guidelines for 

refuges in Alaska into the plan: 

Management of refuges in Alaska is 

governed by Federal law including 

ANILCA and the Refuge Administration 

Act as amended by the Refuge 

Improvement Act, by regulations 

implementing these laws, by 

intergovernmental treaties, by Service 

policies, and by principles of sound 

resource management, all of which 

establish standards for resource 

management or limit the range of 

potential activities that may be allowed 

on refuges. Management policies and 

guidelines, described in the plan, were 

developed as part of the region-wide 

refuge comprehensive planning effort 

and provide direction for National 

Wildlife Refuges in the Alaska Region of 

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

These policies and guidelines would be 

applied to the Kanuti National Wildlife 

Refuge. Management categories 

(wilderness, wild rivers, minimal, 

moderate, and intensive) are used to 

describe management levels throughout 

the refuges in Alaska. A management 

category is a set of refuge management 

directions applied to an area, in light of 

its resources and existing and potential 

uses, to facilitate management and the 

accomplishment of refuge purposes and 

goals. Two management categories, 

moderate and minimal, apply to the 

Kanuti Refuge. 

Three alternatives for management of 

the refuge are evaluated in the EA. 

Alternative A (the no-action 

alternative) is required by NEPA, 

describes what would happen under 

continuation of current management 

activities, and serves as a baseline 

against which to compare other 

alternatives. Under this alternative, 

management of the refuge would 


cprice-sewell on PROD1PC62 with NOTICES
27328 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 93 / Tuesday, May 15, 2007 / Notices 

continue to follow the current course of 

action. Private and commercial uses of 

the refuge would be likely unchanged. 

Currently 33 percent of the refuge is in 

Moderate Management and 67 percent 

of the Refuge is in Minimal 

Management. 

When the original plan was 

developed in 1987 two areas of 

Moderate Management were delineated, 

roughly corresponding to two major 

river drainages within the refuge. This 

was to allow more intensive habitat 

management activities to occur (e.g. 

water level management and 

mechanical manipulation of habitat). 

Though originally thought to be 

important to enhance the abundance of 

subsistence resources, subsequent 

studies showed that this level of 

manipulation was not needed. That 

aspect of the plan was never 

implemented. 

Alternative A would continue to 

protect and maintain the existing 

wildlife values, natural diversity, and 

ecological integrity of the refuge. 

Human disturbances to fish and wildlife 

habitats and populations would be 

minimal except, potentially, in 

Moderate Management areas. Public 

uses of the refuge employing existing 

access methods would continue to be 

allowed. Opportunities to pursue 

traditional subsistence activities, and 

recreational hunting, fishing, and other 

wildlife-dependent activities, would be 

maintained. Opportunities to pursue 

research would be maintained. 

Alternative B would convert all refuge 

lands now in Moderate Management to 

Minimal Management and incorporate 

the new policies and guidelines for 

refuges in Alaska. Management of the 

refuge would generally continue to 

follow the current course of action but 

would adopt a vision statement and set 

of goals developed in response to public 

scoping, that would implement low 

impact management. 

Alternative B was designed to 

maintain the natural, unaltered 

character and ecological integrity of the 

refuge with little evidence of humancaused change. Disturbance to resources 

as a result of public uses, economic 

activities, and facilities would be 

minimized. Habitats would be allowed 

to change and function through natural 

processes. Because activities that could 

have been allowed under Moderate 

Management in the 1987 Plan were 

never implemented, the public would 

see little or no change under Alternative 

B despite the removal of areas from the 

Moderate Management category. 

Alternative C (the preferred 

alternative) would convert a portion of 

the refuge lands now in Moderate 

Management, in the center of the refuge, 

to Minimal Management and would 

incorporate the new policies and 

guidelines for refuges in Alaska. With 

this change, 85 percent of the refuge 

would be in Minimal Management and 

15 percent of the refuge would remain 

in Moderate Management. The areas 

remaining in Moderate Management are 

adjacent to private lands near the 

Koyukuk River in the northwestern 

portion of the refuge. Management 

activities would generally continue as 

with Alternative A. 

Lands in Minimal Management would 

be managed to maintain their natural 

unaltered character and ecological 

integrity with little evidence of humancaused change. Moderate Management 

could allow some small-scale changes in 

the environment that do not disrupt 

natural processes. Though there may be 

signs of human activity, the natural 

landscape would remain the dominant 

feature. Moderate Management would 

allow more habitat manipulation than 

would Minimal Management, and 

permanent facilities may be constructed. 

It was anticipated that this flexibility 

may be needed due to the proximity of 

these areas to private lands, the river, 

and overland transportation routes. 

Public availability of comments: 

Before including your name, 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: May 8, 2007. 

Thomas O. Melius, 

Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, Anchorage, Alaska. 

[FR Doc. E7–9281 Filed 5–14–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

Lake Andes National Wildlife Refuge 

Complex, South Dakota 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare 

comprehensive conservation plan and 

environmental assessment; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: This notice advises that the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) 

intends to gather information necessary 

to prepare a comprehensive 

conservation plan (CCP) and associated 

environmental documents for the Lake 

Andes National Wildlife Refuge 

Complex (Complex), South Dakota. 

The Service is furnishing this notice 

in compliance with Service CCP policy 

to advise other agencies and the public 

of its intentions and to obtain 

suggestions and information on the 

scope of issues to be considered in the 

planning process. 

DATES: Written comments should be 

received by June 14, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: Comments and requests for 

more information regarding the 

Complex should be sent to Bernardo 

Garza, Planning Team Leader, Division 

of Refuge Planning, 134 Union 

Boulevard, Suite 300, Lakewood, CO 

80228. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Bernardo Garza, 303–236–4377, or John 

F. Esperance, 303–236–4369. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Service has initiated the CCP for the 

Complex with headquarters in Lake 

Andes, South Dakota. 

Each unit of the National Wildlife 

Refuge System, including this Complex, 

has specific purposes for which it was 

established. Those purposes are used to 

develop and prioritize management 

goals and objectives within the National 

Wildlife Refuge System mission and to 

guide which public uses will occur on 

the Complex. The planning process is a 

way for the Service and the public to 

evaluate management goals and 

objectives for the best possible 

conservation efforts of this important 

wildlife habitat, while providing for 

wildlife-dependent recreation 

opportunities that are compatible with 

each national wildlife refuge and 

wetland management district’s 

establishing purposes and the mission 

of the National Wildlife Refuge System. 

The Complex is made up of three 

separate entities: Lake Andes National 

Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Lake Andes 

Wetland Management District (WMD), 

and Karl E. Mundt NWR. Lake Andes 

NWR was established in 1936 to 

preserve an important piece of habitat 

for waterfowl and other water birds. The 

Lake Andes WMD was formed in the 

1960s to protect wetland and grassland 

habitat that is critical to our nation’s 

duck population. In 1967, the Service 

identified an area that was supporting 

almost 300 endangered bald eagles each 

winter; this area became the Karl E. 

Mundt NWR. Hunting and wildlife 

observation are the two most prevalent 

public uses on the Complex. 


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