20680 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 79 / Tuesday, April 24, 2001 / Notices

recommendations submitted by the

International Association of Fish and

Wildlife Agencies, representing the

State fish and wildlife agencies. The

Director, exercising the authority of the

Secretary, need not fund recommended

projects, but may not fund projects

which are not recommended. The

Acting Director of the Fish and Wildlife

Service approved the list, with

qualifiers, on January 31, 2001.

To be eligible for consideration, a

project must benefit fish and/or wildlife

conservation in at least 26 States, a

majority of the States in a Fish and

Wildlife Service Region, or a regional

association of State fish and wildlife

agencies. Grants may by made to a State

or group of States, to non-governmental

organizations, and, solely for carrying

out the National Survey of Fishing,

Hunting and Wildlife-Associated

Recreation, to the Fish and Wildlife

Service.

The priority lists of projects submitted

by the IAFWA:

FEDERAL AID IN WILDLIFE

RESTORATION ACT PROPOSALS

[FY–2001]

1. National Survey of Hunting

Fishing and Wildlife-Associated Recreation ..................... $1,395,348

2. Management Assistance

Team for State Fish and

Wildlife Agencies ................... 251,248

3. The Fish and Wildlife Reference Service ...................... 157,500

4. Outreach Project: Improving

National Wildlife Capture

Programs and Implementing

Best Management Practices 327,376

5. Workshops on Integrated Migratory Bird Management ..... 298,350

6. Wildlife Law News Quarterly 5,000

7. Automated Wildlife Data

Systems Project Coordination 96,525

8. Factors Relating to Hunting

and Fishing Initiation, Participation, and Retention Among

the Nation’s Youth ................ 168,360

9. Assisting States in Reaching

Underrepresented Groups,

Specifically Ethnic Minorities

and Women with Disabilities

through the Becoming an

Outdoors-Woman Program ... 139,730

10. Science and Civics: Sustaining Wildlife, Involving

High School Students and

Addressing Wildlife Needs .... 27,358

11. Step Outside ....................... 89,950

2,956,745

FEDERAL AID IN SPORT FISH

RESTORATION ACT PROPOSALS

[FY–2001]

1. National Survey of Hunting

Fishing and Wildlife-Associated Recreation ..................... $1,395,348

2. Management Assistance to

State Fish and Wildlife Agencies ........................................ 251,248

3. The Fish and Wildlife Reference Service ...................... 157,500

4. The Collection of Pivotal

Field Efficacy Data to Support a New Animal Drug Approval for the Use of

Florfenicol (AquaflorTM) to

Control Mortality Caused by

Bacterial Pathogens in Cultured Fish .............................. 216,775

5. Analytical Support of Pivotal

Efficacy Trials for Florfenicol

Use in Public Fisheries ......... 36,689

6. Strengthen and Expand the

National ‘‘Hooked on FishingNot on Drugs’’ Program ........ 150,125

7. Wildlife Law News Quarterly 5,000

8. Automated Wildlife Data

Systems Project Coordination 96,525

9. Factors Relating to Hunting

and Fishing Initiation, Participation, and Retention Among

the Nation’s Youth ................ 168,360

10. Assisting States in Reaching Underrepresented

Groups, Specifically Ethnic

Minorities and Women with

Disabilities through the Becoming an Outdoors-Woman

Program ................................ 139,730

11. Science and Civics: Sustaining Wildlife, Involving

High School Students and

Addressing Wildlife Needs .... 27,358

12. Step Outside ....................... 89,950

2,734,608

Dated: February 5, 2001.

Marshall P. Jones, Jr.,

Acting Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service.

[FR Doc. 01–10048 Filed 4–23–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

Creating the Coldwater River National

Wildlife Refuge, Mississippi

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Director of the U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service approved creating

the Coldwater River National Wildlife

Refuge (NWR) from the existing Black

Bayou Unit of the Tallahatchie National

Wildlife Refuge in Grenada, Quitman,

and Tallahatchie Counties, Mississippi,

to eliminate public confusion and to

assist in the Service’s administration

and management activities. No other

changes are proposed.

DATES: This action was effective on

January 30, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Steve Thompson, Regional Chief,

National Wildlife Refuge System, in

Atlanta, Georgia, 404–679–7152.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On

January 30, 2001, the Director of the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved

creating the Coldwater River NWR from

the existing Black Bayou Unit of the

Tallahatchie National Wildlife Refuge in

Grenada, Quitman and Tallahatchie

Counties, Mississippi, to eliminate

public confusion and to assist in the

Service’s administration and

management activities.

The Tallahatchie National Wildlife

Refuge was established in 1991 with the

acquisition of two separate units—the

Bear Lake Unit and the Black Bayou

Unit. The two units are located in a

rural area about 30 miles apart, with a

total work area that spreads across

approximately 126 miles.

Previously we jointly administered

these units, even though they had

different public use programs,

geographic work areas, and habitat

management needs that resulted in

significantly different goals and

objectives for each unit. Joint

administration made our biological

assessments, public use reviews and the

comprehensive conservation planning

process more difficult and complex.

For example, because it is surrounded

by lands owned or leased for waterfowl

hunting, the Coldwater River NWR

(formerly the Black Bayou Unit of the

Tallahatchie NWR) is intensively

managed and is closed to public access.

The Bear Lake Unit is larger and is open

for public hunting. However, the

similarity of names and closeness in

proximity of the two units often resulted

in confusion to the public.

Establishing the Coldwater River

NWR from the existing Black Bayou

Unit of the Tallahatchie NWR

eliminates these problems. This action

will allow the lands and programs of

both the Tallahatchie NWR (Bear Lake

Unit) and the Coldwater River NWR to

be managed and administered more

efficiently, will identify the two units by

their major geographical features (the

Tallahatchie River and the Coldwater

River), and should eliminate confusion

when we inform the public of our

management activities on each refuge.

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 79 / Tuesday, April 24, 2001 / Notices 20681

Authority: National Wildlife Refuge

Administration Act of 1966, as amended (16

U.S.C. 668dd–ee).

Dated: January 30, 2001.

Marshall P. Jones, Jr.,

Acting Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service.

[FR Doc. 01–10142 Filed 4–23–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[WY–060–1320–EL, WYW151133]

Federal Coal Lease Application,

Wyoming

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of a final

Environmental Assessment on the Belle

Ayr 2000 Federal Coal Lease

Application in the decertified Powder

River Federal Coal Production Region,

Wyoming.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and

implementing regulations and other

applicable statutes, the Bureau of Land

Management (BLM) announces the

availability of a Final Environmental

Assessment (EA) for the Belle Ayr 2000

Coal Lease Application, BLM serial

number WYW151133, in the Wyoming

Powder River Basin. The final EA is

being published in abbreviated format.

Reviewers will need the Draft

Environmental Assessment for the Belle

Ayr 2000 Coal Lease Application, BLM,

December, 2000, for review of the

complete EA. The EA analyzes the

impacts of issuing a Federal coal lease

for the proposed Belle Ayr 2000 Federal

coal tract. The Belle Ayr 2000 tract is

being considered for sale as a result of

a coal lease application received from

RAG Wyoming Land Company (RAG)

on July 28, 2000. The tract as applied for

includes about 243.61 acres containing

approximately 29 million tons of

recoverable Federal coal reserves in

Campbell County, Wyoming.

DATES: Written comments on the final

EA will be accepted through May 11,

2001.

ADDRESSES: Please address questions,

comments or requests for copies of the

EA to the Casper Field Office, Bureau of

Land Management, Attn: Nancy Doelger,

2987 Prospector Drive, Casper,

Wyoming 82601; or you may e-mail

them to the attention of Nancy Doelger

at casper_wymail@blm.gov; or fax them

to 307–261–7587.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Nancy Doelger or Mike Karbs at the

above address, or phone 307–261–7600.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

application for the Belle Ayr 2000 tract

was filed as a maintenance tract coal

lease-by-application (LBA) under the

provisions of 43 CFR 3425.1

On July 28, 2000, RAG filed coal lease

application WYW151133 for the Belle

Ayr 2000 Federal coal tract with the

BLM for the following lands:

T. 48 N., R. 71W., 6th P.M., Campbell

County, Wyoming

Section 28: Lots 3 through 6;

Section 29: Lots 1 and 6.

Total surface area applied for: 243.61

acres.

RAG had previously applied for a

maintenance LBA that encompassed the

coal resources included in the Belle Ayr

2000 lease application as well as

additional coal resources northwest of

the Belle Ayr 2000 lease application

area on March 20, 1997. They filed a

request to modify the 1997 Belle Ayr

LBA by withdrawing the lands included

in the Belle Ayr 2000 application on

July 28, 2000. RAG then filed a separate

lease application for the lands

withdrawn from the original LBA and

included in Belle Ayr 2000 Tract.

The Powder River Regional Coal

Team reviewed the request to modify

the Belle Ayr 1997 LBA application and

the application for the Belle Ayr 2000

LBA at their public meeting on October

25, 2000, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and

recommended that BLM process it.

The draft EA was released to the

public in early January 2001. The

comment period on the draft EA ended

in early February 2001. A public hearing

was held at 7 p.m., MDT, on January 18,

2001, at the Clarion Western Plaza

Motel, 2009 S. Douglas Highway,

Gillette, Wyoming. The purpose of the

hearing was to solicit public comments

on the Draft EA, the fair market value,

the maximum economic recovery, and

the proposed competitive sale of the

coal included in the proposed Belle Ayr

2000 Federal coal tract. Three written

comment letters were received on the

draft EA. They are included, with

responses, in the final EA.

The Belle Ayr Mine, which is adjacent

to the lease application area, has an

approved mining and reclamation plan

from the Land Quality Division of the

Wyoming Department of Environmental

Quality and an approved air quality

permit from the Air Quality Division of

the Wyoming Department of

Environmental Quality to mine up to 45

million tons of coal per year. According

to the application filed for the Belle Ayr

2000 tract, the maintenance tract would

be mined to maintain production at the

existing Belle Ayr Mine. The tract is

also contiguous to an existing lease at

the Caballo Mine.

The Belle Ayr 2000 tract is bounded

on three sides by existing coal leases at

the Belle Ayr and Caballo Mines. Under

the approved mining plans for these two

mines, a large portion of the tract will

be disturbed when the adjacent leases

are mined in order to recover all of the

coal in those leases.

The EA analyzes two alternatives. The

Proposed Action is to issue a

maintenance lease for the Belle Ayr

2000 tract as applied for to the

successful bidder at a competitive

sealed bid sale. The second alternative,

Alternative 1, is the No Action

Alternative, which assumes that the

application for the Belle Ayr 2000 tract

is rejected.

The Office of Surface Mining

Reclamation and Enforcement is a

cooperating agency in the preparation of

this EA because it is the Federal agency

that would recommend approval or

disapproval of the Mineral Leasing Act

(MLA) mining plan for the Belle Ayr

2000 LBA tract to the Secretary of the

Interior, if a lease is issued for the tract.

Comments, including names and

street addresses of respondents, will be

available for public review at the BLM

Casper Field Office, 2987 Prospector

Drive, Casper, Wyoming, during regular

business hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.),

Monday through Friday, except

holidays. Individual respondents may

request confidentiality. If you wish to

withhold your name or street address

from public review or from disclosure

under the Freedom of Information Act,

you must state this prominently at the

beginning of your written comment.

Such requests will be honored to the

extent allowed by law. All submissions

from organizations or businesses, and

from individuals identifying themselves

as representatives of officials of

organizations or businesses, will be

made available for public inspection in

their entirety.

Dated: April 5, 2001.

Alan Rabinoff,

Deputy State Director, Minerals and Lands.

[FR Doc. 01–10052 Filed 4–23–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–22–P