[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 18, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2641-2643]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-999]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Homestead National Monument of America

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION:  Record of Decision, General Management Plan and Environmental 
Impact Statement, Homestead National Monument of America, Nebraska.

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SUMMARY:  Pursuant to section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969, as amended, and the regulations promulgated by the 
Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR 1505.2), the Department of the 
Interior, National Park Service, has prepared a Record of Decision on 
the Final General Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Homestead National Monument of America in Gage 
County, Nebraska.

DATES:  The Acting Regional Director, Midwest Region approved the 
Record of Decision, on December 22, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Superintendent, Homestead National 
Monument of America, 8523 W. State Highway 4, Beatrice, Nebraska 68310-
6743, telephone 402-223-3514.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

    The National Park Service has prepared the Final General Management 
Plan/Abbreviated Final Environmental Impact Statement (FGMP/AFEIS) for 
Homestead National Monument of America, Nebraska. The FGMP/AFEIS 
proposes management direction for the park for the next 10-20 years and 
documents the anticipated effects of the selected action and other 
alternatives on the human environment, including natural and cultural 
resources. This Record of Decision is a concise statement of the 
decisions made, other alternatives considered, the basis for the 
decision, the environmentally preferable alternative, and the 
mitigating measures developed to avoid or minimize environmental harm.

Decision

    After careful consideration of environmental impacts, costs, and 
comments from the public, agencies, and technical evaluations, the 
National Park Service recommends for implementation the selected action 
evaluated in the Final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact 
Statement.

Summary of the Selected Action

    The goal of the selected alternative, which was identified as 
Alternative C, Option 1 in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, is 
to significantly change the physical arrangement of facilities and 
operational functions of the monument. The alternative represents a 
comprehensive alteration to the monument's current operational form and 
to visitor orientation in order to fulfill the legislative requirements 
of the monument. With this selected action, the key monument facilities 
will be relocated to a location outside of the existing 100-year 
frequency flood hazard zone. A minor boundary expansion will be pursued 
to acquire land outside existing boundaries that would be necessary for 
the facilities. Management zones will provide guidance for managing 
specific areas for desired visitor experience and resource conditions 
(see p. 32 of the FGMP).
    The selected action calls for the creation of a new ``Homestead 
Heritage Center'' to house the monument's collections, interpretive 
exhibits, theatre, public research facilities, and administrative 
offices. This new ``Homestead Heritage Center'' will be located on the 
eastern side of the monument.
    The ``Homestead Heritage Center'' will require a separate research 
facility within the building to act as a repository for the monument's 
homestead records and other items of homesteading literature, as 
required by the monument's enabling legislation. In addition, the 
center will have a parking lot designed to accommodate 50 cars and 10 
buses or campers.
    The selected action also calls for the existing visitor center/
museum to be modified and adaptively reused as an ``Education Center''. 
This center will serve as a location where students of all ages could 
engage in learning more about the homestead story. A ``School of 
Traditional Homesteading Folk Arts'' program will be established to 
give the public an opportunity to learn old homesteading folk crafts. 
In addition to a range of educational activities that will take place 
in this center, special events and interpretive programs will also be 
conducted here. Distance learning technology will also connect the 
center to schools near and far. The areas to the back of the present 
facility will be used to house maintenance functions. The remaining 
offices will be used by visiting instructors or modified to serve as 
classrooms. The exhibits presently in use will be removed and that area 
converted to classrooms. The existing parking lot appears to be 
suitable to meet the foreseeable needs of this facility.
    In addition, the management prescriptions contained within the 
selected action will seek to promote the establishment of a ``Homestead 
Heritage Parkway''. This parkway concept is proposed to form an 
interpretive linkage between the monument, including the Freeman 
School, and the surrounding rural countryside and communities to 
highlight today's visible and tangible results of implementation of the 
Homestead Act. The principal interpretive and educational theme of the 
parkway will be agriculture. With comparisons made to modern farm 
operations. These stories will be communicated through the use of signs 
and traveler information radio broadcasts.
    The creation of this parkway as one of the monument's interpretive 
tools will depend on voluntary partnerships with the local governments 
and landowners along the identified highway segment. It is important to 
note that the NPS is not recommending a formal federal designation for 
this parkway. The concept of the ``Homestead Heritage Parkway'' 
presumes the rerouting of a segment of State Highway 4 outside the 
monument's boundary. After this realignment has occurred, the abandoned 
segment of State Highway 4 will become an access road for the monument 
and for local residents. Existing truck and commuter traffic will be 
rerouted on a comparable replacement segment of State Highway 4 nearby. 
The ``Homestead Heritage Parkway'' will begin where the access road 
(the abandoned segment of State Highway 4) enters the eastern boundary 
of the monument and extend to the Freeman School. The NPS envisions the 
eventual and voluntary extension of the ``Homestead Heritage Parkway'' 
concept from the Freeman School west along the access road to where it 
rejoins State Highway 4. The NPS also endorses the parkway's extension 
to the east from the monument to the City of Beatrice (meeting at the 
junction of State Highways 136 and 4 in West Beatrice), however the NPS 
is not recommending any change to the currently designated speed limit 
for that segment. It is possible that a public biking and/or hiking 
path could be connected to the monument.

[[Page 2642]]

Other Alternatives Considered

    Alternative A is the no-action, or status quo, alternative. This 
alternative would have restricted the monument in achieving its 
mission; however, it does provide a baseline for comparison of the 
other alternatives. This alternative called for the continuation of 
current levels and patterns of National Park Service stewardship and 
management with regard to natural, historic, and cultural resources at 
the monument.
    Each of the following action alternatives were designed to achieve 
all desired futures for the monument, including those related to 
natural, historic, and cultural resources enhancement and protection, 
and visitor experiences. The principle difference between alternatives 
is the location of the primary monument facilities.
    Alternative B prescribed certain alterations to the existing 
pattern of facilities, stewardship, and management. The monument's 
natural, historic, and cultural resources would have remained generally 
as they are now. The existing monument facilities would have remained 
in their present locations but would have been flood-proofed to 
withstand a 100-year flood event.
    Like the selected action Alternative C, Option 1, Alternative C, 
Option 2 proposed significant changes to the physical arrangement and 
operational functions of the monument. This alternative also 
represented comprehensive alterations to the homestead resources. The 
alternative also would have fulfilled the legislative requirements of 
the monument. Alternative C, Option 2 would have significantly changed 
the location of key monument facilities to a location outside the 
existing 100-year frequency flood hazard zone but within the existing 
monument boundary. It also proposed the creation of a new ``Homestead 
Heritage Center'' to house the monument's collections, interpretive 
displays, public research facilities, and administrative offices. The 
existing visitor center would have been adaptively reused as an 
``Education Center'' for special events, programs, and educational 
opportunities. In addition, it proposed to form a linkage between the 
monument and the surrounding countryside and communities through the 
establishment of an approximately six mile ``Homestead Heritage 
Parkway'' which would highlight today's visible results of 
implementation of the Homestead Act.

Environmentally Preferable Alternative

    The environmentally preferable alternative is defined as ``the 
alternative or alternatives that will promote the national 
environmental policy as expressed in section 101 of the National 
Environmental Policy Act. Ordinarily, this means the alternative that 
causes least damage to the biological and physical environment; it also 
means the alternative that best protects, preserves, and enhances 
historic, cultural, and natural resources'' (``Forty Most Asked 
Questions Concerning Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) National 
Environmental Policy Act Regulations,'' 1981).
    The environmentally preferable alternative is the selected action, 
Alternative C, Option 1. This alternative best meets the full range of 
national environmental policy goals as stated in NEPA's section 101. 
The selected action (1) maximizes protection of natural and cultural 
resources while maintaining a wide range of neutral and beneficial uses 
of the environment without degradation; (2) maintains an environment 
that supports diversity and variety of individual choice; (3) achieves 
a balance between human population and resource use; and (4) improves 
resource sustainability.
    The selected action removes the monument's threatened existing 
visitor center complex, with its associated resources, exhibits, and 
operational facilities, from its location within the 100-year 
floodplain of nearby Cub Creek. The removal of these resources and 
functions to a different yet nearby location also minimizes existing 
safety and resource concerns associated with the state highway crossing 
the monument. In addition, the selected action best minimizes impacts 
to and developmental incursions into the monument's natural resources 
(principally, its reconstructed tallgrass prairie) and minimizes 
impacts to and developmental incursions into the monument's cultural 
resources in the form of its historic original 1862 homestead tract. It 
also maximizes public and visitor safety by prescribing the relocation 
of a segment of the existing state highway to an alignment outside 
monument boundaries. This action will significantly reduce the volume 
and mix of traffic on State Highway 4, will improve the qualities of 
visitor safety and experience, and will result in a reduced physical 
intrusion into the monument's boundary.

Measures To Minimize Harm

    All practicable measures to avoid or minimize environmental impacts 
that could result from implementation of the selected action have been 
identified and incorporated into the selected action. They are 
presented in detail in the FGMP/AFEIS. However, due to the programmatic 
nature of the general management plan, specific implementation projects 
will be reviewed as necessary for compliance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and other 
applicable federal and state laws and regulations prior to project 
clearance and implementation. Specific measures to minimize 
environmental harm also will be included in implementation plans called 
for by the FGMP/AFEIS. These plans include, but are not limited to, 
resource management plans, land protection plans, historic structure 
reports, and schematic design documents.

Basis for Decision

    The selected alternative best supports the park's purpose and 
significance, and accomplishes the statutory mission of the National 
Park Service to provide long-term protection of park resources while 
allowing for appropriate levels of visitor use and means of visitor 
enjoyment. The selected alternative also does the best job of 
addressing issues identified during public scoping while minimizing 
environmental harm. Other factors considered in the decision were 
public and resource benefits gained for the cost incurred and extensive 
public comment.

Public Involvement

    The NPS has taken a comprehensive approach to public involvement 
during the development of this GMP. To date, the NPS has issued two 
newsletters for the general public and conducted a series of public 
meetings. The NPS has consulted with state and local government 
officials, including the State Historic Preservation Office. American 
Indian groups with affiliations to the monument have received the 
newsletters and a copy of the draft plan for comment.
    Newsletter No. 1 was mailed in December 1997. Newsletter No. 2 was 
distributed in March 1998. Nearly 600 newsletters were in each mailing. 
The series of public meetings were conducted in January 1998. Two 
meetings were held in Beatrice, Nebraska, near the monument and one in 
Lincoln, Nebraska, 40 miles away. Over 20 people attended the three 
meetings. In April 1998, an ``open house,'' was held at the Monument. 
Twenty-five individuals, park neighbors, government officials, and 
community members attended this

[[Page 2643]]

``open house''. All public meetings received coverage by local and 
regional media sources. Monument neighbors have been involved 
throughout the process.
    The GMP planning team contacted the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma in an 
attempt to identify tribal concerns relative to this GMP/EIS. In 
addition, comments were sought through extensive mailings of 
newsletters and media coverage. No response was received from the 
tribe. Because of the Pawnee's long-standing cultural affiliation with 
this area of Nebraska, the NPS will continue to keep the tribe informed 
of important stages of this planning process and of plans to implement 
the preferred alternative throughout the GMP planning process.
    Over 600 news letters announcing the Draft General Management Plan 
and Environmental Impact Statement for Homestead National Monument of 
America were mailed May 4, 1999. More than 200 copies of the full draft 
document were distributed to agencies, organizations and individuals. 
The document was also made available to the general public at the 
Beatrice Public Library and at Homestead National Monument of America. 
The National Park Service conducted two public meetings in May 1999, 
one meeting was held at the Beatrice Public Library May 25 while the 
second meeting was held at the Charles H. Gere Library in Lincoln, 
Nebraska May 26. An additional public open house was held June 29, 1999 
at Homestead National Monument of America to discuss the Draft General 
Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement.
    The Beatrice public meeting had 43 people in attendance; 14 people 
attended the Lincoln public meeting. One person attended the meeting 
held in June, at Homestead National Monument of America.
    A 60-day review period (May 4, 1999 through July 10, 1999) was 
designated for receiving comments on the draft plan and EIS. Fifteen 
written comments were received. At the end of the review period, the 
comments were reviewed and substantive comments were identified. The 
Final General Management Plan (FGMP) and an Abbreviated Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (AFEIS) were made available to the 
public on November 21, 1999. The 30-day no action period required by 
NEPA regulations commenced on that date. Approximately 39 copies of the 
FGMP/AFEIS were distributed to agencies, local governments, 
organizations, persons who commented on the draft GMP, and others who 
requested the document. The FGMP/AFEIS contains a complete summary of 
the public involvement process and substantive comments received.

Conclusion

    A notice of availability for the FGMP/AFEIS was published by the 
Environmental Protection Agency in the Federal Register on November 6, 
1998. The 30-day no-action period ended on December 20, 1999. No public 
comments were received during the no action period.
    The above factors and considerations justify the selection of the 
final plan, as described as Alternative C, Option 1, in the Final 
Environmental Impact Statement. The Final General Management Plan is 
hereby approved.

    Dated: December 22, 1999.
Catherine A. Damon,
Acting Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 00-999 Filed 1-14-00; 8:45 am]
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