21206 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 77 / Thursday, April 20, 2000 / Notices

survival and recovery of the species in

the wild.

4. The indirect impacts that may

result from issuance of the ESP are

addressed by other regulations and

statutes under the jurisdiction of other

government entities. The validity of the

Service’s ESP is contingent upon the

Applicant’s compliance with the terms

of the permit and all other laws and

regulations under the control of State,

local, and other Federal governmental

entities.

The Service will also evaluate

whether the issuance of a Section

10(a)(1)(A) ESP complies with Section 7

of the Act by conducting an intraService Section 7 consultation. The

results of the biological opinion, in

combination with the above findings,

will be used in the final analysis to

determine whether or not to issue the

ESP.

Dated: April 12, 2000.

Mamie Parker,

Deputy Regional Director, Region 5.

[FR Doc. 00–9888 Filed 4–19–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

The Rhinoceros and Tiger

Conservation Act of 1998; Request for

Public Input Into the Development and

Execution of an Educational Outreach

Program Action Plan; Announcement

of Two Public Meetings

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Rhinoceros and Tiger

Conservation Act of 1994 was amended

in 1998 to prohibit the sale, importation,

or exportation of products labeled or

advertised as containing rhinoceros or

tiger products, and to carry out an

associated educational outreach

program. Prior to developing and

carrying out such an educational

outreach effort, we seek input and

guidance from the public on the needed

components for such an effort. To guide

this effort, we have developed a draft

interim educational plan with the goals

of a long-term plan clearly identified but

action items developed only for a short

time frame until we can meet with the

public and solicit input for the

development of future action items.

With this notice, we request your

comments and input on the draft

Educational Outreach Program Interim

Action Plan and seek partnerships to

carry out the final plan, and we

announce two public meetings to

discuss the draft Educational Outreach

Program Interim Action Plan and

suggested modifications for future

activities under a long-term plan.

DATES: (1) Draft Educational Outreach

Program Interim Action Plan review: If

you wish to view a copy of the draft

Educational Outreach Program Interim

Action Plan, please submit a written

request for a copy of this document to

the address listed below within 30 days

of the date of publication of this notice.

We will consider written comments and

suggestions you submit regarding the

Educational Outreach Program Interim

Action Plan if we receive them by June

19, 2000.

(2) Public Meetings: You are invited

to participate in one or both of our

Educational Outreach Action Plan

public meetings, one to be held on the

east coast on May 18, 2000, 1:30–4:30

p.m., and the second to be held on the

west coast on June 4, 2000, 1:30–4:30

p.m.

ADDRESSES: (1) Educational Outreach

Program Interim Action Plan review:

Office of Management Authority; U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 North

Fairfax Drive; Room 700; Arlington, VA

22203. Comments on the draft

Educational Outreach Program Interim

Action Plan may be submitted by any

one of several methods. You may mail

comments to the above address. You

may also comment via E-mail to

r9omalcites@fws.gov. Please submit Email comments as an ASCII file,

avoiding the use of special characters

and any form of encryption. Please also

include ‘‘Attn: Rhinoceros and Tiger

Conservation Act of 1998’’ and your

name and return address in your E-mail

message. If you do not receive a

confirmation from the system that we

have received your E-mail message,

contact us directly at the telephone

number listed below. Finally, you may

hand-deliver comments to the above

address.

Comments and materials received will

be available for public inspection, by

appointment, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.,

Monday through Friday, at the above

address.

(2) Public Meetings: The two public

meetings will be held (see DATES above)

to discuss the Educational Outreach

Action Plan. The first meeting will be

held in New York at The College of

Insurance, 101 Murray Street, New

York, NY and the second in San

Francisco at The Galleria Park Hotel,

191 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA.

Directions to either location can be

obtained by contacting the Office of

Management Authority (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT below).

Please note that both locations are

accessible to the handicapped and all

persons planning to attend the meeting

will be required to present photo

identification when entering the

building. Persons planning to attend the

meeting who require interpretation for

the hearing impaired should notify the

Office of Management Authority as soon

as possible.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Teiko Saito, Chief, Office of

Management Authority, Branch of

CITES Operations, phone 703/358–

2095, fax 703/358–2298, E-mail:

r9omalcites@fws.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Congress passed the Rhinoceros and

Tiger Conservation Act of 1994 (the Act)

to assist in the conservation of

rhinoceroses and tigers by supporting

critical conservation programs in

nations whose activities directly or

indirectly affect rhino and tiger

populations. The Act also established

the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation

Fund to provide financial resources for

on-the-ground conservation programs

and to promote education to increase

public awareness of the plight of rhinos

and tigers in the wild.

Rhinoceroses and tigers are among the

most critically endangered large

mammals in the world and are the focus

of extensive global conservation efforts

aimed at halting their decline.

Consumer demand for and trade in the

parts and products of these species

supply luxury markets as well as

markets for cultural and medicinal

needs. One of the most complex and farreaching of these demands is for use in

traditional medicines.

Commercial international trade of raw

rhino horn and tiger bone and their

derivative products is prohibited by the

Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and

Flora (CITES), in addition to domestic

legislation in the United States and

China. The Act of 1994 was amended

and strengthened by the Rhinoceros and

Tiger Conservation Act of 1998, which

(a) outlined specific trade prohibitions

of rhino and tiger products and (b)

mandated a national educational

outreach program.

(a) The Act of 1998 ‘‘prohibits the

sale, importation, exportation, or

attempts to sell, import, or export, any

product, item, or substance intended for

human consumption or application,

containing, or labeled or advertised as

containing, any substance derived from

any species of rhinoceros or tiger.’’

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 77 / Thursday, April 20, 2000 / Notices 21207

Further, specific criminal and civil

penalties for violating this law are

included, as well as enforcement

strategies. This Act sets prohibitions on

items labeled or advertised as

containing rhino or tiger products, even

if the presence of rhino and tiger

ingredients cannot be verified

scientifically. These new prohibitions

will reduce the promotion of these

ingredients in consumer products,

thereby decreasing consumer demand

and potentially benefitting the species

in the wild.

(b) The amended Act also requires

that the Secretary of the Interior develop

and carry out an educational outreach

program in the United States for the

conservation of rhinoceros and tiger

species. The contents of the Educational

Outreach Program Action Plan will

include:

(1) Guidelines for the National

Educational Outreach Program;

(2) Active pursuit of opinions from

organizations and people actively

involved in the traditional medicines

trade;

(3) Aggressive advertising of the laws

protecting rhinoceros and tiger species,

focusing on the laws prohibiting trade

in products containing, or labeled or

advertised as containing, their parts or

products;

(4) Widespread distribution of

information regarding the negative

effects of the toxics and heavy metals

found in some packaged traditional

medicines; and

(5) Information on the status of

rhinoceros and tiger species populations

and the reasons for protecting the

species.

Through this Federal Register notice

and the two scheduled public meetings,

we are seeking public input into the

development and execution of the

Educational Outreach Program Action

Plan. Our practice is to make comments,

including names and addresses of

respondents, available for public review

during regular business hours.

Individual respondents may request that

we withhold their home address from

the public record, which we will honor

to the extent allowable by law. In

limited circumstances, we would

withhold from release a respondent’s

identity, as allowable by law. If you

wish us to withhold your name and/or

address, you must state this clearly at

the beginning of your comment.

However, we will not consider

anonymous comments. We generally

make all submissions from

organizations or businesses, and from

individuals identifying themselves as

representatives or officials of

organizations or businesses, available

for public inspection in their entirety.

We hope to work closely with the

nonprofit conservation community and

traditional medicine communities as

well as the public in creating a strong

outreach plan and carrying out the

contents of that plan. We recognize that

a number of groups are already actively

involved in educating the public about

rhinoceros and tiger products and the

conservation of these species, and we

wish to integrate our efforts with theirs.

Partnerships hold the key to

successfully informing the public about

the conservation needs of rhinoceros

and tiger species. We are looking to

identify partner organizations that we

can work with in carrying out the longterm objectives and actions of a national

outreach plan. The purpose of the two

scheduled public meetings is to solicit

additional public input into the

completion of a final Educational

Outreach Program Action Plan, as well

as to serve as a starting point for future

interactions with communities that have

historically used products containing

rhino horn and tiger part derivatives.

After receiving public input, we will

develop a long-term national

educational outreach plan and program

that will rely strongly on public

involvement in its future

implementation.

Author: This notice was prepared by

Cynthia Perera and Anne St. John, Office of

Management Authority, under the authority

of The Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation

Act of 1998 (16 U.S.C. 5301).

Dated: April 7, 2000.

Jamie Rappaport Clark,

Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 00–9914 Filed 4–19–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[NV–030–1920–00–4032]

Environmental Statements; Notice of

Intent: Walker River Basin, NV; Water

and/or Water Rights From Willing

Sellers

Amendment to the February 1, 2000

Notice of Intent to Prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement for

obtaining water and/or water rights from

willing sellers in the Walker River Basin

for the purposes of protecting the

Walker Lake ecosystem from

degradation resulting from increasing

total dissolved solids (TDS) in the lake;

possible use in a settlement of the

United States’ water rights claims in the

Walker River Basin should a settlement

be negotiated; and to assist in recovery

of the threatened Lahontan cutthroat

trout in the Walker River Basin.

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Carson City Field Office, 5665 Morgan

Mill Road, Carson City, NV 89701.

ACTION: Amendment to the February 1,

2000 notice of intent to prepare an

environmental impact statement for

obtaining water and/or water rights from

willing sellers in the Walker River

Basin, notice of scoping period. The

initial public scoping period will be

extended to July 31, 2000. The public

review and comment period on the draft

EIS will be increased to 75 days.

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land

Management (BLM), Carson City Field

Office, in cooperation with the Bureau

of Indian Affairs (BIA), Phoenix Area

Office, The Bureau of Reclamation

(BOR), Lahontan Basin Area Office and

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

(FWS), Nevada Fish and Wildlife Office,

will extend the initial public scoping

period until July 31, 2000 and increase

the time allowed for public review and

comment on the draft EIS to 75 days.

This extended initial public scoping

period is necessary for the following

reasons: (1) To allow potential

cooperating agencies to make decisions

in regards to their status in this project

and participate early in the NEPA

process, (2) the complex issues, to be

investigated in this EIS, require

additional time for consideration and

refinement, and (3) additional time is

needed to develop alternatives for

consideration in the EIS. The increased

time allowed for public review and

comment on the draft EIS is necessary

to allow local governments adequate

time for review of the document and

consideration of these matters at

regularly scheduled meeting of the

County Board of Commissioners.

EFFECTIVE DATES: The initial public

scoping period is extended until July 31,

2000.

A Draft EIS (DEIS) is expected to be

completed by November 24, 2000 and

made available for public review and

comment. The public review and

comment period on the DEIS will be 75

days from the date the Notice of

Availability (NOA) is published in the

Federal Register which is anticipated to

occur on November 24, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

additional information, write to the

Field Manager of the Carson City Field

Office at the address listed in the agency

section of this notice, call or email Walt

Devaurs (BLM Team Leader) at (775)

885–6150, wdevaurs@nv.blm.gov or