Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 222 / Friday, November 18, 2005 / Notices 69959 

measures mentioned previously in this 

document. 

NMFS has determined that the 

proposed activity would result in the 

harassment of small numbers of 

California sea lions and Pacific harbor 

seals, and that the takings will have no 

more than a negligible impact on these 

marine mammal stocks. Accordingly, 

NMFS has issued an IHA to BMMI for 

the harassment of small numbers of 

California sea lions and Pacific harbor 

seals incidental to dredging around Pier 

39, provided the previously mentioned 

mitigation, monitoring, and reporting 

requirements are incorporated. 

Authorization 

NMFS has issued a 1–year IHA to 

BMMI for the take, by harassment, of 

small numbers of California sea lions 

and Pacific harbor seals incidental to 

maintenance dredging around I, J, and K 

Docks at Pier 39 in San Francisco, 

California, provided the previously 

mentioned mitigation, monitoring, and 

reporting requirements are incorporated. 

NMFS has determined that the proposed 

activity would result in the harassment 

of small numbers of marine mammals; 

would have no more than a negligible 

impact on the affected marine mammal 

stocks; and would not have an 

unmitigable adverse impact on the 

availability of species or stocks for 

subsistence uses. 

Dated: November 14, 2005. 

James H. Lecky, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 05–22861 Filed 11–17–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Department of the Air Force 

Program Comment for Capehart and 

Wherry Era Housing and Associated 

Structures and Landscape Features 

(1949–1962) 

AGENCY: Department of the Navy, 

Department of the Air Force, and 

Department of the Army. 

ACTION: Notice of Approval of Program 

Comment on Air Force and Navy 

Capehart and Wherry Era Housing. 

SUMMARY: On November 18th, 2004 the 

Advisory Council on Historic 

Preservation (Council) approved a 

program comment that facilitates the 

Navy’s and Air Force’s compliance with 

the National Historic Preservation Act, 

with regard to management of their 

inventories of Capehart and Wherry Era 

housing units, associated structures, and 

landscape features. 

Authority: 36 CFR 800.14. 

DATES: The program comment went into 

effect on November 18th, 2004. 

ADDRESSES: Address comments to: HQ 

AF/ILE, Environmental Programs, 

ATTN: Lt Col Douglas Burkett, 1260 Air 

Force Pentagon, Washington DC, 20030–

1260 (AIR FORCE) Commander, Naval 

Facilities Engineering Command (BDD), 

ATTN: Dr. Jay Thomas, 1322 Patterson 

Ave SE Ste 1000, Washington Navy 

Yard DC 20374–5065. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lt 

Col Douglas Burkett at (703) 604–0632 

or Dr. Jay Thomas at (202) 685–9196. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

106 of the National Historic 

Preservation Act, 16 U.S.C. 470f, 

requires Federal agencies to consider 

the effects of these undertakings on 

historic properties and provide the 

Council a reasonable opportunity to 

comment with regard to such 

undertakings. The Council issued the 

regulations that set forth the process 

through which Federal agencies may 

comply with these requirements. Those 

regulations are codified under 36 CFR 

part 800 (‘‘Section 106 regulations’’). 

The Section 106 regulations, under 36 

CFR 800.14(e), provide that an agency 

may request the Council for a ‘‘Program 

Comment’’ allowing it to comply with 

Section 106 for a category of 

undertakings in lieu of conducting a 

separate review for each individual 

undertaking under the regular 

consultation process. 

I. Background 

According to the requirements for 

obtaining a Program Comment, the Navy 

and Air Force formally requested the 

Council comment on Capehart and 

Wherry Era family housing and 

associated structures and landscape 

features in lieu of requiring separate 

reviews under §§ 800.4 through 800.6 of 

the Section 106 regulations for each 

individual undertaking. The Navy and 

Air Force identified the category of 

undertakings as maintenance, repair, 

layaway, mothballing, privatization and 

transfer out of federal agency 

ownership, substantial alteration 

through renovation, demolition, and 

demolition and replacement, affecting 

Navy and Air Force family housing built 

between 1949 and 1962 termed 

‘Capehart and Wherry’. The Air Force 

and Navy also specified the likely 

effects that these management actions 

would have on historic properties and 

the steps the Air Force and Navy would 

take to ensure that the effects are taken 

into account. The Air Force and Navy 

included in their request to the Council 

the public comments that it received 

from a 60-day public comment 

opportunity provided through an earlier 

notice (69 FR 48462, August 10, 2004). 

The Council subsequently published a 

notice of intent to issue the Program 

Comment (69 FR 54763, September 10, 

2004) and notified the State Historic 

Preservation Officers (SHPOs), the 

National Conference of State Historic 

Preservation Officers (NCSHPO), the 

National Trust for Historic Preservation 

(NTHP), Tribal Historic Preservation 

Officers (THPOs), and the National 

Association of Tribal Historic 

Preservation Officers, and requested 

their views on the Air Force and Navy’s 

proposed Program Comment. During its 

November 18, 2004 business meeting, 

the Council membership (with the 

Department of Defense recusing itself) 

voted unanimously to approve and issue 

the Program Comment found at the end 

of this notice. The vote was 16 in favor 

of approving and issuing the Program 

Comment, 0 votes against, and 1 

abstention (the Department of Defense), 

with 3 voting members absent. 

Neither the Council nor the Air Force 

and Navy have engaged in consultation 

with Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 

organizations, pursuant to 36 CFR 

800.14(e)(4), since such consultation is 

not warranted. All Air Force and Navy 

actions considered under this Program 

Comment will be undertaken on Air 

Force and Navy property. The Program 

Comment will not affect historic 

properties of religious and cultural 

significance, regardless of location, to 

any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian 

organization since any Capehart and 

Wherry actions that would affect these 

types of properties are specifically 

excluded under the Program Comment. 

II. Response to Public Comments 

Clarify a separate step for identifying 

properties of particular importance. The 

proposed comment does not include a 

specific process for identifying 

properties of particular importance. 

This Program Comment now includes a 

specific process of identifying 

properties of particular importance. The 

Air Force and Navy will notify the 

Council, NCSHPO, and NTHP whether 

any of these properties are of particular 

importance and permits an opportunity 

to review the findings. 

Report for the General Public: The 

requirement to prepare a report for the 

general public should be separated out 

from the requirement to revise the 

historic context study, and should be 

more clearly delineated as a separate 

deliverable item. The Program Comment 

69960 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 222 / Friday, November 18, 2005 / Notices 

reflects two distinct deliverables; the 

resulting publicly accessible context 

study will be placed on a public web 

site and copies of the report will be 

provided to all SHPOs, the NCSHPOs, 

the Council, and the NTHP. 

The Air Force and Navy should issue 

a specific directive to installations 

requiring consideration of the design 

guidelines in order to implement the 

program comment. The intent of the 

Program Comment is that the Navy and 

Air Force apply the design guidelines 

consistently at any installation where 

Capehart and Wherry units will be 

retained. In accordance with 36 CFR 

800.14(e)(6), the Council may withdraw 

the Program Comment if it determines 

that the consideration of historic 

properties is not being carried out in a 

manner consistent with the Program 

Comment. 

Properties of ‘‘Particular 

Importance’’—Require a commitment to 

some degree of preservation. The 

Program Comment reflects both a 

process for determining properties of 

particular importance as well as a 

commitment to consider the 

preservation of these properties through 

continued use as military housing, 

within funding and mission constraints. 

Affirmatively encourage the use of 

historic preservation tax credits. The 

Program Comment obliges the Navy and 

Air Force to advise developers involved 

in housing privatization initiatives that 

Wherry and Capehart properties may be 

eligible for historic preservation tax 

credits. 

III. Text of the Program Comment 

1. Introduction 

This Program Comment, adopted 

pursuant to 36 CFR 800.14(e), 

demonstrates Department of the Air 

Force (Air Force) and Department of the 

Navy (Navy) compliance with their 

responsibilities under Section 106 of the 

National Historic Preservation Act with 

regard to the following actions in the 

management of the Wherry and 

Capehart Era family housing: 

Maintenance, repair, layaway, 

mothballing, privatization and transfer 

out of federal agency ownership, 

substantial alteration through 

renovation, demolition, and demolition 

and replacement of Wherry and 

Capehart Era housing, associated 

structures and landscape features that 

may be eligible for listing on the 

National Register of Historic Places. 

2. Treatment of Wherry and Capehart 

Properties 

A. Eligibility 

The Department of the Army (Army) 

conducted a historic context of its 

Wherry and Capehart properties and 

documented these in a report entitled 

‘‘For Want of a Home: A Historic 

Context for Wherry and Capehart 

Military Family Housing’’. On May 22, 

2001, the Army sponsored a symposium 

on Wherry and Capehart era housing 

management as it related to historic 

preservation. The symposium was 

attended by preservation experts, 

including the National Trust for Historic 

Preservation (Trust), the National 

Conference of State Historic 

Preservation Officers (NCSHPO), the 

Advisory Council on Historic 

Preservation (ACHP), and nationally 

recognized experts in the field of 

historic preservation from academia and 

industry. Symposium participants 

recommended a programmatic approach 

to complying with Section 106, and 

these approaches were part of the 

Army’s Program Comment, which was 

approved by the ACHP in 2002 (67 FR 

39332; June 7, 2002). 

The Air Force and the Navy have 

gathered data on their inventory of 

Wherry and Capehart properties which 

will be appended to the Army’s context 

study, as outlined below, to provide a 

comprehensive understanding of the 

Department of Defense (DoD) inventory 

for this property type. As with the 

Army, the Air Force and the Navy 

consider their inventory of Wherry and 

Capehart properties, including any 

associated structures and landscape 

features, to be eligible for the National 

Register of Historic Places for the 

purposes of Section 106 compliance. 

B. Treatment 

The Air Force and the Navy have 

requested a Program Comment as a 

service-wide Section 106 compliance 

action related to management of Wherry 

and Capehart Era housing, associated 

structures and landscape features. This 

programmatic approach will facilitate 

management actions for maintenance, 

repair, layaway, mothballing, 

privatization and transfer out of Federal 

agency ownership, substantial alteration 

through renovation, demolition, and 

demolition and replacement of Wherry 

and Capehart Era housing, associated 

structures and landscape features. Such 

actions present a potential for adverse 

effects to historic properties. 

Based on the Program Comment 

previously approved for the Army for 

this property type, and following 

meetings with the ACHP, the Trust and 

NCSHPO, the Air Force and the Navy 

agree to the following six-step approach 

to the treatment of its Wherry and 

Capehart properties: 

(i) The Air Force and the Navy will: 

(a) Revise the Army’s historic context, 

‘‘The Wherry and Capehart Era 

Solutions to the Postwar Family 

Housing Shortage (1949–1962): A 

Historic Context’’, to include 

information pertinent to Air Force and 

Navy bases where this information 

differs from that provided in the Army’s 

context study, including information on 

Navy and Air Force Capehart and 

Wherry Era Housing architects, sponsors 

and bidders, and projects. The 

expanded context study will provide a 

more complete picture of Wherry and 

Capehart Era family housing across 

DoD, and 

(b) upon completion of the revised 

context study, the Air Force and the 

Navy will use it and any resulting oral 

histories recorded in accordance with 

section II(B)(vi), below, to prepare a 

report suitable for release to the general 

public. The report to the public will 

extract that information which may be 

deemed sensitive or inappropriate for 

release to the public; the resulting 

context study will be placed on a 

publicly accessible Web site and copies 

of the report will be provided to all the 

SHPOs, NCSHPO, the Trust and the 

ACHP. 

(ii) The Navy and Air Force will 

review the results of the expanded and 

revised context study and determine 

whether any of those properties 

identified under Section II(B)(i)(a) are of 

particular importance. The Navy and 

Air Force will notify the Council of the 

results of this review, and the Council 

will forward the results to the NCSHPO, 

and the Trust. 

(iii) The Air Force and Navy will use, 

or modify for their own use, the Army’s 

design guidelines: ‘‘Neighborhood 

Design Guidelines for Army Wherry and 

Capehart Housing’’. Modified design 

guidelines will be provided to ACHP for 

review. Copies of the Air Force and 

Navy guidelines will be provided to the 

NCSHPO, the Trust and the ACHP. 

These Neighborhood Design Guidelines 

will be distributed by Headquarters, Air 

Force and Navy to those offices that 

manage and maintain this housing type 

and they will be encouraged to consider 

the design guidelines in planning 

actions that affect their Wherry and 

Capehart Era housing, associated 

structures and landscape features. 

(iv) For Wherry and Capehart 

properties that have been determined to 

be of particular importance, as defined 

in the revised context study, the Air 

Force and the Navy will: 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 222 / Friday, November 18, 2005 / Notices 69961 

(a) Consider the need to conduct 

additional historical documentation, 

and 

(b) Within funding and mission 

constraints, consider the preservation of 

these properties through continued use 

as military housing. 

(v) The Air Force and the Navy will 

advise developers involved in housing 

privatization initiatives that Wherry and 

Capehart properties may be eligible for 

historic preservation tax credits. 

(vi) The Air Force and the Navy will 

attempt to locate and conduct oral 

interviews with military families who 

lived in Wherry and Capehart housing 

(which may include Army families), and 

other people who were involved with 

design and construction of Capehart and 

Wherry Era housing. Prior to conducting 

any interviews, the Air Force and the 

Navy will seek advice from appropriate 

government offices such as the Library 

of Congress’ Veterans History Project 

and the military service historical 

centers to develop a set of appropriate 

interview questions and proper formats 

in which interviews would be recorded. 

Upon completion of the oral histories, 

the Air Force and the Navy will provide 

a copy of all written and recorded 

documentation to the Library of 

Congress. 

3. Applicability 

This Program Comment does not 

apply to the following properties that 

are listed, or eligible for listing, on the 

National Register of Historic Places: 

(i) Archeological sites, 

(ii) Properties of traditional religious 

and cultural significance to federally 

recognized Indian tribes or Native 

Hawaiian organizations, or 

(iii) Historic properties other than Air 

Force and Navy Wherry and Capehart 

Era housing, associated structures and 

landscape features. 

4. Schedule for Completion 

(i) Within 12 months from Council 

approval of the Program Comment, the 

Air Force and Navy shall complete: 

(a) The expanded and revised context 

study for Capehart and Wherry Era 

housing as described in Section 

II(B)(i)(a), above; 

(b) Review of the context study for 

properties of particular importance as 

described in II(B)(ii), above; and 

(c) Adoption of the design guidelines 

as described in Section II(B)(iii), above. 

(ii) Within 24 months from Council 

approval of the Program Comment, the 

Navy and Air Force shall complete: 

(a) Its consideration of properties of 

particular importance as described in 

Section II(B)(iv), above; 

(b) Completion of the oral history 

segment of the mitigation, as described 

in Section II(B)(vi), above, and 

(c) Completion of the context study 

suitable for release to the general public, 

as described in Section II(B)(i)(b), above. 

5. Effect of Program Comment 

The ACHP believes that this six-step 

approach will ensure that the Air Force 

and the Navy take into account the 

effects of management of their Wherry 

and Capehart era housing. By following 

this comment and outlined six-step 

approach, the Air Force and the Navy 

will have met their responsibilities for 

compliance under Section 106 regarding 

management of their Wherry and 

Capehart era housing. Accordingly, Air 

Force and Navy bases will not have to 

follow the case-by-case Section 106 

review process for each individual 

management action. 

The Air Force and the Navy may carry 

out management actions prior to the 

completion of all of the six treatment 

steps outlined above, so long as such 

management actions do not preclude the 

eventual successful completion of those 

six steps. 

This Program Comment will remain 

in effect until such time as the Air Force 

or the Navy determines that such 

comments are no longer needed and 

notifies ACHP, in writing, or the ACHP 

determines that the consideration of 

Wherry and Capehart properties is not 

being carried out in a manner consistent 

with this Program Comment. The ACHP 

may withdraw this Program Comment 

in accordance with 36 CFR 800.14(e)(6). 

Following such withdrawal, the Air 

Force and the Navy would comply with 

the requirements of 36 CFR 800.3 

through 800.7 for each individual 

management action. 

The ACHP Membership approved this 

Program Comment on November 18, 2004. 

Lawrence Shade, 

Acting, Air Force Federal Register Liaison 

Officer. 

[FR Doc. 05–22871 Filed 11–17–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5000–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Department of the Army; Corps of 

Engineers 

Intent To Prepare a Supplemental 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

the Proposed Ruter-Hess Reservoir 

Expansion Project, Parker, CO 

AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, DoD. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers (Corps) Omaha District is 

preparing a Supplemental 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

to analyze the direct, indirect and 

cumulative effects of enlarging the 

Rueter-Hess Reservoir, currently under 

construction in Parker, CO. The current 

project was authorized in February 2004 

with Corps Permit #199980472. The 

basic purpose of the proposed action is 

the same as defined in the original EIS, 

which is to provide a safe, adequate and 

sustainable municipal water supply to 

Parker Water and Sanitation District 

(PWSD), Parker, CO that is capable of 

meeting the peak demands for the 

District’s service area for the next 50 

years. In addition, the purpose for 

enlarging the reservoir is to provide 

peaking storage of Denver Basin 

groundwater for selected South Metro 

Denver area water providers and to 

assist in sustaining the Denver Basin 

Aquifer. The construction of the 

proposed project would result in 

additional temporary and permanent 

impacts to wetlands and other Waters of 

the United States, requiring a new 

section 404 permit. To familiarize the 

public and interested organizations with 

the project and potential environmental 

issues that may be involved; the Corps 

has prepared a Scoping Document for 

the project. This document includes a 

project description, preliminary list of 

alternatives and various environmental/ 

resource issues that will be addressed in 

the Supplemental EIS. Copies of the 

Scoping Document will be available at 

the public scoping meetings or can be 

requested by mail. The Supplemental 

EIS will be prepared according to the 

Corps’ procedures for implementing the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) of 1969, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 

4332(2)(C), and consistent with the 

Corps’ policy to facilitate public 

understanding and review of agency 

proposals. 

DATES: Submit comments by December 

19, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments 

regarding the proposed action and 

Supplemental EIS to Rodney Schwartz, 

EIS Project Manager, U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers, 12565 West Center Road, 

Omaha, NE., 68144–3869 or via e-mail: 

Rodney J.Schwartz@usace.army.mil. 

Requests to be placed on the mailing list 

should also be sent to this address. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Rodney Schwartz, EIS Project Manager, 

Corps, Omaha District at (402) 221–

4143. 

INFORMATION: Parker Water and 

Sanitation District proposes to enlarge