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[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 158 (Thursday, August 14, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47645-47646]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-18831]

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UTAH RECLAMATION MITIGATION AND CONSERVATION COMMISSION

Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the Lower 
Duchesne River Wetlands Mitigation Project (LDWP), Duchesne and Uintah 
Counties, UT

AGENCY: Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision (ROD).

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SUMMARY: On May 22, 2008, the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and 
Conservation Commission (Commission) selected the Proposed Action 
presented in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), Lower 
Duchesne River Wetlands Mitigation Project (LDWP), April 2008. The 
Record of Decision (ROD) for that action is available as described 
below. The LDWP is required to mititate for impacts of the Bonneville 
Unit of the Central Utah Project and to fulfill other commitments to 
the Ute Indian Tribe made as part of the Central Utah Project. The U.S. 
Department of the Interior--Central Utah Project Completion Act Office, 
and the Commission were joint-lead agencies for the FEIS, and the Ute 
Indian Tribe was the lead planning partner. The LDWP FEIS addresses 
potential impacts related to construction and operation of features 
proposed for the LDWP and incorporates responses to public comments 
received on the Draft EIS. Based on the information and analyses in the 
FEIS and other relevant information, the Commission determined the 
Proposed Action responds best to LDWP needs and purposes and does so in 
an environmentally sound manner with least potential for adverse 
effects on social and economic resources.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD and/or FEIS can be obtained at the Utah 
Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission, 230 South 500 East, 
Suite 230, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84102-2045. They may also be viewed on 
the internet via the following Web address: http://www.mitigationcommission.gov/news.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Richard Mingo, Planning 
Coordinator at (801) 524-3168.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The LDWP will fulfill certain environmental 
mitigation commitments of the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah 
Project. The Strawberry Aqueduct and Collection System is a key 
component of the Bonneville Unit, collecting water from the Upper 
Duchesne River and its tributaries and storing it in Strawberry 
Reservoir for delivery westward to the Wasatch Front in Utah. As a 
result, wetlands and wildlife habitats along the Duchesne River have 
been adversely impacted. Substantial wetland impacts occurred on the 
Uintah and Ouray Reservation lands of the Ute Indian Tribe. The LDWP 
has been planned in conjunction with the Ute Indian Tribe and is 
intended to fulfill a longstanding commitment to mitigate for these 
impacts on Ute Indian tribal wetland wildlife resources and to provide 
additional wetland/wildlife benefits to the Ute Indian Tribe. The 
Proposed Action would create, restore, and otherwise enhance riparian 
wetland habitats along or near the Duchesne

[[Page 47646]]

River in Utah as partial mitigation for these Bonneville Unit impacts. 
Approximately 4,807 acres of land composed of 3,215 acres of Ute Indian 
Tribal trust lands, and 1,592 acres of fee lands to be acquired by the 
Federal Government, would be acquired and developed into three cohesive 
wetlands management units. A portion of the water currently managed by 
the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the Ute Indian Tribe under the 
existing Uinta Indian Irrigation Project would be utilized, along with 
water that may be acquired with fee land acquisitions, to create, 
restore and enhance wetlands throughout the LDWP area. Lands acquired 
in fee title (except lands acquired by eminent domain) would be 
transferred to the Ute Indian Tribe. All LDWP lands (leased Tribal 
trust and acquired lands) would be managed for project purposes by the 
Ute Indian Tribe under management agreements with the Joint Lead 
Agencies to achieve the prescribed wetlands-associated fish and 
wildlife benefits, and for other wetland/wildlife related tribal 
benefits. A Notice of Intent to initiate public scoping and prepare a 
Draft EIS for the LDWP was published in the Federal Register on April 
25, 2001 (66 FR 20827). Scoping was accomplished by means of three 
public meetings convened in Ft. Duchesne, Roosevelt and Salt Lake City, 
Utah in May 2003. Joint Lead Agencies filed the DEIS with the EPA on 
November 17, 2003. Notice of Availability of the DEIS was announced in 
the Federal Register on November 24, 2003 (68 FR 65943). Three public 
meetings were held in Ft. Duchesne, Roosevelt and Salt Lake City, Utah 
in December 2003, to receive public comment on the DEIS. Comments 
received during the public comment period from November 17, 2003 to 
February 17, 2004, were considered in preparation of the FEIS.

    Dated: August 4, 2008.
Mark A. Holden,
Projects Manager.
[FR Doc. E8-18831 Filed 8-13-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-05-P
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