66780 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 209 / Friday, October 29, 2010 / Notices 

the mission of the National Wildlife 

Refuge System. 

Our CCP process provides 

opportunities for participation by 

Tribal, State, and local governments; 

agencies; organizations; and the public. 

We will be contacting identified 

stakeholders and individuals at this 

time for initial input. If you would like 

to meet with planning staff or would 

like to receive periodic updates, please 

contact us (see ADDRESSES section). At 

this time we encourage comments in the 

form of issues, concerns, ideas, and 

suggestions for the future management 

of Ruby Lake NWR. 

We will conduct the environmental 

review of this project in accordance 

with the requirements of the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 

amended (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 

seq.); NEPA regulations (40 CFR parts 

1500–1508); other appropriate Federal 

laws and regulations; and our policies 

and procedures for compliance with 

those laws and regulations. 

Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge 

Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge 

(NWR) was established in 1938 as a 

refuge and breeding ground for 

migratory birds and other wildlife 

(Executive Order 7923). Located along 

migration corridors serving both the 

Pacific and Central flyways, this refuge 

is a crossroads for birds migrating west 

along the Humboldt River to the Owens 

Valley, east to Utah’s Great Salt Lake, 

northwest to the Klamath Basin, and 

south to the Colorado River Valley. 

Ruby Lake NWR supports the largest 

population of nesting canvasback ducks 

west of the Mississippi River outside 

Alaska, and is a vital waterfowl nesting 

area. 

More than 200 springs emanating 

from the base of the Ruby Mountains 

provide life-sustaining water to the 

39,926-acre refuge. The marsh is 

surrounded by 22,926 acres of 

meadows, grasslands, alkali playa, and 

shrub-steppe uplands. Water elevations 

in some marsh units are controlled to 

provide nesting and feeding areas for 

waterfowl and other marsh bird species. 

Vegetation in the meadows and 

grasslands is managed to provide 

nesting cover and feeding areas for 

wildlife. Existing public uses include 

wildlife observation, photography, 

interpretation, environmental 

education, waterfowl hunting, and 

recreational fishing. 

Scoping: Preliminary Issues, Concerns, 

and Opportunities 

We have identified preliminary 

issues, concerns, and opportunities that 

we may address in the CCP. These 

include wildlife management, habitat 

management, wildlife-dependent 

recreation, environmental education, 

and cultural resources. During public 

scoping, we may identify additional 

issues. 

Public Meetings 

We will give the public an 

opportunity to provide input at a public 

meeting (or meetings). You may obtain 

the schedule from the refuge planner or 

refuge manager (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT). You may also 

submit comments or request a meeting 

during the planning process by mail, email, or fax (see ADDRESSES). There will 

be additional opportunities to provide 

public input once we have prepared a 

draft CCP. 

Public Availability of Comments 

Before including your address, phone 

number, e-mail address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Dated: October 22, 2010. 

Alexandra Pitts, 

Acting Regional Director, Pacific Southwest 

Region, Sacramento, California. 

[FR Doc. 2010–27349 Filed 10–28–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Reclamation 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

Suisun Marsh Habitat Management, 

Preservation, and Restoration Plan, 

California 

AGENCIES: Bureau of Reclamation and 

Fish and Wildlife, Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of draft 

environmental impact statement/ 

environmental impact report (EIS/EIR) 

and notice of public meetings. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Reclamation 

(Reclamation) and the Fish and Wildlife 

Service (Service), as the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

Federal joint lead agencies, and the 

State of California Department of Fish 

and Game (DFG), acting as the 

California Environmental Quality Act 

State lead agency, have made available 

for public review and comment the 

Suisun Marsh Habitat Management, 

Preservation, and Restoration Plan 

(SMP) Draft EIS/EIR. The SMP is a 

comprehensive 30-year plan designed to 

address various conflicts regarding use 

of resources within approximately 

51,000 acres of the Suisun Marsh 

(Marsh), with the focus on achieving an 

acceptable multi-stakeholder approach 

to the restoration of tidal wetlands and 

the enhancement of managed wetlands 

and their functions. 

DATES: Written comments on the Draft 

EIS/EIR must be received by 5 p.m. 

Pacific time on December 28, 2010. 

Two public meetings have been 

scheduled to receive written comments 

regarding environmental effects: 

• Thursday, November 18, 2010, 2 

p.m. to 4 p.m., Suisun City, CA. 

• Thursday, November 18, 2010, 6 

p.m. to 8 p.m., Benicia, CA. 

ADDRESSES: Send any written comments 

on the Draft EIS/EIR to Ms. Becky 

Victorine, Bureau of Reclamation, 2800 

Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA 95825; or 

e-mail to rvictorine@usbr.gov. 

The public meetings will be held at 

the following locations: 

• Suisun City, CA at Rush Ranch, 

3521 Grizzly Island Road, Suisun City, 

CA 94585. 

• Benicia, CA at Benicia Public 

Library, 150 East L Street, Benicia, CA 

94510. 

The Draft EIS/EIR is accessible at the 

following Web site: http:// 

www.usbr.gov/mp/nepa/ 

nepa_projdetails.cfm?Project_ID=781. 

Copies may also be requested from Ms. 

Becky Victorine, at the above addresses 

or at 916–978–5035. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Becky Victorine, Bureau of Reclamation, 

916–978–5035, rvictorine@usbr.gov, or 

Ms. Cay Goude, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, 916–414–6600, 

cay_goude@fws.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Draft 

EIS/EIR documents the direct, indirect, 

and cumulative effects to the physical, 

biological, and socioeconomic 

environment that may result from 

implementing the SMP alternatives. 

As the largest contiguous brackish 

water marsh remaining on the west 

coast of North America, the Marsh is a 

critical part of the San Francisco Bay/ 

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (BayDelta) estuary ecosystem. The values of 

the Marsh have been recognized as 

important, and several agencies have 

been involved in the area’s protection 

since the mid-1970s. In 2001, the 

principal Federal, State, and local 

agencies that have jurisdiction or 

interest in the Marsh directed the 

formation of a charter group to develop 

WReier-Aviles on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 209 / Friday, October 29, 2010 / Notices 66781 

a plan for Suisun Marsh that would 

balance the needs of the California BayDelta Program (CALFED), the Suisun 

Marsh Preservation Agreement, and 

other plans by protecting and enhancing 

existing land uses and existing 

waterfowl and wildlife values, 

including those associated with the 

Pacific Flyway, endangered species, and 

State and Federal water project supply 

quality. A subset of this charter group 

has collaboratively prepared the SMP 

Draft EIS/EIR. The principal agencies 

include the Service, Reclamation, 

National Marine Fisheries Service 

(NMFS), DFG, State of California 

Department of Water Resources, Suisun 

Resource Conservation District, and the 

California Bay-Delta Authority. When 

the EIS/EIR is finalized, each principal 

agency will use it to implement 

particular actions described and 

analyzed in the document that would 

contribute to the overall implementation 

of the SMP. NMFS and the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers are cooperating 

agencies in accordance with NEPA. 

Background 

The historical diking of tidal wetlands 

resulted in a loss of habitat for many 

species, including some listed as 

threatened or endangered. However, 

managed wetlands provide important 

habitats for numerous wetland species, 

migratory birds, and waterfowl; support 

existing wildlife populations; and are 

vital to the heritage of hunting in Suisun 

Marsh. Protecting the ecological values 

of both the historical tidal wetland 

habitat and the current managed 

wetland habitat is vital to ensure 

stability of the many species that 

depend on each of these wetland types. 

Managed wetlands, tidal wetlands, and 

uplands, whether publicly or privately 

owned, provide important wetlands for 

migratory waterfowl and other resident 

and migratory wetland-dependent 

species and opportunities for hunting, 

fishing, bird watching, and other 

recreational activities. There is a need to 

maintain these opportunities as well as 

improve public stewardship of the 

Marsh to ensure that the 

implementation of restoration and 

managed wetland activities is 

understood and valued for both public 

and private land uses. Current 

restrictions regarding levee maintenance 

activities in the Marsh have forced 

maintenance to be deferred on some 

exterior levees, increasing the risk of 

catastrophic flooding. Multiple factors 

contribute to the degradation of water 

quality in the Marsh, and improvement 

of water quality and water quality 

management practices is needed to 

benefit the ecological processes for all 

habitats, including managed and tidal 

wetlands. Given these needs, the SMP is 

a comprehensive plan designed to 

address the various conflicts regarding 

use of Marsh resources, with the focus 

on achieving an acceptable multistakeholder approach to the restoration 

of tidal wetlands and the enhancement 

of managed wetlands and their 

functions. The SMP is intended to guide 

near-term and future actions related to 

restoration of tidal wetlands and 

managed wetland activities in the 

Marsh. 

Preferred Alternative 

All action alternatives of the SMP 

include the same basic components, 

which provide a framework for how 

restoration and managed wetland 

activities would be implemented. The 

alternatives differ in the amount of 

acreage of restored tidal wetlands and 

remaining managed wetlands subject to 

managed wetland activities. Restoration 

of tidal wetlands would help to achieve 

the restoration goals established for the 

Marsh by the CALFED Ecosystem 

Restoration Program Plan, San Francisco 

Bay Area Wetlands Ecosystem Goals 

Project, and the Service’s Draft Recovery 

Plan for Tidal Marsh Ecosystems of 

Northern and Central California. 

Restoration of tidal wetlands would be 

implemented over the 30-year SMP 

timeframe, and benefits from individual 

projects would change as elevations rise 

due to sediment accretion, vegetation 

becomes established, and vegetation 

communities shift over time from low 

marsh to high marsh condition. 

Managed wetlands provide valuable 

habitat for a variety of non-waterfowl 

birds, mammals, reptiles, and 

amphibians. The intended outcomes of 

the managed wetlands activities 

described in the Draft EIS/EIR are to 

maintain and improve habitat 

conditions and minimize or avoid 

adverse effects of wetland operations. 

Most of these activities are already 

occurring in the Marsh; however, some 

of the current activities would be 

modified, and some new activities 

would be conducted, as described in 

detail in the Draft EIS/EIR. 

The preferred alternative identified in 

the Draft EIS/EIR includes restoring 

5,000 to 7,000 acres in the Marsh to 

fully functioning, self-sustaining tidal 

wetland and protecting and enhancing 

existing tidal wetland acreage; and 

improving the remaining 44,000 to 

46,000 acres of managed wetlands, levee 

stability, and flood and drain 

capabilities, as previously identified in 

the 2007 CALFED Programmatic Record 

of Decision. 

Special Assistance for Public Meetings 

If special assistance is required to 

participate in the public meetings, 

please contact Becky Victorine at 916– 

978–5035, TDD 916–978–5608, or via email at rvictorine@usbr.gov. Please 

notify Ms. Victorine as far in advance as 

possible to enable Reclamation to secure 

the needed services. If a request cannot 

be honored, the requestor will be 

notified. A telephone device for the 

hearing impaired (TDD) is available at 

916–978–5608. 

Public Disclosure 

Before including your name, address, 

phone number, e-mail address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Dated: May 4, 2010. 

Pablo R. Arroyave, 

Deputy Regional Director, Mid-Pacific Region, 

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 

Dated: May 17, 2010. 

Alexandra Pitts, 

Assistant Regional Director of External 

Affairs, Pacific Southwest Region, U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2010–27364 Filed 10–28–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–MN–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R8–ES–2010–N186; 1112–0000– 

81420–F2] 

Habitat Conservation Plan for Pacific 

Gas & Electric Company’s Operation, 

Maintenance, and Minor New 

Construction Activities in the North 

Coast, Central Coast, Sacramento 

Valley, Sierra, and Mojave Regions, CA 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Revised notice of intent to 

prepare an environmental impact 

statement and notice of public scoping 

meeting. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), intend to 

prepare an environmental impact 

statement (EIS) under the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

regarding an expected application from 

Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) 

for a permit authorizing incidental take 

WReier-Aviles on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with NOTICES