[Federal Register: March 17, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 51)]
[Notices]               
[Page 13233]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17mr99-98]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service, DOI

 
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Off-Road Vehicle Management Plan/
Supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (ORVMP/SEIS), 
Big Cypress National Preserve, National Park Service

SUMMARY: A notice of intent for this action that omitted a reference to 
the SEIS component of the plan was published on January 22, 1996. One 
purpose of this notice is to correct this omission. Further, in 
accordance with Section 102(2)(C) of the Environmental Policy Act of 
1969 (Pub. L. 91-190), the National Park Service has initiated a 
supplemental environmental impact analysis process to identify and 
assess potential impacts of alternative options for the management of 
off-road vehicles within the Big Cypress National Preserve. Key 
management concerns include the need to protect natural and cultural 
resources while providing recreational ORV access to the Preserve. A 
series of meetings, interviews, and surveys were conducted to gather 
information and the opinions of stakeholders in order to begin 
preparation of the ORVMP/SEIS.

DATES: Public comments will be accepted on or before April 16, 1999. 
Anyone wishing to provide comments or suggestions on the proposed 
action should provide comments to the Superintendent at the address 
stated below.
    Following publication of a draft ORVMP/SEIS, representatives of 
Federal, Tribal, State and local agencies, private organizations and 
individuals from the general public will be afforded an opportunity to 
comment at a public meeting. The date, time, and location of the public 
meeting will be announced in local and regional news media.

ADDRESSES: Anyone wishing to provide comments or suggestions on the 
ORVMP/SEIS may send such information to: Superintendent, Big Cypress 
National Preserve, HCR 61, Box 110, Ochopee, FL 34141.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: An ORV management plan was initially called 
for in the final General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement 
(1992) for the Preserve. An October 1995 Settlement Agreement filed in 
the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida also 
required issuance of the ORVMP/SEIS.

    Since 1995, working through a cooperative agreement with the 
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the National Park 
Service has been collecting data and public opinion for the development 
of an ORV plan for the Preserve. Efforts to collect data and 
information included meetings and interviews with groups, organizations 
and individuals from a variety of sectors including ORV and hunting 
groups, hiking clubs, environmental groups, employees or associates of 
the Miccosukee or Seminole Tribes, state agencies, and other federal 
agencies. Other methods used to gather and solicit information from the 
public included a mail-back ORV visitors-use survey, a Website and E-
mail, and two newsletters, distributed in 1996 and 1997 to an estimated 
1600 people.
    The National Park Service has now entered that phase of the project 
in which alternatives for the management of ORVs in the Preserve will 
be developed and considered. In accordance with the aforementioned 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Park Service 
will utilize the public involvement procedures of NEPA to provide an 
opportunity for the public to receive information and express their 
views, and to meet with interested members of the public in assessing 
the potential effects of the alternative options of the ORVMP/SEIS.
    The National Park Service will analyze alternatives so as to 
evaluate differing options for resource protection, visitor use, 
access, safety and operations. As a conceptual framework for 
formulating these alternatives, the purposes of the Preserve and 
associated significant natural and cultural resources, major visitor 
experiences and management objectives will be specified.
    The subsequent availability of the ORVMP/SEIS will be announced by 
formal notice and via local and regional news media. The draft ORVMP/
SEIS is anticipated to be completed and available for public review in 
1999. The final ORVMP/SEIS is expected to be completed approximately 
four months later, with a Record of Decision published in the Federal 
Register not sooner than 30 days after distribution of the final ORVMP/
SEIS documents.

    Dated: March 10, 1999.
Danielle Brown,
Regional Director, Southeast Region.
[FR Doc. 99-6421 Filed 3-16-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-M