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General Management Plan, Environmental Impact Statement Supplement, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

 [Federal Register: April 26, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 81)]
[Notices]
[Page 21013-21014]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26ap01-116]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service

General Management Plan, Environmental Impact Statement
Supplement, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona

AGENCY: National Park Service, Department of the Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare a supplement to the environmental
impact statement for the general management plan, Organ Pipe Cactus
National Monument.

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[[Page 21014]]

SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act,
the National Park Service is preparing a supplement to the
environmental impact statement (EIS) for the final general management
plan (GMP) for Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The supplement will
be approved by the Director, Intermountain Region.
    Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was established as a unit of
the National Park System in 1937 to preserve almost 132,275 hectares of
the Sonoran Desert for the public interest. It is located in
southwestern Arizona and shares its southern border with Mexico. The
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Final General Management Plan/
Development Concept Plans/Environmental Impact Statement was approved
in 1997. On February 12, 2001, The United States District Court for the
District of Columbia (Civil Action No. 99-927) found that the EIS did
not fully comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of
1969 because the cumulative impacts of all agency activities were not
fully analyzed.
    The major issue to be addressed in the EIS Supplement is the
Sonoran Pronghorn. The pronghorn, one of five subspecies of pronghorn,
has evolved in a unique desert environment and has distinct adaptations
to this environment that distinguish it from other subspecies. In 1967,
the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) designated the Sonoran
Pronghorn as endangered. The most recent estimates indicate that
approximately 120 to 250 pronghorn exist today. The only habitat in
which Sonoran pronghorn currently remain in the United States is
federally-owned land in Southwest Arizona. The court order declared
that the USFWS issued Biological Opinions that failed to address the
impacts of the National Park Service and other surrounding federal
agencies current and planning activities on the pronghorn in an
``environmental baseline''. The court order also declares that the
National Park Service issued an environmental impact statement that
failed to address the cumulative impacts of their activities on the
pronghorn, when added to other past, present, and reasonable
foreseeable future actions, regardless of what agency undertakes those
actions.
    Pursuant to the court order, the National Park Service, through a
supplement to the GMP/EIS, will address all cumulative impacts of
actions on the Sonoran Pronghorn that were not fully considered at the
time of its GMP, regardless of what agency undertakes those actions.
The National Park Service is not proposing to add, change, or delete
any alternatives or impacts of alternatives that were presented in
either the Draft General Management Plan/Development Concept Plans/
Environmental Impact Statement or the Supplement to the Draft General
Management Plan/Development Concept Plans/Environmental Impact
Statement. Alternatives addressed will be (1) Existing Conditions/No
Action and Alternative (2) New Proposed Action Alternative. The
National Park Service will begin the process to the supplement to the
GMP/EIS in mid-March, 2001.

Comments

    With this Notice of Intent, scoping comments will be accepted for
30 days from the date of this notice. If you wish to comment on this
notice, you may submit your comments by any one of several methods. You
may mail comments to Laurie Domler, Intermountain Region, Denver
Support Office, 12795 Alameda Parkway, P.O. Box 25287, Denver, CO
80225-0287. You may also submit comments via electronic mail to
Laurie_Domler@nps.gov. Please include your name and return address in
any message. Our practice is to make comments, including the 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 record, which we honor to the extent
allowable by law. If you wish us to withhold your name and/or address,
you must state this prominently at the beginning of your comment.
However, we will not consider anonymous comments. We will 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Superintendent, Bill Wellman, Organ
Pipe Cactus National Monument, Route 1, Box 100, Ajo, AZ 85321; Tel:
(520); FAX: (520) e-mail: Bill_Wellman@nps.gov.

    Dated: April 2, 2001.
Jack Neckels,
Director, Intermountain Region.
[FR Doc. 01-10405 Filed 4-25-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-P

 
 

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