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Abbreviated Final Environmental Impact Statement and General Management Plan; Minidoka Internment National Monument; Jerome County, ID; Notice of Availability
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
[Federal Register: July 20, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 139)]
[Notices]
[Page 41234-41236]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20jy06-73]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Abbreviated Final Environmental Impact Statement and General
Management Plan; Minidoka Internment National Monument; Jerome County,
ID; Notice of Availability
Summary: Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (Pub. L. 91-190, as amended), and the
Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR part 1500-1508),
the National Park Service (NPS), Department of the Interior, has
prepared an abbreviated final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for
the proposed General Management Plan (GMP) for Minidoka Internment
National Monument located in southern Idaho. This FEIS describes and
analyzes four GMP alternatives that respond to both NPS planning
requirements and to the public's concerns and issues, identified during
the extensive scoping and public involvement process. Each alternative
presents management strategies for resource protection and
preservation, education and interpretation, visitor use and facilities,
land protection and boundaries, and long-term operations and management
of the national monument. The potential environmental consequences of
all the alternatives, and mitigation strategies, are identified and
analyzed in the FEIS. In addition to a ``no-action'' alternative, an
``environmentally preferred'' alternative is identified.
[[Page 41235]]
Background: A Notice of Intent formally initiating the conservation
planning and environmental impact analysis process was published in the
Federal Register on April 24, 2002. Early public involvement methods
included news releases, public meetings and workshops, presentations
and meetings with interested publics, newsletter mailings, and Web site
postings. This strong public outreach was deemed necessary for
successful planning, given the nature and sensitivity of the national
monument's history, the speed in which the national monument was
established, as well as its remote location.
Preceding the formal planning process, NPS staff conducted
informational meetings about the national monument with Japanese
American organizations, community organizations, various governmental
entities, potential stakeholder groups, and individuals during the
spring, summer and early fall of 2002. Approximately 50 meetings were
held in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska during this time, and
approximately 2,000 people were contacted. The purpose of these initial
meetings was to provide information about the establishment of Minidoka
Internment National Monument as a new unit of the National Park System
and to help characterize the scale and extent of the conservation
planning process.
The NPS encouraged public involvement during three phases of the
EIS process. The initial scoping phase was intended to elicit issues,
concerns, and suggestions deemed necessary to address during the
overall planning. Nine public workshops were held in Idaho, Washington,
and Oregon in November 2002 (250 people provided comments in workshops,
and another 225 people provided written comments). In the second phase
the NPS engaged the public in developing preliminary alternatives;
these alternatives were intended to address the specific issues and
concerns that surfaced during the public scoping. Eleven public
workshops were held in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon in July and August
2003 (215 people provided comments in the workshops, and another 50
people provided written comments). The third phase of involvement
afforded the opportunity for public review of the Draft EIS/GMP, which
was released on June 21, 2005. Government entities and the public were
invited to submit comments by regular mail, e-mail, fax, and online. In
addition, the NPS held ten public meetings in Idaho, Washington,
Oregon, and California in July and August 2005 to provide further
opportunity to learn about the proposed plan and to offer comments;
over 200 people attended these meetings. During the formal public
comment period, which closed on September 19, 2005, the NPS received
comments from over 365 individuals and organizations, including 150
written responses (all substantive comments, and responses, are
documented in the abbreviated Final EIS).
Throughout the planning process, the public's comments and
recommendations have provided the foundation for the new GMP,
represented in the national monument's purpose, significance,
interpretive themes, alternatives, and particularly as incorporated in
the proposed action.
Proposed Plan and Alternatives: Alternative A is the ``no-action''
alternative and would continue current management practices,
maintaining general management guidance for incremental and minimal
changes in park operations, staffing, visitor services, and facilities
to accommodate visitors. While the historic resources of the site would
continue to be protected, only minor additional site work would be
anticipated. The ``no-action'' alternative is the baseline for
evaluating and comparing the changes and impacts of the three
``action'' alternatives.
Alternative B emphasizes the development and extensive use of
outreach and partnerships to assist NPS staff in telling the Minidoka
story to the American people. Off-site visitor education and
interpretation would be conducted through diverse comprehensive
programs developed in cooperation with partners, including school
districts, museums, and educational and legacy organizations and
institutions. Alternative B would focus on identifying off-site
facilities for education and interpretation with minimal new
development at the national monument site. Historic structures would be
adaptively reused for visitor and monument functions and for minimal
administrative and operational needs. Key historic features would be
delineated, restored, or rehabilitated. On-site education and
interpretation would be accomplished through a range of self-
exploratory visitor experiences.
Alternative C, the NPS's proposed action, emphasizes on-site
education and interpretation and the extensive treatment and use of
cultural resources in telling the Minidoka story. On-site education and
interpretation would be accomplished through a wide range of visitor
experiences, including immersion into the historic scene, interaction
with a variety of educational and interpretive media and personal
services, and participation in creative and self-directed activities.
Off-site visitor education and interpretation would be conducted
through diverse programs developed in cooperation with partners,
including school districts, museums, and educational and legacy
organizations and institutions.
The proposed plan would use various preservation techniques to
protect and enhance historic resources, such as delineation,
stabilization, restoration, rehabilitation, and limited reconstruction.
These historic resources would be used for interpretive purposes to
accurately and authentically convey the history and significance of the
national monument. The establishment of one complete barracks block
exhibit in its original location and configuration would be the
cornerstone of interpretive services and facilities at the national
monument, essential for understanding and appreciation of the
incarceration experience and the significance of the national monument.
A visitor contact facility and maintenance area would be developed by
adaptively reusing existing historic buildings. There would be minimal
new development. Alternative C is also the ``environmentally
preferred'' alternative.
The proposed plan would require congressional legislation to
authorize a boundary adjustment to include areas where barracks
historically stood in order to reestablish a complete residential block
in an original historic location. Additionally, the NPS would request
congressional legislation to transfer the historic Minidoka Relocation
Center landfill, located 1 mile north of the national monument, from
the BLM to the NPS. Alternative C recommends a name change to Minidoka
National Historic Site, to be more reflective of its historic value.
Alternative D identifies several actions that would focus on
education and interpretation on-site, specifically through the
development of new visitor facilities. The east end site would be used
to develop new facilities and to provide space for a new visitor
center, education and research functions, along with a new Issei
memorial and garden. On-site education and interpretation would be
accomplished through a wide range of visitor experiences, including
interaction with a variety of educational and interpretive media,
participation in creative and self-guided activities, and limited
access of the historic scene. Visitor education programs, adaptive
reuse of historic structures for park use, and the establishment of formal
[[Page 41236]]
partnerships for education and outreach purposes would complement the
new construction. Alternative D would focus on sound cultural resource
management through preservation, restoration, rehabilitation, and
reconstruction of certain historic features. Several actions would
provide for the protection and enhancement of natural and scenic
resources. Other actions would establish administrative and operational
capabilities in terms of facilities and staffing. Most national
monument staff activities would be on-site to manage resources and
provide for visitor understanding and appreciation of the national
monument. However, some off-site educational programs would complement
the on-site programs through partnerships.
Copies: The Abbreviated Final EIS/GMP is now available. This
document's abbreviated format requires that the material presented
therein be integrated with the Draft EIS to fully describe the proposed
GMP, potential environmental impacts, and public comments that have
been received and evaluated. Interested persons and organizations
wishing to express any concerns or provide relevant information may
obtain the Abbreviated Final EIS/GMP by contacting the Superintendent,
Minidoka Internment National Monument, P.O. Box 570, Hagerman, Idaho
83332-0570, or via telephone at (208) 837-4793 (copies of the Draft EIS
are also available, if needed). This document may also be reviewed at
area libraries, or obtained electronically via the following Web site at:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/miin 
. Please note that names
and addresses of all respondents will become part of the public record. It
is our practice to make comments, including names, home addresses, home
phone numbers, and email addresses of respondents, available for public
review. Individual respondents may request that we withhold their names
and/or home addresses, etc., but if you wish us to consider withholding
this information you must state this prominently at the beginning of
your comments. In addition, you must present a rationale for
withholding this information. This rationale must demonstrate that
disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy.
Unsupported assertions will not meet this burden. In the absence of
exceptional, documentable circumstances, this information will be
released. We will always make submissions from organizations or
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as
representatives of or officials of organizations or businesses,
available for public inspection in their entirety.
Decision Process: Following release of the Abbreviated Final GMP/
EIS, a Record of Decision will be prepared and approved not sooner than
30 days after the EPA has published its notice of filing of the
document in the Federal Register. A notice of the approved GMP would be
similarly published. As a delegated EIS, the official responsible for
the final decision is the Regional Director, Pacific West Region,
National Park Service. Subsequently, the official responsible for
implementing the approved GMP would be the Superintendent, Minidoka
Internment National Monument.
Dated: July 12, 2006.
Jonathan B. Jarvis,
Regional Director, Pacific West Region.
[FR Doc. E6-11520 Filed 7-19-06; 8:45 am]
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