[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 197 (Thursday, October 10, 2002)] [Notices] [Page 63151] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 02-25868] [[Page 63151]] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Park Service Fire Management Plan, Environmental Impact Statement, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas AGENCY: National Park Service, Department of the Interior. ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement for the Fire Management Plan for Guadalupe Mountains National Park. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: Under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the National Park Service is preparing an environmental impact statement for the Fire Management Plan for Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This effort will result in a new wildland fire management plan that meets current policies, provides a framework for making fire- related decisions, and serves as an operational manual. Development of a new fire plan is compatible with the broader goals and objectives derived from the park purpose that governs resources management. In cooperation with the USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, State of Texas, and neighboring private land owners, attention will also be given to resources outside the boundaries that affect the integrity of Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Alternatives are based on internal scoping done by National Park Service staff on March 12 and 13, 2002. Besides the No-action alternative, preliminary alternatives include the proposed Two-Fire Management Unit alternative and Cooperative Watershed Plan alternative. The No-action alternative maintains the current 1996 Fire Management Plan strategy of suppression, prescribed natural fire, and prescribed burning. The proposed alternative Two-Fire Management Unit (FMU) defines a relatively small FMU surrounding the visitor center area and the facilities and residences south of U.S. Highway 62/180. This FMU applies full suppression and prescribed burning. The rest of the park comprises the second FMU, with protection and suppression emphasis for special features, such as historic properties, McKittrick Canyon, and habitats of threatened and endangered species. In the second FMU, wildland fire use, prescribed fire, and suppression are management options. The Cooperative Watershed Plan is a variation on the two-unit plan that extends the backcountry FMU along the north boundary to include portions of the McKittrick Canyon watershed that lie on the USDA Forest Service land. Ideally, the park would cooperate on prescribed fire, wildland fire use, monitoring fire effects, as well as suppression. This cooperative plan would be a step toward interagency management of the entire Guadalupe Mountains landscape sometime in the future. Major issues will consider environmental effects of the FMP that are potential problems and include reduction of plant and wildlife populations, disturbance of unique sites and sensitive species, large- scale changes to landscapes, damage to geological resources and increased geohazards, increased air pollution, hazards to life and property, visitor inconvenience, enhanced conditions for non-indigenous species, and damage to cultural resources. A scoping brochure has been prepared describing the issues identified to date. Copies of the brochures may be obtained from Superintendent, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, HC 60, Box 400, Salt Flat, Texas 79847-9400, (915) 828-3251. DATES: The Park Service will accept comments from the public for 30 days from the date this notice is published in the Federal Register. ADDRESSES: Information will be available for public review and comment in the office of the Superintendent, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, HC 60, Box 400, Salt Flat, Texas 79847-9400, (915) 828-3251. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Superintendent, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, (915) 828-3251. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: If you wish to comment on the scoping brochure, you may submit your comments by any one of several methods. You may mail comments to Superintendent, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, HC 60, Box 400, Salt Flat, Texas 79847-9400. You may also comment via the Internet to [email protected]. Please submit Internet comments as an ASCII file avoiding the use of special characters and any form of encryption. Please also include ``Attn: Guadalupe Mountains NP Fire Management Plan'' and your name and return address in your Internet message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the system that we have received your Internet message, contact us directly at Resources Management 915-828-3251 x251. Finally, you may hand-deliver comments to the above address or at the three public meetings that will be held in Dell City and El Paso, Texas, and Carlsbad, New Mexico. Notification of the public meetings will be given in the scoping brochure that will be mailed to the addresses generated for the park's current General Management Plan process. The brochure will be mailed once we are notified of the date that this Notice of Intent is published in the Federal Register. If you are not on the park's mailing list and would like a copy of the brochure, please contact the Superintendent. Our practice is to make comments, including names and home 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 will honor to the extent allowable by law. There also may be circumstances in which we would withhold from the record a respondent's identity, as 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. 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, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, 915-828-3251 x104. Michael D. Snyder, Acting Director, Intermountain Region, National Park Service. [FR Doc. 02-25868 Filed 10-9-02; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4310-70-P