[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 123 (Monday, June 28, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 36101]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-14529]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation
Central Valley Project Improvement Act, Criteria for Developing
Refuge Water Management Plans
AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The ``Criteria for Developing Refuge Water Management Plans''
(Refuge Criteria) are now available for public comment. The Refuge
Criteria provides a common methodology, or standard, for efficient use
of water by Federal Wildlife Refuges, State wildlife management areas
and resource conservation Districts that receive water under provisions
of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA). They document
the process and format by which Refuge Water Management Plans should be
prepared and submitted to Reclamation as part of the Refuge/District
Water Supply Contracts and Memorandum of Agreements. The Refuge
Criteria refers to Refuges, Wildlife Areas and Resource Conservation
Districts as Refuges. Those Refuges that entered into water supply
contracts with Reclamation, as a result of the CVPIA and subsequent
Department of the Interior administrative review processes, are
required to prepare Refuge Water Management Plans using the Refuge
Criteria.
DATES: All public comments must be received by July 28, 2004.
ADDRESSES: Please mail comments to Leslie Barbre, Bureau of
Reclamation, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, California 95825, 916-978-
5232 (TDD 978-5608), or e-mail at [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To be placed on a mailing list for any
subsequent information, please contact Ms. Barbre at the e-mail address
or telephone number above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In response to the Central Valley Project
Improvement Act of 1992 and a 1995 Department of the Interior
administrative review process, the Interagency Coordinated Program for
Wetland and Water Use Planning (ICP) was formed. The ICP was comprised
of representatives from the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the
Grassland Water District/Grassland Resource Conservation District. The
ICP developed the 1998 Task Force Report, which outlines past, present,
and future wetland planning and management issues and a methodology for
Refuge Criteria. To continue the work of the now disbanded ICP, an
Interagency Refuge Water Management Team (IRWMT) was formed to continue
working on wetland issues such as water delivery, including additional
work on wetland Refuge Criteria. The IRWMT is comprised of
representatives from the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the
Grassland Water District/Grassland Resource Conservation District. The
IRWMT used the 1998 Task Force Report and Reclamation's 1999
Conservation and Efficiency Criteria as the foundation for developing
the water management planning requirements or criteria included in
these Refuge Criteria. The Refuge Criteria will also incorporate
comments, ideas, and suggestions from Refuge/District managers,
biologists, water conservation specialists, engineers, the CALFED Bay-
Delta Program, and other Central Valley stakeholders.
Our practice is to make comments, including names and home
addresses of respondents, available for public review. Individual
respondents may request that we withhold their home address from public
disclosure, which we will honor to the extent allowable by law. There
also may be circumstances in which we would withhold a respondent's
identity from public disclosure, 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 disclosure in their entirety. Public
comments for the Refuge Criteria are now being accepted.
Dated: June 21, 2004.
Donna E. Tegelman,
Regional Resources Manager, Mid-Pacific Region.
[FR Doc. 04-14529 Filed 6-25-04; 8:45 am]
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