[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 174 (Monday, September 9, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55093-55094]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-21726]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS- PWR-PWRO-12232: PPWONRADE2- PMP00EI05.YP0000]
Dog Management Plan, Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement,
Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
[[Page 55094]]
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102 (2)(c) of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969, 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C), the National Park Service
(NPS) is releasing a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for
the Dog Management Plan (Plan/SEIS), Golden Gate National Recreation
Area (GGNRA), California. Current dog management in the park is based
on a number of factors. Areas included in the GGNRA Citizens' Advisory
Commission's 1979 pet policy, followed by the park for over twenty
years, must be managed in accordance with the June 2, 2005, decision by
the U.S. District Court for Northern California (US vs. Barley, 405
F.Supp. 2d 1121) holding that NPS cannot enforce the NPS-wide
regulation requiring on leash walking of pets (36 CFR 2.15(a)(2)) in
areas where the park had previously allowed off leash use until notice
and comment rulemaking under 36 CFR 1.5(b) is completed. A Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking will be published for notice and comment after
comments on the Plan/SEIS have been received, evaluated, and addressed.
A final rule will be published after the final Plan/FEIS has been
published and a Record of Decision signed.
The purpose of the Plan/SEIS is to determine the manner and extent
of dog use in appropriate areas of the park, provide a clear,
enforceable dog management policy, preserve and protect natural and
cultural resources and natural processes, provide a variety of visitor
experiences, improve visitor and employee safety, and reduce user
conflicts.
The Plan/SEIS evaluates the impacts of six alternatives for dog
management in 22 areas of GGNRA. The range of alternatives includes the
consensus recommendations of the GGNRA Negotiated Rulemaking Committee
for Dog Management, the 1979 Pet Policy, 36 CFR 2.15, voice-control dog
walking and commercial dog walking. The preferred alternative includes
site specific treatments from multiple action alternatives that
together allow for a balanced range of visitor experiences, including
areas that prohibit dogs, and areas that allow on-leash and voice-
control dog walking. It includes the following key elements: The
Negotiated Rulemaking Committee's consensus agreements; on-leash and/or
voice and sight-control dog walking in multiple specific areas of the
park where impacts to sensitive resources and visitor experience are
minimized; no dogs in areas of the park where impacts are unacceptable
and can not be mitigated; a monitoring-based management strategy
measuring compliance in on-leash and voice and sight-control dog
walking areas that will provide information for a range of management
responses as needed, including further restrictions or elimination of a
use where compliance is not able to be achieved by lesser actions;
permits for both individual and commercial dog walkers for more than
three dogs, with a maximum of six, in limited areas of the park; and
the site-specific analysis of Rancho Corral de Tierra as a recently-
acquired GGNRA site evaluated under the Plan/SEIS.
DATES: All written comments must be postmarked or transmitted not later
than 90 days following publication in the Federal Register by the
Environmental Protection Agency of the notice of filing and
availability of the Plan/SEIS.
ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of the Plan/SEIS will be available for
public review at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/goga. A limited number of
printed copies will be available at Park Headquarters, Fort Mason,
Building 201, San Francisco, CA. Copies will be available at local
libraries in San Mateo, San Francisco and Marin Counties, as well as in
Berkeley and Oakland. For further information or to request a copy of
the Plan/SEIS, please contact: Shirwin Smith, Management Assistant,
Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Fort Mason, Building 201, San
Francisco, CA 94123, (415) 561-4947.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NPS is most interested in comments on
the changes between the draft and supplemental EIS, including the
following: The addition of new data (including additional law
enforcement and visitor use data), additional references, additional
information regarding compliance with the Americans with Disabilities
Act, changes to the impacts analysis (including additional analysis of
potential redistributive effects of opening/closing areas to dog
walking), changes to the compliance-based management strategy (now the
monitoring-based management strategy) by including natural and cultural
resource monitoring and removing automatic triggers and restrictions,
evaluation of fencing as a method to minimize dog walking impacts, and
relatively minor changes to some site specific changes in the preferred
alternative. Additionally, a site recently transferred to GGNRA, Rancho
Corral de Tierra, was added to the park sites considered in the range
of reasonable alternatives analyzed by the plan/SEIS. Comments
submitted on the earlier Plan/draft EIS (DEIS) will continue to be
considered and do not need to be resubmitted.
After the EPA's Federal Register notice is published, the NPS will
schedule three open-house style public meetings during the comment
period. Dates, times, and locations of these meetings will be announced
in press releases, email announcements and on the NPS Planning,
Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) Web site for the project at
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/goga.
If you wish to comment electronically, you may submit your comments
online at the PEPC Web site by visiting http://parkplanning.nps.gov/goga, clicking on open for comment, clicking on Dog Management Plan/
EIS, and then clicking on Comment on Document. NPS encourages
commenting electronically through PEPC. Note that the deadline for
submitting comments online at the PEPC Web site is midnight, Mountain
Time (11 p.m. Pacific Time), on the last day of the public comment
period. If you wish to submit your written comments in hard copy (e.g.
in a letter), you may send them by U.S. Postal Service or other mail
delivery service or hand-deliver them to: Frank Dean, General
Superintendent, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Fort Mason,
Building 201, San Francisco, CA 94123. Comments will also be accepted
during the three open house public meetings. Comments will not be
accepted by fax, email, or in any other way than those specified above.
Bulk comments in any format (hard copy or electronic) submitted on
behalf of others will not be accepted.
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Because this is a delegated EIS, the official responsible for
approval of the final Plan is the Regional Director, Pacific West
Region, National Park Service; subsequently the official responsible
for implementation of the approved Plan is the General Superintendent,
Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Dated: August 27, 2013.
Christine S. Lehnertz,
Regional Director, Pacific West Region.
[FR Doc. 2013-21726 Filed 9-6-13; 8:45 am]
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