[Federal Register: February 3, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 22)]
[Notices]
[Page 5307-5308]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03fe03-72]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Reclamation
Millerton Lake Resource Management Plan and General Plan, Fresno
and Madera Counties, CA
AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a programmatic environmental impact
statement/environmental impact report for a resource management plan
and general plan.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), Reclamation proposes to prepare a Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (PEIS/EIR)
for the Millerton Lake Resource Management Plan (RMP) and General Plan,
which will be issued concurrent with the PEIS/EIR. A scoping meeting
will be conducted to elicit comments on the scope and issues to be
addressed in the PEIS/EIR. The date and time for this meeting is noted
below. The draft RMP/General Plan and draft PEIS/EIR are expected to be
issued in early 2003.
DATES: The scoping meeting will be held on February 12, 2003, at 6:30
p.m. in Friant, California. Written comments should be sent to
Reclamation at the address below by March 5, 2003.
ADDRESSES: The meeting location is at the Millerton Courthouse,
Millerton State Recreation Area, 5290 Millerton Road, Friant,
California 93626.
Written comments on the scope of the alternatives and impacts
should be sent to Mr. Dan Holsapple, Bureau of Reclamation, South-
Central California Area Office, 1243 N Street, Fresno, CA 93721-1813;
or faxed to 559-487-5130 (TDD 559-487-5933).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Dan Holsapple, Bureau of
Reclamation, at the above address, telephone: 559-487-5409.
[[Page 5308]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Millerton Lake is located in the southern
portion of California's Central Valley in Fresno and Madera counties.
The lake lies in the upper San Joaquin River Watershed. The San Joaquin
River has an average annual inflow of 1,860,000 acre-feet upstream of
Friant Dam. Millerton Lake was created in 1942 by the construction of
Friant Dam, approximately 25 miles northeast of Fresno. The dam is a
concrete gravity structure, 319 feet high and 3,488 feet wide at its
crest. Millerton Lake has a total storage capacity of 520,500 acre-feet
and supplies water to the Central Valley Project water users. The lake
and the majority of adjacent lands are owned by Reclamation. Land
within the project area is managed by Reclamation and the California
Department of Parks and Recreation.
Millerton Lake is a multi-purpose facility, supplying agricultural
irrigation water, flood control, and recreational functions such as
boating, fishing, camping, and swimming. The lake receives
approximately 600,000 visitor days per year. Operation of the reservoir
requires evacuation of a large portion of the storage space prior to
the rainy season. Due to its small capacity compared to the potential
runoff from the watershed, it is necessary to draw down water levels
annually to its minimum pool in order to make effective use of
available storage space. Thus, there is little opportunity to carry
over water from one season to another.
Reclamation is preparing an RMP and General Plan for the Millerton
Lake area. The RMP will specifically address the Millerton Lake State
Recreation Area, including the entire lake and all Reclamation land
surrounding the lake. The objectives of the joint plan are to establish
management objectives, guidelines, and actions to be implemented by
Reclamation directly, or through its recreation contract with the
California Department of Parks and Recreation, that will protect the
water supply and water quality functions of Millerton Lake; protect and
enhance natural and cultural resources in the Recreation Area,
consistent with Federal law and Reclamation policies; and provide
recreational opportunities and facilities consistent with the Central
Valley Project purposes, and Reclamation policies. In addition, the
General Plan is the primary management guideline for defining a
framework for resource stewardship, interpretation, facilities, visitor
use, and services. General plans define an ultimate purpose, vision,
and intent for management through goal statements, guidelines, and
broad objectives, but stop short of defining specific objectives,
methodologies, and designs on how to accomplish these goals.
The development of the RMP and General Plan will be performed
within the authorities provided by the Congress through the Reclamation
Act, Federal Water Project Recreation Act, Reclamation Recreation
Management Act, and applicable agency and Department of the Interior
policies and the California Public Resources Code Division 5.
The RMP and General Plan shall be a long-term plan (with an
approximate 20-year planning horizon) that will guide specific actions
in the Millerton Lake State Recreation Area and on Reclamation lands
surrounding the lake. The RMP and General Plan will be developed based
on a comprehensive inventory of environmental resources and Project
facilities. It will include an analysis of resources in the area,
identification of land use suitability and capability, and development
of management policies, objectives, responsibilities, guidelines, and
plans. Resource areas to be addressed in the RMP and General Plan
include: Soils and geology, biology, cultural resources, water
resources, hydrology, groundwater and water quality, land use,
transportation/traffic, rangeland, fire/fuels management, hazardous
materials, recreation, and park administration. Data from these
resource areas will be included in a GIS database, as available.
The RMP and General Plan will enable managers to make land use and
resource decisions that are consistent with the overall management
objectives of Reclamation land and water areas, while meeting the needs
of the public. The RMP and General Plan will assist Reclamation in its
efforts to minimize conflicts among the competing interests and types
of use at Millerton Lake.
The RMP and General Plan will be developed through a cooperative
effort between the Federal and State agencies and the public in an
effort to manage the similar resources in the area as one. The plan
will be developed with input from other Federal agencies such as U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Bureau of
Land Management; involved state agencies such as the California
Department of Fish and Game and the California Department of Forestry
and Fire Protection; and local involved agencies such as Friant Water
Users Authority and the Chowchilla Madera Water and Power Authority;
and the general public.
The environmental impacts of the RMP and General Plan and
associated alternatives will be assessed in a PEIS/EIR that will be
prepared concurrent with the RMP and General Plan. The environmental
review will focus on the potential for management actions to cause
adverse environmental impacts to natural and cultural resources such as
water quality, endangered species, public safety, and historic
resources. It will include an analysis of alternative land, recreation,
and natural resource management approaches. The joint document will be
programmatic in nature in that it will be used as a planning tool to
guide future resource management. Specific projects will tier off this
programmatic document and will have their own environmental process and
report.
It is Reclamation's practice 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
may also 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.
Dated: December 4, 2002.
Frank Michny,
Regional Environmental Officer, Mid-Pacific Region.
[FR Doc. 03-2390 Filed 1-31-03; 8:45 am]