Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
Notice of availability: plan and environmental assessment (EA); request for public comment.
We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce an EA for our Interagency Florida Panther Response Plan. Our EA considers alternatives for managing conflicts between humans and the endangered Florida panther (
We must receive any written comments on the EA at the Service's Field or Regional Office (see
Layne Hamilton, Refuge Manager, Florida Panther and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuges, 3860 Tollgate Blvd., Suite 300, Naples, FL 34114, or Southeast Regional Office, Fish and Wildlife Service, 1875 Century Boulevard, Suite 420, Atlanta, GA 30345 (
Ms. Layne Hamilton, Refuge Manager, Florida Panther and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuges (see
We announce an EA for our Interagency Florida Panther Response Plan. Our EA considers alternatives for managing conflicts between humans and the endangered Florida panther (
Florida panthers occur primarily in southern Florida, with most individuals residing south of Lake Okeechobee. Recovery actions over the past 25 years, particularly genetic augmentation initiated in 1995, enabled the population to grow from 30–50 animals in 1995 to 80–100 animals in 2005. At the same time, the human population of Collier County, where most panthers reside, more than doubled in 14 years (1990–2004), from 152,000 to 306,000. Because of increases in numbers of both people and panthers, urban-suburban areas now interface with panther habitat, increasing the possibility of human-panther interactions. Management guidelines are needed to provide more definitive guidance to respond and manage panther and human interactions and to educate the public about appropriate behavior when living and recreating in panther habitat.
In accordance with mandates established under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), we are required to consider a full range of reasonable alternatives for addressing and responding to major public issues, management concerns, and resource conservation opportunities associated with issues arising from human-panther interactions.
We analyzed three alternatives. Alternative A (Preferred Action) proposes managing human-panther interactions with an interagency response team and an established plan that prioritizes public safety and evaluates each situation by analyzing panther behavior and human activity. Alternative B (No Action) does not utilize an interagency team or a response plan, but responds to human-panther interactions on a case-by-case
We have coordinated this proposal with the National Park Service, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and local Indian tribes. We announced the availability of our draft EA in the May 25, 2006,
Tribal and public comments; peer reviews; and discussions between us, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, and NPS helped us identify several issues and concerns. Our revisions to the EA and plan include the following: (1) Discussion of cultural resource impacts to the local tribes; (2) elimination of the first two chapters of the Response Plan (Chapter 1: Florida Panther—Status, Biology and Recovery; Chapter 2: Living with Florida Panthers); (3) reorganization of the plan to reduce redundancy and clarify management actions; (4) separation of the section on depredation from the other human-panther interaction classifications (sighting(s), encounter(s), incidents, threat, attack), because depredations are distinctly different from direct human-panther interactions; and (5) inclusion of risk factor with each classification.
If you wish to review the EA, you may obtain a copy on the Internet at
If you wish to comment, you may submit comments by any one of several methods. Please reference the EA associated with the Interagency Florida Panther Response Plan in such comments. You may mail comments to the Service's Regional Office in Atlanta (see
Before including your address, phone number, e-mail 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.
We provide this notice under NEPA regulations at 40 CFR 1506.6.